Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1901-09-28
GUARDING TIE PRESIDENT
Officers Ever Near Nations Chief
Executive.
SURROUNDED BY DETECTIVES.
Opportunity at Public Reception IL
Best for Crime-Secret Service Men al
Hand to Watch for Slight Demonstra-
ton.


are always taken by the secret service
bureau of the government to guard the
person of the president when he is
travelling and these measures are al
ways supplemented by the work of the
detectives of every large city in which
he makes temporary stop. His every
movement is made under the eyes of
six secret service operatives, a number
of city detectives varying from four to
twelve.
They are close to him at all times
as close as they may go without at
tracing attention and betraying the
nature of their duties. They watch as
carefully as possible the movements OF
those who approach the executive to
guard him from the attack of any ir-
responsible person or spare him an
noyances from "cranks" and bores-
Yet despite all the precautions the
assassin has plenty of opportunity to
do his work when he wills. AS in the
present instance, when a public recep-
ton is being held and thousands of
people are crowding forward to grasp
the hand of the president, it is de-
clared a manifest impossibility for his
bodyguard to prevent an attack from
one whose outward appearance gives
no hint of his design.
A Member of the Body GuaFi.
One of the six secret service opera
tives who accompanied the president
on his trip to Buffalo and who were
with him when he was shot is Albert
Gallaher, a Chicagoan, assistant to
Captain Porter of the secret service
bureau, says Chicago Chronicle. For
more than ten years Gallaher has been
Captain Porter's right hand man. Big.
brawy and absolutely fearless, he has
done some remarkable work for the
treasury department while holding
headquarters at Chicago. He attract
ed the attention of Chief Wilkie of the
secret service, himself a Chicago man,
and was transferred to Washington
and assigned to the duties of the pres
ident's bodyguard. He was not made
the personal attendant of President
Mckinley, but was made one OF the
half-dozen trusted men who are al
ways close to the executive, especially
when the latter leaves Washington.
AS has been said, it is deemed an i'm
possibility for this bodyguard, no mat
against assassination, especially in a
democratic country where the executive
mingles in nondescript crowds at grea;
public functions and allows all corners
to approach and grasp his hand.
Danger Is Always Near.
The main idea of the secret service
bodybuard in the United States is to
protect the person of the president
from any manifest threatened danger,
such as a panic and resultant crush,
the attack of an avowed and noisy an
archist or the annoyance of persistent
'cranks'' with petitions and the like.
A well-dressed, man in a high hat, ap-
preaching to grasp the hand of the
president amid thousands of other hol-
iday-makers would not attract any at
tention from the bodyguard-
The fact Nieman, the assailant of the
president, was first seized by one of
these detectives shows how close they
were to him at the moment. Their
presence and the quickness of action
habitual to an officer, may have pre-
vented the firing of more shots by the
assailant, other bystanders being
stunned into inaction momentarily by
the surprise of the occurrence. Had
Nieman made one false move, had he
awkwardly displayed the revolver an
instant before he used it, the chances
are that he would never have obtained
the opportunity of committing the
crime One or more of the secret serv-
ice men would have fallen upon him
had he aroused suspicion, and the fact
that he accomplished his purpose un-
der their very eyes indicates that he
had carefully planned it and executed
his plans without hitch
During the trip of the president to
Buffalo, on the way to the grounds and
during the formal exercises the public
was kept at a slight distance slight,
but enough to derange the aim of
wound-be murderer. What Nieman or
Czalgocz wanted was to go close to the
president so close that there would be
no chance of his murderous bullets
missing their mark. The only oppor
tunity was at the public reception,
where the watchfulness was perhaps a
bit relaxed or where at least all COM
ers with the outward marks OF re-
spectability were permitted to APP
proach the president and grasp his
hand. That was Nieman's opportunity