Click2History - Assassination of McKinley - Chapter 7

<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 7 - A PRESIDENTIAL FUNERAL</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">The official <a href="http://www.nps.gov/thri/viscen.htm" target="_blank"><b>cause</b></a> of death was “gangrene of both walls of the stomach and pancreas.” <a target="_blank" href="http://www.cardinalbook.com/creelman/highway/iso8859/index.htm"><b>James Creelman</b></a>, a “<a href="http://www.tnt.tv/movies/tntoriginals/roughriders/jour.home.html" target="_blank"><b>yellow journalist</b></a>” who was outside the <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/det/4a20000/4a22000/4a22500/4a22503r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Milburn House</b></a> where McKinley lay for eight days, wrote a first-hand account of the President’s last days. Rarely has a tough-minded journalist <a href="http://www.cardinalbook.com/creelman/highway/iso8859/chap20.htm" target="_blank"><b>written</b></a> so movingly about an American head of state. </p> <p>The President’s body was initially taken by <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/lcmp001/14328s1t.gif" target="_blank"><b>funeral cortege</b></a> from Buffalo <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/lcmp001/20786s1t.gif" target="_blank"><b>to</b></a> Washington, D.C. It was then brought, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/lcmp001/m1b27558t.gif" target="_blank"><b>by train</b></a>, to Canton, Ohio.</p> <p>Thomas Edison’s company once again recorded the events by moving film. The new President, Theodore Roosevelt, was on the scene as the dead President’s coffin was <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/lcmp001/m1b27558.ram" target="_blank"><b>removed</b></a> from the train in Canton. TR followed the coffin to McKinley’s home. </p> <p>A huge <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/lcmp001/m1b31995t.gif" target="_blank"><b>crowd</b></a> of people, anxious to view his body, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/mbrs/lcmp001/m1b30432.ram" target="_blank"><b>gathered</b></a> at the President’s house. The description of Edison’s movie (which the company sold for $12) is interesting:</p> <blockquote><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>Here we present probably the most interesting and valuable of the McKinley funeral series. Our camera is located opposite the McKinley home on Market street, Canton, at 9 A.M. on the day of the funeral, September 19th, 1901. As the camera revolves, immense crowds of people who are slowly passing the house come into view. The soldiers of the National Guard of the State of Ohio are everywhere visible. In the center of the film we present an absolutely perfect view of the McKinley home and at the front door can be seen a soldier and a sailor on guard. The camera continues revolving until the McKinley house passes out of view and the strip ends with the camera looking down Market Street toward the Court House.</b></i></blockquote> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">With the President <a href="http://www.the-forum.com/ephemera/images2/svmc7.jpg" target="_blank"><b>laid</b></a> to <a href="http://intotem.buffnet.net/bhw/panamex/assassination/funeral.htm" target="_blank"><b>rest</b></a>, the country’s attention turned to the prosecution of his murderer.</p> </div> <p align="center"><font face="arial, helvetica" size="2"><a href="president_mckinley_ch6.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="president_mckinley_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER</a>   <a href="president_mckinley_ch8.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </font> </td> </tr> </table> </center> </td> </tr> </table> </td> </tr> </table> </body>