There is nothing about Schrank which portrays the human fiend.
On the contrary, he is a very ordinary type. There are hundreds of thousands men of his very type, and who are peaceable citizens.
The only way that Schrank differs from other men is in mind. He undoubtedly is a degenerate possessing a depraved and diseased mind, but there is nothing in his physical make-up that would brand him as such.
Police Chief John T. Janssen, student of human nature, penetratingly studied and measured the man's features for hours during examinations, and arrived at the conclusion that the man was suffering from a condition of mind known as paranoia, pronounced the most dangerous form of insanity.
This mental disease makes a man a monomaniac. He is perfectly sane, except upon one subject, which controls him and pushes him forward, even in some cases, to murder.
In telling of his crime, there was nothing defiant about Schrank. He displayed no bravado. He told everything in a frank tone of voice—too frank, almost, as it raised the suspicion that probably Schrank was not a mad man.
There is nothing about him that would cause any passer-by to glance at Schrank twice. And his face is the most uninteresting part of him.
His face is fat and round—moon-shaped. His eyes are placed wide apart, but this effect is lost through ptosis, a species of paralysis of the eyelids, which gives the eyes a half closed appearance, and is responsible for the sleepy look in his face. It affects one eye more than the other and is responsible for that squint which has been designated as "a murderous squint" by sensationalists.
His nose is rather large and prominent. Continued application of the handkerchief has caused it to turn almost sharply to the left.
His weak mouth finishes off what would otherwise be a fairly good face. Cover mouth and chin and one will say that he has the strong face of the ordinary American workingman. His lips, for the most part, are closed, but in an irregular line, giving the idea that his jaws are hanging loosely.