Elaine Cornell - Swedens Child: Murders at the Fair

Swedens Child - Murders at the Fair

Elaine Cornell

Copyright 2021 by Elaine Cornell

___________________________________________________

All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or manner, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the copyright owner except for the use of brief quotations in a book review or other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

___________________________________________________

Created in the United States of America

ISBN:Softcover 978-1-63871-501-6

eBook978-1-63871-492-7

Republished by: PageTurner Press and Media LLC

Publication Date: 25 August 2021

___________________________________________________

To order copies of this book, contact:

PageTurner Press and Media

Phone: 1-888-447-9651

info@pageturner.us

www.pageturner.us

Swedens Child

Murders at the Fair

Swedens Child

Murders at the Fair

Elaine Cornell

Synopsis of Book 1

Inga Ohlsdotter was raised in a wealthy family with a large farm near Brakne-Hoby, in southern Sweden, until her father loses the farm to gambling. Inga also has second sight or dreams that foretell the future. Inga is sent to live with a wealthy aunt who treats her like a slave, she runs away.

While on the train to Liverpool she meets another family who are going to America. On the way a huge storm hits the large steamship. Who will live and who will die?

Synopsis of Book 2

Swedens ChildMurders at the Fair

Its two years later and Inga, whose name is now Ida is an upstairs maid for a wealthy family in Chicago. The 1893 Columbus World Exposition is about to begin and Inga and her friends are going.

H.H. Holmes is also in Chicago, a man on the run who has killed numerous women in New York City. He is about to cross paths with Inga and her friends.

Dedicated to Inga (Ida) Ohlsdotter (1875-1951)

My Great Grandmother

Chapter 1

Summer 1893

T he room was damp and cold and somewhere water dripped into a sink and the eighteen year old girl who sat in a corner blinked back tears as she remembered the terrible things the man had done to her that afternoon, or was it yesterday? She didnt know how much time had passed. She hadnt understood what or why it was happening. He seemed so nice when he offered her a job in his office then told her all of the supplies were in the basement where she had followed him down. As he was pointing out the supplies on the shelves that she would need to stock he put something over her mouth and she felt the room go black and woke up on a low table shivering.

The taste in her mouth was not coffee or tea, but something sickeningly sweet. Something she could not identify but it made her tongue feel thick and dry like it would stick to the roof of her mouth. She tried to scream but nothing left her mouth, her mind felt like it had shut down.

He had smiled as he tied her hands and feet to the corners of the table but she was too woozy to understand. He took off her underwear, bunched them up and after smelling them like one would smell a bouquet of roses, he put them into his coat pocket for later. She was unable to do anything but scream, if she could scream; at that moment she was still too drugged to scream. He began cutting away her clothing slowly smiling at her like they were friends, and then covered her eyes with a white handkerchief from the front pocket of his jacket. When she finally screamed he stuffed a piece of cloth from her dress into her mouth. He seemed to enjoy the torturous things he did, first with his hands and fingers, then his mouth, nibbling and then biting her tender flesh.

Later that evening or was it the morning still? He untied her arms and legs and helped her to the corner where she now sat, still not saying a word since she had followed him down the stairs. She heard the door shut and lock.

How did she get into this predicament? She had left her home in Iowa to come to the Columbia Exposition in Chicago alone. She enjoyed the night life and the small room she rented until her money was almost gone and then she knew she would need a job. She wouldnt go back to Iowa. The town she grew up in was so small and Chicago was so grand. There was something to do twenty-four hours a day; movies, live shows, museums, dance places with alcohol, and men to take her out. She could go for months and never get enough of the crowds, the food, and the friends she had met. And then the nice man at the pharmacy had offered her a job when she saw the Help Wanted sign in the window. What did she do wrong? Accept she knew; she was a single girl, all alone in a big city where no one would miss her. She had never written her parents where she was living. They would never know the horrible things that were happening to her. They may not even ask about her since shed left after a huge argument.

The heavy wooden door at the top of the stairs across from her dark damp corner opened and a dull light shown into her prison. The man walked quietly to her side then asked if she was alright, took her arm and helped her over to the table at the center of the room once more tying her face down. In her semi-conscious state she felt him massaging her back with oil that smelled like lilacs. It felt so good she took a big breath and sank into oblivion again as the moist cloth went over her nose, her brain turning off, and everything going black.

Later as she was coming awake her body hurt all over from the things he had done to her, and as he sat her up against the wall once again, she still had no control over her legs and arms from the liquid he had her breathe.

He walked to the other end of the basement where a large coal furnace was burning. She felt the heat and heard the sound of the large circular bank vault metal door opening and watched as he shoveled fresh coal into the heavy metal structure that heated the entire building above them. It felt so good to finally be warm. Then she watched him throw in her purse, her ruined clothes, then her coat and shoes. Finally, he kissed her on her forehead and said quietly, Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for this sinner now at the hour of her death. He then picked her up as she struggled futilely against his arms knowing her fate. He threw her head first into the fire. The screaming only lasted 10 seconds as she breathed the heat into her lungs and her body caught fire from the oil he had used on her. He closed and locked the circular door, and when he finished he cleaned the table with a bleach substance, walked up the stairs, locked the basement door, and returned the sign to the front window.

Chapter 2

I da picked up the light green silk party dress with lace and netting on the bodice that had been dropped on the chair near her door and looked where it needed to be mended. There on the hem she noticed a torn piece of lace where Margaret had stepped on it with her matching slipper at her coming out ball the previous night. Since working two years for the Randolf family in their Chicago mansion she had perfected her sewing skills and could repair most anything that came into her hands. Laying the dress on the sewing table in her room, she found the exact color of thread she would need to repair the dress and picked a thin needle out of the bright red pin cushion that looked like a strawberry. She would repair it later; first she would go down to the kitchen to help serve breakfast. She could hear Mr. Randolf walking down the hallway from his suite of rooms accompanied by his valet, Jerome.