For the third tlme in forty years the president •
of the United States has fallen a victim to the shot
of an assassin. Abraham Lincoln died at the close
of the great civil war, where men's passions had
been roused to the height of frenzy by a struggle
that tore the vitals of the nation, devastated half a
continent and filled the land with desolate homes.
James A. Garfield died as the result of the act
of a madman, spurred on to desperation by the
~violenceof partisan strife and insatiate greed for Q
public office and notoriety.
William McKinley died in profound peace and
his life came to its end because there are in this
great country men who are men only in hulnan
• shape, to whom the common attributes of human-
I ++ +++whom+ ++++I
teach the devilish doctrine that the murder of the
man whom the natien has selected to honor is not
• a crime. •
I No fouler deed than this ever stained the _~
pages of history. It was a crime without reason,
without palliation, without excuse.
i The foul brood of anarchy, given its refuge in •
the national house, hatched the infernal spawn that
stung to death the head of the family that had
given it shelter.
The nation mourns for its dead as it could not
ihave mourned for any man since Abraham Lin-
coln, lay on his bier at Washington, and it was Lin-
coln s fate to represent and to be mourned by only
one-half of the nation.
Today from the distant Alaskan isles, where
Ithe froats of winter already bind fast the streams,
to the isles where the waves of eternal stlmmer
4
wash the shores of Puerto Rico, and from the .,~
coasts of Maine to those of Luzon, every Ameri-
ican laments the loss and honors the I lalne of Presi- •
dent William McKinley.
Within the past few months President McKin-
ley has been drawn nearer than ever to the hearts
of all Americans. His nobility of character, his
sincerity of purpose, his greatness as a statesman
and as anational leader have been made more
and more apparent. No candidate for the presi-
dency ever received such an overwhelming in-
dorsement at the hands of the people as he, and as •
the clouds of political strife cleared away, the na-
tion saw him in his true light, the man of clean
q
hand and the pure heart, the man of simple digni-
ty, kindly of manner, earnest of purpose, high of
• ideals, courteous alike to all, far seeing in his aims, •
broad minded in his comprehension; a typical
American and one of the world's great men.--
Colorado Springs Gazette. a
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