The Pulaskian., 1915-02-12

It was Silas Zimmerman who finally ran down that scientific wizard and arch-enemy of mankind, Emil Gluck Glucks confession, before he went to the electric chair, threw much light upon the series of mysterious events, many apparently unrelated, that so perturbed the world between the years 1883 and 1941.
 While the deeds of Emil Gluck were all that was abominable, we cannot but feel, to a certain extent, pity for the unfortunate, malformed and mal- treated genius. This side of his story has never been told before, and from his confession and from the great mass of evidence and the documents and records of the time we are able to construct fairly accurate portrait of him, and to discern the factors and pressures that nodded him into the human monster he became and that drove him onward along the fearful path he trod.
 Emil Gluck was born in Syracuse, N. r., in 1895. His father, Josephus Gluck, was a special policeman and night watchman who, in the year 1900, died suddenly of pneumonia. The mother, a pretty, fragile creature, who before her marriage had been milli- ner, grieved herself to death over the loss of her husband. This sensitive ness of the mother was the heritage that in the boy became morbid and horrible.
 In 1901 the boy, Emil, then six years of age, went to live with his aunt, Mrs. Ann Bartell She was a vain, shallow and heartless woman Tn her breast was no kindly feeling for the sensitive, shrinking boy. Also, she was cursed with poverty and burdened with a husband who was lazy, cratic ne'er-do-well. Young Emil Gluck was not wanted and Ann Bartell could be trusted to impress this fact sufficient ly upon him. As an illustration of the treatment he received in that early, formative period, the following in- stance is given:
 When he had been living in the BarteIl home little more than a year, he broke his leg. He sustained the injury through playing on the for bidden roof-as all boys have done and will continue to do to the end of time. The leg was broken in two places between the knee and thigh. Emil, helped by his frightened play mates, managed to drag himself to the front sidewalk, where he tainted. The children of the neighborhood were afraid of the hard-featured shrew who presided over the BartelI house; but. summoning their resolution, they rang the bell and told Ann Bartel of the accident. She did not even look at the little lad who lay stricken on the sidewalk, but slammed the door and went back to her washtub The time passed. A drizzle came on and Emil Gluck, out of his faint, lay sob ping in the rain. The leg should have been set immediately As it was, the inflammation rose rapidly and made nasty case of it. At the end of two hours the indignant women of the neighborhood protested to Ann Bar tell. This time she came out and looked at the lad as he lay helpless at her feet. Also she historically dis owned him.
 It was woman, Elizabeth Shep- stone, who came along, learned of the situation and had the boy placed on shutter. It was she who called the doctor and who, brushing aside Anr Bartell, had the boy carried into the house. When the doctor arrived Ann Bartell promptly warned him that she would not pay him for his services. For two months little Emil lay in bed, the first month on his back without once being turned over; and he lay neglected and alone, save for the oe- casional visits of the unremunerated and overworked physician.
 It would seem strange that from the hands of Ann Bartell Emil Gluck should have received a college educa- tion; but the explanation is simple. Her ne'erdo-well husband, deserting her, made strike in the Nevada gold fields and returned to her a many times millionaire. Ann Bartell hated the boy and immediately she sent him to the Farristown academy, hundred miles away. Shy and sensitive, lone ly and misunderstood little soul, he was more lonely than ever at Farris- town.
 He was remarkable student. Ap- plication such as his would have taken him far; but he did not need applica- tion. A glance at the text meant mas tery for him. The result was that he did an immense amount of collateral reading and acquired more in half year than did the average student in half dozen years. In 1909, barely fourteen years of age, he was ready more than ready" the headmaster of