Sunday, September 13, 2015

Heroes and Devils

One of the cool things about practicing law at a firm that is 130+ years old is that it seems I'm always hearing new bits of our firm's history.  

A recent example is an article in the August 24-30 issue of Fort Worth Business about H.H. Holmes, America's first serial killer.  Mr. Holmes and his murder spree at the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago was the subject of the best selling book by Erik Larson titled "Devil in the White City."  

According to the article, the co-founder of Cantey Hanger LLP (originally Capps & Cantey), Willam Capps, represented three of Mr. Holmes's victims, and Mr. Capps's investigation of their mysterious deaths was a factor in Mr. Holmes choosing to depart from Fort Worth before completing construction of the "murder manor" Mr. Holmes was building in downtown Fort Worth near the present-day Mercury Chop House. Mr. Holmes used a similar "Murder Castle" that he built in Chicago as the venue to torture and kill many of his victims.

Hence, our firms intrepid founder's investigation may well have saved the lives of many Cowtown residents by hastening Mr. Holmes's exit from town before the murder manor could be completed and placed into operation. Well done, Mr. Capps, well done.

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