Daniel Burnham, one of the drafters of the Columbian Exposition, had the belief that even though he did not have a very successful, or pleasing, academic and work background he would one day be successful at something if he could just set his mind to it and enjoy whatever it was. “He sought work in a field where he might be successful and took a job as a draftsman with the architectural firm of Loring & Jenney, (pg. 19 Larson).” Another example of Burnham wanting to continue becoming more successful was when he was building the mansion for John B. Sherman and was talking to Louis Sullivan. “He told Sullivan, in confidence, that he did not expect to remain satisfied doing just houses. “My idea,” he said , “is to work up a big business, handle big things, deal with big businessmen, and to build up a big organization, for you can’t handle big things unless you have an organization, (pg. 21 Larson)'”. Burnham did just that too as he and Root were the main drafters of the fair’s architectural features and he worked with big businessmen. He himself was the business genius of the company.

John Root, another drafter of the Columbian Exposition, had the value of aesthetics/beauty of design. He was born with this gift and Burnham always admired and pointed out that Root was the artistic genius of the firm and that he didn’t have any intentions of knowing or pursuing anything on the business side. “Burnham understood that Root was the firm’s artistic engine. He believed Root possessed a genius for envisioning a structure quickly, in it’s entirety… At the same time he knew Root had little interest in the business side of architecture and in sowing the relationships at the Chicago Club and Union League that eventually led to commissions… Root played the organ every Sunday morning at the First Presbyterian Church. He wrote Opera critiques for the Chicago Tribune. He read broadly in philosophy, science, art, and religion and was known throughout Chicago’s upper echelon for his ability to converse on almost any subject and to do so with great wit (pgs. 26-27 Larson)”. Root loved music, played music, he could see the buildings that he wanted to create in his head, he was very well self-educated in almost every subject, and had many artistic traits.

Dr. H.H. Holmes, the story’s antagonist, had fear and terror as a young boy when some of the older boys drug him into a doctor’s room with a skeleton in it, because they knew he was afraid of it. The boys thought that he would be extremely frightened, but in fact the opposite happened, he was thoroughly enthused and attracted to the skeleton and became very curious about it. “‘It was a wicked and dangerous thing to do to a child of tender years and health,’  he wrote, ‘but it proved an heroic method of treatment, destined ultimately to cure me of my fears, and to inculcate in me, first, a strong feeling of curiosity, and, later, a desire to learn, which resulted years afterwards in my adopting medicine as a profession’ (pg 39 Larson)”. This memory of how fear of skeletons turned into curiosity of the skeleton and human body, which later became his unhealthy obsession of dealing with bodies of people that he had murdered.