The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1910-09-21
FEARED AN ASSAULT,
Gaynor Writes Sister Describ'
ing Incidents Of Shooting.

Had Received Numerous Threatening
Letters Through the Mail - Says
That the Hearst Newspapers Un.
justly Denounced Him For Not
Stopping the Reno Prizehght Pic.
lures, When He Had No Means Of
So Dong-cranks Clipped These
Articles and Sent Them to Him.
New York, Sept 2O.-The Evening
Post publishes letter given out for
publication at Utica by Miss Mary f.
Gaynor, a sister of Mayor Gaynor. The
letter is from the mayor to her and
was written Sept. 2. In II the mayor
says he was glad to get home; (mean
ing after he was discharged from the
hospitaD that he still finds difficulty
to talk, but his voice is coming back
little every day.
The letter proceeds: 81 have not
read any newspaper since was hurt
1t is my intention never to read line
of what has been published in tho
newspapers about the matter of me
since | was hurt"
The mayor then relates his own
knowledge, as he says, of the attempt
10 assassinate him and tells of the
sensations experience when he was
shot. He says he was choking with
blood and thought he was dying of
strangulation.
Was Not Afraid to Die.
He adds: 81 was not bit afraid to
die, if that was Gods will of me.
said to myself. just as well now as a
few years from now. No one who con-
templates the immensity of Almighty
God, and of His universe and His
works and realizes what an atom he
Is in it all, can fear to die in this
flesh, yea, even though it were true
that he Is to be dissolved forever into
the infnity of matter and mind, by
which he came"
Much of what the mayor relates of
the shooting and subsequent events
materially differs from what was pub
lished at the time
The letters continues in part as fol-
lows:
Though the thing had not entered
my head that morning, | was not sur
prised when ! realized that | was shot.
] had a feeling for some weeks that !
might be assaulted on account of the
anonymous threats | was getting by
mail.
THE matter of the pictures of the
Reno prizcfigbt had come up. ! had
no way as mayor to stop the theaters
from showing them. They had been
shown for years without objection.
But the Hearst papers kept on de-
nouncing me for not stopping them.
suppose you know the way they had
belied me ever since | became mayor.
Finally. one day they printed in large
type that an officer of the Christian
Endeavor society named Lowande had
called on me at TIE mayors office and
to stop the pictures and that | told
him he was a fool and was sent by
fools.
Story Was Made Up.
81 had never said such a thing, as
you may we'll know 1t was made up.
Eut it made no difference. These
newspapers went on repeating the
falsehood and even tried to get up a
public meeting to denounce me.
Meanwhile, people of wicked or
disordered minds, of whom there are
a large number in New York city,
would cut these articles out and send
them to me with a buzz and threats
written on the margin or else with
anonymous letters threatening me.
Some of them said | would be killed.
Probably they cared nothing about
the pictures. but the particular dis
order of their minds was iniiamed by
reading how bad n man | was.
Finally they printed that terrible
cartoon of me entitled The Barker
| was uTtSSeU uH DIS iuhiii ""'
standing outside of prizeiight ring
twirling a cane and barking for peo-
pie to go in and see the sport. Two
men slugging each other, one OF them
down and bleeding, were exposed in
the ring.
".That was the object these news
napers had I'm view, although they
printed all the pictures Of the fight In
the most revolving form, as they had
been doing for years with all such
fights.
Some Ministers Believed II,
Even some sensational ministers
wrote to me as though they believed |
Il. 1t was during this time that 1t
first entered my head that might be
In danger, especially in walking over
The bridge, although earlier in the
year | had received few similar
threats while the same newspapers
published that we were dlschargng
small employees, but taking on an ex-
pensive one"