The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1901-09-10
lean ext osition, chatting with the
president and introducing to him es-

president and introducing to him es
pecially persons of note who ap
preached. Upon the presidents lief
stood Mr.. Corte1you.
1t was shortly after 4 p. m., wilel
n of the throng which surrounded
the presidential party. a medium siz
ed mar Of ordinary appearance ant
plainly dressed in black, approached as
if to greet the president. Both Sec
rotary Cortelyou and President Mil
burn noticed that the mans hand was
swathed in a bandage or handker
chief. Reports of bystanders differ
as to which hand. He worked his way
amid the stream of people up to the
edge of the dias, until he was within
two feet of the president. President
Mckinley bowed and extended his
hand in that spirit Of geniality the
American people know so well, when
suddenly the sharp crack of a revol.
yer rang out loud and clear above the
hum of voices, and the shutting of
the myriad of feet and liberating
waves of applause that ever and anon
swept here and there over the assem-
blage.
There was an instant Of almost COM
plete, silence. The president stood
stock still, a look of hesitancy, al
most of bewilderment on his face.
Then he receded a step while a palor
began to steal over his features.
The multitude, only partially aware
that something serious had happened,
paused in surprise, while necks were
craned, and all eyes turned to the
rostrum where the great tragedy was
being enacted.
Then came commotion. With a
leap of tigers three men threw them
selves forward, as with one impulse
and sprang toward the would-be as
sasin. Two of them were United
States secret service men who were
on the lookout and whose duty it was
to guard against just such calamity
as had here befallen the president and
nation. The third was a %bystander,
a negro who had only an instant prev
iously grasped in his dusky hand, the
hand of the president. AS one man
the trio hurled themselves upon the
presidents assailant. In a twinkling
he was borne to the ground, his
weapon was wrested from his grasp
and strong arms pinioned him down.
Then the multitude which thronged
the edifice began to come to a realiz-
ing sense OF the awfulness of the
scene of which they had been unwill-
ing witnesses.
A murmur arose, spread and swell
ed to a hum of confusion, then grew
to a bable Of sounds and later to a
pandemonium Of noises. The crowd
that a moment before had stood mute
and motionless as in bewildered ig-
norance of the enormity of the crime
that had been committed now with
a single impulse surged forward to
the stage of the horrid drama while
a hoarse cry went up from thousands
of threats and a thousand men charg-
ed forward to lay hands upon the per-
pet1ator of the %dastardly crime.
For. a moment the confusion was
terrible. the crowd surged forward
regardless of consequences. Men
shouted, women screamed and chill
dren cried. Some of those nearest
the doors fled from the edifice in fear
of a stampede, while hundreds of
others still outside blindly struggled
forward in an effort to penetrate the
crowded building and solve the mys-
terry of the excitement and panic,
which every moment grew and swell
ed within the congested interior of
the edifice.
Inside on the slightly raised dias
was enacted within those few fever
ish moments a tragedy, so dramatic |
in character, so thrilling in it's in
eSiStIy lunI LEVY WIN IOOhSu vi Will
ever be able to give %succinct account
of what really did transpire. Even
the actors, who were playing the
principal roles, came out of it with
blanched faces, trembling limbs and
beating hearts.
But in the multitude which wit
messed or bore part in the scene of
t~urbulance, there was but one mind
which seemed to retain it's equilib-
rum, n hand which remained
steady, one eye which gazed with III
fiinGhing calmness and one voice
which retained it's even temper and
faltered not at the most critical juno
ture. They were the mind, and hand,
and eye, and voice, of President Nc
KiDley. After the first shock of the