The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-09-20

New York. Sept. 19.-Miss Mary J. Gay
nor, of Utica, a sister Of Mayor Gaynor
has given 10 the Evening Post a copy OF
on September 3, describing his sensations
when he was shot and the conditions
that preceded the assassin's attempt. lie
says he had discontinued his daily walks
across the Brooklyn Bridge after receiv-
ing many threatening letters. and after
repeated attacks upon him by Hearst
newspapers.
After describing his present health. the
mayor says:
You remember my dog Spot. when
We were children? He got hurt once
I and crawled under a pile Of logs, and
| lay there for more than a week before
he came out Well. when any trouble
happens 10 me I feel just like poor Spot
/ i would like 10 crawl under the log pile
and stay there"
After describing his actual sensations
after the shots were fred. the mayor con-
| tinues;
| Il struggled to breathe through my
mouth. but could not. and thought l was
| dying of strangulation. I kept thinking
all the time of what was the best thing
to do. l was not bit afraid to die, If
that was Gods will Of me. l said to my
| self: Just as well now as a few years
! from now No one who contemplates
the immensity Of Almighty God and OF
his universe and his works. and realizes
what an atom he is in 1t all. can fear
10 die IN this flesh
Did Not Want Snapshots.
/ I could now see faces and l wanted TO
get away from the crowd. l could not
! bear TO have them looking al me in the
! plight was in, and especially the crowd
| Of newspaper men. and more especially
| those with cameras. Two Of them rushed
up from the line where they all stood
| and put their cameras right in my face
and snapped them I finally put up my
hand and think ] said, Don't l hope
these pictures were not published. The
other newspaper men acted decently, as
| they always do.
AS We were crossing To my stateroom
said to Commissioner Thompson on my
right hand to send for two OF the best
surgeons in -he city and be sure and tell
! them not 10 discourage me. had deter
mined 10 make hght for II. and did not
want any one 10 come near me who
would discourage me.
Though the thing did not enter my
head that morning I was not surprised
when I realized that I was shot. ] had
| had a feeling for some weeks that !
might be assaulted on account Of anony-
nous threats I was getting by mail
had not received so many Nor so regu-
larly since was opposing the ring cor
| ruptions and the McKane conditions in
| Brooklyn And Gravesend when ] was a
young man. I had ceased walking over
the Brooklyn bridge
Had No Power 90 Act.
THE matter of the pictures OF the
Reno prize fight had come up. l had no
way as mayor TO stop the theaters from
showing them. The district attorney and
corporation counsel decided that there
was no law forbidding such pictures
But the Hearst newspapers kept on de-
nouncing me for not stopping them ]
| suppose YOU know the way they had be-
lied me ever since I became mayor. Fin
ally, one day they printed In large type
that an officer of the Christian Endeavol
Society. named Lowande. had called or
me at the mayors office and asked me or
behalf Of that society to stop the pie
lures and that I told him he was foo
and was sent by fools
II had never said such a thing, as you
may well know. It was made up.
These newspapers went on repeating
the falsehood and even tried 10 get up q
public meeting to denounce me.
Meanwhile. people of wicked or dis
ordered minds, of whom there are a
large number in New York City, would
cut these articles out and send them 10
me, with abuse and threats written on
! the margin, or else with anonymous let
ters threatening me. some of them said
! would be killed. Probably they cared
nothing about the pictures. but the par
ticular disorder OF their minds was in
damed by reading how bad a man I was.
Becomes Aware of Danger.
Even some sensational ministers wrote
TO me as though they believed H. Dur.
ing this time IL first entered my head
that l might be in danger.
Such journalism is. of course, in abso
lutte defiance OF the criminal law, and IL
occurred 10 me 10 publicly call on the
grand juries and the district attorney "a
protect me from II, but l was weak and
feared people would say l was thin
skinned. But the time Is at hand when
these journalistic scOundrelS have got 10
stop or get out. and I am ready now to
do my share TO that end They are abso-
lutely without souls. If decent people
would refuse to look at such newspapers
the thing would right itself at once.
"The journalism of New York City has
been dragged 10 the lowest depth OF
degradation, The grossest railleries and
libels, instead OF honest statements and
discussion of facts, have gone on I'M
checked One cannot help sympathizing