Click2History - Assassination of McKinley - Chapter 6

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>ASSASSINATION OF MCKINLEY</p> <p><font size=4>CHAPTER 6 - "IT IS OVER"</font></p> </font> </div> <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">William McKinley was 58 years old on September 13, 1901. Lying in a coma, he was given oxygen which revived him. He asked for his wife. Frail herself, she was doing the best she could to handle the strain.</p> <p>Drifting in and out of consciousness, the President looked for Ida each time he opened his eyes. When he saw her he whispered:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>Nearer my God to Thee.</b></i></center> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Mrs. McKinley knew her husband was <a href="http://intotem.buffnet.net/bhw/panamex/assassination/mcgoodby.jpg" target="_blank"><b>dying</b></a>. People in the room looked away so the couple could have privacy. It was time to say their good-byes.</p> <p><a href="http://intotem.buffnet.net/bhw/panamex/assassination/deathbed.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Clutching</b></a> his wife’s hand, the President tried to speak. The woman he loved put her ear to his mouth and heard him say:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>God’s will, not ours, be done.</b></i></center> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">The First Lady smiled at the President, but she could not hold back her tears. William McKinley then spoke his last words to everyone in the room:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>It is God’s way.</b></i></center> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">As he lapsed back into a coma, the President’s pulse grew fainter. By 2:16 a.m. on September 14, 1901 the pulse was gone. With tears streaming down his face, Dr. Rixey, McKinley’s personal physician, made the official announcement: </p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>It is over. The President is dead.</b></i></center> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">Leon Czolgosz had just become a <a href="http://www.ibiblio.org/journalism/historyinfrontpages/slide16.gif" target="_blank"><b>murderer</b></a>. Teddy Roosevelt would become the next President.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="president_mckinley_ch5.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="president_mckinley_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="president_mckinley_ch7.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>