Chronicle of the Week [excerpt] 

ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT MCKINLEY.

     The civilised world has been shocked by the news that an attempt has been made to assassinate the President of the United States. The would-be murderer is of German-Polish descent, and named Czolgosz. He declares himself an anarchist, and appears to have been possessed by the insane idea that to kill the man chosen to rule by the votes of the people would somehow change the conditions of social life. Unfortunately it is very difficult to guard against this murderous form of lunacy, and doubly difficult in the United States, where a long tradition requires the President to be accessible to all. A correspondent of The Times gives the following account of the way in which the crime was committed: “While the President was receiving in the Temple of Music at Buffalo he was approached by a well-dressed man, wearing a silk hat, who had one hand covered with a handkerchief. As the man extended his hand to the President, apparently in order to shake hands, he fired a shot, which entered the President’s right breast, lodging against the breast bone. Immediately afterwards the man fired another shot, which entered the abdomen. Quick as a flash a score of men threw themselves upon the assailant. Cries of ‘Lynch him’ were heard on every hand; but the police managed to rescue the man, who was covered with blood from a gash in the face. He was taken to the station-house near the Pan-American Exposition grounds, and afterwards to the police headquarters. When he was shot the President fell into the arms of Detective Geary. ‘Am I shot?’ he asked. The detective opened his vest, and, on seeing blood, replied, ‘Yes, I am afraid you are, Mr. President.’ Mr. McKinley was at once taken to the Emergency Hospital, where the bullet, which had lodged against the breast-bone, was removed. Dr. Russell Parke arrived, and after putting the President under the influence of an anæsthetic, began probing for the bullet in the abdomen. He tried for some time, but not being successful, he sewed the wound up.” Happily there is now every reason to believe that the wounds, though dangerous, are not destined to prove fatal. On the contrary all the symptoms now seem to point to a speedy recovery. It is unnecessary to say that countless expressions of sympathy have gone out from this country both to the President and his family, and the whole American people.