Captain Barclay’s Sorrowful Souvenir

     Capt. John T. Barclay, a member of the Maryland Pilots’ Association, returned from Buffalo a few days ago and brought with him a souvenir of the awful calamity over which today the nation mourns.
     The souvenir is a part of the seat of the chair upon which President McKinley rested after being shot by the assassin Czolgosz. The memento is a piece of veneered wood about eight by ten inches. It is stained a dark mahogany color and is about one-eighth of an inch thick.
     Captain Barclay was in the exposition grounds when the President was shot, but was not at the temple of music when the assassination took place. Through a newspaper reporter connected with one of the Buffalo dailies Captain Barclay secured his much prized memento.
     He will have the piece of wood placed in a glass case, which will be hung in the cabin of the association’s new tug Pilot.
     Captain Barclay is perhaps the last Baltimorean to see the President alive. He was standing on one of the many bridges in the exposition grounds when the ambulance left the Emergency Hospital to convey the stricken Executive to the Milburn residence.
     Captain Barclay had an unobstructed view of the interior of the hospital vehicle where lay the distinguished patient. Mr. McKinley was covered with a white sheet except his head, which was exposed. Drs. Rixey and Parke were in the ambulance with the President.
     Captain Barclay says as soon as the Chief Executive was removed from the grounds a pall seemed to envelop the exposition, and in a short time it was practically deserted.
     Captain Barclay has been importuned by his friends for a piece of the wooden chair seat he prizes so highly, and has parted with a few slivers of his souvenir of the awful tragedy.