Why did Julian Carlton killed Mamah Borthwick mistress of Frank Lloyd Wright?

Answer 1

Julian sensed that he was out of favor with Mamah when he compared himself with the other workers. He thought he toiled as much as the others but did not receive anywhere near the respect from the Wrights or his fellow-workers. In his twisted mind he planned the massacre and his escape for the next occasion when anyone of the workers gave him a hard time. It was premeditated without question down to the details of separating all of the victims, arranging the fire accelerant (gasoline) to be nearby along with how to introduce it into the room, choosing an instrument (a hand axe) that he believed would cause certain death if there were any survivors from the fire, thinking through where he could hide out of site (in the furnace) until after the fire was put out ... and finally the means to end his own life if he was detected (injesting acid). This is the sort of crime that is deeply personal and therefore we can believe his common-law wife was completely ignorant of his intent.

I do not think killing Mamah and her children was in his original plan, but when it became apparent to him that they witnessed his carnage he felt compelled to dispatch them; thus, he believed that there were no living witnesses and when confronted with eyewitness testimony he opted to be silent until he could devise a method of escape or suicide (starvation was his choice). His wife was interviewed, subsequently released and disappeared in Chicago.

I have already visited Taliesin West in Scottsdale so my bucket list includes a visit to Taliesin at Spring Green, Wisconsin.

Cliff43