Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 September 1901 — DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

DEATH OF THE PRESIDENT

Bullet Fired by Czolgosz Completes Its Foul Mission .

“ GOD'S WILL -BE VO/lE, ffOT OX/HS” HIS LAST WOWS.

The Entire World Mourns the Fate of the Victim of an Anarchist. After every resource was exhausted for over twenty-four hours, after the sinking spell early on Friday morning, death came to William McKinley, the twenty-fifth president of the United States, at 2:15 o’clock Saturday morning at the Milburn residence, Buffalo, N. Y.

For many hours the President’s hold on life was so slight that the work of the surgeons was confined to watching the flickering spark without attempting to fan it into life artificially, Hope Abandoned at Midnight. Practically all medicines and oxygen treatments were abandoned a considerable time before midnight All hope was abandoned then, and the only thing left to do was to wait for the worn out machinery to run down. Mrs. McKinley had been with the President twice during the early pant Of the evening. Just before the President lost consciousness Mrs. McKinley knelt at his side. He knew her and said: “Goodby all; good-by. It is God’s way; not our will, but Thine be done.” Loss of Consciousness. The life of President McKinley, which had been sustained with power-

ful drafts of oxygen, seemed to fade away soon after 10 o’clock, and consciousness was lost permanently. Around what was supposed to be the actual deathbed, besides the surgeons In the case, were Abner McKinley, Miss Helen McKinley, and Mrs. Duncan, the brother and sisters of the President They were hurriedly called to witness the passing of a brother and a President. Yet an hour seemed to be delayed from one brief moment to another. Members of Family Gathered. Down-stairs and in the hall were the other members of the family, Mrs. Abner McKinley, a sister-in-law; Miss Mary Barber, the President’s favorite niece; Mrs. McWilliams of Chicago, a cousin; Lieutenant James McKinley, a nephew; John Barber, a nephew; Mrs. Baer, a niece; with Mr. Baer, and Secretaries Root, Wilson, and Hitchcock, and Attorney General Knox. The latter, with Secretary Long, had arrived only a few minutes before midnight, and Secretary Long left about 10 o'clock, so that he was not present when the end came. Offirlsls goo tho End. Next in official importance among

the watchers were Senator Hanna, Controller Dawes, Senator Fairbanks. Governor Yates of Illinois, J. H. Milburn, President of the exposition, in whose house the President died; Colonel Myron T. Herrick, with his wife; and half a score of others who came and went. Included among these were Colonel W. C. Brown, Abner McKinley’s law partner; Russell B. Harrison, son of a former President; Webb C. Hayes, son of a former President; and

many others whose figures could scarcely be distinguished in the gloom. The Struggle With Death. The President’s turn for the worse came at 2 o’clock on Friday morning, and it was almost exactly twenty-four hours later before the last flicker of life had died away. It was the heart which failed early in the morning following upon the partial collapse on Thursday night, and all through the terrible day into the night the heart of the good President beat with irregular throbs which told of the inevitable end. Mrs. McKinley Informed. Mrs. McKinley was warned that it was only a question of minutes before the end came, but as these minutes drifted into hours her strength failed completely and she was forced to retire, under the commands of the physicians, who alone could tell whether life was extinct or not.

Final Deathbed Scene* The result was that when the end really came, at 2:15 o’clock in the gray, foggy morning, those present in the death chamber were only Miss Helen McKinley, Mrs. Duncan, Abner McKinley, James McKinley, John Barber, and Dr. Rixey. The other physicians had left the room when it was decided that human skill could not save the President. Sad News Given to Public. Secretary Cortelyou came out of the Milburn house about 2:20 a. m., and in a voice that trembled with emotion announced : “The President died at 2:15.” He then gave the names of the family and friends present at the bedside when the end came and returned to the house. Immediately thereafter the party that had been assembled in the house during the night broke up, coming down the walk singly and in pairs. Men Weep as They Leave. Everybody was deeply affected. Several of the men were sobbing aloud as they passed on their way to their carriages. Secretary Wilson says that the party will go first to Washington, where the body will lie in state in the Capitol, but interment will be in Canton, O. The details of the President’s funeral will be in charge of the Secretary of State. Through him notices and invitations to distinguished foreign representatives will be extended. Congress May Attend Funeral. The wishes of the members of the President's family will be observed and the character of the services will depend entirely on them. Congress will attend in a body, if the services are held at the national capital, but if they are performed at Canton this arrangement may be changed. The House is not organized, and the oath has not been administered to the members elect, but they will be in charge of the Sergeant-at-Arms of tha last House, who bolds over in offica.

The Senate, being a continuous body, will be present officially, with President Pro Tem Frye at its head, and the Sergeant-at-Arms in charge of the details. Secretary Root and Secretary Long will detail suitable bodies of military and naval forces to be present at the funeral. , Death Caused by Heart Trouble. The Presidents heart gave trouble from the beginning, but its erratic action was at first thought to be due to the shock of the wound, but when the would -had begun to progress favorably the heart gave more trouble and anxiety ever. Its action became feeble and finally gave out altogether. The President’s death was due to heart exhaustion, but some of the physicians do not believe there was organic heart trouble. The theory of at least one of the physicians is that the original shock of the first bullet over the heart had much to do with the trouble which caused death. Slayer Saved by Darkness. A noticeable theme of comment was occasioned by the hour at which the death occurred. It partook somewhat of the providential that the event should have come in the dead of night instead of the early evening, when the thousands who gathered on the streets of the city were in no tender mood. Had the death come earlier it is possible that the authorities would have had to cope with more or less violence. Crowds Surround Jail. During the early part of the evening crowds began to gather about the sta-tion-house, where the assassin, Czolgosz, was confined, and the purpose of tneir gathering was at no time mysterious. People gathered rapidly, who openly declared they intended to lynch the assassin, if the President died. The authorities were fully alive to the situation and agents of the secret service reported tnat the people were excited beyond measure. There were not only the people of Buffalo, indignant at the disgrace to their city, but strangers, who had no neighborly respect for the local authorities. Gov. Ode!l pacted promptly and gave orders to protect the jail. Thus the assassin was safe from penalty for the miserable death he had dealt out to the President,

All the World Mourns. All Friday and Friday night 80,000,000 of Americans stood in thought and heart at the bedside of their dying President. A simple people, devoid of the arts which In other lands are used to decorate the emotions, they knew only how to sorrow In silence and hope that the impending blow would be spared. In his daily life the President of the United States is mere.y its first citizen—a plain man in plain clothes, accessible to other plain men in plain clothes. By virtue of his office he is only the foremost among his equals, and as such he meets his fellow citizens without claiming or expecting from them the studied deference or ostentatious affection which is so sedulously displayed in the capitals of other lands. Yet for days, while this man of the people lay stricken by the assassin, bound down by wounds, and hovering between life and death, 80,000,000 men, women, and children turned from the tasks of a crowded life, forgot their personal strivings and personal griefs, and in dire suspense reached out for the least word of comfort, of courage, or of cheer from their President’s bedside. Sorrow, affection, and anxiety were written across the face of the whole

nation, throughout the days and throughout the nights, and now, with the blow fallen and the watching done, the land gives itself over to the mourning which no crown or scepter could command, which no throne could gather to it, and now the civilized world has joined us In grief over our calamity. The republic may appear at times ungrateful, for its heart is deep, but he who finds that heart has not lived or died in vain—Chicago Inter Ocean. Hla Work Done. The nation mourns as one which has suffered a great loss, but a loss which is not irreparable. His work has been, to a great extent, accomplished. Of the problems which confronted him when he was elected, or which have arisen since his election, nearly all have been happily solved by him. The war with Spain has been conducted to a successful conclusion. The country is at peace witn all mankind. It is tranquil and prosperous. There are no threatening clouds visible on the political or business horizon. If the President thought of himself at all in his last moments he could have taken comfort in the reflection that he had well-nigh fulfilled his mission—that he had done for the people all and more than they had expected of him, and had won for himself fame that time cannot obeliterate. So far as one can read the future there was

little of great moment left for him to do for his country during the next three years except to carry out that policy of the extension oi its commercial relations outlined by him in his last public address.—Chicago Tribune

McKinley AS A RAW RECRUIT, (At the time of his enlistment in the Army.)

McKinley in 1866.