January 2022

Page A22 JANUARY 2022 FUNERAL HOME & CEMETERY NEWS Se c t i on A ident stood stock-still, staring eye-to-eye with the man who had just shot him. Before he could empty the barrel, Czolgosz was knocked down and disarmed. Directly following the shooting, the President was treated in the terribly inadequate, small hospital on the grounds of the exposition. Later that evening McKinley was trans- ferred to the home of John G. Milburn to recuperate. McKinley seemed to improve, but then on Friday the 13th of September, 1901, McKinley’s condition turned for the worse. McKinley lingered until he took his last breath at 2:15 AM on Saturday, September 14th. He had lived 58 years and 228 days. Drullard & Koch Undertakers in Buffalo were called to the Milburn House to prepare the President for burial. It was around 5:00 PM on September 14 when the em- balmers had completed their work. McKinley was dressed in a night robe and returned to the bed in which he died. The next day, Drullard & Koch delivered the casket to the Milburn House. The casket, style #2040, was made by the National Casket Company . Later the company named this casket “The McKinley.” The casket was made of red cedar and carved handsomely by hand. It was cov- ered with the finest black broadcloth with a copper inner liner. The interior was a full-tufted cream grosgrain silk covering. There was shirring at the top of the lid, and the entire interior was caught up with imported silk thread and trimmed at top with a milliner’s fold. A French bev- el plate glass ran the full length of the top of the casket, which was sealed by tightening twelve bolts. By Todd Van Beck WilliamMcKinley was one of the most popular and gen- uinely well-liked Presidents in history. It appeared that ev- erybody liked him, except a man named Leon F. Czolgosz. On September 6, 1901, Czolgosz shot McKinley, who was attending the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. McKinley was standing in a re- ception line when Czolgosz shot him twice. The Pres- W illiam M c K inley the twenty-fifth President of the United States of America Rest in Peace, Mr. President. That was the hope...that our presidents would rest in peace, but that has not always happened. For example, between 1865 and 1901 Lincoln’s remains were moved 18 times. Funerals are a reflection of how people live their lives, and this remains true for the funerals of our U.S. presi- dents. This series offers a glimpse into the deaths and fu- nerals of our presidents, while offering overdue recogni- tion to the scores of funeral professionals who labored ceaselessly to carry out the wishes of the presidents, their families, and in some cases, the wishes of the United States government. Each account tells an interesting story. —TVB Rest In Peace, Mr. President Once casketed, the President was placed in the parlor of the Mil- burn House. On Sun- day, the first funeral was held, then McKin- ley was transferred for public viewing at the Buffalo City Hall. On Monday at 8:47 PM, the funeral train departed Buffalo for Washington, DC. When the fu- neral train arrived in Washington, it was met by the fu- neral coach owned by the undertaking firm of J. Wil- liam Lee . When the procession reached the White House, the President was put in state in the East Room. The next morning, McKinley was taken to the Unit- ed States Capitol, where there would be funeral servic- es held in the Rotunda. After the formal funeral servic- es in the Capitol building, there was public viewing, and it was estimated that over 55,000 people filed by the President’s opened casket. At 8:00 PM, the funeral train left Washington, DC for the final trip back home to Canton, Ohio, where McKinley had been a lawyer and where the final burial services would be held. When the train arrived in Can- ton, the undertaker John L. Arnold , who had been a good friend of the President’s, was waiting at the sta- tion with his funeral coach. McKinley was taken to the Stark County Courthouse for public viewing. The final funeral service would be held at the First Methodist Church in Canton, of which McKinley had been an active member for decades. At 2:30 PM on the day of the funeral, the entire tele- graph system in the country was hushed for five min- utes in honor of President McKinley. It was estimated that fully 100,000 telegraph operators turned off their communication devices at the exact same moment. From 1901 to 1907, the body of McKinley rested in the receiving vault at Westlawn Cemetery . Mrs. McKinley died in 1907, and upon her death, fund- raising was begun to build a new mausoleum. On Oc- tober 11, 1907, undertaker John L. Arnold moved the McKinleys and their two deceased daughters to the new presidential mausoleum in Canton. Todd W. Van Beck is associated with John A. Gupton College in Nashville, and has been an author, teacher, practitioner, and speaker for over 40 years. On May 30, 2018 Van Beck celebrated 50 years in funeral service. You can reach Todd at 615-327-3927. F U N E R A L H O M E & C E M E T E R Y N E W S w w w . N o m i s P u b l i c a t i o n s . c o m Monthly Columns online at W illiam M c K inley Czolgosz was 28 years old and had behaved normally until the age of 25, when went through an acute phase of schizophrenia. Drawing from contact with socialist and Marxist labor leaders in earlier years, Czolgosz became a self-avowed anarchist. To Czolgosz, the socialist rhetoric meant one thing: the removal of the President. In Czolgosz’s mind, the idea was simple: William McKinley was to blame for all of the woes experienced by the working people in the US. Kill the president and the problem is solved. He fantasized that he would become a hero in the image of John Wilkes Booth. On September 6, 1901, Czolgosz hid a .32 Iver Johnson revolver with a bandage around his hand and used that gun to shoot President McKinley. Czolgosz, arrested on the spot, readily admitted to the shooting. “I killed Presi- dent McKinley, because I’ve done my duty. I don’t believe one man should have so much service and another man should have none.” Justice was swift. As an anarchist, Czolgosz declined to retain counsel, so the court appointed two attorneys to represent him. After nine hours of testimony the case went to the jury, which took only 34 minutes to find him guilty. Judge Truman C. White sentenced him on September 26, 1901 to death by electrocution. On October 29, 1901, a little more than seven weeks af- ter McKinley’s death, Czolgosz was electrocuted at Auburn State Prison where he had been held since the shooting of the Pres- ident. Before he was electrocut- ed, Czolgosz made one last pub- lic proclamation, telling onlookers, “I killed the president because he was the enemy of the people – the good working people. I amnot sor- ry for my crime.” The State of New York denied the right of the Czol- gosz family to claim his remains. Czolgosz was quickly and quiet- ly buried on the grounds of the prison temporarily. Pris- on officials were afraid that if the body was permanently buried, even in an unmarked grave, the corpse would be discovered and criminals would disinter the remains and sell body parts and pieces of bone as gruesome souvenirs commemorating the McKinley assassination. The Auburn PrisonWarden ordered the body of Czolgosz to be covered with quicklime to destroy the corpse. When quicklime proved inadequate, the prison officials poured sulfuric acid over the corpse to hasten decomposition. Nothing remains of the corpse of Leon F. Czolgosz. However, there are claims that a portion of Czolgosz was retrieved, and today is buried in the Soule Cemetery , Ca- yuga County, New York. The Death of Leon F. Czolgosz L eon F. C zolgosz Time may be only a moment so keep a memory Necklace Urn Pendants for an Everlasting Keepsake. Urns hold a portion of the cremains. Sterling Silver and Gold pieces in stock. orders or catalog : www.cremationkeepsakes.com cremationkeepsakes@comcast.net 877-303-3144 CREMATION KEEPSAKES Rollings Funeral Service Celebrates 20 Years of Service Greg and Debbie Rollings TYRONE,GA— Roll- ings Funeral Service is proud to celebrate their 20 th year in service in 2022. Since their found- ing, they have grown to 70 Continued on page A23 ed one full-time position to their corporate body. Looking back on 2021, Rollings Funeral Service was proud to announce the locations across the Unit- ed States with 600 full- time and part-time em- ployees that have served almost 55,000 families in those 20 years. 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