A Chronicle of Our Own Times [excerpt]

THE ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY.

     At about four o’clock on the afternoon of September 6 President McKinley, while holding a public reception in the Temple of Music at the Pan-American Exposition at Buffalo, was shot and twice wounded by Leon Czolgosz, a Polish anarchist. One bullet entered the President’s breast, struck and glanced from the breast-bone, and was later extracted without difficulty. The other bullet entered the abdomen, passed through both walls of the stomach, and is believed to have become embedded in the muscles of the back. The President was removed to a private house in Buffalo, and medical reports were issued every few hours, stating in effect that, barring complications from peritonitis or blood poisoning, the President might be expected to recover. On September 12, however, a change for the worse took place in the President’s condition, his heart beginning to fail and refusing to respond to stimulation. He died a little after two on the morning of September 14. Theodore Roosevelt, formerly Vice-President, became President by succession, and took the oath of office on the afternoon of the same day.