h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Entry: The McKinley Assassination: Greed and the Lone Gunman - A87830562
Author: Dmitri Gheorgheni - U1590784

June Create says to take a look back at the 20th Century. So I took at look back at 1901.

It wasn't a whole lot different from 1999. Only fewer computers.

Very good, Having lived my youth in Buffalo the memory of McKinley was never far in the background.
Two very minor points that might be worth mentioning;
A) Czolgosz managed to bring his gun so close to the president by having it concealed in a large bandage around his hand.

B) Part of the cause of his death was they tried using an early metal detector to locate the bullet, but it was rendered usless because he was on a bed with metal springs.

Some place around here I have a .32 cal. Iver Johnson revolver, I had it on display last weekend for Memorial Day. It might make an interesting graphic for this, I did not know about its connection to McKinley.

F S

Jey, thanks for this info!

I'll try to work it in.

If you could make a photo of your revolver and send it to the Artists, I'm suspecting a certain clever h2g2er might be able to use it in a montage.

I slipped in a footnote about the 'bandage' - I found it in the NY Times from 1901 -

But all I'm finding about the metal detector are references to Garfield. It seems Alexander Graham Bell invented one, just for President Garfield's case. Could that have been it?

One minor point – Queen Victoria died in Osborne House on the Isle of Wight on 22nd January 1901, but her funeral wasn't held until February.

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Gack. I misread. Thanks for the tip - and the Isle of Wight reference!

I tweaked that. I will leave it to the Subs to choose the link from among our wealth of Isle of Wight Entries.

You are correct, the bed spring belonged to Garfield. You might want to do search for 'McKinley Buffalo, NY' There are both a major road (Parkway) and a High School that still carry his name. Several business's also carry the name, but they are probably named for the road rather than the President.



F S

It seems the event made a big impression on Buffalo. I can see why.

From what I read, the spot where it happened has a plaque - but the building's not there anymore, of course, because it was one of those magnificent but temporary structures they put up for the Pan American Exposition, typical of the time. It was called the Temple of Music.

And they say the actual gun is in a local museum.

It's easy to get Garfield and McKinley mixed up I think. Otherwise not terribly history-making Presidents.

And no, conspiracy buffs, we aren't going to go on about the alleged curse of Tecumseh.

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Well done Dmitri!

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Good work well done