Secret Service Men Blamed for Carelessness

Massachusetts Artillerymen Say That the Negro Parker Did Not Figure
at All in Arrest of Czolgosz.

     Boston, Sept. 9.—Among the arrivals from Buffalo yesterday were the officers and men of Company C, First Heavy artillery, who had been on a visit to the exposition city. They had gone as a private party, without arms, but in uniform, and were within 1[5?]0 feet of the president when he was shot.
     Their description of the scene after the shooting differs from those already published. Accordingto [sic] their story the negro Parker had nothing to do with the arrest of Czolgosz, the would-e [sic] assassin. They lay blame on the secret service men for not having been as careful with Czolgosz as they had been with others whose appearance might have been suspicious.
     One of the officers, who refused to permit the use of his name, said yesterday to a reporter:
     “As a file of people approached the spot where the president stood receiving and shaking the hands of the people, those who carried bundles or packages were unceremoniously put out of the line and told to go to the rear.
     “This was evidently done to prevent any chance of a

Weapons [sic] Being Carried.

in concealment to be drawn at the proper time to use against the life of President McKinley.
     “Some of the men of our company, although in unuiform [sic] of soldiers, and not at all likely to aruse [sic] suspicion, were put out of the line and forced to take places at the rear because they had bundles.
     “Yet this precaution was not made use of when Czolgosz approached. He had his right hand done up in a handkerchief and held it to his breast with his left hand. Why he was allowed to pass on in this attitude that should arouse the suspicion of a trained detective we could not understand, particuuarly [sic] when others far less suspicious in appearance were put out of the ranks and sent to the rear where they could be more easily watched.
     “Through whatever mischance or careless [sic] on the part of the 22 secret service men about the presidential party this was allowed, Czolgosz reached the president, and did the deed he had meditated. And here again the honor of seizing the anarchist and taking his revolver from him has been given to those who do not deserve the credit.
     “It was not to the negro Parker but to two privates of the Fourteenth United States infantry that the credit of having seized and disarmed Czolgosz is due, and in connection with this the part played by the secret service men is not altogether creditable.
     “When the shots rang out, and they came so close together that it seemed almost as if only one shot was fired, a hush of fear fell on the multitude.
     “Everyone in the vast throng seemed to feel that some tragedy had happened, but just what it was was not known outside the immediate entourage of the president. The stillness for an instant was so great that a pin might have been heard fall.
     “But while the hush was over the rest of the crowd, two of the eleven men of the Fourteenth infantry, O’Brien and Brooks, had fallen on the man who did the shooting and bore him to the ground. O’Brien dragged the revolver from his hand, and with Brooks pulled him to his feet.
     “Then the secret service men seemed to recover from their shoc [sic], and detective Ireland jumped forward and struck Czolgosz in the face, and the other officers jumped on him and bore him back to the ground. When he was raised again he was bleeding from cuts and bruises and shook his head to clear the blood from his eyes, much as a dog shakes himself to throw off water from his body.
     “O’Brien and Brooks had been thrust aside by the onset of the secret service men, but O’Brien still held on to the revolver. Ireland demanded it from him, but it was refused, O’Brien answering that he did not know the man who made the demand.
     “Ireland then said he was a secret service officer, and again demanded the revolver.
     “Again it was refused, and to a demand to deliver it up, O’Brien answered that he did not take orders from any one but his own superiors. Just then a corporal of the Eleventh came up, and to him O’Brien gave up the weapon. The struggle between the secret service men to get the rvolvr [sic] and the infantryman to keep it for his own officers last [sic] some ten minutes.
     “In the meantime the president had been cared for and brought away. When he was shot he put his hand to his breast

And Turned Deathly Pale

He said something inarticulate, and appeared aboutt o [sic] faint.
     “As soon as the throng of people understood what had happened there was a cry raised to lynch the assassin, and some of the Massachusetts soldiers who were near eonugh [sic] to hear, say that the president called out not to lynch his assailant, but to hold him.”