Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-08-15
Wilkie, Flynn and Drummond Out.
line a Plan.
MUST ALWAYS BE ON THE ALERT
Proper Guard Would Have Prevented
Attack Upon GaynOr.
OFFICIALS ARE TOO CONFIDENT
As a Rule Men in High Position
Have SO Much Confidence I'm
Fellow Men They Do Not
Fully Realize Danger.

NEW YORK, Aug. I4-(Special Tele-
gram.)-The assault on Mayor Gaynor has
renewed with added force the interest in
the question of how public men may best
be protected from the murderous attack
of cranks like Guiteau, Czolgoz, Prender-
CAST and Gallagher.
No three men in the country are better
qualified to discuss this vital question
than Chief Wilkie of the United States
secret service: William j. Flynn, in charge
of the eastern division of the secret serv
ice, who looks after the president when
in this section, and former Chief OF Sc
cret Service A. L. Drummond Here is
what they say:
Chief wilkie-"Past experiences have
shown me that to safeguard the lives of
our public officials, whether national or
state, we have to be eternally on the watch
for the unexpected. So long as there are
public officials, 1t will be necessary to
guard them.
There are many views as to how pub
lie officials should be guarded, but, in gem
eral, all persons who have TO do with the
safekeeping of the lives of officials agree
that small guard constantly on the alert
and always with the official is the best
method This plan sometimes fails.
VI NOhtbcf CtfCuulSlhACeS nave MUCH TO
do with the method adopted; the conditions
of the minds of the various classes in the
different parts Of the country must gov
ern methods to a large extent.
1T is necessary to guard public officials
against attack, and the only practical
method is to be constantly on the alert.
Eternal vigilance must be the watch
word"
Must Guard Officials.
Chief William J. Flynn-"If Mayor Gay
nor had been properly guarded last Tues
day morning he would not have been shot
IF a public official is properly guarded
no man can come up behind him and shoot
him in the back 1t is a difficult matter
to protect man from being shot at from
a distance. but guards who understand
their work can easily prevent an evil
'doer from getting close enough to his in
tended victim to shoot him the way Gala
CHER shot the mayor. II Mayor Gaynor
had han any guards around him the shoot
ing would have been impossible, unless
they had been inexcusably negligent.
There is no denying the fact that if a
desperate man wants to kill public Off
cial by means of firearms 1t is almost
impossible to prevent 1t II the assassin be
a good shot. But il public official is
TO a considerable extent.
Most public officials have such conf
dence in their followmen that they don't
take any steps to protect themselves by
surrounding themselves with guards.
understand Mayor Gaynor disliked to
have a guard near him, and many public
men share his feelings. Of course, the
secret service department has nothing to
do with guarding the mayor of New York
the only person we are authorized to pro-
tect is the president of the United States
but 1t seems to me the mayor should be
guarded. even II he doesn't want IT, Any
way, his back should never have been
left unprotected.
Hunt for weapons.
"If President Taft had been sailing in
stead Of Mayor Gaynor there would have
been a secret service man behind him, and
he would not have permitted Gallagher, a
stranger, to come near him. When a
stranger gets anywhere near the president
one of his guards runs his hands up and
down his clothes and IL he feels a big
lump that might be revolver he lie taken
care Of then and there. man with a re-
volver or any weapon has no business
near tho president
when Theodore Roosevelt was president
he was always carefully guarded, but don't
mind saying he wouldhave been more than a
match for any assassin II he had been given