The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-17

These We're the fateful words which in
large type extended across the front
pages of the Buffalo evening papers last
Friday.
The emotions Of the people in that
city, resident and transient, alternated
between hope and fear. Few knew that
the physicians had decided that the end
was inevitably approaching and that
the crisis" was really the death strug-
gle already in progress at the Milburn
residence
Thousands attended the exposition in
the evening and visited the Mecca for
all, the Midway, while still other thou-
sands walked the streets or stood in
front of the newspaper offices to read
the bulletins from the bedside of the
dying president. When the exposition
closed at IL p. m. many of the thou
sands there came down town for the
latest news and added to the throng I'M
TIL Main street for blocks was absolutely
impossible for the pedestrian, save by
going out into the street. There was ap.
parently to be no sleep for Buffalo that
night so great was the anxiety
About 10 p. m. some one Numbered and
telephoned the coroner that the president
was dead. That official gave out the
message and fastened to the Milburn
house, only to find himself in the en-
parrassing position of having made his
CHASTITY call while the president was still
alive While the newspaper tent oppo-
site the Mtiburn house was filled with in
telngent and active reporters, the news
paper instinct was so keen that with
out waiting for verifcation from their
own reporters, two of the evening pa
pers issued midnight extras announcing
the death. The erroneous report was
soon recalled by the bulletins, but not
until thousands Of extras had been sold
and many retired, thinking all was over.
This did not, however, seem to diminish
the crowd upon the streets who waited
until the end had actually come at 2:l5
a. M, when weary, depressed Buffalo
lapsed into sofrowful quietude.
CLOSING THE EXPOSITION.
The morning papers announcing the
presidents death also announced that
the exposition would be closed SATURDAY
and Sunday. This order was strictly en-
forced against all except workmen and
those who were provided with credentials
showing imperative business. In my
morning walk from the Elmwood gate
to the Minnesota building, distance Of
about half mile, 1 saw but one per-
son, and he a street workman, sweeping
the roadway
The Rainbow City was as quiet and
still as when it was a farm. aseSae quiet
ude was really oppressive, and the scene
of life and gaiety was SO suddenly
changed to a scene of stiffness that It
seemed to carry with it pail of sad
ness which pervaded the very atmos-
phere.
In short time such of the exhibitors
as had been able to enter the grounds
were draping their exhibits with crepe
and the attendants at the various state
buildings were putting out mourning dec
CREATIONS. Every flag was at half mast
and many Of them draped with crepe
A HISTORIC TABLE.
In the Minnesota building there is the
table at which Mckinley sat when he
presided at the national convention in
Minneapolis in 1892. The same table was
used by the two presiding officers at the
two national conventions which nomi-
mated Mckinley. Upon its surface the
gavel was sounded to call the conyen-
lions to order to listen to the announce
ment that the convention had named the
president OF the United States and that
his 'name was William Mckinley.
AS We draped that historic table with
emblemS of mourning I recalled a scene
in the Minneapolis convention when the
now dead president stood before that
table and beat upon it with his gayel for
two or three minutes before he could
command order 1 have always regarded
that. in spite of his later triumphs, as
the supreme moment of his life. The in
lection of Blaine into the field as an
eleventh-hour candidate and his sensa-
tional retirement from Harrisons cabinet
had created much bad blood in the Re-
publican party. The managers of the
Blaine movement were like their leader
1mpetuous, and when they saw their
cherished idol must go down to defeat
they sought to defeat Harrison, whom
they regarded as their mortal political
enemy. stampede movement for Nc
Kinley was suddenly sprung, as all
stampedes must be if successful and it
was well under way, though but a few
seconds old. when Mckinley arose., and
by his efforts with the gavel command
ed quiet. I sat within fifteen or twenty
feet Of him, and do not think he looks
any paler in his casket today than he did
on that occasion. In a brief speech he so
emphatically refused to allow his name
to be used, and his sincerity and honesty
of purpose was SO apparent, that the
stampede was checked and Harrison
went to victory in the convention, only
to meet defeat at the polls.
1t was the political integrity which
Mckinley displayed in '92 by thrusting
aside the proffered crown, because he
was instructed by his state for another
which gave him the crown in &C. He
escaped the defeat which came to fIarri-
son, and by his subsequent political
course became the available man for his
party in 1896.
Few men would have so bravely with
stood the great temptation, and the act
was all the more to his credit because
he could not have foreseen, what subse-
quent events proved, that If he had been
the nominee of the convention his po-
litical sun would have set forever at the
November election. There was no reason
to believe. at that time, that the nomina-
ton of a Republican candidate for presi-
dent was not equal to an election.
The table which graces the Minnesota
building now has as tender a historical
interest as can well be given to an inani-
mate object.
DOWN TOWN.
When, later in the day, last Saturday,
I left the graveyard silence of the EXPOSE
ton grounds and went down town, there
was another scene. The-streets were al
most impassably thronged, as they were
the evening before. 1t was not Joyous,
laughing crowd People spoke in low
tones of voice as they walked almost
aimlessly about apparently thinking and
talking of nothing but the great calam-
ity. The sidewalks were so densely pack
ed that two or three times [ took a
street car to go two or three blocks.
The fact is, Buffalo is for the time be-
ing vast boarding house. Thousands
of people stop at hotels and boarding
houses out toward or near the exposition
grounds, and many only see Buffalo go
ing to and from the railroad depots and
steamboat landings. Consequently when
seventy on eighty thousand people were
suddenly shut cut of the exposition they
visited the business portion of Buffalo
with the results described Many left
the city, others went to Niagara Falls.
but their absence seemed scarcely annre-