Hanna Thanks “Big Jim”
Negro Who Sprang Upon Assassin Czolgosz Last Friday
the Guest of the Buffalo Club.
Buffalo, N. Y., Sept. 9.—[Special.]—James
Benjamin Parker, or “Big Jim” Parker, as he is generally called,
the negro who jumped on the President’s assailant on last Friday
and would have killed him had he not been pulled off, received a
special invitation from Mr. Hanna to come to see him.
The negro has been a lion ever since
last Friday. He has sold the buttons off his coat and waistcoat
for sums ranging from $5 to $20 apiece, and finally parted with
all the clothing he wore during the struggle, to visitors who wanted
them as souvenirs.
It was not until Saturday afternoon,
when he had nothing else left, that he had time to get his photographs
taken. These went off like hot cakes on Saturday night, and the
photographer expects to work his assistants from now on to the close
of the show printing pictures.
So when “Big Jim” came around to the
Buffalo club this afternoon to see the Senator from Ohio he was
resplendent in new raiment and his pockets were lined with greenbacks
and jingling with coin.
He was abashed when he was ushered
in and found himself a guest of Buffalo’s most exclusive club. Senator
Hanna came forward with outstretched hand and shook hands warmly
with the negro. He made him a little speech, in which he told Parker
how brave he was and thanked him for his loyalty to the President
and for his promptness in springing to his assistance.
The Senator asked the negro to tell
him just what happened, and Parker in his recital left out much
of the trimming with which he has embellished his story to hero-worshiping
Pan-American visitors.
“And if they had not ha’ pulled me
off I’d ha’ saved the police and the soldiers and everybody else
a mighty big sight of trouble,” was Parker’s last remark as the
interview closed. Senator Hanna’s eyes twinkled, but he made no
comment.
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