, 1901-09-09
TELLS WHY HE MADE ATTEMPT
UPON THE LIFE OF PRES
IDENT MCKINLEY.
Was Pretty Well Known as a Social
list and Became an Anarchist Un-
der the Teachings of Emma Gold
man-PIanned Assassination of
President Ten Days Before He
Made the Attempt.


the prisoner, and is as follows:
Il was born at Detroit nearly TWEEN
ty-nine years ago. My parents are
Russian Poles. They came here forty
two years ago. | got my education III
the public schools If Detroit and then
went to Cleveland, where | got work.
in Cleveland | read books on social
ism and met a great many socialists.
was pretty well known as a socialist
in the west. After being in Cleveland
several years | went to Chicago, where
l remained seven months. after which
l went to Newburg, on the outskirts
of Cleveland and went to work in the
Newburg wire mills.
During the last five years have as
friends anarchists in Chicago, Cleve-
land, Detroit and other western cities,
and suppose | became more or less
bitter. Yes, | know | was bitter. |
never had much luck at anything and
this preyed upon me. 1t made me mo-
rose and envious, but what started the
craze to kill was a lecture | heard
some little time ago by Emma Gold
man. She was in Cleveland and | and
other anarchists went to hear her. She
set me Oh fire. Her doctrine, all rul-
ers should be ex~terminated, was what
Set me thinking, so my head nearly
split with pain. Miss Goldman's words
went right through me and when | left
the lecture l had made up my mind
that | would do something heroic for
the cause | loved.
Eight days ago while | was in Chi
cago, | real in a Chicago newspaper
of President McKinley's visit to the
Pan-American exposition at Buffalo.
That day bought a ticket for Buffalo
and got here with the determination
to do something, but did not know
just what. | thought of shooting the
president. but had not formed a plan.
81 went to live at 1913 Broadway,
which is a saloon INT hotel. John No
wax, a Pole and a sort of a politician,
who led his people here for years,
owns it. / told Nowak | came to see
the fair. He knew about what was set
ting me crazy.
Il went to the exposition grounds
a couple of time a day. Not until
Tuesday morning did the resolution
to shoot the president take hold of me.
1t was in my heart; there vas no es-
cape for me. | could not have con
quered it had my life been at stake.
There were thousands of people in
town Tuesday. heard it was Presi-
dents day. All those people seemed
to be bowling to the great ruler, and |
made up my mind to kill that ruler. |
bought a 32-caliber revolver and load
ed it. Tuesday night | was near the
railroad gate when the presidential
party arrived. | tried to get near him,
but the police forced me back. They
forced everybody back so that the
great ruler could pass. | was close to
the president when l got into the
grounds, but was afraid to attempt as
s%assination because there were so
many men in the body guard that
they watched him. l was not afraid
of them or that | should get hurt,
but afraid | might be seized and my
chance be gone forever. Well, he
went away hat time and l went home.
"On Wednesday | went to the
grounds and stood right near the pres
ident, right under him, near the stand
from which he spoke. l thought half
a dozen times of shooting while he
spoke, but could not get close enough.
l was afraid l might miss and then the
great crowd was always jostling and l
was afraid lest my aim would fail. |
waited Wednesday nd the president
got into the carriage again and a lot
of men about him formed a Gordon |
could not get through. l was tossed
about by the crowd INT my spirits were
getting pretty low. Twas almost hope
less that night as l went home. Yes
terday morning l went again to the
exposition grounds. Emma Goldman's
speech was still burning me up.
Il waited near the central entrance
for the president, who vas to board
a special train from that gate. but the
police allowed nobody but the presi-