Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 105, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1901 — PRESIDENT WILLIAM M’KINLEY IS DEAD. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PRESIDENT WILLIAM M’KINLEY IS DEAD.

Bullet of the Assassin Finally Does Its Dastardly Work. faith Comes After Jnst One Week of Suffering and Hope. President’s Condition Takes a Critical Turn Early Friday Morning. / First Apprehensions Caused by Failure of the Heart to Respond to Stimulation. Physicians Administer Oxygen and Make Every Effort to Rally Their Patient. Cfcaage for the Worse Comes Without Warning and Carries Consternation to Doctors and Friends. • ■ o President McKinley died at 2:15 •.dock Saturday morning. His last brettb passed calmly and almost imperceptibly. He had been unconscious for several hours before the end and hfa death was free from pain. The members of the family, with the exception of the bereaved wife, were at the deathbed. Mrs. McKinley was i« an adjoining room. Dr. Ilixey was the only physician present. The immediate cause of the President’s death was at the time undetermined, but it was said to be heart weakness, as a - result of complications In the stomach and digestive organs. The President suffered a serious and unexpected relapse early Friday morning, from which there was only a slight rally. At noon he was perfectly conscious and seemed to fully realize his condition. “I refuse to surrender,” mm he, with great emotion. “I will not give up hope while life remains. I shall hope on and pray on to the end.” All night the President battled with death. At 10 o’clock he was alone in the combat. Science, skill, infinite tenderness were beaten and hopeless. Surgeons and physicians measured his brief span by moments. They had no hope and offered none. Mystified, bas-

fled and defeated, they stood aside and left the President alone to face tbe inevitable. Meanwblle« N ,tbe nation—the worldstood watching for the dual word. Buffalo, where the President was assassinated, stood agape with horror and rage. Doctors of known and heralded running were summoned from ail •reliable quarters. They came by special trains and were rushed into the presence of death and its unyielding victim. Tbe wires were hot with summonses fer tbe Vice President, for the cabinet, far the friends nearest tbe dying man. and they came. From all quarters men wbo bare known tbe dying man as a ana first and tben as a leader of his people came rushing, pale, sad-eyed aad hopeless.

It was 5 o’clock In the afternoon when the first wild rumor that the President was dead spread through Buffalo. Heart failure, the first ominous sinking of a mighty physique, had given the doctors warning, and their fears spoke from the white faces as they came and went in the Milbourn house.

There was no hope then, and in five minutes the waiting world knew it. But the victim of the assassin’s bullet did not know it. Conscious of impending danger and fearless of it, he asked for his wife. She came to him, and, holding his hand in speechless grief, gave to him the new courage which drugs and physic could not give. The clocks spun round and round, and ,the doctors, waiting in gloomy groups, wondered that he lived so long. His symptoms grew worse. He rallied and failed by turns. Oxygen and digitalis had but slight effect upon his pulse and respiration. He did not live, but would not die, and his people and the world wondered. As unconfirmed stories of the President’s death flew from month to mouth in Buffalo, an enraged and sorrowing multitude gathered and swept toward the prison where his assassin lay. Barriers were hastily thrown across the streets, mounted policemen, State troops and marines were hurried to the setae, and for hours after night fell the jail was like a threatened fortress. In the streets, cases and public places men met and talked with bated breaths. All day they talked of the President’s struggle, of his patience, his cheerfulness. But when they knew that these were all in vain they raged silently and forgot everything but revenge. The President was practically without nourishment all day. His serious relapse of Thursday night, said to have been caused by food administered during the day, had warned his doctors against solid food, in despairing anxiety they resorted to stimulants, and all morning Friday ttey fought off the Impending collapse. It was shortly after daylight that he opened his eyes, and. looking out of the window opjfbsite bis bed. said: “It Is not as bright as yesterday." His heart rallied a little In the morning hours, and from then oo until noon he held bis own. and the anxious doctors told the world In guarded words that there was yet hope It was past midday Friday when he entered upon his final straggle. The thousands gathered at the Pan-Ameri-can Exposition, the nation and the outside world were not prepared even then

for a realization that the worst was at hand. A furious rainstorm was sweeping Buffalo when the first ominous announcement came from the Milburn House: “President McKinley is dying. He can live but a few moments.” Then signal service operators took possession of, the telegraph wires leading to the house of death. Cabinet officers and members of the President’s family began to arrive, and the beginning of the end had come. At 11 o’clock Friday night the wife had paid her last tribute to her dying sweetheart of thirty years. Dr. Rixey led her into the room, and as she laid her head alongside his she sobbed: “I cannot let him go.” She knew that the President was dying then, and in the dim silence of her adjoining room she waited and wept as the hours sped and the doctors wondered at the mighty battle of the dying man. But the President, now finally unconscious and breathing but faintly, struggled on. Midnight. 1 nnd 2 o’clock found him wavering on the verge, and the men .of science could but stand and marvel at the wondrous but hopeless fight which he had mantained so long. Intervals of apparent consciousness came upon him. Sometimes he opened his faded eyes and gazed calmly around. At 2 o’clock the dim. gray light began to fall across his shrunken face, and then —death won. lr<t (>mlnon<i Wor ln, For several hours Thursday evening the doctors attending President McKinley were seriously msiuroed aud waiting friends were alarmed by an unexpected change in his condition, but at midnight the President hail seemingly regained his lost ground. He was given solid food for the first time during the morning and it bad not agreed with him The bowels were giving some trouble, also the heart. The food given to the President was uot properly assimilated mid the administration of food by the mouth was discontinued. The President continued to complain of fatigue. Uis pulse increased to

128, entirely too high for his temperature. One of the consulting physicians said that judged by medical records his pulse should be 9t>. The acceleration of the pulse was attributed partly to the revulsion of the stomach against the food. The first alarm came from the Milburn house at 2 o’clock, two hours after the encouraging official bulletin after the midnight consultation of the doctors. The signal of fear was the sending of messages to all the doctors to return to the house at once. The President had suffered a sinking spell. At 3 o’clock it was authoritatively admitted that the President was in an extremely critical condition. Scene la Dramatic. The scene about the house and in the street, which had been storm swerft, was dramatic in its action and setting and the spirit of the tragedy was on those who looked upon it. A messenger who darted into the rain and was whisked away in an electric cab gave the outside watchers the first intimation of the ill news from within. At the same moment new lights burned within the windows of the Milburn residence. Soon the word was passed out that the President had partially collapsed and was critically ill. It was a confirmation that was hardly needed, for the fact had been established by action that needed no words. As the telegraph instruments rattled away with their forlorn story early in the morning the hastily aroused physicians began arriving. An automobile racing

came Abner McKinley, pale and agitated. He had left the house scarcely two hours before and had departed with the assurance that the tide had turned in the case of his distinguished brother. Secretary Wilson and Secretary Hitchcock, in grief at the peril of their chief, arrived within a few moments. Neither knew the true state of the President at at that moment and in silent fear they quickly entered the house. Another hurrying visitor was Dr. Wasdin, whose arrival completed the circle of physicians, and another was Mrs. McWilliams, the friend of Mrs. McKinley. The physicians, after their consultation an the examination of the patient, could offer little encouragement. He was very weak and his heart was so feeble that they feared lest his life might go out at any time. The bulletin they issued at 2:50 told of the very critical condition of the President. Three Presidents Phot on Friday, By a'singular coincidence every President of the United States assassinated was shot on Friday. President Lincoln, shot on Friday, April 14. 1805. President Garfield, shot on Friday, July 2, 1881. President McKinley, shot on Friday. September 6, 1901. The Baltimore Union League Club expelled United States Senator Wellington and adopted resolutions declaring him unfit to associate with loyal men because

at top speed brought Dr. Mynter first. He did not stop to apeak, but rushed into thfe bouse. Dr. Mann came slmost on his heels, and he, too, ran down the street. Neither stopped for s word ss they rushed into the house. After them

he countenanced the attack on the Presi* dent. Funds hs.ve been atsrted to various cities for James B. Parker, who knocked down Csolgoss.

CZOLGOSZ, THE COWARDLY ASSASSIN.

“GOD’S WILL, NOT OURS, BE DONE.”—President McKinley.

MILBURN HOUSE. WHERE THE PRESIDENT DIED.