The Attempted Assassination of President McKinley

     Late on Friday afternoon, Sept. 6, the country was thrown into a state of consternation and indignation by the news that while holding a public reception in the Music Hall at the Pan-American Exposition, President McKinley had been twice shot with a revolver by an anarchist. As soon as possible, the president was removed from the Exposition hospital to the residence of Mr. Milburn, where he had been staying with Mrs. McKinley, and the wires of the Western Union, Postal Telegraph and Bell Telephone Companies, with police and messenger alarm systems were immediately run to the Milburn property and a force of operators was installed. An enormous amount of private and press matter was immediately thrown on the telegraph wires, and the telephone long-distance service into Buffalo was also soon overloaded. The news was quickly known around the world, and cable messages have kept the submarine cable companies also very busy ever since.
     On Saturday the physicians decided that Mr. McKinley’s room ought to be kept cooler, and Mr. Charles R. Huntley, general manager of the Buffalo General Electric Company, took the matter in hand personally and spent the morning running the necessary wires, putting in fan motor equipment for the comfort of both Mr. and Mrs. McKinley, the latter being also, as is well known, in a most critical condition of health. Such work was never done with greater celerity.
     At the same time, Mr. Cortelyou, private secretary to the President, telephoned over the long-distance wires to Mr. Edison at Orange for the best Röntgen ray outfit he could send, in order to help the doctors in finding and removing the second bullet, still in the President’s stomach. Mr. W. E. Gilmore, general manager of the Edison shops, complied promptly with the unexpected requisition, and dispatched the outfit the same night, so that it reached Buffalo on Sunday morning and was at once installed ready for use. Dr. Knoll, of New York, and Messrs. Luhr and Dollie, from the Edison laboratory, went with it. At this writing the time of its use is not settled.
     It is interesting to electrical people to know that in his address at the Pan-American, delivered just before the attempt at assassination, Mr. McKinley dwelt on the remarkable achievements of telegraphy, and insisted that one of the things that this country must do soon was to lay a Pacific cable. On Friday, just prior to the foul deed, he made a trip to Niagara Falls, and in company with Secretary W. B. Rankine, of the Niagara Power Company, spent some time inspecting the great power plant, with which he expressed himself delighted. On his return from this trip he went to the Music Hall at the Pan-American.
     It will be remembered that when President Garfield was shot the “induction balance” was suggested and used with the object of locating the bullet. Although Mr. McKinley is a man of very sturdy build and solid frame, it is believed by experts that a successful location of the stray bullet can easily be made. It would seem that the bullet has probably lodged in the muscles of the back, where the rays can readily detect its exact location. Fortunately, up to this time of writing (Tuesday), there are no symptoms of blood poisoning or peritonitis to complicate matters.