A National Calamity—the Lesson It Teaches

     To say that President McKinley is dead, died at the hands of an assassin, is one of the saddest things that we were ever called upon to chronicle. The heads of an entire nation are bowed in sincere and heartfelt grief for the untimely taking off of one of their noblest sons. A soldier, statesman, citizen, whose public and private life has never been assailed. In life he enjoyed the confidence of the entire country. His death is a personal loss to every true American citizen. It is a national calamity. The lesson taught the American people is a costly one and should not be forgotten. It shows the fearful cost of tolerating lawlessness under any pretext, whether it be the cowardly anarchist, who shoots down in cold blood his unsuspecting innocent victim, or the brutal, heartless mob, which murdered its victim merely to appease their thirts [sic] for human blood. It amounts to the same in the end—the cheapening of human life, rendering the lives of all unsafe. The crazed brained anarchist murders his victim, believing it his duty and brings upon his head the violent hands of the law and the hatred of mankind. But the mobs roam in thousands, killing and burning defenseless citizens without fear of punishment, claiming to be “our best citizens,” and the fact that our lawful authorities take no cognizance, their murders, heartless and brutal as they are, become popular, and respect for law ceases to be a duty or a virtue. This talk of down with the anarchists will not insure the safety of the lives of our public men until the mob is stamped out also. Let the American people who have always had the manhood and patriotism to meet every emergency crush this species of anarchy before it crushes them. The white press is already trying to ignore this national disgrace, which has been largely instrumental in bringing upon us our present national calamity. The reason is obvious. If the nation is to live, mob law must go.