The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-07
SALT LAKE WAS SHAKEN
BY NEWS OF TRAGEDY
Announcement Of Assassination Caused the Most
Intense Excitement
Citizens DenOunce the Crime and Demand Measures to
Suppress Anarchy-Herald Supplied the News.

pathetically frantic. And The Herald
furnished the news. One bulletin fol-
lowed anoth-r almost as rapidly as they
could be written and fastened in the
clamps that awaited them. At the third
message . g-Oan, such as is aroused by
a personal bereavement, started al the
edge Of the crowd nearest the window
and rippled outward to the street. The
bulletin read;
The presidents wounds are fatal
Quickly the grOan died away and be-
came a grOwl. Men whose lips are more
accustomed to prayers than to pro-
family, turned to each other with a
curse for the man who had laid the
chief magistrate OF their nation low.
Excavations were heaped upon his head
and methods of torture that would
make an Apache's eyes widen were
suggested.
Burning is too good for him." said
mild looking old gentleman who is
probably grandfather to half a dozen
cherubs- If l had my way I'd start
with his toes and break every inch of
him up to the crown of his head and
do II slowly, too" The only cpposi-
ton to this form of torture was that
II wasn't severe enough.
his is the result of allowing an
archists to come to this country" was
the comment when word came that the
wouid-be assassin was a Polish an
archist- Every one of them in the
United States should be rounded up and
shot to death" the muttering went on
If that crowd could have had it's way
the anarchists would have been an
initiated before sunset.
Through all the horror that was
plainly felt, through the stupor that
/ comes with a sudden calamity, there
ran a current of deepest sympathy for
Mrs. Mckinley. the delicate invalid.
the frail first lady of the land who
seemed soon like to be a widow. At
the announcement that the news was
being kept from her the pity of il
dawned more sOrrOwfully on the peo-
pie. The thought that she. Of all the
millions in this and other lands. was
most deeply interested and yet in ig-
norance while they had all the tidings.
impressed and saddened the throngs.
Demand For Herald Extras.
So through the bright September az
/ ternoon Salt La->ors came and went.
came and went before the bulletins that
| told so much and yet so little. The
: first connected story of the tragedy
was told in The Herald's extra at 6
O'Clock. The large edition was quickly
4 exhausted for the citizens quickly
| bought out the stocks that the army OF
newsboys carried. One lad who went
/ into residence district with 200 pa
I pers returned empty and clam
! oring for more within half an hour.
Slowly the sun sank behind the hills
in the west The electric lights twinkled
/ in the streets and cleaned in the bust
| ness houses. but dinner was forgotten
I or hastily snatched in nearby restau-
rants. A large proportion of the popu-
/ latiOn had decided not to go home until
/ 1t was definitely known whether or not
I the bullet of Nieman would accom-
plish their fatal mission. The messag es
1 of the early evening grew more encOur-
aging.
The bulletins said that the presidents
I condition was improving and that there
, was a chance for him to recover. on
the heels of the favorable dispatches
( however. came one at o'clock which
Z said lle was sinking and it was feared
he could not survive the night. The
/ cheeFfulness which had taken the place
of the afternoons gloom disappeared
and once again grief had the upper
/ hand.
At 9:15 another extra was issued from
/ The Herald office, giving details up t
! II o'clock from the presidents bedside
At that hour it was the belief of his
| physicians that he could not survive
and. after the extra edition had beer
/ exhausted, many went home in the be-
lief that when they awakened they
would learn of the chief magistrate
/ death. The Herald sidewalk was filled
until midnight, but by 1 o'clock this
morning the streets were practically
deserted.