the route of his assailant's journey from the scene of his crime to police headquarters. The trip was made so quickly that the prisoner was safely landed within the wide portals of the police station and the doors closed before anyone was aware of his presence.

The news of the attempted assassination had in the meanwhile been spread broadcast by the newspapers. Like wildfire, it spread from mouth to mouth. Then bulletins began to appear on the boards, and when the announcement was made that the prisoner had been taken to police headquarters, the crowds surged down toward the terrace, eager for a glimpse of the prisoner. At police headquarters they were met by a strong cordon of police, which denied admittance to all but officials authorized to take part in the examination of the prisoner. In a few minutes the crowd had grown from tens to hundreds, and those in turn quickly swelled into thousands, until the street was completely blocked with a surging crowd of eager humanity. It was at this juncture that some one raised the cry of "Lynch him!"

Closer the crowd surged as new arrivals swelled The situation was becom

Like a flash the cry was taken up. forward. Denser the throng became each moment the swarming multitude. ing critical, when suddenly the big doors were flung open and a squad of reserves advanced with solid front, drove the crowd back from the curb, then across the street, and gradually succeeded in dispersing them from about the entrance to the station.

A

CHAPTER XX

The Last Sad Hours

S the morning of Friday, September 13th, dawned, and as the eager resident of city and hamlet glanced at the morning bulletins to see the latest reports, hitherto favorable, from the sick room of the President, a great surprise and shock was in store. for him. The news was ominous and the history of Thursday and Friday, September 12th and 13th, 1901, is interesting.

On Wednesday the President had a restful night, and the beef juice which the doctors had given him had been relished so keenly that he was given solid food for the first time. He was bathed and then he enjoyed a breakfast of chicken broth, toast and coffee. He felt so good after this somewhat substantial meal that he asked for a mild cigar, which the doctors could not allow him to have. Dr. McBurney, the dean of the corps of attending physicians and surgeons, was thoroughly satisfied with the patient's condition, and went to New York. His intention was to return in a few days. Meantime he and all the physicians kept within call by telephone or telegraph, and were prepared to come back at a moment's notice. Secretary Root also left on the same train, showing his confidence in the recovery of the President.

A SLIGHT REACTION

A slight reaction, however, followed the buoyancy of the morning. The President complained of being tired. The attending physicians at the afternoon consultation, true to their promise to take the public into their confidence, chronicled this fact with scrupulous care, but they displayed no alarm. The doctors said the President's restlessness was only natural and what might be expected.

The slight alarm which was felt when the afternoon bulletin appeared was greatly increased when the physicians hurridly assembled for their evening consultation about an hour earlier than usual. The cheeriness of the morning was succeeded by apprehension, and a dreary rain which began to fall added to the gloomy feeling which prevailed. The bulletin was personally delivered to the members of the press by Secretary Cortelyou, and the frankness with which the physicians announced that the President's condition was not so good, disquieting as it was, was a relief. It was felt to be a proof that nothing was being concealed.

It was explained that the trouble that existed was due to the fact that the solid food taken in the morning had not agreed with the President. It had not been disposed of, and the rise in his pulse was attributed to that fact. It was stated quite positively that the consulting physicians did not believe that the failure to digest the food was due to the condition of the wounds in the sides of the stomach, which were believed to be practically healed, and so pronounced by Dr. McBurney and his associates. The fact that the food would not agree with the patient could not have been anticipated, so it was stated, but as soon as it was found that it had not, the administration of food by the mouth was discontinued. Evidently the surgeons and doctors in attendance were much puzzled by the conditions, which were constantly changing. They were doing their very best for their patient. This was made clear later when, after the lamented President's death, an autopsy was held, and it was found that their's was a hopeless fight. Meanwhile they summoned other doctors.

Dr. Charles D. Stockton, who has a fine reputation as a general practitioner in Western New York, was called in at the evening conference. The problem now was one for the physicians rather than the surgeons, and the advice and counsel of Dr. Stockton were considered advisable.

Secretaries Wilson and Hitchcock reached the Milburn House at 9.35 P.M. They seemed anxious for personal assurances as to

the condition of the President, and, when they left their carriage, hurried into the house.

The spirits of the little coterie which Secretaries Hitchcock and Wilson joined in the drawing room of the Milburn House were visibly depressed, although the assurances of Dr. Mann that the President's condition would be better in the morning did something toward offsetting the apprehension they could not conceal.

During the evening the President's pulse increased to 128. This was too high for his temperature. One of the consulting physicians said that, judged by medical records, his pulse should be 96. The acceleration of the pulse was attributed partly to the revulsion of the stomach against the food, and Dr. Mann privately assured Secretaries Hitchcock and Wilson, the President's brother, Abner McKinley, and others assembled below stairs in the Milburn House that the undigested food would probably pass away during the night, and that the President would be better in the morning.

For hours the President failed to respond to the treatment to which he was subjected to relieve him of the difficulty occasioned by the failure of the organs of digestion and assimilation. Nonsuccess of the treatment added to the depression that existed, but just at midnight the relief so much desired came. This gave great encouragement and changed the character of the bulletin, which the physicians were even then preparing. In it they announced that all the unfavorable symptoms had improved since the last bulletin. The decreased rapidity of the pulse, from 128 to 120, which followed the bowel movement, was also exceedingly gratifying.

The physicians were really alarmed about the President's heart. Still the pulse remained much higher than it should be with the temperature at 100.2. The normal pulse for that temperature is about 96.

About midnight the cheering news came from the sick-room that the medical treatment had been effective, and that the unfavorable symptoms of the early evening were all improved.

Abner McKinley, Colonel Brown, his business partner, and Lieutenant James McKinley, the President's nephew, remained at the house during the anxious hours of the evening. After the gratifying intelligence in the midnight bulletin was conveyed to them, they immediately left the house for the night and went to their hotels. Secretary Cortelyou announced, after the bulletin had been issued, that he did not look for any further public statement from the physicians during the night, nor until the regular 6 o'clock bulletin in the morning.

AN IMPRESSIVE SCENE

The scene on the corner across from the Milburn House when Secretary Cortelyou brought out the midnight bulletin was impressive. A hundred newspaper men keyed up to a high tension, and twice that number of anxious watchers who had been alarmed by the 8.30 bulletin, posted everywhere throughout the city, were gathered under the gas light in front of the white tents. erected for the accommodation of the newspaper men. Above the suppressed tones of the watchers the only sound was the click of the telegraph instruments. From the gloom into the circle of light the President's Secretary came, accompanied by Mr. Milburn.

"The President has responded to medical treatment, and is better," he said. "The doctors administered calomel and oil, and they proved effective. He is resting nicely now, and the feeling is

better."

The cheering news broke the tension of a half night's anxious vigil. After distributing the bulletin, Secretary Cortelyou and Mr. Milburn walked away to get a breath of air and relief from the intense strain of the evening

THE STORY FOR FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13TH

Hope and fear alternated all day among the watchers in and around the Milburn house. Every fragment of information was eagerly sought in the hope that it might be construed to mean