Leon Frank Czolgosz (1873 - 1901) - Genealogy Leon Frank Czolgosz Share your family tree and photos with the people you know and love Build your family tree online Share photos and videos Alpena, Alpena County, Michigan, United States Death: in Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, United States Cause of death: Executed in the electric chair Place of Burial: Auburn, Cayuga County, New York, United States Immediate Family: Half brother of Charles Czolgosz and Antoine Czolgosz Occupation: Anarchist, Assassin of US President William McKinley Managed by: NewspaperARCHIVE.com Text: ... September John Scherwood, well known lumber- man, stated that Leon Czolgosz worked In a cedar camu near South drench ..." Date: NewspaperARCHIVE.com Text: "...H Anarchist Supposed to Be Leon Czolgosz of De- troit Fires Two Bullets Into the President's Body. IN OF A FRIEND Extends Hand u if t... Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... Leon Czolgosz, an avowed Anarchist.

President McKinley was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veteran ..." Date: Text: ... On September 26th, Leon Czolgosz was sentenced to die during the week beginning October 2Sth. The sentence ..." Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... by Leon Czolgosz seems to have been less than was anticipated, and that is regarded as highly favorable to him. It is admitted that the ... Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... The mans name is Leon ... Czolgosz. He is of Polish-German extraction. His home is in Cleveland. He is an avowed Anarchist, and an arde... Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... Leon Czolgosz, an avowed Anarchist. President McKinley was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veteran Legion and othe... Date: Text: ... On September 26th, Leon Czolgosz was sentenced to die during the week beginning October 28th. The sentence ..." Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ...

by Leon Czolgosz seems to have been less than was anticipated, and that is regarded as highly favorable to him. It is admitted that the ... Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... The mans name is Leon ... Czolgosz. He is of decided Polish extraction. His home is in Cleveland. He is an avowed Anarchist, and an ard... Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... Leon Czolgosz, an avowed Anarchist. President McKinley was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic, the Union Veteran Legion and othe... Date: Compilation of Published Sources Text: ... The man s name is Leon ... Czolgosz. He is of decided Polish extraction. His home is in Cleveland. He is an avowed Anar chist, and an ar...

Date: About Leon Frank Czolgosz From the English Wikipedia page on Leon Czogolsz: Leon Czolgosz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʂɔlɡɔʂ]; May 1873[1] – October 29, 1901; also used surname "Nieman" and variations thereof)[3] was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley. In the last few years of his life, he claimed to have been heavily influenced by anarchists such as Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman. Early life Czolgosz was born in Alpena, Michigan,[4] in 1873, one of eight children (six sons and two daughters)[5] of Mary (née Nowak) and Paul Czolgosz, Polish Catholic immigrants from Prussia.[2][6] According to Andrey Dovnar-Zapolskiy, writing for Komsomolskaya Pravda, Czolgosz's ancestors were immigrants from what is now Belarus.

His father might have immigrated to the US in the 1860s from Astravets in Hrodnenskaya Oblast (near Vilnius). At immigration, he stated his ethnicity as Hungarian and changed his surname from Zholhus (Жолгусь, Żołguś) to Czolgosz.[7] He was baptized in St. Albertus Catholic Church.[8][citation needed] His family moved to Detroit when he was five years old. He left his family farm in Warrensville, Ohio, at the age of 10 to work at the American Steel and Wire Company with two of his brothers. After the workers of his factory went on strike, he and his brothers were fired. Czolgosz then returned to the family farm in Warrensville. At the age of 16, he was sent to work in a glass factory in Natrona, Pennsylvania for two years before moving back home.[9][10] Interest in anarchism In 1898, after witnessing a series of similar strikes (many ending in violence), Czolgosz again returned home where he was constantly at odds with his stepmother and with his family's Roman Catholic beliefs.

It was later recounted that through his life he had never shown any interest in friendship or romantic relationships, and was bullied throughout his childhood by peers.[11] He became a recluse and spent much of his time alone reading Socialist and anarchist newspapers while drinking milk in his mother's basement. He was impressed after hearing a speech by the political radical Emma Goldman, whom he met for the first time during one of her lectures in Cleveland in 1901. After the lecture Czolgosz approached the speakers' platform and asked for reading recommendations. A few days later he visited her home in Chicago and introduced himself as Nieman {No man}, but Goldman was on her way to the train station. He only had enough time to explain to her about his disappointment in Cleveland's socialists, and for Goldman to introduce him to her anarchist friends who were at the train station.[12] She later wrote a piece in defense of Czolgosz.[13] The radical Free Society newspaper issued a warning pertaining to Czolgosz, reading:[14] The attention of the comrades is called to another spy. He is well dressed, of medium height, rather narrow shoulders, blond and about 25 years of age.

Up to the present he has made his appearance in Chicago and Cleveland. In the former place he remained but a short time, while in Cleveland he disappeared when the comrades had confirmed themselves of his identity and were on the point of exposing him. His demeanor is of the usual sort, pretending to be greatly interested in the cause, asking for names or soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence. If this same individual makes his appearance elsewhere the comrades are warned in advance, and can act accordingly. Czolgosz believed there was a great injustice in American society, an inequality which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He concluded that the reason for this was the structure of government itself. Then he learned of a European crime which changed his life: On July 29, 1900, King Umberto I of Italy had been shot dead by anarchist Gaetano Bresci. Bresci told the press that he had decided to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man. The assassination shocked and galvanized the American anarchist movement, and Czolgosz is thought to have consciously imitated Bresci.

New York police officer Joseph Petrosino believed that the same group had targeted President McKinley, but his warnings were useless, because McKinley ignored them.[15] Assassination of President McKinley On August 31, 1901, Czolgosz moved to Buffalo, New York, the site of the Pan-American Exposition. There, he rented a room at Nowak's Hotel on 1078 Broadway.[16] On September 6 he went to the exposition with a .32 caliber Iver Johnson "Safety Automatic" revolver (serial #A63344[17]) he claimed he had purchased on September 2 for $4.50.[18] With the gun wrapped in a handkerchief in his pocket, Czolgosz approached McKinley's procession, the President having been standing in a receiving line inside of the Temple of Music, greeting the public for 10 minutes. At 4:07 pm Czolgosz reached the front of the line. McKinley extended his hand; Czolgosz slapped it aside and shot him in the abdomen twice at point blank range.

McKinley died eight days later, on September 14. Members of the crowd immediately subdued Czolgosz, before the 4th Brigade, National Guard Signal Corps[19] and police intervened, and beat him so severely it was initially thought he might not live to stand trial.[20] Czolgosz was then briefly held in a cell at Buffalo's 13th Precinct house at 346 Austin Street until he was moved to the city's police headquarters downtown. Trial and execution Following the assassination, newly inaugurated President Theodore Roosevelt issued a pronouncement declaring: "When compared with the suppression of anarchy, every other question sinks into insignificance.”[21] On September 13, the day before McKinley succumbed to his wounds, Czolgosz was transferred from the police headquarters, since the headquarters were undergoing repairs, to the Erie County Women's Penitentiary. On the 16th he was taken to the Erie County Jail before being arraigned before County Judge Emery.

After the arraignment, he was transferred to Auburn State Prison.[22] A grand jury indicted Czolgosz on September 16 with one count of first-degree murder. Throughout his incarceration, Czolgosz spoke freely with his guards, but refused every interaction with Robert C. Titus and Lorin L. Lewis, the prominent judges-turned-attorneys assigned to defend him, and with the expert psychiatrist sent to test his sanity.[23] A prison guard later came forward claiming that Czolgosz confided in him that because he claimed himself to be an anarchist, he would not talk with any people he viewed as related to authority which included his lawyers or any presiding trial judge. The district attorney at trial was Thomas Penney, assisted by a Mr. Haller, whose performance was described as "flawless".[a] Although Czolgosz answered that he was pleading "Guilty", the presiding Judge Truman C.

White overruled him and entered a "Not Guilty" plea on his behalf.[24] In the nine days from McKinley's death on September 14, to Czolgosz's trial on September 23, Czolgosz's lawyers were unable to prepare a defense since Czolgosz refused to speak to either one of them. As a result, Lorin Lewis argued at the trial that Czolgosz could not be found guilty for the murder of the president because he was insane at the time (similar to the defense that was used in the Charles J. Guiteau trial in 1881, after the shooting of President James A. Garfield). On September 23 and 24 prosecution testimony was presented, consisting of the doctors who treated McKinley and various eyewitnesses to the shooting. Lewis did not call any defense witnesses. Czolgosz himself refused to testify on his own defense, nor did he ever speak at all in court.

In his statement to the jury, Lewis noted Czolgosz's refusal to talk to his lawyers or cooperate with them, admitted his client's guilt, and said that "the only question that can be discussed or considered in this case is... whether that act was that of a sane person. If it was, then the defendant is guilty of the murder... If it was the act of an insane man, then he is not guilty of murder but should be acquitted of that charge and would then be confined in a lunatic asylum." The prosecutor laid great stress on Czolgosz's anarchist affiliations and called upon the jury to heed the popular demand for a quick trial and execution. Since the defense had been unable to enter any evidence that Czolgosz had been afflicted with any kind of temporary insanity, there could only be one verdict. Even if the jury believed the defense that Czolgosz was insane by claiming that no sane man would have shot and killed the president in such a public and blatant manner in which he knew he would be caught, there was still the legal definition of insanity to be overcome.

Under New York law, Czolgosz was legally insane only if he was unable to understand what he was doing.[25] At Thomas Penney's request, White closed the trial with instructions to the jury that supported the prosecution's argument that (a): Czolgosz was not insane, and that (b): he knew clearly what he was doing. After this, any chance that remained of acquitting Czolgosz on the basis of insanity was gone, since the defense offered no evidence that he couldn't understand the wrongness of his crime. Czolgosz was convicted on September 24, 1901 after the jury deliberated for only one hour. On September 26, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty. Czolgosz was said to have continued to remain silent and had shown no emotion upon both his conviction and death sentence. When he was asked by Judge White if he wanted to make any open court statement, Czolgosz shook his head meaning 'no'.

Upon returning to Auburn Prison, Czolgosz asked the warden if this meant he would be transferred to Sing Sing to be electrocuted, and he seemed surprised to learn that Auburn had its own electric chair.[26] Czolgosz was electrocuted by three jolts, each of 1800 volts, in Auburn Prison[27] on October 29, 1901, just 45 days after his victim's death.[28] His brother, Waldek, and his brother-in-law, Frank Bandowski, were in attendance. When Waldek asked the Warden for his brother's body to be taken for proper burial, he was informed that he "would never be able to take it away" and that crowds of people would mob him.[29] His last words were: "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people – the good working people.

I am not sorry for my crime."[30] As the prison guards strapped him into the chair, however, he did say through clenched teeth, "I am only sorry I could not get to see my father."[31] Czolgosz was autopsied by John T. Gerin;[b] his brain was autopsied by Edward Anthony Spitzka. The body was buried on prison grounds following the autopsy. Prison authorities originally planned to inter the body with quicklime to hasten its decomposition, but became dissatisfied with this option after testing quicklime on a sample of meat. After determining that they were not legally limited to the use of quicklime for the process, they poured sulfuric acid into Czolgosz's coffin so that his body would be completely disfigured.[32] The warden estimated the acid caused the body to disintegrate within 12 hours.[28] Czolgosz's letters and clothes were burned, although in the case of letters the names of those who had sent threatening or sympathetic correspondence were recorded for future reference.[33] Legacy Emma Goldman was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination, but was released, due to insufficient evidence.

She later incurred a great deal of negative publicity when she published "The Tragedy at Buffalo". In the article, she compared Czolgosz to Marcus Junius Brutus, the killer of Julius Caesar, and called McKinley the "president of the money kings and trust magnates."[34] Other anarchists and radicals were unwilling to support Goldman's effort to aid Czolgosz, believing that he had harmed the movement.[35] The scene of the crime, the Temple of Music, was demolished in November 1901, along with the rest of the Exposition grounds. A stone marker in the middle of Fordham Drive, a residential street in Buffalo, marks the approximate spot (42°56.321′N 78°52.416′W[36]) where the shooting occurred. Czolgosz's revolver is on display in the Pan-American Exposition exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo. Lloyd Vernon Briggs, who later became the Director of the Massachusetts Department for Mental Hygiene, reviewed the Czolgosz case in 1901 on behalf of Dr.

Walter Channing shortly after Czolgosz's death.[37] Briggs also reviewed the cases of Clarence Richeson and Bertram G. Spencer, men who had histories of mental illness before committing murder. Contrary to views almost universally expressed at the time of the assassination, Briggs concluded that Czolgosz was "a diseased man, a man who had been suffering from some form of mental disease for years. He was not medically responsible and in the light of present-day psychiatry and of modern surgical procedure, there is a great question whether he was even legally responsible for the death of our President." Art Czolgosz is also featured as a central character of Stephen Sondheim's musical Assassins, in which his assassination of McKinley is depicted in a musical number called "The Ballad of Czolgosz". References Explanatory notes 1.^ Dr. McDonald's description of the trial. 2.^ Everett, p. 448. "The physicians were: Dr. Carlos F. MacDonald of New York and Dr. Gerin of Auburn. Other witnesses were: E. Bonesteel, Troy; W. D. Wolff, Rochester; C. F.

Rattigan, Auburn; George R. Peck, Auburn, N. Y.; W. N. Thayer, former warden of Dannemora prison, who assisted Warden Mead, and three newspaper correspondents." 3.^ Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900; Orange, Cuyahoga, Ohio; roll T623 1261, page 4A, line 34, . Retrieved on 2008-09-10. 4.^ Rauchway, pp. 114, 126. 5.^ Sarah Vowell (2005), Assassination vacation, Simon & Schuster p. 214. ISBN 978-0-7432-8253-6 6.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed]. 7.^ Channing 1902. 10.^ "Leon Czolgosz — Wiki". UPI.com. 2011-06-14. Retrieved 2011-06-22. 11.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed].

12.^ Rauchway, p. [page needed]. 13.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed]. 14.^ Goldman 1931, pp. 289–290. 15.^ "Emma Goldman : Transcript". American Experience. PBS. 3-11-2004. 16.^ Everett, Chapter 5 18.^ "Czolgosz Says He Had No Aid", Chicago Sunday Tribune, 8 Sep. 1901. 19.^ "Iver Johnson used to assassinate Mckinley". TheFirearmsForum.Com. Retrieved 2012-03-11. 20.^ Leon Czolgosz and the Trial — "Lights out in the City of Light" — Anarchy and Assassination at the Pan-American Exposition 21.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed]. 22.^ The Trial and Execution of Leon Czolgosz 23.^ Doherty 2011. 24.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed]. 25.^ Andrews 1912, p. [page needed].

26.^ Hamilton, Dr. Allan McLane. "Autobiography". Pre-1921 27.^ Great American Trials 1994, pp. 225–227. 28.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed]. 29.^ 1901 video of his execution 30.^ The Execution of Leon Czolgosz — "Lights Out in the City of Light" — Anarchy and Assassination at the Pan-American Exposition 31.^ Briggs 1921, p. [page needed]. 32.^ Seibert 2002, p. [page needed]. 33.^ Seibert 2002, p. [page needed]. 34.^ The New York Times, 1901-10-30. 35.^ Seibert 2002, p. [page needed]. 36.^ "The Tragedy at Buffalo" 37.^ Goldman 1931, pp. 311–319. 38.^ "Site of the Assassination of President McKinley".

Retrieved 30 July 2010. 39.^ Rauchway, p. 55. Cited sources Andrews, E. Benjamin (1912). History of the United States. six volumes. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. Retrieved 2011-06-22. Briggs, L. Vernon (1921). The Manner of Man That Kills. Channing, Walter (1902). "The Mental Status of Czolgosz". American Journal of Insanity (American Psychiatric Association) 59 (2): 1–47. ISSN 0002-953X. Doherty, Brian (January 2011). "The First War on Terror". Reason Magazine. ISSN 0048-6906. Retrieved 2011-06-22. a review of The World That Never Was: A True Story of Dreamers, Schemers, Anarchists, and Secret Agents, by Alex Butterworth, Pantheon Books... Goldman, Emma (1931). Living My Life. New York: Alfred A.

Knopf. "Leon Czolgosz Trial: 1901". Great American Trials. New England Publishing. 1994. pp. 225–227. Everett, Marshall (1901). Complete Life of William McKinley and Story of his Assassination. Rauchway, Eric (2004). Murdering McKinley: The Making of Theodore Roosevelt's America (paperback ed.). Hill and Wang. ISBN 978-0-8090-1638-9. Richardson, Heather Cox (2003-08-24). "A captivating tale of a murder that mattered, and why it did". Chicago Tribune: p. 7. ISSN 1085-6706. Archived from the original on 2003-08-24. Retrieved 2011-06-22. a review of Rauchway's Murdering McKinley Seibert, Jeffrey W. (2002). I Done My Duty: The Complete Story of the Assassination of President McKinley (Illustrated ed.). Bowie, Md.: Heritage Books.

ISBN 978-0-7884-2118-1. Lee, Earl (2001). You Are Being Lied To. The Disinformation Company. "Assassin Czolgosz Is Executed At Auburn. He Declared that He Felt No Regret for His Crime. Autopsy Disclosed No. Mental Abnormalities. Body Buried in Acid in the Prison Cemetery". The New York Times. October 30, 1901. Retrieved 2011-04-30. "At 7:12:30 o'clock this morning, Leon Frans Czolgosz, murderer of ... the formal finding in his case was composed as follows: Foreman, John P. Jaeckel.

..." External links Film: Reenactment of the execution of Leon Czolgosz in the electric chair, early film from 1901, Library of Congress archives Leon Czolgosz and the Trial - Pan-American Exposition of 1901 - University at Buffalo Libraries University at Buffalo Libraries Health Care and Medical Technology Leon Czolgosz and the Trial On September 5, 1901 Leon Czolgosz unsuccessfully sought an opportunity to assassinate President McKinley at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo. A second assassination attempt, by this self-proclaimed Anarchist, was successful. On September 6, at an afternoon reception at the Temple of Music, Leon Czolgosz, as if reaching to shake his hand, fired two shots into the President. Czolgosz was immediately wrestled to the ground by another person in the greeting line, James Parker, an African-American waiter who had just been laid off and was looking forward to shaking the hand of the president. [See a related essay on James Parker.] Body guards, police and soldiers of the U.S.

Artillery, sent to the Temple of Music to supplement the President's protection, descended upon Czolgosz and began to beat him. From where he lay wounded, President McKinley was heard to have said, "Go easy on him boys." Portrait of Leon Czolgosz. Photographer/Engraver: Undetermined. Source: Harper's Weekly. September 21, 1901. Who was Czolgosz? Leon Czolgosz, (alias Fred C. Nieman,) was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1873. His father was a Polish immigrant and his mother German. He had five brothers, Waldeck, Frank, Jacob, Joseph and Michael, and two sisters, Ceceli and Victoria. His mother died of complications from childbirth at the age of 40 but his father soon remarried. Leon's family moved frequently, although they tended to remain in areas dominated by Polish culture.

Although he had attended school for only 5 years Leon was an avid reader and considered to be the "family intellectual." He worked in various factories and mills, and by age 19, as the labor movement became more and more active, he began to distance himself from his Catholic roots. Compelled by what he felt were unfair human labor conditions (compounded by instability at home) Czolgosz became a socialist and began to seek out those who shared and promoted socialist ideals. He was drawn to the big names in the Anarchist movement--Emil Schilling, of the Cleveland Anarchist group Liberty Club, Abraham Isaak, editor of Free Society, and of course, his inspiration, Emma Goldman. Upon hearing her speak, Czolgosz considered himself an Anarchist. Yet local and national anarchist groups grew suspicious of Czolgosz and shunned him--many considered his references to revolution, secret plots and "conspiracies" to be dangerous. A mental breakdown in 1898 had affected his emotional and mental stability and he became more withdrawn, moving frequently between Chicago, Detroit, his family's farm near Cleveland and Buffalo, although he spent most of his time in the latter two cities. Dr.

Walter Channing, an alienist and Professor of Mental diseases at Tufts Medical School, made a detailed study of Czolgosz's case in 1902. "While in this physical and mental state of sickliness," wrote Dr. Channing, "it is probable that he conceived the idea of performing some great act for the benefit of the common and working people." 1 Was the McKinley Shooting Czolgosz's "Great Act?" Considering his stated confession, "I have done my duty. I did not feel that one man should have so much service, and another man should have none, " the shooting of the President of the United States may have well have been the "great act" Channing refers to. There are contradictory theories as to whether Czolgosz's plan preceded his late summer arrival in Buffalo. He had spent some time in a West Seneca, NY (a Buffalo suburb) boarding house for most of the summer of 1901, but had left for Cleveland only to return to Buffalo a few days later to take a room in John Nowak's saloon on the city's predominantly Polish East Side.

Czolgosz states in a later account, that he did not plan the assassination until after returning to Buffalo on that day, August 31, 1901. Czolgosz had told interrogators that he was in Buffalo looking for work. Perhaps he traveled to Buffalo because of its large Polish population or, because he wished to take advantage of the low excursion rates offered at the time of the Exposition. 2 Certainly, the president's visit to the Pan-American Exposition was not publicized until early August and Czolgosz had arrived in the city long before. Yet Margaret Leech points out that he had been in the city for most of the summer--through mid August. "McKinley's coming visit, heralded by great publicity, was known to everyone who followed the news." 3 (And Leon Czolgosz was always carrying a newspaper.) Thus, while he may not have originally set out for Buffalo to shoot the president, there is ample evidence to suggest that he had planned it long before August 31st, as he claimed.

The Act Leon Czolgosz shot William McKinley as the President received greeters at the Temple of Music on September 6, 1901. Czolgosz stood in line with hundreds of others who were hoping to shake the President's hand. That he had his hand wrapped in a handkerchief was apparently of little concern as it was a sweltering day and handkerchiefs were visible everywhere. Accounts of exactly what happened vary from newspaper to newspaper. The Buffalo Express (Sept. 7, 1901) reported that a young girl was in line in front of Czolgosz while the Commercial (Sept. 7, 1901) printed secret service agent Ireland's account, stating that there appeared to have been a man in line in front of Czolgosz who "lingered too long." James Parker, the Negro waiter who wrestled Czolgosz to the ground, was said to have been behind the assassin in some accounts and in front of him in others.

(As Daryl Rasuli points out in his essay , many of the newspapers did not even report Parker's involvement until sometime later.) What is known, however, is that Czolgosz fired two shots into President McKinley and was immediately apprehended. The public was enraged. From the Buffalo Express, Sept. 7, 1901: ... "Lynch Him" cried a hundred voices and a start was made for one of the entrances to the Temple of Music. The soldiers and police sprang outside and beat back the crowd. ... In the midst of the confusion, Nieman [Czolgosz] still bleeding from his blows and pale and silent with his shirt torn was led out quickly by Capt. James F. Vallely, chief of the exposition detectives, Assistant-Commandant Robertson and detectives. They thrust him into a closed carriage. The detectives leaped in with him and Capt. Vallely jumped in the driver's seat as they lashed the horses into a gallop. A roar of rage burst from the crowd. "Murder! Assassin! Lynch him!

Hang him!" yelled the thousands, and men, women and children tore at the guards, sprang at the horses and clutched the whirling wheels of the carriage. Nieman huddled back in the corner concealed by the bodies of two detectives. Arrest and Confession Czolgosz used the alias Fred Nieman and his police record listed him as twenty-eight years old, 5ft. 7-5/8 in., weighing 138 pounds. He was further described as being of medium build and complexion, with dark blue eyes and red-brown hair. The nature of the crime, stated on his record is as follows: 4 "While Wm. McKinley the President of the United States was holding a public reception in the Temple of Music at the Pan-Amer. Exposition, he was shot in the abdomen twice with a .32 cal. revolver." Photograph of Czolgosz and Facsimilie of Czolgosz's Police Report. Photographer: Undetermined. Source: Facsimilie of Czolgosz's police report-- provided by the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society.

After being processed at Buffalo Police Headquarters, Czolgosz was interrogated by District Attorney Thomas Penney. He confessed to the crime, stating that "I killed President McKinley because I done my duty. I didn't believe one man should have so much service, and another man should have none." Interestingly, the date of the signed confession, September 6, 1901, was fourteen days prior to the actual death of McKinley, suggesting the Czolgosz was unaware at the time that the President was still alive. A Buffalo Express reported Czolgosz as saying that 3 or 4 days prior to the shooting, he conceived the idea of shooting the president but hadn't determined how. He claimed that he had purchased the revolver at a store on Main Street for $4.50 the morning of the shooting and that although he had later followed the President to Niagara Falls, an opportunity did not present itself until the McKinley's Temple of Music reception. 5 A Facsimile of Czolgosz's Confession. Source: Karpeles Manuscript Museum, Buffalo, N.Y.

Apparently, Leon Czolgosz was a model prisoner, saying and doing very little to defend himself or to provide any additional information as to why he had committed this crime. Police were convinced that he was part of a larger anarchist conspiracy. If such a conspiracy could be proven, Czolgosz could be tried in federal court. As mentioned in the Anarchy section of this site, Emma Goldman and some of anarchists with whom Czolgosz identified were arrested. Likewise, anyone with whom Colgosz had contact in the Buffalo area was also questioned. John Nowak, owner of the East Side saloon (1078 Broadway) where Czolgosz stayed, was taken into custody with three other men for questioning. 6 Upon the president's death, Buffalo physician Dr. I. Saylin was also arrested in connection with the assassination. Although he did not know Czolgosz, he had met with Emma Goldman during her visit to Buffalo. 7 Like Nowak, Saylin was eventually released. No evidence of a conspiracy or the involvement of anyone other than Czolgosz was ever discovered. In fact, up to the point of his execution, Czolgosz maintained that he had acted alone.

"He has the "Phrenological Characteristics Common to Criminals" Czolgosz was becoming more and more withdrawn while in police custody, so much so that by Sept. 10, the Buffalo Courier reported that he was being guarded to prevent suicide. The Sept. 11 Commercial described the prisoner's physical appearance and demeanor in more detail: HE CAN'T SLEEP. Czolgosz Has Become Very Rest- less, Refuses to Talk and Eats Little. ———— Czolgosz passed a very restless night. He evidently found it impossible to sleep. He rolled restlessly on his hard bed for a long time and then got up and paced up and down in his narrow cell. He hardly tasted of his supper last night. Either his splendid appetite had vanished or he deliberately determined not to eat. It was the same this morning when his breakfast was taken to him. He ate a morsel of it and left the rest. At 8 o'clock he began to walk up and down in his cell. He has refused to talk to his guards. He never says a word to anybody and answers no questions. The police do not know just what to make of this change. It may herald a complete break-down.

HAS A BEARD NOW. Czolgosz is not Permitted to Shave Himself-Still Wears the Blood- Marked Shirt. ———— Czolgosz appears at least ten years older today than he did at the time of his arrest. The principal reason for this change probably is the fact that he has grown a beard, which now covers the whole lower portion of his face. Czolgosz is not permitted to shave himself, nor is it the intention of the police to call anybody in to shave him. In fact, they are no more particular about his personal appearance than Czolgosz is himself. So long as Czolgosz remains in his dungeon at police headquarters, which is likely to be some days at least, his beard will grow unmolested. Czolgosz's beard is rather full and heavy. It begins high up on his cheeks and runs low on his neck. It is a brown beard and rather dark, and just at present is fully one-quarter of an inch long. It evidently troubles him some, too, for he frequently runs, his fingers through it, as if annoyed by its length and thickness.

The combination of the thick, stubby, beard and the general untidy appearance of the prisoner makes him look a great deal more like the typical anarchist than on the day of his arrest. Since last Friday, Czolgosz has neither washed himself nor combed his hair. He is wearing the same clothes, including his underwear, which be had on when he shot the President. He was not provided with a change of linen and the police did not think it was their duty to secure any for him. He wears neither coat nor vest. His faded shirt is soiled and is spotted with blood, the blood which was from his nose and face by the blows which were rained upon him immediately after he shot the President. The button holes in the collar of his shirt are ripped apart. Parker, the big negro, did that when he seized Czolgosz and prevented him from firing a third shot. His hair is long, heavy and tangled. It falls over his face and ears and is beginning to turn up at the back of the neck. Czolgosz has made one request for a comb. It was denied him, and since then he has displayed not the slightest interest in his personal appearance.

As he appears now, there are not very many men who would be particularly delighted to meet Czolgosz in a lonely by way at night. There is a good deal of the animal in his make-up. The police say he has the phrenological characteristics common to criminals of a low and degraded class. The Charge Becomes Murder in the First Degree Buffalo Police Headquarters. Photographer: Undetermined. Source: Buffalo Courier, September 8, 1901. Upon the death of President William McKinley on September 14, 1901, his assassin Leon Czolgosz was soon removed from the Buffalo Police Headquarters and taken to the Erie County penitentiary. Superintendent Bull told Czolgosz that "he was in danger and it would mean his immediate death if he made any attempt to escape. ... The prisoner was then told that Mr. [Patrick] Cusack, [Assistant Superintendent of Police,] was to take him to the Penitentiary. ...

His clean shirt, which had been bought for him several days before, had been put on and Czolgosz looked fairly respectable, except for a shaggy beard, which partly covered his face, the result of a week's confinement. ... There were probably a dozen curious people standing near Police Headquarters. They were satisfied to look at the building which they supposed contained Czolgosz. None of those curious people imagined that the man who walked out ahead of Mr. Cusack was Czolgosz." 8 Czolgosz's Arraignment The following Buffalo Commercial article briefly describes Czolgosz's arraignment. 9 Erie County Court Judge Edward K. Emery. Photographer: Undetermined. Source: Source: Men of Buffalo: A Collection of Portraits of Men Who Deserve to Rank as Typical Representatives of the Best Citizenship, Foremost Activities and Highest Aspirations of the City of Buffalo. Chicago: A.N. Marquis & Co., 1902, p. 319. References Robert J. Donovan, in A. Wesley Johns, The Man Who Shot McKinley, p.43. Margaret Leech,.

In the Days of McKinley, New York : Harper & Row, 1959, p. 593. Police report on Leon Frank Czolgosz, arrested September 5, 1901. Department of Police, Buffalo, N.Y., Bureau of Identification. Buffalo Express, September 8, 1901. While enroute to Auburn State Prison after his sentencing, Czolgosz would state that this was an error. In an interview published in the Buffalo Express, September 27, 1901, he claimed to have not planned to shoot McKinley at Niagara Falls. Buffalo Enquirer, September 7, 1901. Buffalo Commercial, September 15, 1901. Buffalo Express, September 17, 1901. 9. Buffalo Commercial, September 16, 1901.

Leon Frank Czolgosz - Assassin - President William McKinley v ï¿½ d ï¿½ e In 1898, after witnessing a series of similar strikes (many ending in violence), Czolgosz again returned home where he was constantly at odds with his stepmother and with his family's Roman Catholic beliefs. It was later recounted that through his life he had never shown any interest in friendship or romantic relationships, and was bullied throughout his childhood by peers. [3] [ page needed ] He became a recluse and spent much of his time alone reading Socialist and anarchist newspapers while drinking milk in his mother's attic. He was impressed after hearing a speech by the political radical Emma Goldman , whom he met for the first time during one of her lectures in Cleveland in 1901. After the lecture Czolgosz approached the speakers' platform and asked for reading recommendations. A few days later he visited her home in Chicago and introduced himself as Nieman {No man}, but Goldman was on her way to the train station. He only had enough time to explain to her about his disappointment in Cleveland's socialists, and for Goldman to introduce him to her anarchist friends who were at the train station.

[9] She later wrote a piece in defense of Czolgosz. [10] The radical Free Society newspaper issued a warning pertaining to Czolgosz, reading: [11] The attention of the comrades is called to another spy. He is well dressed, of medium height, rather narrow shoulders, blond and about 25 years of age. Up to the present he has made his appearance in Chicago and Cleveland . In the former place he remained but a short time, while in Cleveland he disappeared when the comrades had confirmed themselves of his identity and were on the point of exposing him. His demeanor is of the usual sort, pretending to be greatly interested in the cause, asking for names or soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence. If this same individual makes his appearance elsewhere the comrades are warned in advance, and can act accordingly. Czolgosz believed there was a great injustice in American society, an inequality which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He concluded that the reason for this was the structure of government itself.

Then he learned of a European crime which changed his life: On July 29, 1900, King Umberto I of Italy had been shot dead by anarchist Gaetano Bresci . Bresci told the press that he had decided to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man. The assassination shocked and galvanized the American anarchist movement, and Czolgosz is thought to have consciously imitated Bresci. New York police officer Joseph Petrosino believed that the same group had targeted President McKinley, but his warnings were useless, because McKinley ignored them. [12] Assassination of President McKinley Main article: Assassination of William McKinley On August 31, 1901, Czolgosz moved to Buffalo , New York . There, he rented a room near the site of the Pan-American Exposition . On September 6 he went to the exposition with a .32 caliber Iver-Johnson "Safety Automatic" revolver (serial #463344) he claimed he had purchased on September 2 for $4.50.

[13] With the gun wrapped in a handkerchief in his pocket, Czolgosz approached McKinley's procession, the President having been standing in a receiving line inside of the Temple of Music , greeting the public for 10 minutes. At 4:07 p.m. Czolgosz reached the front of the line. McKinley extended his hand; Czolgosz slapped it aside and shot him in the abdomen twice at point blank range. Members of the crowd immediately subdued Czolgosz, before the 4th Brigade, National Guard Signal Corps [3] [ page needed ] and police intervened, and beat him so severely it was initially thought he might not live to stand trial. [14] Czolgosz was then briefly held in a cell at Buffalo's 13th Precinct house at 346 Austin Street until he was moved to the city's police headquarters downtown.

Trial and execution Following the assassination, newly-elevated President Theodore Roosevelt issued a pronouncement declaring: "When compared with the suppression of anarchy , every other question sinks into insignificance.ï¿½ [15] On September 13, the day before McKinley succumbed to his wounds, Czolgosz was transferred from the police headquarters, since the headquarters were undergoing repairs, to the Erie County Women's Penitentiary. On the 16th he was taken to the Erie County Jail before being arraigned before County Judge Emery. After the arraignment, he was transferred to Auburn State Prison . [3] [ page needed ] A grand jury indicted Czolgosz on September 16 with one count of first-degree murder. Throughout his incarceration, Czolgosz spoke freely with his guards, but refused all interaction with Robert C. Titus and Lorin L. Lewis, the prominent judges-turned-attorneys assigned to defend him, and with the expert psychiatrist sent to test his sanity.

[16] [ page needed ] A prison guard later came forward claiming that Czologsz confided in him that because he claimed himself to be an anarchist, he would not talk with any people he viewed as related to authority which included his lawyers or any presiding trial judge. The district attorney at trial was Thomas Penney, assisted by a Mr. Haller, whose performance was described as "flawless". [17] Although Czolgosz answered that he was pleading "Guilty", the presiding Judge Truman C. White overruled him and entered a "Not Guilty" plea on his behalf. [18] In the nine days from McKinley's death on September 14, to Czolgosz's trial on September 23, Czolgosz's lawyers were unable to prepare a defense since Czolgosz refused to speak to either one of them. As a result, Lorin Lewis argued at the trial that Czolgosz could not be found guilty for the murder of the president because he was insane at the time (similar to the defense that was used in the Charles J.

Guiteau trial in 1881, after the shooting of President James A. Garfield ). On September 23 and 24 prosecution testimony was presented, consisting of the doctors who treated McKinley and various eyewitnesses to the shooting. Lewis did not call any defense witnesses. Czolgosz himself refused to testify on his own defense, nor did he ever speak at all in court. In his statement to the jury, Lewis noted Czolgosz's refusal to talk to his lawyers or cooperate with them, admitted his client's guilt, and said that "the only question that can be discussed or considered in this case is... whether that act was that of a sane person. If it was, then the defendant is guilty of the murder... If it was the act of an insane man, then he is not guilty of murder but should be acquitted of that charge and would then be confined in a lunatic asylum." The prosecutor laid great stress on Czolgosz's anarchist affiliations and called upon the jury to heed the popular demand for a quick trial and execution.

Since the defense had been unable to enter any evidence that Czolgosz had been afflicted with any kind of temporary insanity, there could only be one verdict. Even if the jury believed the defense that Czolgosz was insane by claiming that no sane man would have shot and killed the president in such a public and blatant manner in which he knew he would be caught, there was still the legal definition of insanity to be overcome. Under New York law, Czolgosz was legally insane only if he was unable to understand what he was doing. [19] At Thomas Penney's request, White closed the trial with instructions to the jury that supported the prosecution's argument that (a): Czolgosz was not insane, and that (b): he knew clearly what he was doing. After this, any chance that remained of acquitting Czolgosz on the basis of insanity was gone, since the defense offered no evidence that he couldn't understand the wrongness of his crime. Czolgosz was convicted on September 24, 1901 after the jury deliberated for only one hour. On September 26, the jury unanimously recommended the death penalty .

Czolgosz was said to have continued to remain silent and had shown no emotion upon both his conviction and death sentence. When he was asked by Judge White if he wanted to make any open court statement, Czolgosz shook his head meaning 'no'. Upon returning to Auburn Prison, Czolgosz asked the warden if this meant he would be transferred to Sing Sing to be electrocuted, and he seemed surprised to learn that Auburn had its own electric chair . [3] [ page needed ] Leon Czolgosz Czolgosz was electrocuted by three jolts, each of 1800 volts , in Auburn Prison [20] on October 29, 1901. [21] His brother, Waldek, and his brother-in-law, Frank Bandowski, were in attendance. When Waldek asked the Warden for his brother's body to be taken for proper burial, he was informed that he "would never be able to take it away" and that crowds of people would mob him.

[3] [ page needed ] His last words were: "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people ï¿½ the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." [22] [ page needed ] As the prison guards strapped him into the chair, however, he did say through clenched teeth, "I am only sorry I could not get to see my father." [22] [ page needed ] Czolgosz was autopsied by John T. Gerin ; [23] his brain was autopsied by Edward Anthony Spitzka . The body was buried on prison grounds following the autopsy. Prison authorities originally planned to inter the body with quicklime to hasten its decomposition, but they became dissatisfied with this option after testing quicklime on a sample of meat. After determining that they were not legally limited to the use of quicklime for the process, sulfuric acid was poured into Czolgosz's coffin so that his body would be completely disfigured. [24] The warden estimated the acid caused the body to disintegrate within 12 hours.

[21] Czolgosz's letters and clothes were burned, although in the case of letters the names of those who had sent threatening or sympathetic correspondence were recorded for future reference. [22] [ page needed ] Legacy The Tragedy at Buffalo Emma Goldman was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination, but was released, due to insufficient evidence. She later incurred a great deal of negative publicity when she published "The Tragedy at Buffalo". In the article, she compared Czolgosz to Marcus Junius Brutus , the killer of Julius Caesar , and called McKinley the "president of the money kings and trust magnates." [25] Other anarchists and radicals were unwilling to support Goldman's effort to aid Czolgosz, believing that he had harmed the movement. [26] The scene of the crime, the Temple of Music, was demolished in November 1901, along with the rest of the Exposition grounds.

A stone marker in the middle of Fordham Drive, a residential street in Buffalo, marks the approximate spot ( 42ï¿½56.321′N 78ï¿½52.416′W [27] ) where the shooting occurred . Czolgosz's revolver is on display in the Pan-American Exposition exhibit at the Buffalo and Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo . In 1921 Lloyd Vernon Briggs, Director of the Massachusetts Department for Mental Hygiene, reviewed the Czolgosz case [3] [ page needed ] and the cases of Clarence Richeson and Bertram G. Spencer, men who had histories of mental illness before committing murder. Contrary to views almost universally expressed at the time of the assassination, Briggs concluded that Czolgosz was "a diseased man, a man who had been suffering from some form of mental disease for years.

He was not medically responsible and in the light of present-day psychiatry and of modern surgical procedure, there is a great question whether he was even legally responsible for the death of our President." Gallery Leon Czolgosz Confesses to William McKinley Assassination | Shapell Manuscript Foundation 2 pages SMC 1813 Until, give or take a few minutes, 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon on September 6, 1901, Leon Frank Czolgosz was nobody. Poor, unemployed, unskilled, maladroit, alone, and restless, he was as good as nameless. "Fred Nieman", he called himself in German; "Fred Nobody" is what it meant. It was as "Fred Nieman" that Czolgosz wrote, about five weeks before the afternoon of the 6th, what would become a spectacularly rare letter. In it, he described his seemingly erratic peregrinations, and vaguely hinted that Mr.

Nobody had it in mind, vaguely, to become if not "Someone", at least, "something." The street car fare was only a nickel to Buffalo, he reported; and it was to Buffalo he would take himself, on the 31st of August. In Buffalo, he would wait - until, give or take a few minutes, at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon on September 6, 1901, he would become a presidential assassin. That letter is, then, the preamble, written weeks before, to this extraordinarily rare manuscript (both, in the Shapell Manuscript Collection): Leon Frank Czolgosz's signed confession that, give or take a few minutes, at 4:00 o'clock in the afternoon on September 6, 1901, he shot the 25th President, William McKinley. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt, at the same time, was on an island in Lake Champlain, preparing to address the Vermont Fish and Game League, when he was pulled aside, abruptly, and told that the President had been shot.

Whether McKinley would live or die was, at that moment, uncertain - and Roosevelt, even as he prepared leave the island - by rowboat, by yacht, by train - wired immediately for more information. He hastily scrawled on the back of a railroad timetable a 27-word message (also present in the Shapell Manuscript Collection): Director of Hospital or House at which President lies Buffalo NY. / Wire me at once full particulars to Van Ness House Burlington Vermont. Theodore Roosevelt / Vice President But even as Roosevelt sped toward McKinley's bedside, "Fred Nobody" was confessing to having shot the President. With this document, written in the first person, and signed by Czolgosz twice, he explains here why he did what he did it, how he planned the doing of it, what he thought, when he first thought it... He had read about McKinley’s planned trip to Niagara Falls and the Buffalo Exposition, he says, when he decided to make his fatal strike… I saw in the papers what building the president was going to be in and I went there & waited for him to come in. I went right in when he came.

I took the gun out and wrapped it in handkerchief at boarding house. I think I shot through handkerchief. I shot once and then again. I did not think one shot was enough. As soon as I fired second shot I was knocked down & tramped on, and gun taken away from me. The gun was fully loaded. All I have told you I have told of my own free will. His crime, he explains, was premeditated – and brave: I made my plans 3 or 4 days ago to shoot the President. When I shot him I intended to kill him and the reason for my intention in killing was because I did not believe in presidents over us. I was willing to sacrifice myself & the president for the benefit of the country. I felt I had more courage than the average man in killing president and was willing to put my own life at stake in order to do it. Anarchist meetings, he explains, influenced his thinking: I heard people talk about the duty they were under to educate the people against the present form of government and they should [do] all they could to change form of Government.

He expected to be arrested and didn’t want to get away – but, tellingly, crosses-out these final lines: I was willing to take chance of being electrocuted or hung if I could kill the president. I am willing to take consequences. The date is September 6th, 1901, and Leon Czolgosz, feeling he had done his duty in shooting the President, hadn’t at last anything left to say. But the last word would not be his. McKinley, it appeared, would easily recover from the attempt on his life. Everyone was sanguine that his prognosis was excellent. Roosevelt, writing to his host of the abruptly aborted Vermont Fish and Game League speech just three days later, on the 9th, about a coat gone missing in the hubbub – doesn't even addresses the President’s condition until the second paragraph (a letter present, as well, in the Shapell Manuscript Collection): Everything is going on most satisfactorily with the President. I feel assured not only that he will recover, but that his recovery will be so speedy that in a very short time he will be able to resume his duties.

Yet Roosevelt’s confidence, though reflecting that of the President’s doctors, was tragically misplaced. On September 12th, McKinley's condition changed for the worse, and two days later he died gangrene and infection caused by the gunshot wound. His harrowing death gave rise, however, to a brief life: Leon Frank Czolgosz was, finally, somebody. Precisely because Czolgosz was such a nobody, who was "somebody" only long enough to pull a trigger, and stand trial, for 8 1/2 hours, a week after McKinley succumbed to his wounds; because he was within a month, executed; because, finally, sulfuric acid having been thrown on his body, and his letters and clothes burned - Czolgosz' signature, itself, is almost unobtainable. His signed confession, then, is virtually unique. Manuscript Document Signed (twice), being the final two pages of a signed confession to the McKinley assassination. 2 pages, quarto, no place [Buffalo, New York], September 6, 1901. Transcribed, witnessed and countersigned by Vincent T. Haggerty, M.J.

O’Laughlin and John Martin. Of the greatest rarity; Czolgosz' signature, itself, is almost unobtainable; his signed confession, then, virtually unique Read more minimize Leon Czolgosz (1873 - 1901) - Find A Grave Memorial Cayuga County New York, USA Assassin of President William McKinley. Born in 1873 in Alpena, Michigan, he was one of seven brothers and sisters of poor Russian-Polish immigrants. In 1881, the family moved to a small farm near Cleveland, Ohio, where he worked in a variety of menial jobs, as a bottle forker. Basically an introverted young man, he rejected his parents' Roman Catholic beliefs and became interested in the plight of the working man, reading socialist and anarchist newspapers and magazines. When anarchist Gaetano Bresci assassinated King Umberto I of Italy in 1900, he collected the newspaper articles, reading them over and over. In May 1901, he traveled to Cleveland to hear famed anarchist Emma Goldman speak. The two talked briefly, and he met her again a few months later after her speech in Chicago.

Other anarchists were suspicious of him, and some even thought he was a government spy on their organization. While in Chicago, he read that President William McKinley would visit the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. On September 3, 1901, he purchased a gun, and three days later, while President McKinley was in a receiving line at the Exposition's Temple of Music, Leon Czolgosz walked up to him, firing two shots. One shot hit the President in the chest; the other in the abdomen. The chest wound proved superficial, but the abdomen wound hit his stomach and kidney, and President McKinley died on September 14. Leon Czolgosz was immediately caught, and, after the death of the President tried and found guilty of the killing. The assassination set off a huge anarchist scare across the nation, and Emma Goldman was arrested (quietly released a few days later), even though Czolgosz always stated that he worked alone. Before his execution in the electric chair, his last words were "I killed the President because he was an enemy of the good people - the good working people.

I am not sorry for my crime." (bio by: Kit and Morgan Benson) Leon Frank Czolgosz: person, pictures and information - Fold3.com Leon Frank Czolgosz There are no stories about Leon. Add a story Pictures & Records (1) Looking for more information about Leon Frank Czolgosz? Search through millions of records to find out more. Find more records added by bruceyrock632 25 Aug 2013 There are no links about Leon Frank Czolgosz. Stories Leon Frank Czolgosz Leon Czolgosz, the son of Polish-Russian immigrants, was born in Detroit , Michigan , in 1873. His parents had six other children and in 1881 it was decided to move to a small farm near Cleveland in 1881. Czolgosz found work in a wire mill but in 1898 he suffered a mental breakdown and returned to the family farm.

Czolgosz rejected his family's Roman Catholic beliefs and in 1900 became excited by the news that the Italian immigrant, Gaetano Bresci , had returned to Italy and assassinated King Umberto . He kept newspapers cuttings of the assassination and started to read anarchist newspapers. On May 6, 1901, Czolgosz travelled to Cleveland to hear Emma Goldman make a speech at the Federal Liberal Club. Afterwards Czolgosz spoke briefly to Goldman. He also followed her back to Chicago and attended other meetings where she made speeches on anarchism . Abraham Isaak became convinced that Czolgosz was a spy and issued a warning about him in his journal, the Free Society. While in Chicago Czolgosz read that President William McKinley was planning to visit the Pan American Exposition in Buffalo . On 3rd September Czolgosz bought a pistol and two days later was in the audience when McKinley gave a speech at the Temple of Music. Although surrounded by fifty bodyguards, Czolgosz was able to walk up to McKinley and fire two shots at him.

Hit in the chest and abdomen, McKinley shouted out "Be easy with him, boys" as secret service agents beat Czolgosz with fists and pistol butts. Leon Czolgosz after assassinating William McKinley in September, 1900. William McKinley was taken to hospital where it was discovered that the chest wound was superficial but the other bullet had torn through the stomach wall. For the first few days his condition improved and newspapers reported that he would recover. However, the path of the bullet that had passed through the wall of the stomach and his kidney, had turned gangrenous and he died on the 14th September, 1901. When questioned Czolgosz claimed he had been incited to kill McKinley by the speeches of Emma Goldman . She was arrested and imprisoned for questioning. When she was finally released she shocked the public by stating that: "He (Czolgosz) had committed the act for no personal reasons or gain. He did it for what is his ideal: the good of the people.

That is why my sympathies are with him." However, as Bill Falkowski pointed out: "He (Czolgosz) was roundly denounced by spokespersons of the Left, with the lone sympathetic exception of Emma Goldman, who nonetheless advised against individual acts of political violence." Leon Czolgosz was tried and found guilty of killing McKinley. Before being executed on 20th October, 1901, Czolgosz remarked that: "I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people - the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." Electricution of Leon Czolgosz - YouTube Electricution of Leon Czolgosz Want to watch this again later? Sign in to add this video to a playlist. Need to report the video? Sign in to report inappropriate content. Rating is available when the video has been rented. This feature is not available right now. Please try again later. Uploaded on Oct 6, 2006 Leon Frank Czolgosz (1873 -- October 29, 1901) was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley.

There is no sound as it was 106 years ago and it is VERY, VERY rare. Category

Question: Leon Frank Czolgosz assassinated which US president in 1901?
Answer: William McKinley