The Captor of Czolgosz

Was the Famous “Black Knight” Who Lectured Here Recently.

     Many citizens of Winnipeg, who heard Rev. J. H. Hector, the “Black Knight,” in the pulpit and on the lecture platform here during the early summer, will read with additional interest the statement that it was he who overpowered Czolgosz after he fired the fatal shots at President McKinley. The following excerpt from the Belleville “Ontario” gives the incident as related by the noted lecturer himself:
     “Enquiries are now being made by the authorities at Buffalo as to the identity and whereabouts of the negro who was the first to seize hold of Leon Czolgosz after he had fired two shots at President McKinley. It is said that the negro will be handsomely rewarded.
     “The Ontario is able to establish the identity of the negro. He is Rev. J. H. Hector, commonly known as ‘The Black Knight,’ that is, if we are to believe his own story. He lectured in Holloway street Methodist church on Monday evening last, and his subject was: ‘Don’t.’ The colored gentleman arrived in the city on Saturday from Buffalo and stopped at Mrs. Sharpe’s boarding house on Catharine street. To Mrs. Sharpe he told the story of the attempted assassination of the president.
     “‘I was standing behind Czolgosz,’ said Rev. Mr. Hector, ‘waiting to get a chance to shake hands with the president. I was horrified when the shots were fired. After the second shot I seized hold of Czolgosz by the neck and threw him to the ground.’”