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though the hand were disabled, and had been bound up. In consequence of that, he extended his left hand for the greeting; and President McKinley, always observant of misfortune, always tender in his consideration for those who suffer, took the left hand gently in his right, the quick sympathy beaming from his face as he bent above the citizen.

In that instant, with his naked palm pressing the hand of his President, Leon Czolgosz drew from beneath his coat a revolver, and fired two shots into the body before him.

Czolgosz's hat, carried under his arm, and pressed against his side with his elbow, fell to the ground. There was an instant of unspeakable silence, in which the most trivial of details impressed themselves on the memory of those who stood about. The report of the shots had not been heard outside of the building. Those nearest the President recovered in a fraction of a moment, and one of them leaped on the culprit -who, however, made not the slightest attempt to escape. He was thrown to the ground. He was grasped and buffeted by a score who were tardily recognizing the enormity of his frightful crime. The President staggered back, and was

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PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT CONFERRING WITH SENATOR HANNA ON THE WAY TO

THE MILBURN HOUSE, BUFFALO, N. Y.

caught in the arms of those nearest him. Of all in the building, he was first to understand. And the words which welled to his whitening lips, even before the waking of conscious pain, were: 'May God forgive him!"

He was assisted to an armchair, and physicians were summoned. His attention was first attracted to the assassin, who was being hustled vehemently from the building. "Don't let them hurt him," he said. Then, in a moment: "Do not tell my wife of this. Or, if it must be done, do not frighten her."

He was removed to the emergency hospital, where it was found the first ball had inflicted but a slight flesh wound, but that the second had penetrated the stomach. After a surgical operation, rendered instantly necessary, the President was removed to the residence of a friend, where he had been a guest since arriving in Buffalo.

And there, after seven days, he died.

His assassin had never before seen President McKinley. He had no personal ends to gain by the act, and no sense of revenge to gratify. He stated later in jail that he was an anarchist; that he believed all kings and rulers should be "removed," and that he had come to Buffalo for the

express purpose of killing President McKinley. He had voted for that gentleman in 1896, but since then had listened to the speeches of Emma Goldman, a leader among the anarchists of the country, and had read the publications of their societies. He at no time denied his act, and at most times appeared composed and sane. When arraigned, he pleaded "guilty," although the law of New York State refuses to accept the plea in capital cases. Beyond that, little is known of Czolgosz, except that he was a native of the United States, and that his father was an immigrant from Russian Poland. The family had lived at different places in the lower peninsula of Michigan, and no member of it had ever risen to public notice, with the exception of the father, who in 1876 made one of a party that attacked a tyrannical landlord of the neighborhood, and killed him. This landlord was a nobleman from central Germany, and had brought to America quite a fortune in money. He established himself on an island near the east shore of Lake Michigan, and set up a sort of old-world barony. He regarded himself as vastly the superior of his neighbors, and imposed upon them grossly. He indulged in a life of lawlessness and brazen

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