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Detective Humble Visits Czolgosz
Says He’s the Coolest Villain He Ever Met.
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District Attorney Finds Enough Laws to Sentence Assassin for Life.
Detective S. B. Humble, formerly
a member of the Columbus police department and now on duty in Buffalo,
has sent the following letter to John R. Malloy, secretary of the
State Republican Executive Committee:
“I know you are greatly interested
in the attempted assassination of President McKinley and I will
write you a few lines about the assassin.
“I was at police headquarters when
Czolgosz was brought in and present when he had his picture and
Bertillon measurements taken. I have had several talks with him,
and must say he is the coolest and most cold-hearted villain with
whom I ever came in contact. He says he did his duty and has not
shown any signs of being a crank, as some of the papers say he is.
From his appearance you would take him to be a student or business
man, and he reminds me of Rosslyn Ferrell, recently electrocuted
at the Ohio penitentiary.
“Some of the press accounts speak
of him as being crazy, and after reading the papers one would imagine
that he was one of those long-haired and wire-whiskered bomb-throwers.
But he is not: he is a nice-looking fellow and talks intelligently,
but not very freely. At first he refused to talk at all and was
very guarded in what he did say.
“As to his punishment: Should the
President die, of course, that means electrocution, but in case
he lives, the district attorney here has found enough laws to put
the assassin away for his natural life. First, the maximum sentence
in this state for shooting to kill is ten years, which he will get;
second, he will be tried for two distinct assaults, having fired
two shots; third, for conspiracy, and fourth, for carrying concealed
weapons, and as the sentences run successively, I think anarchy
will be well stamped out when Czolgosz is liberated.[”]
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