“M’Kinley Still Is President”

So Spoke Theodore Roosevelt to the Officer of His Guard.

     Canton, O., Sept. 19.—“In the hearts of those of us who loved him, Wm. McKinley is still President of the United States. Until he is laid to rest, I wish none of the Presidential honors to be paid to me.” So spoke President Roosevelt to the officer of his guard, who had brought his detail to a present arms as the new President approached. His voice choked with emotion as he talked and his lips trembled.
     It would be hard for the President to move ten feet without stumbling upon at least one soldier, and he has not moved a foot on this trip that a secret service officer has not been at his heels. As soon as he arrived in Canton yesterday he notified the reception committee that he desired to remain in comparative seclusion during his stay. So when the body had been placed in state, he was driven to the Harter home, a brick mansion resting away back in a shaded grove. He had scarcely entered the house when a detail of eighty men from the First regiment came up the street on the double quick. They were deployed, counted off, and in charge of sergeants and corporals, sent flying in different directions around the house. In ten minutes four different lines of sentries were pacing swiftly up and down around the Harter house. The ugly looking sword bayonette [sic] glistened on the end of their rifles, and in each man’s belt were twenty business-like ball cartridges.
     Outside the soldiers might be noticed a score or more quiet, inoffensive looking men, who walked carelessly around mingled with the crowd and appeared to be mere curiosity seekers, but let anyone at all suspicious in clothes or manner come near and the quiet citizen began to get busy, and the center of their attraction seemed to be the suspicious looking man. They were with Secretary Cortelyou.
     In the afternoon Mr. Roosevelt went for a stroll around the grounds and he went at such a pace that big secret service officer Foster was well heated trying to keep pace with him. It was on this stroll that an officer turned out the guard and Roosevelt objected. The President dined with Secretary Root and others at 8 p. m., and retired early to be prepared for the trying ordeal to-day.