President McKinley Is Dead

     Yesterday afternoon about 4 o’clock the British Steamer Hating came up the channel with her flags at half-mast. Judge Bach immediately telephoned over to the central office in Juneau for news of the President and an anxious crowd of citizens waited for the reply. In a few minutes the word came that death had relieved the sufferings of the nation’s chief executive at 2:30 o’clock on the morning of the 14th inst.
     Judge Bach brought out his grand old flag, that has waved over the city on so many joyous occasions and sadly raised it to half-mast. The news, posted on bulletin boards, spread rapidly,and [sic] the grief of the nation was shared by the loyal people of Douglas Island.
     William McKinley was born at Niles, Trumbull County, Ohio, January 29th, 1843, of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His father William McKinley was an iron manufacturer. His mother’s maiden name was Nancy C. Allison. He was not a graduate of any college, although the degree of B. A. was conferred upon him by Williams college [sic]. He engaged in the practice of law in early life, which profession he still followed when elected to the presidency in 1896. He was married in 1871 to Miss Ida Saxton who survives him.
     It is the opinion of many that William McKinley as president of the United States has displayed more of the ability of a statesman than any president since the days of Abraham Lincoln. Be that as it may, yet, it is a fact that today the nation mourns not only for the loss of it’s [sic] chief executive, but for the loss of William McKinley, the man and statesman.
     For the third time in the history of our country, the nation is wrapped in sorrow for the loss of a president at the hand of an assassin. Just twenty years ago (tomorrow) James A. Garfield died at Long Branch, N. J., from the effects of an assassin’s bullet, and sixteen years prior to that Abraham Lincoln lay in the sleep of death from the same cause. What a fearful commentary on a people, blessed with a most wonderfully productive country and a height of freedom perhaps never hitherto attained in any land.