The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-15
A PROCLAMATION
BY THE GOVERNOR

William, Mckinley Is dead. He was
President of these United States yester-
dav. This morning he lies a corpse in
Buffalo, stricken there. as he was. in
the act of cordially grasping by the hand
a cowardly anarchist assassin. 1t gives
me pain. as Governor Of this STATE. to
make this announcement to our people.
He was loved here as in Ohio. and hon
ored hardly less among us than by the
people among whom he had spent the
fresher years of his life and those years
of ripper experience We. in this State.
marked the beauty Of his character: we
felt the sssassin's bullet; our prayers
with which we hoped TO reach the Throne
Of Grace, for some reason, inscrutahie.
but benefcent. we know. came back to
us unanswered. lie is dead. my coun-
trymen!
William Mckinley took arrsefor the
cause Of theUnion when only lad. He
offered his blood for the Union then. but
came from the raging storm 81 bullets
again and again untouched. to he strtck-
en- now by q despicahle assassin. He
served seven terms as a member OF the
House Of Representatives mt Washing
ton, attaining the highest rank In that
able body Of men lie WAS the spotless
Governor Of our sister State. Ohio, for
four years, and yesterday President OF
the United States, the most beloved. per-
hars, this country has ever known. The
south not only had no fear OF him. but
leaned upon his great strong arm ana
felt secure.
He was i'm exer1plar of our institutions.
strong and staIwart lover Of truth apd
justice. He won and held the unbounded
respect and love of his couutrymen and
had the confidence of all the peoples OF
the earth. He was, indeed, an ideal
American!
During the terrible hours which have
followed the dastardly deed that felled
him, the people of this State. and OF the
whole country have eagerly listened TOT
news from his bedside and have onered
their supplications that this great man
might be spared, this man who gave MINI
self to his duty as the one true thing,
whose public life In the glare OF me
MONDAY was unlocked, and who In the
ktntle hours, the quiet. soft END tender
hours, was the best, truest and bravest
of husbands, son and brother
The death Of such a President at any
time is affecting enough, but II Is in
f'nitely more painful to have him laid
low by an assassin. The President OF
great, free Republic, a country pro-
viding an asylum to the oppressed or all
lands, the victim Of an avenger. who
counts no law the supreme thing, him.
self the expression of a miserable propa-
ganda which defies all government and
stands for lawlessness and chaos! The
assassin, at least, teaches us that in
Republic there should not be room for
those who profess to love disorder ana
anarchy. In the midst of our grief and
sorrow, let US learn this lesson!
Now, therefore, /, William D. Jelks,
Governor of the State of Alabama, re-
cognizing the gravity Of the hour and the
sorrow and distress of the whole people
and feeling 1t proper and becoming that
the several States of this Union and the
people thereof should. in fitting man
ner, express their sense of so great 2
calamity, do hereby make this my proc
lamaticn:
It is ordered that the flag over the Cap
itol be hung at half mast. that the Cap
itol Building be closed today and durinS
the hour announced for the funeral that
each battery of the Alabama National
Guard pay funeral honors by firing the
salutes prescribed by the regulations be-
ginning at noon this day, and, again.
other salutes during the hour announced
for the funeral, and that the people in
| their respective communities are request
ed to meet at times and places convent
emit for themselves to give public express
sion of their sorrow.
In testimony whereof 1 have hereunto
set my hand and caused the great seal
of the state to be affixed. Done at
the Capitol in the City of Montgom-
cry. this 14th day of September, 1901.
WILLIAM d. JELkS.
By the Governor.
Robert P. McDavid,
Secretary of State.