Detective Humble Visits Czolgosz

Says He’s the Coolest Villain He Ever Met.
——
District Attorney Finds Enough Laws to Sentence Assassin for Life.

[Ohio State Journal.]

     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.[”]