McKinley is shot...

Item # 707432

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September 07, 1901

THE COMMERCIAL APPEAL, Memphis, Tennessee, Sept. 7, 1901

* President William McKinley shot
* Leon Czolgosz, the assassin

The banner headline announces: "PRESIDENT M'KINLEY SHOT" with various subheads including: "Stricken By An Anarchist" "While Receiving in Music Hall of Pan-American Exposition" "First Bullet Glanced, But Second Penetrated Both Walls of Abdomen" with more. Also a huge, black-bordered drawing of: "President William McKinley".
Complete in 10 pages, loose at the spine, various minor chipping at the margins and some margin tears. Somewhat fragile & should be handled carefully.

background: On September 6, 1901, President William McKinley was greeted by a crowd at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, unaware that Leon Czolgosz, an unemployed anarchist, was waiting in the receiving line with a .32 caliber revolver concealed beneath a faux bandage. When McKinley reached out for a handshake, Czolgosz fired twice at point-blank range; while the first bullet was deflected by a button, the second tore through the President’s abdomen, damaging his stomach and kidney. Although initial reports from his doctors were optimistic—leading many to believe he would survive the surgery performed in a makeshift hospital on the exposition grounds—the lack of drainage in the wound allowed gangrene to set in quietly. McKinley’s condition spiraled on September 13, and he passed away in the early hours of September 14, 1901. His death not only propelled the energetic Vice President Theodore Roosevelt into the presidency but also served as the final straw for Congress, which subsequently tasked the Secret Service with the permanent, formal protection of the Commander-in-Chief.