18歲時結婚,妻子名叫克拉拉·洛芙琳(Clara Lovering),並就讀佛蒙特大學。他不喜歡這所大學,一年後輟學。1882年他又就讀密歇根大學醫學和外科醫學系[6],1884年畢業。[7]
由於遭受家暴,洛芙琳在1884年(福爾摩斯畢業前不久)離開了他獨自回到新罕布什爾州,後來也不再與其來往[8]。福爾摩斯則移居紐約州穆爾斯。他與小鎮上一名男童的失蹤有所牽連,但並未遭到警方調查,而他不久就搬往費城。他在諾里斯頓州立醫院(Norristown State Hospital)做了幾天門房,後來又去一家藥店工作。在藥店工作期間,一名男童因誤用藥物而死,他否認涉事,但馬上就離開了費城。在來到芝加哥之後,可能是為了避免被查到可疑的過去,他將姓改成了福爾摩斯[9]。
福爾摩斯在1886年8月抵達芝加哥之後在伊麗莎白·S·霍頓(Elizabeth S. Holton,密歇根大學校友)的藥店(南華萊士大道和西第63街交叉口)工作[14],他工作很努力,最終買下了這家藥店。一些書籍說霍頓和她的丈夫不久之後就失蹤了,但實際上二人直到20世紀初還一直生活在芝加哥[2]。
福爾摩斯在藥店對面又買了塊地,1887年開始建造一個二層小樓,二層用作公寓,一層還是一個藥鋪。他沒有如約付給建築公司(Aetna Iron and Steel)工錢,該公司在1888年將他告上法院[2]。1892年芝加哥哥倫布紀念博覽會即將舉辦之際,他在二層小樓上又加了一層,聲稱要用作旅館,但實際上這座旅館從未完工。家具供應商曾發現福爾摩斯偷走了他們部分原料並藏在了密室中。很多房間內擁有暗道,直通地下室。家具供應商將此事向媒體曝光,最後投資人也撤資。福爾摩斯被捕不久它便被人縱火焚毀,但翻修之後用作了郵局,直到1938年完全拆除。[15]
^New Hampshire Registrar of Vital Statistics. "Index to births, early to 1900", Registrar of Vital Statistics, Concord, New Hampshire. FHL Microfilms: film number 1001018
^ 6.06.1Glenn, Alan. A double dose of the macabre. Michigan Today (Ann Arbor: Regents of the University of Michigan). October 22, 2013 [June 8, 2016]. (原始内容存档于2016-06-21).
^"Colorado Statewide Marriage Index, 1853–2006", index and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/KNQH-NNX (页面存档备份,存于互联网档案馆) : accessed December 16, 2014), Henry M Howard and Georgiana Yoke, January 17, 1894, Denver, Colorado, United States; citing p. 16256, State Archives, Denver; FHL microfilm 1,690,090 .
^ 16.016.1Crighton, JD. Detective in the White City: The Real Story of Frank Geyer. Murrieta, CA: RW Publishing House. 2017: 136–208. ISBN 978-1-946100-02-3.
^ 18.018.1Ramsland. H. H. Holmes: Master of Illusion. Crime Library. [February 23, 2013]. (原始内容存档于2013-05-21). On May 7, 1896, H. H. Holmes went to the hangman's noose. His last meal was boiled eggs, dry toast and coffee. Even at the noose, he changed his story. He claimed to have killed only two people, and tried to say more, but at 10:13 a.m., the trapdoor opened and he was hanged. Blundell stated that it took 15 minutes for Holmes to strangle to death on the gallows.
^Holmes Cool to the End. The New York Times. May 9, 1896 [2019-09-11]. (原始内容存档于2016-03-04). Under the Noose He Says He Only Killed Two Women. He denies the Murder of Pitezel. Slept Soundly Through His Last Night on Earth and Was Calm on the Scaffold. Priests with him on the Gallows. Prayed with Him Before the Trap Was Sprung. Dead in Fifteen Minutes, but Neck Was Not Broken. Murderer Herman Mudgett, alias H. H. Holmes, was hanged this morning in the County Prison for the killing of Pitezel. The drop fell at 10:12 o'clock, and twenty minutes later he was pronounced dead.
^Robert Bloch. AMERICAN GOTHIC. Kirkus Reviews. [October 16, 2015]. (原始内容存档于2016-03-04).