Leon Frank Czolgosz
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Leon Frank Czolgosz (1873 – October 29, 1901) was the assassin of U.S. President William McKinley. In the last few years of his short life he was heavily influenced by anarchists like Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman.
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[edit] Early life
One of seven children of Russian-Polish[1] 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 January 1, 1873. He lived in conditions of brutal poverty most of his life[citation needed]. He left his family farm in Warrensville, Ohio, at the age of ten to work at the American Steel and Wire Company, with two of his brothers. When Czolgosz was twelve, his mother died while giving birth to another child. At the height of his employment, he was making $4 a day, an extremely high wage at the time. After the workers of his factory went on strike (during a time when unions were considered dangerous and illegal), he and his brothers were fired. Czolgosz then moved back to his parent's farm in Warrensville, Ohio.
[edit] Anarchy and Emma Goldman
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 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. He was impressed after hearing a speech by the political radical, Emma Goldman, and sought her out in New York City to discuss political matters. She later wrote a piece sympathetic to Czolgosz after the 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 of Italy 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. The assassination inspired Czolgosz enough that he went to the trouble to duplicate the event as much as possible, buying the same type Iver Johnson revolver Bresci had used. When he was later arrested, police found a folded newspaper clipping about Bresci in Czolgosz’s pocket.
[edit] September 1901
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 pocket, concealed in a handkerchief. McKinley had been standing in a receiving line outside of the Temple of Music greeting the public for several minutes when Czolgosz reached the front of the line and shot him twice at point-blank range. The time was 4:07 p.m. Members of McKinley's security team as well as citizens in the crowd immediately subdued Czolgosz, beating him so severely it was initially thought he might not live to stand trial.[2] 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 had bought it for $4.50 on September 2, 1901. It is currently on display at the Pan-American Exposition exhibit of the Erie County Historical Society in Buffalo. It is the only weapon used in a U.S. presidential assassination that is not in federal custody.
Czolgosz was convicted and sentenced to death on September 23, in a brief trial that lasted eight hours and a half from jury selection to verdict.
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."
Sulfuric acid and lime was thrown into his coffin so that his body would be completely disfigured and to aid in its decomposition. His letters and clothes were burned.
Emma Goldman was arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination, but was released because there was no evidence to support this suspicion.
The scene of the crime, the Temple of Music, was torn down in November 1901. A plaque in downtown Buffalo, today, marks the approximate spot where the event occurred.
[edit] Trivia
- A fictionalized version of Czolgosz's story was the theme of the play Americans, by writer Eric Schlosser. [3]
- Czolgosz's aliases were John Doe and Fred Nieman {Fred Nobody}
- 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.
- Assassination Vacation is a book by Sarah Vowell, in which she researches the assassinations of Abraham Lincoln, William McKinley, and James A. Garfield.
[edit] See also
[edit] Notes and references
[edit] External links
- Film: Reenactment of the execution of Leon Czolgosz in the electric chair, early film from 1901, Library of Congress archives (.rm format; offline viewable)
- PBS biography of Czolgosz
