Eric Muenter
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Eric Muenter (March 25, 1871 – July 6, 1915), also known as Erich Münter, Erich Muenter, Erich Holt or Frank Holt, was a German-American activist and would-be
assassin Assassination is the murder of a prominent or VIP, important person, such as a head of state, head of government, politician, world leader, member of a royal family or CEO. The murder of a celebrity, activist, or artist, though they may not ha ...
. Although employed as a German professor at elite American universities, he was actually a spy and a "fanatic in the clandestine service of the Imperial German government." While an instructor at Harvard University, he poisoned and killed his pregnant wife. He appeared again as Cornell University professor Frank Holt who contacted the German spy network which undertook to sabotage US aid to the war in Europe against Germany. In 1915, he planted a bomb which exploded in the US Capitol, shot Jack Morgan, son of financier J. P. Morgan in his home, and predicted the bombing of a steamship bound for England before committing suicide while in police custody. His activities, and those of other Germans, were played up by the press as "Hun barbarity"; anti-German feelings rose in the years as America eventually entered the war with Germany.


Biography


Murder of wife

While teaching German at
Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...
in 1906 he poisoned his pregnant wife. Leona Muenter ( Krembs) died April 16, 1906 of arsenic poisoning. On April 27, 1906, Cambridge, Massachusetts police issued a warrant for the arrest of Erich Muenter. On June 5, 1906 Muenter mailed a pamphlet entitled "Protest" to his wife's family from New Orleans. He vowed that he would "annihilate" Chicago and Cambridge in one blow if he could for accusing him of poisoning his wife, and claimed that he actually feared the punishment inflicted on Christian Scientists who refused medical treatment. He fled before this was discovered, and spent the next decade in various places in the United States under assumed identities. He was a committed German nationalist and opposed the US policy of selling arms to
Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...
and
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
,
Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
's enemies in
World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
.


German saboteur

Muenter went underground in Mexico for a period, then emerged in Texas under a new identity and married a new wife. He got jobs in colleges, working his way up to the Ivy League as professor of German "Frank Holt" at
Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...
. In 1915, Muenter was inspired by the book ''The War and America'' by
Hugo Münsterberg Hugo Münsterberg (; June 1, 1863 – December 16, 1916) was a German-American psychologist. He was one of the pioneers in applied psychology, extending his research and theories to industrial/organizational (I/O), legal, medical, clinical, edu ...
, another German sympathizer. He became involved with the German spy group Abteilung IIIb, which planted time-bombs on vessels carrying arms for the Allies from US ports. German intelligence was later alleged to have supported his attacks, but Muenter maintained he was just an angry peace activist acting on his own. Muenter clearly had connections to the German network and taunted authorities with veiled statements about Abteilung IIIB's ship sabotage efforts.


1915 United States Capitol bomb attack

On July 2, 1915, Muenter hid a package containing three sticks of
dynamite Dynamite is an explosive made of nitroglycerin, sorbents (such as powdered shells or clay), and Stabilizer (chemistry), stabilizers. It was invented by the Swedish people, Swedish chemist and engineer Alfred Nobel in Geesthacht, Northern Germa ...
with a timing mechanism set for nearly midnight under a telephone switchboard in the
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
reception room in the
United States Capitol The United States Capitol, often called The Capitol or the Capitol Building, is the seat of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, which is formally known as the United States Congress. It is located on Capitol Hill ...
,
Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...
His original target had been the Senate chamber, which he found locked. The bomb exploded at approximately 11:40 PM resulting in no casualties. Muenter wrote a letter to ''
The Washington Star ''The Washington Star'', previously known as the ''Washington Star-News'' and the Washington ''Evening Star'', was a daily afternoon newspaper published in Washington, D.C., between 1852 and 1981. The Sunday edition was known as the ''Sunday Star ...
'' under a
pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...
R. Pearce, explaining his actions, which was published after the bombing. He said that he hoped the explosion would "make enough noise to be heard above the voices that clamor for war. This explosion is an exclamation point in my appeal for peace."


SS ''Minnehaha'' steamship bomb attack

After setting off the bomb in the Capitol, he fled to New York City, where he hid a pencil bomb timed explosive on SS ''Minnehaha'', a ship loaded with munitions bound for Britain.


Shooting of J. P. Morgan Jr.

Under the alias of Frank Holt, Muenter took a train and a cab to the East Island,
Glen Cove, New York Glen Cove is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City, city in Nassau County, New York, United States, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island. At the 2020 United States Census, the city population was 28,365 as of th ...
estate of J. P. Morgan on July 3, 1915. The millionaire financier Morgan had helped Britain finance its war effort against Germany. He carried a small suitcase with newspaper clippings against arms shipments, and a few sticks of dynamite, while in his coat he carried two revolvers and another stick of dynamite. Muenter rang the front door bell. When the butler opened the door, Muenter presented a business card and demanded to see Mr. Morgan. When the butler balked after he would not state his business, Muenter pulled out both revolvers, and ran into the house looking for Morgan. When he encountered children, he pointed a pistol at them and had them follow. On the staircase he shouted "Now, Mr. Morgan, I have you!" as Mrs Morgan tried to block the path to her husband, but Morgan lunged at his attacker and tackled Muenter to the ground as he fired two rounds into Morgan's groin and thigh. Having pinned Muenter to the ground, Morgan twisted one revolver out of Muenter's hand as his wife and others grabbed the other. Muenter was heard to cry "Kill me! Kill me now! I don't want to live any more. I have been in a perfect hell for the last six months on account of the European war." Morgan's butler finished subduing Muenter, beating him senseless with a lump of coal. Morgan recovered quickly, returning to work on August 14. Muenter refused to identify himself to police, saying only that he was a Christian gentleman who wanted to persuade Morgan to end the war.Harrisburg telegraph., July 03, 1915
/ref> However, a tip was soon received pointing out a resemblance between "Holt" and Muenter, who was still wanted in Cambridge for the poisoning of his wife. Harvard official Charles Apted, who had lived near Muenter in Cambridge, was dispatched to New York, where he identified Muenter, In his jacket he had written down the names of Morgan's four children, and a clipped cartoon of Lady Liberty pointing to a crate of fireworks, representing the European war, telling Uncle Sam that they are "dangerous fireworks". He also circled some sailings on a schedule for merchant vessels leaving New York. He told police that his original intention was to take Morgan's wife and children hostage to force Morgan to help stop munitions shipments to Europe, though on at least one occasion he admitted he also intended to assassinate Morgan. Authorities quickly connected him to the Capitol bombings and the wife poisoning case. A search of the suitcase found a handwritten letter addressed to "His Majesty the German Kaiser" similar to letters he mailed out at the time of the bombing of the Capitol signed "R. Pearce". The Morgan shooting made world headlines the next Sunday morning, the 4th of July.


Bomb-making materials

Captain Thomas J. Tunney, head of New York City Police Department's Bomb Squad, tricked Muenter into confessing details how he had made the timer for the Capitol bomb, but he would not tell all until July 7. Police tracked down a trunk Muenter had placed in storage in New York City. Inspector of Combustibles Owen Egan declared it "the greatest equipment for bomb making ever brought to New York" with 134 sticks of dynamite, blasting caps, coils of fuse, batteries, nitric acid, windproof matches, mercury fulminate, smokeless explosive powder. Three explosive tin can bombs had been recently completed.


Death

There is some dispute on how Muenter died on July 6, 1915. Muenter tried to kill himself on the night of July 5 by slashing his wrist but this failed to kill him. The next day a prison guard failed to lock his cell and when the guard stepped away, at 10:30, Muenter somehow found his way to the roof and jumped to his death. An investigation ruled the death a suicide. In
Howard Blum Howard Blum () (born 1948) is an American author and journalist. Formerly a reporter for ''The Village Voice'' and ''The New York Times'', Blum is a contributing editor at ''Vanity Fair'' and the author of several non-fiction books, including th ...
's ''In Dark Invasion'' he writes that New York's counterterrorism police at first believed that he was killed by an assassin sent to silence him with two bullets in the head. But the version they decided on was that Muenter ran out of a briefly opened door and jumped head-first onto the concrete floor of the jail corridor (this source says he fell to his death from ). The sound of his head hitting the concrete was so loud that it was initially thought he had smuggled a dynamite cap into the prison and set it off with his teeth.


Bombing after his death

Muenter's wife received a note from her husband warning that a ship bound for England would sink on the 7th of July. On that day, just two days after his suicide, the crew was warned but they could not find the bomb on the '' SS Minnehaha''. It exploded, but had been placed far away from the munitions and caused minor damage.


See also

* List of incidents of political violence in Washington, D.C.


References

* * * - Total pages: 336 * *


Further reading

* Dark Invasion: 1915: Germany's Secret War and the Hunt for the First Terrorist Cell in America by Howard Blum *
Ron Chernow Ronald Chernow (; born March 3, 1949) is an American writer, journalist and biographer. He has written bestselling historical non-fiction biographies. He won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Biography and the 2011 American History Book Prize for his ...
: ''The House of Morgan. An American Banking Dynasty and the Rise of Modern Finance''. Grove Press, 2001, * Thomas Joseph Tunney und Paul Merrick Hollister: '' Throttled! The Detection of the German and Anarchist Bomb Plotters''. Small, Maynard & Company, 1919 * Morris Bishop: ''A History of Cornell''. Cornell University Press, 1962, * ''The Harvard Graduates' Magazine''. Harvard Graduates' Magazine Association, 1934 * ''The New York Times Current History. The European War, Volume IV''. The New York Times Co., 1915


External links


United States Senate: Bomb Rocks Capitol

Newsday.com: His Calling Cards Were Guns
{{DEFAULTSORT:Muenter, Eric 1871 births 1915 suicides 1915 crimes in the United States Attacks on the United States Congress American spies for Imperial Germany Bombers (people) Cornell University faculty Failed assassins German emigrants to the United States Harvard University faculty Harvard University Department of German faculty Professors of German in the United States People from Uelzen Suicides in New York (state) Terrorist incidents in the United States in the 1910s World War I spies for Germany