登陆注册
5152700000026

第26章 THE ENEMY OF ALL THE WORLD(7)

It was a frightful catastrophe, and a shiver of horror passed through the land. But it was nothing to what was to follow. In the late fall of that year Emil Gluck made a clean sweep of the Atlantic seaboard from Maine to Florida. Nothing escaped. Forts, mines, coast defences of all sorts, torpedo stations, magazines - everything went up. Three months afterward, in midwinter, he smote the north shore of the Mediterranean from Gibraltar to Greece in the same stupefying manner. A wail went up from the nations. It was clear that human agency was behind all this destruction, and it was equally clear, through Emil Gluck's impartiality, that the destruction was not the work of any particular nation. One thing was patent, namely, that whoever was the human behind it all, that human was a menace to the world. No nation was safe.There was no defenceagainst this unknown and all-powerful foe. Warfare was futile - nay, not merely futile but itself the very essence of the peril. For a twelve-month the manufacture of powder ceased, and all soldiers and sailors were withdrawn from all fortifications and war vessels. And even a world- disarmament was seriously considered at the Convention of the Powers, held at The Hague at that time.

And then Silas Bannerman, a secret service agent of the United States, leaped into world-fame by arresting Emil Gluck. At first Bannerman was laughed at, but he had prepared his case well, and in a few weeks the most sceptical were convinced of Emil Gluck's guilt. The one thing, however, that Silas Bannerman never succeeded in explaining, even to his own satisfaction, was how first he came to connect Gluck with the atrocious crimes. It is true, Bannerman was in Vallejo, on secret government business, at the time of the destruction of Mare Island; and it is true that on the streets of Vallejo Emil Gluck was pointed out to him as a queer crank; but no impression was made at the time. It was not until afterward, when on a vacation in the Rocky Mountains and when reading the first published reports of the destruction along the Atlantic Coast, that suddenly Bannerman thought of Emil Gluck. And on the instant there flashed into his mind the connection between Gluck and the destruction. It was only an hypothesis, but it was sufficient. The great thing was the conception of the hypothesis, in itself an act of unconscious cerebration - a thing as unaccountable as the flashing, for instance, into Newton's mind of the principle of gravitation.

The rest was easy. Where was Gluck at the time of the destruction along the Atlantic sea-board? was the question that formed in Bannerman's mind. By his own request he was put upon the case. In no time he ascertained that Gluck had himself been up and down the Atlantic Coast in the late fall of 1940. Also he ascertained that Gluck had been in New York City during the epidemic of the shooting of police officers. Where was Gluck now? was Bannerman's next query. And, as if in answer, came the wholesale destruction along the Mediterranean. Gluck had sailed for Europe a month before - Bannerman knew that. It was not necessary for Bannerman to go to Europe. By means of cable messagesand the co-operation of the European secret services, he traced Gluck's course along the Mediterranean and found that in every instance it coincided with the blowing up of coast defences and ships. Also, he learned that Gluck had just sailed on the Green Star liner Plutonic for the United States.

The case was complete in Bannerman's mind, though in the interval of waiting he worked up the details. In this he was ably assisted by George Brown, an operator employed by the Wood's System of Wireless Telegraphy. When the Plutonic arrived off Sandy Hook she was boarded by Bannerman from a Government tug, and Emil Gluck was made a prisoner. The trial and the confession followed. In the confession Gluck professed regret only for one thing, namely, that he had taken his time. As he said, had he dreamed that he was ever to be discovered he would have worked more rapidly and accomplished a thousand times the destruction he did. His secret died with him, though it is now known that the French Government managed to get access to him and offered him a billion francs for his invention wherewith he was able to direct and closely to confine electric discharges. "What!" was Gluck's reply - "to sell to you that which would enable you to enslave and maltreat suffering Humanity?" And though the war departments of the nations have continued to experiment in their secret laboratories, they have so far failed to light upon the slightest trace of the secret. Emil Gluck was executed on December 4, 1941, and so died, at the age of forty-six, one of the world's most unfortunate geniuses, a man of tremendous intellect, but whose mighty powers, instead of making toward good, were so twisted and warped that he became the most amazing of criminals.

- Culled from Mr. A. G. Burnside's "Eccentricitics of Crime," by kind permission of the publishers, Messrs. Holiday and Whitsund.

同类推荐
  • In a Hollow of the Hills

    In a Hollow of the Hills

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 诗人主客图

    诗人主客图

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 意拳拳谱

    意拳拳谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Kentons

    The Kentons

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 新增才子九云记

    新增才子九云记

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 邪王的逆妃

    邪王的逆妃

    失去她后,才明白。原来爱从来不会等人……至此经年,他无数次改变身份,容貌。只希望记忆中的姑娘能回头再看看他!即便会失去记忆,却依旧能第一时间爱上她。后来的后来,他才知道。原来,最远的距离不是爱与不爱。而是,他明明深爱,她却早已葬掉了曾今的相爱!
  • 沐萧

    沐萧

    心悦君兮难相守,一语成谶使人愁。他说,什么白蛇宿命,注定相克,若是相爱,纵使万劫不复也决不在意。她说,今生所爱惟君一人。若是相守终会伤你,情愿与你为敌,换你一生无虞。
  • 告密者札记

    告密者札记

    我向你声明,我所记下的是一个真实的故事。它来自于德国、法国的解密档案,君特·格拉斯、让·热内、托马斯·曼、卡尔·格式塔夫·荣格等人的著作,以及当时的有关报纸和某些学者的文字。我希望能和你之间建立某种关于“真实”的契约。建立起对真实的起码信任。当然,出于我的游戏天性或者其他,这篇文字里多多少少会带有点儿臆想、虚构的成分。我向你保证它会很少很少,会掌握在一个可控的范围之内。
  • The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail

    The Patrol of the Sun Dance Trail

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 她很高冷

    她很高冷

    桦靊中学,有两个人悄悄的恋爱了同学们暗戳戳的说着:“哼,小白脸,不要脸”少年笑颜如花,纯净的笑脸吐出气死人的话:“呀,你们在嫉妒”同学们抽搐着嘴角:“怎么以前没发现你这么嘚瑟”少年笑容不变:“有吗?也对,毕竟你们没有体会过被女朋友护着的感觉”同学们一咬牙,冷笑:“那你知不知道,听说枭芷还有个前男友”少年眼底的阴翳一闪而过,笑容不变:“被淘汰的东西而已,我需要在意?”同学们相视一笑,眼中闪过狗粮吃撑了他们要搞事情的光芒:“哦~那你知不知道,枭芷正在准备行李,飞去见她那前男友呢?”果不其然,少年脸色一变,待他们出声想要嘲笑的时候,少年已经不见了夜里少年倾身而下,轻轻拥搂着少女:“阿芷,你不乖啊”少女抬起头:“怎么了?”“阿芷,你怎么这么不乖呢”少年亲昵的蹭了蹭少女的秀发,低哑微戾的笑声在枭芷敏感的耳边研磨,少女抖了抖:“你怎么了?”少女微微仰起头,对上少年猩红的眼睛枭芷永远忘不了那一天,被猩红着眼睛的少年捂着嘴巴,看那人吻他自己手背,眼里疯狂迷恋,薄唇却直制的发颤。这世上再无一人,爱我如你般奋不顾身第一次看到你,上帝在我耳边悄悄的说了四个字——在劫难逃。
  • 无限制旅者

    无限制旅者

    茫茫旅途,忘记了过去,看不到未来。只知道,我于路上,寻觅零件,一个成为真正意义上的“人”该有的零件。“我”于路上,探求答案,一个机器抑或兵器无法理解的答案。仅此,而已。
  • 古玩店连环案

    古玩店连环案

    清道光十年夏日里的一天深夜,辽西小城临溟(今辽宁盘锦)被笼罩在疾风骤雨之中。已是夤夜时分,县城正街老字号古玩店裕星斋的后院里突然传出一个女人撕心裂肺的哭嚎声:“老爷,狠心的,你走了,撇下我们孤儿寡母,让我们以后可怎么活呀!”这哭嚎的女人不是别人,正是裕福星老板刘凤桐的夫人,绰号“赛虞姬”的范十一娘。提起裕福星的老板刘凤桐,在当时的临溟县可是个举足轻重的人物。刘凤桐的祖父刘益三是乾隆、嘉庆年间翰林院的编修,曾参与主编《四库全书》,才高八斗,学富五车,后来患绝症病死在京城。
  • 仙途

    仙途

    家族覆灭,跌落神坛。但,这又如何?五行废体,难以修行。但,那又怎样?迷雾终将揭开,谎言终会拆穿。看少年杨凡如何从五行废体,挣扎中走上至高无上仙途。
  • 重生霸宠:摄政王爷太凶猛

    重生霸宠:摄政王爷太凶猛

    “公主不好了,摄政王将您看了一眼的小书生配给城西屠夫的女儿了!”某公主咬牙,“没关系……我还有男宠!”“公主不好了!摄政王将您的男宠都卖去勾栏院了!”某公主痛心疾首,“没事……我马上嫁人了,还有驸马!”“公主不好了!!”怎么,驸马也挂了?!”来人惊恐,“驸马爷被锁在了家里,门前十里红妆,身穿喜服来娶你的人,是摄政王!”某公主惊呆!乖乖,这日子简直没法过了!一句话简介,这是一个倒霉穿越女重生回来抱大腿,养大BOSS却被BOSS吃掉的忧伤故事。妥妥的亲妈文!情节虚构,请勿模仿
  • 元始天尊说梓童帝君应验经

    元始天尊说梓童帝君应验经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。