acter; his petition was mostly for the comfort of the widow. As he retired, the choir came forward and sang the hymn that dimly floated through the dying Chief Magistrate's mind on the fatal night at Buffalo. Often had he heard it in this church, and from the same lips that now sang it tremblingly. It had been expected that the congregation would join in singing it, but when the notes of "Nearer, My God, to Thee" arose, no one could find voice to follow the song. There was only silence when the moment arrived for the refrain to be taken up, and the choir went on alone to the end.

The services came to a close with the benediction. This was pronounced by a Catholic priest, Rev. Father Vattman, of Chicago, who had been appointed by President McKinley as Chaplain in the United States army. The speaker was in his military uniform, and as he said the farewell words tears flowed down his cheeks. His emotions had overmastered him, and at times the words of the benediction were hardly audible. There was genuine grief in his voice, and as he ended his invocation and went back to his seat, he was completely overcome with sorrow.

The end came quickly. With the notes of the recessional march the audience rose. President Roosevelt at once stepped into the aisle and bowed to the Cabinet officials as a signal. Together they walked quickly through the chancel and out to enter their carriages. At the door George Foster, McKinley's body guard, stepped behind the President and followed him to his carriage. Inside the church the jackies and soldiers lifted up the casket and swung out with it into the gloaming of the day.

The Senators marched after the family and funeral party. The people followed slowly. The First Methodist Church in Canton had lost its most distinguished member, for he had crossed its threshold for the last time.

Once again the mortal body of William McKinley resumed its journey to the grave. It was 3:16 o'clock when the last procession started, the cortege being divided into seven sections, and shortly after 3:30, amid the tolling of the bells and the booming of the cannon, all that remained of the one-time President of the United States was placed in the receiving-vault. The Rev. Dr. Manchester repeated in faltering tones the beautiful Episcopal service for the dead, and Bishop Joyce followed with a prayer. About them stood the President and his Cabinet, the friends of the dead President, private and official, and such others as were called to this place of mourning on a final errand of love or duty. It was nearly four o'clock when the vault doors were closed. A soldier's salute of twenty-one guns and three volleys was fired from the guns of a battalion stationed on a neighboring hill; thirteen bugles sounded the solemn notes of taps, and and the funeral of William McKinley was over.

While the last services over the body of President McKinley were being held at Canton, business was generally suspended throughout the country and memorial services were held in all the principal cities of the world. At the moment when the sacred remains of William McKinley, the beloved, were placed into their final resting place, seventy-five millions of sorrow-laden people gave their whole thought to the nation's great loss in reverent silence.

CHAPTER XXVII

CZOLGOSZ THE ASSASSIN

Leon F. Czolgosz, the assassin of President McKinley, was born in Detroit, Michigan, in 1873. His parents came from Poland, and at the time of the assassination were living at Cleveland, Ohio, where they were reputed to be hard-working, law-abiding people.

Czolgosz was of medium height, smooth shaven, and had brown hair. His expression was quite innocent, the face and head, as a whole, making a rather pleasing impression. He received some education in the common schools of Detroit, but left school and went to work when a boy as a blacksmith's apprentice. Later he went to work at Cleveland and thence to Chicago.

INTERESTED IN SOCIALISM.-While in Chicago he became interested in the Socialist doctrines. When he went back to Cleveland his interest in the movement increased. He read all the Socialist literature he could lay his hands on, and finally began to take part in Socialist matters. In time he became fairly well known in Chicago, Cleveland and Detroit, not only as a Socialist but as an Anarchist of the most bitter type.

After returning to Cleveland from Chicago he went to work in the wire mills in Newburg, a suburb of Cleveland. He said he was working there up to the

day he started for Buffalo, thus contradicting letters written by him from points in New York.

INFLUENCED BY ANARCHISTS.-About a month previous to the assassination Czolgosz attended a meeting of Socialists in Cleveland, at which a lecture was given

LEON F. CZOLGOSZ

by Emma Goldman, the woman whose anarchistic doctrines have made her notorious all over the country.

It was this lecture and others heard in Chicago prior to that time that instilled in the heart of the Pole the poison of murder. He went back to his lodging from

the lecture with fever in his brain. His mind was filled with the preaching of the woman.

A few days afterward he read in a Chicago paper that President McKinley was to visit the Pan-American exposition and to remain in Buffalo for several days. The lecture of Emma Goldman and the projected visit of the President to Buffalo were linked in his every thought.

GOES TO BUFFALO.-Eight days previous to the shooting he packed a small telescope valise with a few of his belongings and took an early train for Buffalo. At that time there was no well-formed purpose in his mind. The plot to murder had not crystallized, but the thought that in Buffalo he would be able, perhaps, to reach the President's side was what led him to start for the East, and with it was the dim conviction that his mission was one of blood.

Upon arriving in Buffalo he went at once to John Nowak's hotel, at 1078 Broadway. He went there because he knew Nowak was a Pole. He told Nowak he had come to see the exposition, and that his stay would be indefinite. He inquired of Nowak about the visit of the President, when he would arrive, how long he would be in the city, what he was to do there, and whether the people would be able to see much of him. Nowak told him what the plans were.

The next day Czolgosz went to the exposition. He went there on the following day, and the day following. The idea that he might kill the President when he came was in his mind, but the purpose was but half formed. At that time it might have been possible to divert his mind from the thought of such a mission.