Speculators Are Bidding for Temple of Music

Famed Building of the Pan-American to Be Re-Erected in Another City and
Fee Charged to See Where McKinley Was Shot.
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SEVERAL ANXIOUS TO GET HISTORIC PILE

     Buffalo is to lose and another city is to acquire one of the most historic mementos of modern times, the Temple of Music, in which President William McKinley fell beneath the assassin’s hand. It is to be taken bodily away from Buffalo and erected in another city as a permanent structure.
     Negotiations are under way between the Chicago Wrecking Company and several concerns and individuals, and as soon as satisfactory terms are agreed upon the Temple is to be carefully taken apart, loaded on freight cars and shipped to its new location. Just what city will obtain the relic is not yet known, but it is understood that it will be either New York, St. Louis or Chicago. Frank Harris, representative of the wrecking company, announced the fact yesterday.

MONEY-MAKING VENTURE.

     The idea of transporting the Temple of Music and preserving it as a financial venture in some large city seems never before to have been suggested. When the Chicago Wrecking Company came into possession of the Exposition buildings last week, it appears that one of its plans for gaining on its investment of $80,000 for the wreckage was the sale of the Temple. So far as Buffalo people knew the Temple was to be torn down and demolished the same as the other buildings. It appears, however, that speculators in that line have had their eyes on the Temple for some time.
     Mr. Harris said that he expected to announce full details of the sale of the Temple within a few days, and that Buffalo would probably see the last of it during the present month.
     By the sale of the Temple to the wrecking company, and the sale again to others, the structure will pass forever out of the hands of the public and fall into the hands of private ownership to be used as a private enterprise. The building will be set up in whatever city it is sent and opened to the public this summer for an admission price. While much will have to be added to the building in the way of repairs and although a great deal of the staff will be replaced by newer material, the body of the structure itself will be there and the visitors to the place will have the opportunity of seeing the actual place where President McKinley was shot. Soon after the death of the President a painted line was drawn around the exact spot on the floor where the President fell and this is still there and will be preserved after the building has been reconstructed.
     How much will be paid for the building is not known, but it is understood that the price will be much greater than the actual worth of the material in it. Mr. Harris said he had no reason not to give out all the facts other than that the negotiations had not yet been completed. The wrecking company is holding out for the highest bidder.

SALE OF TEMPLE CERTAIN.

     “The Temple will be sold, though,” said Mr. Harris. “You can depend on that. The parties who are now after it are anxious to get it. It will be a great investment for those who buy it, for there is not a large city in the country where the Temple could not be set up and made to bring large returns through admission fees.”
     With the departure of the Temple of Music to another city and the reconstruction of the Electric Tower at Denver, the Pan-American Exposition features will be scattered in a way not thought of a year ago. Buffalonians are beginning to wonder what will be left in Buffalo to suggest that the Exposition was held here instead of in some other city.