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| President Garfield Tribute 1881 |
By E.M. Sanchez-Saavedra
Every once in a while, a
contributor to popular culture will produce a work that may only be described
as prophetic. A classic case is the accurate description of atomic weapons that
appeared in Astounding Science Fiction in March 1944. Fearful that the
top-secret Manhattan Project had been compromised (it had been – but
that is another story) the FBI descended on editor John W. Campbell to
investigate how author Cleve Cartmill (1908-1964) had obtained his technical
information for “Deadline.” Eventually, Campbell and Cartmill convinced the
Feds that all the scientific details had come from unclassified published
technical journals. Earlier in the century, H.G. Wells had prognosticated in The
World Set Free (1914) that nuclear fission could be harnessed to produce superweapons,
but Cartmill outlined the nuts and bolts necessary for a practical application.
Since 1865 four sitting
American presidents have been murdered, and one wounded, by assassins. Others
have been the intended targets in botched attempts. With the exception of
Abraham Lincoln’s killer, John Wilkes Booth, the gunmen belonged to no cabals,
although conspiracy theorists have had years of fun trying to prove the
existence of widespread plots. Guiteau, Czolgosz, Oswald and Hinckley proved to
be what they seemed: unstable loners with a misshapen grievance and a hunger
for notoriety.
Beginning in 1881, a wave
of terrorism aimed at heads of state caused panic in Europe as self-proclaimed
“Anarchists” and “Nihilists” attacked monarchs and presidents in Russia,
France, Italy and Spain, bombed the Greenwich Observatory and triggered World
War I by killing Austria’s heir-apparent. Anarchists were blamed for violence
in American labor disputes, such as the bloody 1886 Haymarket Riots in Chicago.
Although Lincoln’s death
was brought about by Confederate sympathizers and President James A. Garfield
had been shot by a deranged office-seeker acting alone, by the mid-1890s many
feared that America’s capitalistic government would become a target for
anarchist violence. Increased immigration from eastern Europe bolstered a
growing unease about a potential "Red Menace." Within this
atmosphere, the appearance of a nickel weekly detective yarn dealing with an
anarchist assassination plot against William McKinley was not a complete “shot
in the dark.”
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| McKinley Assassination 1901 |
On December 7, 1900, issue
number 98 of Secret Service: Old and Young King Brady, Detectives hit
the newsstands. That week’s story was The Bradys in Washington; or, Working
for the President, by “A New York Detective.” The lithographed colored
cover shows a recognizable William McKinley recoiling from a knife-wielding
thug as the two Bradys struggle to subdue the miscreant in front of the White
House.
As dime novel detective
stories go, The Bradys in Washington is one of the better ones,
involving a conspiracy between a group of anarchists with Russian and Italian
names (Ivan Novgorod and Picoli) and a gang of homegrown thieves (Pugsley, Yank
Swipes, Fancy Fred and Dublin Dan), who plan to use the assassination as a
distraction while they tunnel under the U.S. Treasury and clean it out. Of
course the hired muscle are all Blacks. The two Bradys uncover the plot,
telegraph a warning to the president, and hurry to Washington. They arrive in
time to foil Novgorod's knife attack.
The author knew that
Washington, D.C. is honeycombed with tunnels of all descriptions, ranging from
covered waterways, to sewers, to secret passages connecting government
buildings. Since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, these passages have
been accorded a high level of security. (One of the more original theories
about the 1963 Kennedy assassination postulated that additional gunmen targeted
the presidential motorcade from sewer gratings in Dallas. The fact that this
was later proven impossible did nothing to diminish the idea’s appeal.) In the
nickel weekly, the Bradys are hurrying the would-be assassin off to the
hoosegow when the pavement disintegrates and the three men fall literally into
the laps of the would-be Treasury thieves working in a subterranean passage.
The criminals capture the detectives and succeed in stealing eighty gold bars.
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| Leon Czolgosz Mugshots |
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| McKinley Memorial Stereos |
After some thrilling
escapes and recaptures on both sides of the Potomac, the Bradys are suspended
over a well with a candle ablaze under the rope, so they might have time to
agonize over their predicament. Through an athletic feat, Young King Brady
manages to chew through the knots and the detectives escape, just in time to
foil a second attempted assassination. During a military parade, they spot Ivan
Novgorod about to hurl a dynamite bomb. Young Harry disarms him and Old King
Brady throttles him until the troops arrive. Next, they recover the gold bars
and land the entire gang behind bars.
President McKinley invites
the pair to the White House and offers to reward them.
"Sir," answered
Old King Brady, "we are pleased to know that we have been of service to a
gentleman of your exalted position. We wish no reward except that which comes
of a clear conscience in following the line of our duty…What we have done for
you we would do just as cheerfully for the humblest citizen in the
country."
The complete story may be
read HERE
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| Lincoln Assassination Pictured by Albert Berghaus |
Most of the Old King Brady
novels were penned by Francis Worcester Doughty (1850-1917), who created the
character. A good storyteller with a wide range of interests, he commenced his
writing career in the 1870s, to supplement his income as a traveling salesman.
In 1882, he became a full-time novelist, churning out dozens of serials and
factual articles for Frank Tousey publications, such as Young Men of America,
Boys of New York and Happy Days. These were reprinted in Tousey’s
lines of nickel weeklies through the 1920s. He was an avid collector and
student of coins, stamps, books, gemstones and archeological relics.
The character of Old King
Brady first appeared in 1885 in Old King Brady the Sleuth Hound in
Tousey’s New York Detective Library. Doughty wrote the bulk of Tousey’s Secret
Service weekly himself, adding new stories to his Old King Brady tales from
earlier weeklies. In these later tales, the detective is joined by Harry Brady
(no relation) and the talented linguist and investigator, Alice Montgomery, to
form the Brady Detective Bureau. Secret Service was one of Frank Tousey’s more
popular weeklies, running 1,374 issues between 1899 and 1925. After issue 726
(1912) all stories are reprints of earlier numbers. Besides Doughty, Walter
Fenton Mott, Lurana W. Sheldon and Luis Senarens wrote for this series.
Although the content of Secret
Service is generally well written, cleverly plotted and includes some
interesting factual tidbits, the series is marred by a blatant racism. A large
proportion of the stories deal with stereotypical Chinese criminals, replete
with tong wars, highbinders, opium dens, white slavery and smugglers of illegal
immigrants. Others are set in the American southeast, and feature stock black
river thugs, lazy field hands and the occasional Voodoo queen. In a number of
adventures out west, Mexican “greasers” and skulking Indians are often the
villains. Urban crooks tend to be suave sharpers or Bowery goons. Several of
Brady’s foes are medical doctors.
Depicting the nation’s
chief executive on a dime novel cover was fairly unusual at the time, but the
truly shocking aspect of this tale would become apparent nine months later, as
the real William McKinley lay dying from a real assassin’s bullet. The shooter,
a Polish-American farm boy named Leon Frank Czolgosz (1873-1901) was, as might
be suspected, emotionally disturbed. The unemployed factory worker had absorbed
a hodgepodge of anarchistic and socialistic ideas from speeches by Emma Goldman
and others, and became determined to stalk William McKinley and kill him. He
had no personal animosity towards his victim and viewed him merely as a symbol.
He followed the president to the Pan-American exposition in Buffalo, NY, and on
September 6, 1901, joined a receiving line of well-wishers at the Temple of
Music waiting to shake McKinley’s hand. Using a cheap revolver concealed in a
handkerchief Czolgosz shot twice, mortally wounding his victim before the
presidential guard detail wrestled him to the ground. Czolgosz was rushed to
trial on September 23, a mere nine days after McKinley died of his wounds.
Convicted in three days, the assassin died in the newfangled electric chair on
October 29, 1901, refusing to express remorse.
As a direct result of this
third successful presidential assassination, Congress belatedly charged the
U.S. Secret Service with the duty of presidential protection. Ironically, a
Secret Service contingent, some Buffalo detectives and an eleven-man army
detail surrounded the President, yet were unable to spot Czolgosz as a threat
until after he fired! (McKinley’s successor, Theodore Roosevelt, habitually
carried a loaded revolver. Yet during his third-party bid for the presidency in
1912, Roosevelt was shot while delivering a speech. Despite a bullet in his
chest, he finished his address before seeking medical attention!)
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| President McKinley 1901 |
In the outpouring of rage
and grief following McKinley’s murder, mass marketing flooded America with
dignified and kitschy tributes to the fallen leader. Middle-class parlors
displayed memorial stereographs and black-bordered portraits on the wall. A
callous popular song, “White House Blues,” also known as “The McKinley Rag”
endured for years in country music repertoires (See lyrics below.). In equally
questionable taste, Thomas A. Edison, whose laboratory had developed the
electric chair (partly to discredit rival George Westinghouse’s Alternating
Current system), filmed a panoramic view of Auburn Prison plus a stark
reenactment of Czolgosz’ execution. It may be viewed HERE
White House
Blues
McKinley
hollered, McKinley squalled
Doc said to
McKinley, "I can't find that ball",
From Buffalo to
Washington
Roosevelt in
the White House, he's doing his best
McKinley in the
graveyard, he's taking his rest
He's gone a
long, long time
Hush up, little
children, now don't you fret
You'll draw a
pension at your papa's death
From Buffalo to
Washington
Roosevelt in
the White House drinking out of a silver cup
McKinley in the
graveyard, he'll never wake up
He's gone a
long, long time
Ain't but one
thing that grieves my mind
That is to die
and leave my poor wife behind
I'm gone a
long, long time
Look here,
little children, (don't) waste your breath
You'll draw a
pension at your papa's death
From Buffalo to
Washington
Standing at the
station just looking at the time
See if I could
run it by half past nine
From Buffalo to
Washington
Came the train,
she's just on time
She run a
thousand miles from eight o'clock 'till nine,
From Buffalo to
Washington
Yonder comes
the train, she's coming down the line
Blowing in
every station Mr. McKinley's a-dying
It's hard
times, hard times
Look-it here
you rascal, you see what you've done
You've shot my
husband with that Iver-Johnson gun
Carry me back
to Washington
Doc's on the
horse, he tore down his rein
Said to that
horse, "You've got to outrun this train"
From Buffalo to
Washington
Doc come
a-running, takes off his specs
Said "Mr
McKinley, better pass in your checks
You're bound to
die, bound to die"
A 1926 recording of the
song by Charlie Poole and the North Carolina Ramblers may be heard HERE
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| Life 1963 |
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| Francis Worcester Doughty |
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