The Butler weekly times. (Butler, Mo.) 1881-1918, 1901-09-12

so was the fact of the assassin s as
sault disseminated through the
crowd of 10000 people who were in
one great mob outside the building.
Their cries of grief could be heard in
side. and the president heard and
seemed to understand, though he
spoke no word.
The people who had heard the
shots could not believe the report.
All hoped that it was untrue, that
some one else had been shot. SO
quick was the news to spread that
before the ambulance reached the
building a squad of mounted police,
a troop OF heavy armed artillerymen
from the military camp and the hero
marines were on the scene keeping
the crowd back as best they could.
People Groan as Wounded
President is Carried BY.
As soon as the electric ambulance
from the emergency hospital arrived
with Doctors Zittell and HENDERSON.
those two surgeons rushed in and
were at the side of the president. His
white vest, powder marked and
bloody. had been opened, as was the
wound. and hearing that another
bullet had entered the abdomen, they
ordered an ambulance stretcher on
which was placed a row OF pillows.
The stretcher was placed on the
floor and the wounded president was
lifted by Mr. Milburn, Mr.. Cortelyou
and the experienced ambulance corps
and laid gently on the pillows.
The President groaned slightly, as
though in great pain, but recovered,
pressed his lips firmly and resigned
himself to the care OF the now grief
stricken men about him.
At least twenty men carried the
stretcher out and up the three or
four step to the door, the southwest
door. and as it opened and the great
crowd caught a glimpse OF the pros
trate and wounded chieftain upon
the stretcher a groan of grief, pathetic
sympathetic and earnest, from the
great heart of the American people,
went up to the heavens as a token OF
the sorrow overshadowing them.
The people were unprepared. the
awfulness of the occasion was SO far
beyond their comprehension that the
only expressions they could utter
were gasps and sentences, the bur-
den OF which was their inability to
believe the tragic death. Men uncOv-
cred their heads, their tongues swell
ed in their threats, they looked at
each other in the most sympathetic
way, as though each wished to claim
the other for his common brother
that they might have the strength
to stand under the crushing blow.
Here in this vast sorrOw-stricken
assemblage, which reached from the
great electric tower north, to the
triumphal causeway to the south,
and even beyond that, was truly ex-
emplified the bond of sympathy
which links all mankind No man
was weak who wept- 1t was the time
for weeping. There was not then
the slightest cry of vengeance. That
came as an afterthought.
At this time, when the bullet-pierc-
ed body of their ruler was being car
ried out to them and through their
midst. it was one of genuine sympa-
thy that came only from the heart.
Women were no more affected than
men. They chung close to each other
1t was a moment when every one felt
that he needed help. Help of any
kind-only a word, a look, that was
all
With that powerful military, the
police escort, all on the double quick,
the President was hurried away to
the emergency hospital, where room
had been hurriedly prepared for him
Messages had been quickly sent to
different parts of the city for the
most eminent physicians and sur
geons and the first call was for DR.
Rixey, the family physician, who had
left the grounds with Mrs. Mckinley
for the Milburn home. He was quick
to arrive. on a steam automobile
with two trained nurses. and they
tore through the grounds at a ter
rife peace until the hospital was
reached.