http://culturalniagara.com/mckinleymonument.html
Posted on 09/14/2010 7:18:21 AM PDT by Michael Zak
On this day in 1901, President William McKinley (R-OH) died of a gunshot wound inflicted by an assassin eight days before. As he faded away, he recited the words of a popular hymn:
"Nearer, my God, to Thee, nearer to Thee! E’en though it be a cross that raiseth me, Still all my song shall be, nearer, my God, to Thee.
Though like the wanderer, the sun gone down, Darkness be over me, my rest a stone. Yet in my dreams I’d be nearer, my God to Thee.
There in my Father’s home, safe and at rest, There in my Savior’s love, perfectly blest; Age after age to be, nearer my God to Thee."
His last words, spoken to his wife, were: "Good-bye, all. Good-bye. It is God's way. His will be done."
His successor would be his 42-year old vice president, Theodore Roosevelt.
The doctors killed McKinley. One even reached into the bullet wound with his bare finger and dug around trying to find the bullet. McKinley died of infection.
McKinley was the last president who had served in the first American Civil War. He was a good man and a good president. It’s really been all down hill since then — with the exceptions of Coolidge and Reagan.
Back in the ‘80s, my Granddad told me how he as a young boy remembered McKinley’s assassination. He also recounted his experiences during the San Francisco earthquake of 1906 and the sinking of the Titanic. Talking to him gave me a fascinating look into historical events.
Killed by a socialist. And the beat goes on . . . .
Yes, that was James Garfield who died because of poor medical care. MicKinley died of gangrene and sepsis.
McKinley
The link was correct but I messed up the code. Trying again...
http://culturalniagara.com/mckinleymonument.html
“This was probably the first assassination with ‘questions.’ Many people questioned the medical care he received, if it should have been fatal with proper treatment, and were other sinister forces behind his death. He didn’t have the glamor of JFK, so most of that stuff died out.”
Well, I suppose one can ignore the Lincoln assassination in that everyone admits it was part of a larger conspiracy. But there are still questions, hence the thousands of books on the subject.
As for dark, sinister forces behind McKinley’s death, I must ask, who the heck wanted TR to be president (I mean, before he already was president and wowed everyone with his bully antics)? Not his own party. Not the other party. Not the robberbarons, not the agrarian populists, not the socialists, not the anarchists (or, in other words, the socialists). Perhaps the military-industrial-complex—given his Bismarkian ambitions—so far as one existed within the most backward of all western powers.
“Garfield’s assassin, in fact, acted as his own defense and argued that his bullet didn’t kill the president, incompetent medical care did”
Couldn’t they just charge him with treason or something (soiling the president’s person with dirty peasant bullets)?
http://americanhistory.about.com/od/uspresidents/a/assassinations.htm
I've never heard TR’s name mentioned. Big money in the US and foreign interest were the most commonly mentioned. The guy that shot him also seemed to have been helped. And yes, there were many theories that medical profession just flat screwed-up.
Lincoln's assassination questions are more recent in nature. At the time, everyone was perfectly willing to accept Booth and his “accomplices” as the culprits. We now know (or think we know) better.
Oops...you’re correct.
My mistake.
McKinley's timing was impressive since the tragedy was still fresh on America's mind when the Alaskan Gold Rush started and this monument needed a name.
Here are some interesting lyrics to a folk song about James Garfield’s assassin...
Charles Guiteau
Come all you tender Christians, wherever you may be
And likewise pay attention to these few words from me
I was down at the depot to make my getaway
When Providence turned against me, it proved to be too late
Chorus
My name is Charles Guiteau, my name I’ll never deny
To leave my aged parents to sorrow and to die
But little did I think, while in my youthful bloom
I’d be carried to the scaffold to meet my fatal doom
I tried to play off insane, but found it would not do
The people all against me, it proved to make no show
Judge Cox he passed the sentence, the clerk he wrote it down
On the thirtieth day of June, they’ll put me underground
My sister came in prison to bid her last farewell
She threw her arms around me, she wept most bitterly
She said, My loving brother, today you must die
For the murder of James A. Garfield, upon the scaffold high
I’m standing on this platform to bid you all adieu
The hangman’s noose is a-waiting, it’s a quarter after two
The black cap is on my face, no longer can I see
And when I’m dead and buried, dear Lord, remember me
********
He was never really “in his youthful bloom...”, he was a rather unattractive gent from his earliest days. And the term “fatal doom” is a bit redundant...
If you are ever in Cleveland, Lakeview Cemetery (where Garfield is buried) is an interesting side trip.
I know too much about this kind of stuff.
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