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Leon Frank Czołgosz (1873–October 29, 1901)
was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley. A registered
Republican, in the last few years of his life he was heavily influenced
by anarchist writers such as Emma Goldman.
One of seven children of Polish immigrants,
Czołgosz (Polish, pronounced /ʧɔʊ̯gɔʃ/, often anglicized to /ʧoɫgɑʃ/)
was born in Detroit, Michigan. His actual date of birth is unknown -
some sources state, without offering any evidence, that he was born on
1st January 1873. He lived in conditions of brutal poverty most of his
life. He left his family farm in Cleveland, Ohio at age ten to work at
American Steel and Wire Company with two of his brothers. When Czolgosz
was 12, his mother died while giving birth to another child. At the
height of his employment, he was making $4 a day, but after the workers
of his factory went on strike (during a time when unions were considered
dangerous and illegal), they were fired.
In 1898, after witnessing a series of
similar strikes (many ending in police confrontation), Czolgosz returned
home, where he was constantly at odds with his family's Roman Catholic
beliefs and with his stepmother. He became a recluse, and spent much of
his time alone, reading socialist and anarchist newspapers. Some
speculate that Czolgosz may have suffered a mental breakdown. He was
very affected by hearing a speech of Emma Goldman, and sought her out in
New York City to discuss political matters. She later wrote a piece
sympathetic to Czolgosz's assassination of McKinley, though not quite in
favor of the act. However, Czolgosz, as far as is known, failed to be
accepted into any anarchist group. Indeed, his fanaticism and comments
about violence aroused their suspicions; some even thought he may have
been a covert government agent.
The radical Free Society newspaper issued a
warning pertaining to Czolgosz reading:
"The attention of the comrades is called to
another spy. He is well dressed, of medium height, rather narrow
shouldered, 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 a short time, while in Cleveland he disappeared when the
comrades had confirmed themselves of his identity and were on the point
interested in the cause, asking for names, or soliciting aid for acts of
contemplated violence. If this individual makes his appearance
elsewhere, the comrades are warned in advance and can act accordingly."
Czolgosz's experiences had convinced him
there was a great injustice in American society, an inequity which
allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He
concluded the reason for this was the structure of government itself.
Then on July 29, 1900, King Umberto I was assassinated by avowed
anarchist, Gaetano Bresci. Bresci told the press he had to take matters
into his own hands for the sake of the common man. The assassination
sent shockwaves through the American anarchist movement. In Bresci,
Czolgosz found his hero: a man who had the courage to sacrifice himself
for the cause. When he was later arrested, police found a folded
newspaper clipping about Bresci in Czolgosz’s pocket.
On August 31, 1901 he moved to Buffalo, New
York and rented a room near the site of the Pan-American Exposition. On
September 6, Czolgosz went to the exposition with a pistol in his hand,
concealed in a handkerchief. McKinley had been standing in a receiving
line greeting the public for several minutes when Czolgosz reached the
front of the line and shot McKinley twice at point-blank range. McKinley
would die from his wounds on September 14.
The gun used by Czolgosz was a .32 caliber
Iver-Johnson "Safety Automatic" revolver, serial number 463344. Czolgosz
purchased the gun on September 2, 1901.
After a short trial, Czolgosz was found
guilty and executed by electrocution, by three jolts at 1700 volts each,
on October 29, 1901, in Auburn prison in Auburn, New York. 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." As the
prison guards strapped him into the chair, however, he did say through
clenched teeth, "I am sorry I could not see my father." Emma Goldman was
arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination, but was
released because there was no evidence to support this suspicion.
Trivia
Czolgosz's story, along with those of 8
other presidential assassins and would-be assassins, was the basis of
Sondheim's and Weidman's Broadway musical Assassins. In the musical, he
is befriended by fellow assassins Charles Guiteau and John Wilkes Booth,
also the only other two characters with "ballads". His song, The Ballad
of Czolgosz, is an upbeat, folk song that contrasts sharply with his
friend Booth's earlier ballad.
The antagonist of Warren Adler's mystery
novel, American Quartet, used Czolgosz as inspiration in a Washington,
D.C. killing.
****
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Date Article Copied:
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