On September 14, 1901, President William McKinley succumbs
to gunshot wounds inflicted by an assassin on September 6th. According to
witnesses, McKinley's last words were those of the hymn "Nearer My God to
Thee." McKinley was shaking hands in reception line at the Pan-American
Exhibition in Buffalo, New York, when a 28-year-old anarchist named Leon
Czolgosz approached him with a gun concealed in a handkerchief in his right
hand.
McKinley assumed the handkerchief was an attempt by Czolgosz
to hide a physical defect and kindly reached for the man's left hand. Czolgosz
moved in close to the president and fired two shots into McKinley's chest. The
assassin was attempting to fire a third bullet into the stricken president when
aides wrestled him to the ground. McKinley suffered one superficial wound to
the sternum and another bullet dangerously entered his abdomen. He was rushed
into surgery and seemed to be on the mend by September 12th, but later
that day, his condition worsened. On September 14th, McKinley died from
gangrene that had remained undetected in the internal wound. Vice President
Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as president immediately following McKinley's
death. Czolgosz confessed to his crime, but remained unrepentant. At his
execution on October 29, 1901, his last words were "I killed the president
because he was the enemy of the good people, the working people."
Michael Thomas Barry
is a columnist for CrimeMagazine.com and author of Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes
that Shocked Early California 1849-1949. The book can be purchased from
Amazon through the following link:
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