Editing Leon Czolgosz (section)

== Assassination of President William McKinley ==
{{Main|Assassination of William McKinley}}

On August 31, 1901, Czolgosz traveled to [[Buffalo, New York]], the site of the [[Pan-American Exposition]], where President McKinley would be speaking. He rented a room in Nowak's Hotel at 1078 Broadway.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://mckinleydeath.com/documents/newspapers/CST60-251b.htm|title=Czolgosz Says He Had No Aid|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune|Chicago Sunday Tribune]]|date=September 8, 1901|via=mckinleydeath.com}}</ref>

On September 6, Czolgosz went to the exposition armed with a concealed [[.32 caliber|.32-caliber]] [[Iver Johnson#Safety automatic|Iver Johnson "Safety Automatic"]] [[revolver]]<ref>{{Cite book |title= The Revolver, 1889–1914 |publisher= Crown Publishers |location=New York City|page= 60 |first=A. W. F. |last= Taylerson |year= 1971 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Johns |first1=A. Wesley |title=The Man Who Shot Mckinley |date=1970 |language=English |isbn=978-0-498-07521-6 |publisher=A. S. Barnes |location=South Brunswick N.J. |page=97}}</ref> he had purchased four days earlier.<ref>[http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/panam/law/czolgosz.html Leon Czolgosz and the Trial&nbsp;– "Lights out in the City of Light"&nbsp;– Anarchy and Assassination at the Pan-American Exposition] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080208073417/http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/exhibits/panam/law/czolgosz.html |date=February 8, 2008 }}</ref> Czolgosz approached McKinley, who had been standing in a receiving line inside the [[Temple of Music]], greeting the public for 10 minutes. At 4:07&nbsp;p.m., Czolgosz reached the front of the line. While McKinley extended his hand, Czolgosz slapped it aside and shot McKinley twice in the abdomen at [[point-blank range]]: the first bullet ricocheted off a coat button and lodged in McKinley's jacket while the other bullet seriously wounded him in the stomach. McKinley's stomach wound was not lethal, but he died eight days later on September 14 of an infection that had spread from the wound.

[[James Benjamin Parker|James Parker]], a man standing directly behind Czolgosz, struck the assassin in the neck and knocked the gun out of his hand; as McKinley slumped backward, members of the crowd began beating Czolgosz. "Go easy on him, boys", McKinley told the attackers.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://library.buffalo.edu/pan-am/exposition/law/|title=The Legal Aftermath of the Assassination of William McKinley – Pan-American Exposition of 1901 – University at Buffalo Libraries|website=buffalo.edu|date=March 30, 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nps.gov/thri/september6.htm|title=September 6, 1901|website=nps.gov}}</ref> The police struggled to keep the angry crowd off Czolgosz.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.buffalohistoryworks.com/panamex/assassination/executon.htm |title=The Trial and Execution of Leon Czolgosz |website=Buffalohistoryworks.com |access-date=July 12, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120217115409/http://www.buffalohistoryworks.com/panamex/assassination/executon.htm |archive-date=February 17, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> He was taken to Buffalo's 13th Precinct house at 346 Austin Street and held in a cell until being moved to police headquarters.

<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:President McKinley Greeting Well-Wishers at a Reception in the Temple of Music. September 6, 1901 (minutes before he was shot).jpg|President McKinley greeting well-wishers at a reception in the Temple of Music minutes before he was shot September 6, 1901
File:McKinleyAssassination.jpg|A sketch of Czolgosz shooting McKinley
File:Temple of Music McKinley murder site.jpg|Site of McKinley murder marked by "x" in lower right
File:CzolgoszCunning.PNG|Illustration of how Czolgosz's gun was concealed. ''Chicago Eagle'', September 14, 1901
File:Pistola de Czolgosz.JPG|Handkerchief, pistol and bullets used by Czolgosz
</gallery>
<gallery widths="200" heights="200">
File:Leon Czolgosz (mug shot).jpg|Czolgosz's mug shot after his arrest
File:Prison card of Leon Czolgosz.jpg|alt=Czolgosz's prison record with a mugshot taken a few days before his execution|Czolgosz's prison record at Auburn State Prison
</gallery>