It was near the end of 1884.   In three and a half years, London would be terrorized by the fiend known as Jack the Ripper.  Seven years after that, H.H. Holmes would be tried in Philadelphia for a murder that blew the lid off his extensive series of killings and frauds.  Both would be dubbed as unique in the annals of crime, the Ripper as the "World's First Serial Killer," and Holmes as America's first.  Yet in both cases, that distinction would be