Something To Read About

William McKinley was elected President of the United States in 1896. He began his Presidency on March 4, 1897. He had been a Republican representative in the House of Representatives from 1877 to 1890, the year he lost his seat to Jonathan H. Wallace after he authored the McKinley Tariff. McKinley also had experience as a lawyer and Union soldier.

William McKinley was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York on September 6, 1901, the day he would be shot by Leon Czolgosz. McKinley was attending the World Fair in the Temple of Music, a building that was torn down less than two months after the event occurred.

Czolgosz was in line, slowly moving toward the President, for from four to five minutes. Behind him was a tightly-packed crowd which blocked retreat. On all side were alert guards, likely to detect the diabolical intention at any moment. A few steps away was the President—coming nearer, nearer—and there was to be the test of his resolution, there awaited success and death, or failure and disgrace…Edgar Allan Poe pictures the frozen horror of the victim of the swinging pendulum, who lay in chains and watched the knife approach his throat steadily lessening inches; but neither, as a nerve test, could be more excruciating than the assassin’s wait.” (Barry 20)

The President was shot twice at 4:07 pm on September 6th at the fair in Buffalo, New York. One of the bullets was removed but the second was still lodged inside of McKinley. The X-Ray machine was displayed at the fair, but at the time, was only thought to be a novelty item not something that may have saved the McKinley’s life. The operating table in the Emergency Hospital at the fair did not even have electrical lighting. A pan was used to reflect light onto the President’s wounds. It was thought that the President might get better but he went into shock.

On September 14, 1901 McKinley at 2:15am, died from his wound. McKinley was buried in Canton, Ohio. The man to replace McKinley was Theodore Roosevelt, one of the most popular American leaders of all time.

Czolgosz, McKinley’s assassin, had a trial on September 23rd. The trial lasted a total of 8 hours and 26 minutes from jury selection to verdict. Leon Czolgosz was electrocuted on October 29, 1901 and at his burial sulfuric acid was thrown in the coffin so that his body would dissolve within 24 hours. The gun that Czolgosz shot the President with, and bought for $4.50, is on display at the Pan-American Exposition Exhibit in Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo.

”McKinley was brilliant as a statesman and uniformly wise as a ruler. But it can be said with deliberate judgement that the most striking feature of his whole life was his warm, genial and generous nature. The last word can never be said, wrote a well-known writer, of such a man. To know William McKinley was to love him.” (Corning 3)

Barry, Richard H. The True Story of the Assassination of President McKinley at Buffalo. Robert Allan Reid; Buffalo, 1901.

Corning, A Elwood. William McKinley: A Biographical Study. New York: Broadway Publishing Company Co., 1907.