contemplative
This is the last photograph taken of William McKinley alive. It was taken on the afternoon September 5, 1901 at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. The people in the picture are, left to right, Mrs. John Miller Horton, Chairwoman of the Entertainment Committee of the Woman’s Board of Managers; John G. Milburn; Senor Asperoz, the Mexican Ambassador; the President; George B. Courtelyou, the President’s secretary; Col. John H. Bingham of the Government Board.
Inside the Temple of Music, a large crowd had gathered outside and McKinley ordered the doors open to admit those who had waited to see him. The police let them in, and McKinley prepared to shake their hands. An experienced politician, it was said that McKinley could shake hands with 50 people per minute. As the reception line progressed, the Secret Service men looked suspiciously on a tall, swarthy man who appeared restless as he walked towards the President, but breathed a sigh of relief when he shook hands with McKinley without incident. The man who followed the swarthy individual had his right hand wrapped in a white handkerchief, as if injured. Seeing this, McKinley reached for his left hand instead. At 4:07 pm, that man, Leon Czolgosz, shot McKinley twice in the abdomen with a .32 Iver Johnson revolver concealed under the handkerchief.
Czolgosz prepared to take a third shot but was prevented from doing so when James Parker, an American of part-African part-Spanish descent from Georgia who had been behind Czolgosz in line, slammed into the assassin, reaching for the gun. A split second after Parker struck Czolgosz, so did Buffalo detective John Geary and one of the artillerymen, Francis O'Brien. Czolgosz disappeared beneath a pile of men, some of whom were punching or hitting him. He was heard to say, "I done my duty." Seeing the pummeling being taken by Czolgosz, McKinley ordered it stopped.
McKinley was carried out on a stretcher to an electric-powered ambulance to the fair's hospital. On the way there, McKinley felt in his clothing and came out with a metal object. McKinley had been shot twice; one bullet had deflected off a button and only grazed him; the other had penetrated his abdomen and was never found. Following his surgery McKinley was taken to the home of John Milburn to convalesce. McKinley initially appeared to be recovering, but took a turn for the worse on September 13 as his wounds became gangrenous, and died early the next morning at 2:01 a.m. on September 14, 1901.