CHAPTER XVI.. Finding of the Alienists.

FINDING OF THE ALIENISTS.

We find that John Schrank came to New York at the age of 12, and lived with his uncle and aunt as foster parents, who kept a saloon at 370 East Tenth street, New York City.

Before coming to this country he had 5 years of the public schools of his native village in Bavaria, and after arrival in this country his only schooling was such as he could obtain at night schools in New York during 3 or 4 years.

Up to this time no peculiarity had been observed in him, from any evidence available. We note the fact that he was most especially interested in history and government, as illustrated by political writings and by the Bible. He speaks frequently of his very great admiration for the character of George Washington.

At 15 or 16 years of age he became greatly interested in poetry. This perhaps corresponds to the period of development at which eccentricities are wont to appear.

He represents that in the saloon in which he worked he was chiefly engaged in supplying beer to residents of neighboring tenements; that there was no gambling or other immoral conduct practiced or encouraged in this business place. He went on for over 12 years as barkeeper. His uncle and aunt had during this time accumulated means for the purchase of a small tenement. At the death of the uncle and aunt in 1910 and 1911 the defendant came into possession of this property.

In the last year and a half has not been in any regular business or employment, and spent his time in long walks about New York and Brooklyn, during which he meditated upon poetical compositions, and political and historical questions, jotting down ideas upon loose slips of paper as they came to him, night or day, forming the basis of his poems. He spent his evenings in a saloon, retiring early. The average daily quantity of stimulants or beer taken by him was insufficient to produce intoxication. He also states that in 1902 and 1903, for a period of nearly 2 years, he drank no intoxicants at all.

He states that in 1901, between 1 and 2 o'clock in the morning of the day after President McKinley's death he experienced a vivid dream, in which he appeared to be in a room with many flowers and a casket, and saw a figure sit up in the casket, which he says was the form and figure of the assassinated President McKinley, who then pointed to a corner of the room, and said, "Avenge my death." He then looked where the finger pointed and saw a form clad in a Monkish garb, and recognized the form and face of this individual as the form and face of Theodore Roosevelt.

At the time this made a strong impression, but was not dwelt upon especially except in the light of later events.

Prior to the nomination of Colonel Roosevelt for the Presidency in the year 1912, he had felt great interest in the political campaign, and had read articles expressing great bitterness toward the idea of a third term, and toward Colonel Roosevelt personally in the newspapers of New York, and after the period when the nomination of Colonel Roosevelt began to be actively agitated, meditated more deeply upon these matters. He had always studied with the greatest interest the questions of free government, as illustrated by the Declaration of Independence, and Washington's Farewell Address. In this connection, the Monroe doctrine also assumed great importance in his mind, and the converse thereof, the duty of this nation to refrain from war of conquest; and out of these meditations grew what he elaborated into his declaration as to the unwritten laws, or "The Four Pillars of our Republic," namely (1) the Third Term Tradition, (2) the Monroe Doctrine, (3) that only a Protestant by creed can become president, (4) no wars of conquest. This document, hereunto annexed as Exhibit 1, fully sets forth his views on these subjects.

These "four unwritten laws" had assumed in his mind a character of sacredness. They were "sacred traditions" to be maintained at all hazards, and, as subsequently appeared, even the hazard of life.

The following are some quotations from this document:

"Tradition is an unwritten law."

"I would doubt the right of a court to have jurisdiction over a man who had defended tradition of his country against violation."

"The oldest of these traditions is the 'third term tradition,' it has never been violated and is an effective safeguard against unscrupulous ambition, but never before has been established a test case of its inviolability as a warning to coming adventurers."

"For the first time in American history we are confronted by a man to whom practically nothing is sacred, and he pretends to stand above tradition."

"Anybody who finances a Third Term Movement should be expatriated and his wealth confiscated."

"The dangers in this campaign are these, the third termer is sure that the nomination has been stolen, and that the country and the job belongs to him, therefore, if he gets honestly defeated in November he will again yell that the crooks of both parties have stolen the election and should he carry a solid West, he and the hungry office-seekers would not hesitate to take up arms to take by force what is denied him by the people, then we face a Civil War, * * * * * * and that he who wilfully invites war deserves death. We would then be compelled to wash out the sin of violating the Third Term with the blood of our sons. Yet this is not the gravest danger we are facing. We have allowed an adventurer to circumtravel the Union with military escort with the torch of revolution in his hands to burn down the very house we live in."

"Have we learned no lesson about a one man's rule experienced in France with such disastrous results as the end of the reign of Napoleon I and Napoleon III."

"Are we trying to establish here a system like our ancestors have done in Europe, which all revolutions of a thousand years could not abolish."

"Are we overthrowing our Republic, while the heroes of the French revolutions, and the martyrs of 1848 gladly gave their lives to establish Republican institutions."

"The abolition of the Third Term tradition is the abolition of the Monroe doctrine also."

"Hardly any revolution has started without pretending that their movement was progressive."

"The prudence of our forefathers has delivered to us an equally sacred unwritten law which reads that no president should embrace another creed than Protestant, if possible, a sect of the English Church. I am a Roman Catholic. I love my religion but I hate my church as long as the Roman parish is not independent from Rome, as long as Catholic priests are prevented from getting married, as long as Rome is still more engaged in politics and accumulation of money contrary to the teachings of the Lord. The Roman Catholic Church is not the religion for a president of the United States."

"The Fourth unwritten law, which is practically supplementary to the second, we find in George Washington's Farewell Address, where he advises us to live in peace with your neighbor. We have no right to start a war of conquest."

In his examination in this connection he stated as follows: "Four-fifths of the United States would take up arms to defend the Third Term tradition. Trying to get perpetual power and dictatorship would justify killing."

He also said he would be justified to the same extent, that is, by killing, a man who would seek the presidency and was a Roman Catholic; and also for a man who would start a war for conquest; and he thought also of the possibility of foreign powers to help Roosevelt possibly to annex the Panama Canal and break down the Monroe Doctrine. He said he believed the country would be facing a civil war if Roosevelt went on as he had done.

He gives as a reason for his present attack upon Roosevelt, that he did not wish to give him (Roosevelt) an opportunity to plead that no defense of the Third Term tradition had been made in 1912 should he aspire to another term in 1916. Asked as to how he reconciled his act with the commandment "Thou shalt not kill," he replied that, "religion is the fundamental law of human order, but to kill to try and do a good thing, and to avenge McKinley's murder, justifies the killing."

The proof of his position came to him in his dream and in his vision.

"Roosevelt's ambition and conduct proves to every man that he was back of McKinley's assassination in some way or other."

The defendant says that he prayed God to find a leader among men who would take this responsibility, and he expected all along someone else would do this thing, but no one did it, and as he was a single man of 36, without a family, and thought the deed was a good deed, and it made no difference to him, he was willing to sacrifice his life for that end, even if he were torn to pieces by the mob. He therefore concluded that it was his mission, and desired to make of this a test case.

He thinks the election returns corroborate the fact that the people have been awakened to the idea of no Third Term.

In the progress of the campaign, when the progressive movement had taken shape, and Colonel Roosevelt had been nominated as the head of a third party, and on August 7th, 1912, the dream which had come to him in 1901, as above related, began to assume more importance, and special significance in his mind. He felt extreme agitation on this subject continuously. On the morning of September 15th, 1912, the anniversary of the date of his dream in 1901, having retired as usual the night before with his manuscript by his bedside, he suddenly awakened between 1 and 2 A.M., with the completion of a poem entitled "Be a Man" uppermost in his mind.

We insert the poem at this point:

1. Be a man from early to late When you rise in the morning Till you go to bed Be a man.

2. Is your country in danger And you are called to defend Where the battle is hottest And death be the end Face it and be a man.

3. When you fail in business And your honor is at stake When you bury all your dearest And your heart would break Face it and be a man.

4. But when night draws near And you hear a knock And a voice should whisper your Time is up; Refuse to answer As long as you can Then face it and be a man.

He found his ideas were taking shape, and getting up he sat writing, when he suddenly became aware of a voice speaking in a low and sad tone, "Let no murderer occupy the presidential chair for a third term. Avenge my death!" He felt a light touch upon his left shoulder, and turning, saw the face of former President McKinley. It bore a ghostlike aspect. This experience had a decisive effect in fixing in his mind the iniquity of the third term, and from this time he questioned as to his duty in the matter, and he finally regarded this vision and its connection with the exact anniversary of the dream as a command to kill Roosevelt, and as an inspiration. When asked by us whether he considered this as imagination or as inspiration and a command from God, while showing some reluctance to claim the vision as an inspiration, he finally answered decisively that he did.

When asked whether a man had a right to take a weapon and hunt down a man who had violated tradition, he submitted his written statement in reply, which is hereto annexed as Exhibit 2, some quotations from which are as follows:

"I should say where self-sacrifice begins the power of law comes to an end, and if I knew that my death during my act would have this tradition more sacred I would be sorry that my life was spared so convinced am I of my right to act as I did that if I were ever a free man again I would at once create an Order of Tradition."

"I presume you men would declare Joan d'Arc, the Maid of Orleans insane because the Holy Virgin appeared to her in a vision."

"When we read that God had appeared to Moses in the shape of a burning thorn bush, then again as a cloud, we will find many people who doubt the appearance of God to man in human or other shape."

"Why then in cases of dire national needs should not the God appear to one of us in vision."

The defendant states that at no time and under no circumstances did he communicate to anyone his intention. In fact, he kept it as an inviolable secret and took measures to throw off the scent persons who might inquire about his leaving New York. The defendant stated in this connection that he did not wish to commit the act in New York, as it would then be claimed that he had been "hired by Wall Street" and in that way the real purpose of the act would be obscured.