Leon Czolgosz

Leon Frank Czolgosz (Polish pronunciation: [ˈt͡ʂɔlɡɔʂ]; May 1873 – October 29, 1901; also used surname "Nieman" and variations thereof) 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.

Assassination of President McKinley
On August 31, 1901, Czolgosz traveled to Buffalo, New York, the site of the Pan-American Exposition. There, he rented a room at Nowak's Hotel on 1078 Broadway.

On September 6 he went to the exposition with a .32 caliber Iver Johnson "Safety Automatic" revolver (serial #A63344) he claimed he had purchased on September 2 for $4.50. 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. His first bullet ricocheted and lodged in McKinley's jacket while the other seriously wounded him, McKinley died eight days later, on September 14, of fatal infections from the shots.

Members of the crowd immediately began punching Leon Czolgosz when McKinley slumped backward, so seriously it was thought he would not live to be tried. McKinley said "Go easy on him boys. He could not have known" and the crowd chained him up before the 4th Brigade, National Guard Signal Corps and police intervened. 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.