Summary of Events [excerpt]
On the 26th ult., Leon F. Czolgosz
was sentenced at Buffalo to be executed in Auburn prison during
the week beginning Tenth Month 28, 1901. The only statement made
by the prisoner in court was a reiteration of the claim that he
had no accomplices. He was given every legal advantage, and counsel
of the highest rank were assigned to defend him. The trial, conducted
in an impartial manner, was concluded within two days. He was afterwards
taken to the penitentiary at Auburn. Booker T. Washington has given
out a statement in reference to the assassination of President McKinley,
in which he says: “In all sincerity I want to ask is Czolgosz alone
guilty? Has not the entire nation had a part in this greatest crime
of the century? What is anarchy but a defiance of law, and has not
the nation reaped what it has been sowing? According to records
2516 persons have been lynched in the United States during the past
sixteen years. There are or have been engaged in this anarchy of
lynching nearly 125,800 persons. Let us heed the words of our departed
and beloved chief, as he lay upon his dying bed, referring to the
murderer. ‘I hope he will be treated with fairness.’ If William
McKinley, as he was offering up his life in behalf of the nation,
could be brave enough, though thoughtful and patriotic enough, to
request that his assailant should be fairly and honestly tried and
punished, surely we can afford to heed the lesson.”
Post Office inspectors all over the
United States have been ordered by the Department to obtain a complete
list of all the anarchists in their respective districts and forward
it to Washington. In addition, it is desired that the names of the
Anarchists’ wives and children also be sent, together with the names
of those who have attended a meeting of anarchists or who rent buildings
and halls to them. In fact, all the information that can be secured
about this class of people is wanted. Chief Wilkie, of the Secret
Service Bureau, will compile the names and data and have it printed
in the “Red Book” for the information of Congress, to aid in shaping
such legislation as may be deemed necessary.
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