The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-11
%.HebF-MUENTER
A HUMAN ENIGMA
~ DEFYING SOLUTION
Morgan Assailant's History a
Many Linked Chain Of
ParadOXcs.
CLAIMED GOD GUIDED
HIS CRIMINAL ACTS

sste II Sii'lll dlIiIbrA 'ltiIflN tiilbNE b'ohS' |
..turned suddenly from his reading OF |
. tho positive Identification Of Frank Holt.
dynamiter and devoted husband, as
Erich Muenter, wife poisoner and long
. sought refugee from Justice, and spoke
. impulsivei with the enthusiasm of one
facts OF life.
-''Shat novelist" he asked. has ever
, ! fashioned q tale so amazing? Would
any writer Of fiction imperil his repu-
sfation for reasonableness by putting be-
tween the boards of a novel a story 80
vtunbelievably fantastic? My friend, | am
Beginning to believe that there is more
vmystery in the actual lives of human
Beings than is ever dreamed by our
'Atory ~teliefs."
a. h suggestion IL not new 1t is as
= old, In fact, AK the first chronicles OF
1 the goihgs and comings OF men and
wofsen'; as old as the first newspapers
as old as gossip, which after all was
me frst crude report OF the Interesting
o. unusual activities of real persons.
perhaps people have short
memories and DO not recall that ever
so often there appeared IN the
/ days news some set of facts that
! makes the Imagination of the fctionists
! pale and dull. This much may be
: granted. that seldom indeed has a more
! extraordinary story of double identity
. been revealed than the truth about
I the career OF the man who called himself
. Frank Holt for nine years after he fed
: ron Cambridge. Mass. where as Prof.
; Erich Muenter, instructor in German at
T, Harvard. he had murdered his wife.
Leona.
Wife slayer and Loving nd.
. What novelist. however daring. would
I have the temerity 10 Imagine that a
: doctor of philosophy, brilliant student
/. and indefatigable worker, would poison
, one wife and desert her children. all
I with the utmost callousness, and then
. become "A most affectionate and thought
full husband TO the wife found in his
. new identity and a loving father TO her
! children? What writer. however i'm
. aginstive and eager for new plots,
: would offend the probabilities by Great
: ing the character OF one who was scholar
, and poet. a character of gentle manners
, and thoughtful regard for fellow beings.
/, then trnnsmute this character into
"a cunning dynamiter intent upon MUIR
, der and destruction" What chronicler
, OF the unrealit!es would vehture TO sun
/. pose hat a criminal ardenuy songht1
/, by the police machinery OF a nation
, could not only evade detection. even sus-
, picion. but could completely reconstruct
, his life not upon new lines but upon
q. precisely the old lines and finally be
dragged from obscurity only by "A sue
cession OF sta-,xng. unthinkable crimes?
The theme II one that could be pur-
sued Unfortunately, since the career or
, Erich Muenter from first to last was
f, replete with episodes that are the red
meat Of melodrama the stun for which
+, the great cin~ematograph companies,
greedy for SENSATION. are ready to pay
/, huge sums. But consider, II you please,
one further suggestion. Has any writer.
/, living or dead, ever conceived such a
! situation as stood frankly exposed In
Afuenta-s last days? Here was this
. creature of mild bearing, OF gentle man
ners, OF excellent mind teminent pro-
fessors have praised his intellectual
gifts) who actually believed that he
I, could force his way into the home OF
, J. p. Morgan, drive Mr.. Morgan's wife
; and children before him to an upper
/. room of the house, hold them captiVes
. at the muzzle OF his revolver for days
and 90 compel Mr.. Morgan to leave home
I, "a free mani and put an end to the
. shipment of war supplies to the Allies.
Lunatic or Fanatic.
Was the man hopelessly crazy. from
. medical standpoint, or was he a
shrewd, far thinking fanatic, willing
f. and anxious tas many of his race have
seemed to bel to barter his life for some
vague advantage to a cause? That mat
I ter may never be settled. probably never
: will be. Certain arguments may sensi-
bly, be offered In proof or d.sproof OF
lunacy. Some hold that. none but a
all la.FA aAaAAtNAnI n M
ton so fantastic and impossible Of exc
cution as his plan to hold the Morgan
, family as hostages that his ins!stence
that God was directing him "a delu-
sion common enough among unbalanced
doers OF violence) was Indicative Of a
. broken mind.
: But many others, skilled in observa-
elon and the dissection Of me1's unusual
acts, hold firmly that Mueltcr-flOit was
as sane as the majority Of his fellow
beings that, in fact, he WAS "A close
rea soning. shrewd planning. immensely
! industrious person with a persistent bent
for criminality. They believe that his
Bent finally took the line of his racial
eympathies-a savage determination to
slay and destroy in aid Of his father
land, This interse puzzle, the problem
of his sanity and motives, might have
, been solved had not the carelessness of
his Jail keepers permitted him to die by
his own hand at tho time he was most
needed by the police.
Perhaps little can be done now save
to review his career from the time he
was born forty-four years ago. IN
! the LITTLE town Of Telzen, Germany,
until he killed himself on the night of
July 9. 1918, in the Nassau county Jail
at Mneola, l.. |, In this rcan were
! combined such attributes OF practical
ability and mystic nonsense as nstound
students Of tho human mind, In this
man were urLted cruelty n kir
thoughttulncss. brutality and loving 81
fcctlon, straightforward openness and
sInuovs secrecy. The murdescr Of one
wife became the very pattern Of "A hus-
band 10 another. In Ithaca two years
ago he was willing to risk "A beating
at the hands o. n ~truckInan twice his
size who wac misIroRtinE a horse, Al
! Glen Cove a fow lays ago he would
have slain Mr.. Morgan and Mr.. Nor
gan's :ansiy, shot them in cold blood,
had his plan 10. collapsed.
Murnter BECOMES Holt.
A study OF this mans singular
career must fall naturally into two
parts. and this enforced division Is one
of tho g]reh'rst proofs that Muentei
was Holt; Holt, Muanter. Nothing is
known Of MuentcrS movements after
1906 Nothing Is Known % Hollis lifc
previous to 1906, In that year, 1t must