Leon Frank Czolgosz ( CHOL-gosh; Polish: [ˈlɛɔn ˈt͡ʂɔwɡɔʂ]; May 5, 1873 – October 29, 1901) was an American wireworker and anarchist who assassinated United States president William McKinley in 1901. Czolgosz had lost his job during the economic Panic of 1893 and turned to anarchism. He regarded McKinley as a symbol of oppression and believed that it was his duty as an anarchist to assassinate him. Czolgosz shot McKinley in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, and was immediately arrested. McKinley died on September 14 after his wound became infected. A month later, Czolgosz was convicted of first degree murder and was sentenced to death. He was executed by the electric chair on October 29.
Leon Frank Czolgosz was born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 5, 1873. Leon was fourth of eight children born to the Polish-American family of Paul (Paweł) Czolgosz and his wife Mary (Marianna) Nowak. The family moved to Alpena, Michigan, in 1880. When Leon was 10 and the family was living in Posen, Michigan, Czolgosz's mother died six weeks after giving birth to his sister, Victoria. In 1889, the Czolgosz family moved to Natrona, Pennsylvania, where Czolgosz worked at a glass factory. When he was 17, they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, where he found employment at the Cleveland Rolling Mill Company.
After the economic crash of 1893, when the mill closed for some time and tried to reduce wages, the workers went on strike. With great economic and social turmoil around him, Czolgosz found little comfort in the Catholic Church and other immigrant institutions; he sought others who shared his concerns regarding injustice. Czolgosz joined a moderate working man's socialist club, the Knights of the Golden Eagle, and eventually a more radical socialist group known as the Sila Club, where he became interested in anarchism.
In 1898, after witnessing a series of similar strikes, many ending in violence, and perhaps ill from a respiratory disease, Czolgosz went to live with his father, who had bought a 50-acre (20 ha) farm the year before in Warrensville, Ohio.
Czolgosz became a recluse. He was impressed after hearing a speech by the anarchist Emma Goldman, whom Czolgosz met for the first time at one of her lectures in Cleveland in May 1901. After the lecture, Czolgosz approached the speakers' platform and asked her for reading recommendations. On the afternoon of July 12, 1901, he visited her at the home of Abraham Isaak, publisher of the newspaper Free Society, in Chicago and introduced himself as Fred C. Nieman (nobody), but Goldman was on her way to the train station. Czolgosz told her that he was disappointed in Cleveland's socialists, and Goldman quickly introduced him to anarchist friends who were at the train station.
Goldman, who nine years earlier had conspired to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick, later wrote a piece in defense of Czolgosz: "Who can tell how many times this American child has gloried in the celebration of the 4th of July, or on Decoration Day, when he faithfully honored the nation's dead? Who knows but what he, too, was willing to 'fight for his country and die for her liberty'".
In the weeks that followed, Czolgosz's social awkwardness, evasiveness, and blunt inquiries about secret societies around Isaak and another anarchist, Emil Schilling, resulted in the radical Free Society newspaper to issue a warning pertaining to him on September 1, reading:
ATTENTION! The attention of the comrades is called to another spy. He is well dressed, of medium height, rather narrow shoulders, blond and about 25 years of age. Up to the present he has made his appearance in Chicago and Cleveland. In the former place he remained but a short time, while in Cleveland he disappeared when the comrades had confirmed themselves of his identity and were on the point of exposing him. His demeanor is of the usual sort, pretending to be greatly interested in the cause, asking for names or soliciting aid for acts of contemplated violence. If this same individual makes his appearance elsewhere the comrades are warned in advance, and can act accordingly.
Czolgosz believed there was a great injustice in American society, an inequality which allowed the wealthy to enrich themselves by exploiting the poor. He concluded that the reason for this was the structure of government. Around this time, Czolgosz learned of the assassination of a leader in Europe, King Umberto I of Italy, who had been shot dead by anarchist Gaetano Bresci on July 29, 1900. Bresci told the press that he had decided to take matters into his own hands for the sake of the common man. As well as carrying a clipping of the report with him, in September 1901 Czolgosz deliberately purchased what he thought was the same model of revolver as Bresci had used in the assassination.
Assassination of President 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.
On September 6, Czolgosz went to the exposition armed with a concealed Iver Johnson "Safety Automatic" revolver he had purchased four days earlier. He joined McKinley's receiving line in the Temple of Music. At 4:07 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 pierced his stomach.
As onlookers gazed in horror, and as McKinley lurched forward a step, Czolgosz prepared to take a third shot but James Parker, a man standing directly behind Czolgosz, struck him in the neck and knocked the gun out of his hand; Parker, policemen, and artillerymen began beating Czolgosz. He was heard to say, "I done my duty." "Go easy on him, boys," McKinley urged the mob. The police struggled to keep the angry crowd off Czolgosz, who was badly pummeled. Czolgosz was dragged away, but not before being searched by Secret Service Agent Foster. When Czolgosz kept turning his head to watch the president while being searched, Foster struck him to the ground with one punch. He was taken to Buffalo's 13th Precinct house at 346 Austin Street and held in a cell until being moved to police headquarters.
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.
After McKinley's death, new President Theodore Roosevelt declared, "When compared with the suppression of anarchy, every other question sinks into insignificance."
On September 13, the day before McKinley succumbed to his wounds, Czolgosz was taken from the police headquarters, which was undergoing repairs, and transferred to the Erie County Women's Penitentiary temporarily. Three days later, he was brought to the Erie County Jail to be arraigned before County Judge Emery. After the arraignment, Czolgosz was transferred to Auburn Prison.
A grand jury indicted Czolgosz on September 16 with one count of first-degree murder. During his incarceration, Czolgosz spoke freely with his guards, but he refused every interaction with Robert C. Titus and Loran L. Lewis, the prominent judges-turned-attorneys assigned to defend him, and with the expert psychiatrist sent to test his sanity.
The case was prosecuted by the Erie County District Attorney, Thomas Penney, and assistant D.A. Frederick Haller. Although Czolgosz answered that he was pleading "Guilty", presiding Judge Truman C. White overruled him and entered a "Not Guilty" plea on his behalf.