William McKinley Jr., a Civil War veteran, had become President in 1897. On September 5, 1901, President and Mrs. McKinley were at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York, where he had delivered a speech on tariffs and foreign trade.
The next afternoon, the President greeted people at the Temple of Music. Leon Czolgosz was in line with a pistol concealed by a handkerchief. Leon fired twice. The second bullet went through the President’s abdomen and lodged in the muscles of his back.
President McKinley was reported as being concerned about how they told his wife what happened. He also wanted Czolgosz protected from the angry crowd which was severely beating Czolgosz.
Eight days later, the President died from gangrene. His last words were, “It is God’s way; His will be done, not ours.” Vice President Theodore Roosevelt then became President. There was a 1903 photo of the Theodore Roosevelt family in the Austin memorabilia.—wikipedia.org.
