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| Parent | Parent |
| Type | Assassination |
| Title | Assassination of William McKinley |
| Start Date/Time | September 06, 1901 05:00am |
| End Date/Time | September 14, 1901 05:00am |
| Contributor | Chronicler |
| Last Modified | Chronicler - May 28, 2007 11:02am |
| Description | President McKinley was shot while attending the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 and died eight days later.
The Exposition was held in Buffalo NY. It was designed to celebrate the advances in the Western hemisphere during the 19th century and hoped to quell fears by Central and South American nations that the United States planned to exert additional influence in their internal affairs. The Exposition opened on 5/1/1901. It was located just north of the city of Buffalo and featured buildings designed by some of the most renowned architects of its day in many different styles. The entire Exposition was lit by electric lights powered by a generator at Niagra Falls.
President McKinley arrived at the Exposition on the 5th. His presence was advertised, and 50,000 people gathered to hear him speak on the tariff that day. Early on the 6th, McKinley went to see Niagra Falls, then returned to the Exposition in the afternoon.
An unemployed worker who had migrated from Poland to the United States named Leon F. Czolgosz (pronounced shol-gahz) was attending the Exposition. When he learned that McKinley would be attending, he went to the Walbridge Company hardware store at 316 Main Street, Buffalo, and purchased an automatic pistol.
McKinley was shot in the Temple of Music. This ornate square building was patterned loosely on the Pantheon in Rome and was considered to be the most beautiful building on the Exposition grounds. The building opened at 4:00 p.m., with W.J. Gomph playing Bach's Sonata in F on the organ. McKinley and his party stood in a receiving line, expecting to shake hands with thousands of visitors.
Czolgosz wrapped his revolver in a handkerchief in order to hide his designs. He was one of the first people in line, and at 4:07 he stood in front of McKinley. Czolgosz fired two bullets at the President.
A black waiter in line behind Czolgosz tackled him before he could get off a third shot. Other people, including a soldier and a detective, assisted. McKinley, seriously wounded, called out to them not to beat Czolgosz to death on the spot.
McKinley was taken to the nearby Hospital Building. Although medical staff was in attendance, they had to send for a surgeon. Herman Mynter arrived on the scene at 4:45. McKinley, who had spoken with Mynter the day before, told him, "Doctor, when I met you yesterday, I did not imagine that today I should have asked a favor of you." Other doctors arrived on the scene, and Matthew D. Mann was the surgeon chosen to head the team. Ironically, just as the operation arrived at an unsatisfactory conclusion, a doctor experienced in antiseptic surgery arrived - too late to influence the decision.
Four doctors carried McKinley out of the Hospital Building and placed him in an electric ambulance at 7:30. The ambulance took him to the residence of John G. Milburn at 1168 Delaware Avenue (now demolished), where the president had spent the previous nights. Milburn was the President and chief officer of the Exposition.
VP Theodore Roosevelt was attending a lucheon with the Vermont Fish and Game League on Lake Champlain when he heard the news. He travelled to Buffalo by train and arrived on the 7th. A friend named Ansley Wilcox happened to see TR and offered him a room in his house. TR visited McKinley each day. With the president appearing to be recovering, TR left on the 11th for a planned trip to the Adirondacks.
Roosevelt had very poor timing. McKinley's health took a serious turn for the worse the day TR left Buffalo and progressively worsened. He became unconscious on the 13th and never regained consciousness. He died on the 14th at 2:10 a.m.
Word reached TR on the 13th that McKinley's death was imminent. TR arrived in Buffalo the evening before McKinley died.
TR was inaugurated in the library of the Wilcox House on 9/14/1901. John R. Hazel, U.S. District Court judge, administered the oath. Those gathered to watch the proceedings included Elihu Root, the doctors who had waited on McKinley, Pan-Am officials, and an unknown history professor at Princeton University named Woodrow Wilson.
After the close of the Exposition, all buildings on the grounds were demolished except for one, which is currently the historical museum. A plaque on Fordham Avenue marks the location of McKinley's shooting.
Source: Austin M. Fox, Symbol and Show: The Pan-American Exposition of 1901 (Buffalo NY: Meyer Enterprises, 1987), pp. 2, 28, 88-94.
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