When the President was moved from the Exposition grounds to the residence of Mr. Milburn, there were thousands of people in the streets, but there was no disturbance. Only the tenderest sympathy for the stricken President was manifested, and never, during the President’s gallant fight for life, was there aught to complain of on the part of the people.
The Milburn home is situated in the center of a large lot on which stand magnificent trees. As it became, from the time the President was taken there, the center of interest for the civilized world, special preparations were made to meet the exigencies of the case. It was necessary that only those should have ingress and egress who had business there, and hence the premises were surrounded with police and soldiers. Ropes were stretched so that the crowds which were irresistibly drawn to the scene could be more easily kept back, and the most complete arrangements were made to enable the newspaper men to secure and send broadcast the news of the President’s condition. A huge tent was erected on the lawn and there, from day to day, the doctors, members of the Cabinet, the Vice-President and others were importuned by the reporters for hopeful tidings, which they knew not only the people of Buffalo but the world at large so eagerly awaited.
During all this period the police of Buffalo were working desperately to learn the antecedents of Czolgosz, the assassin; to trace his movements, and to ascertain, if possible, whether he had accomplices. The villainous wretch, whose brutal act had caused all right thinking people to regard him with horror, remained safely in the police station at Buffalo, where he had been taken by the police after the first struggle to keep the people from lynching him. After recovering from the fright occasioned by his first contact with the outraged people, he became flippant and tried to glorify his terrible crime and invest it with the halo of a service to humanity. All these facts were promptly conveyed to the people by the newspapers, and served to intensify the feeling against Czolgosz.
When the fact became known that the President was growing worse, and the physicians became guarded in the expressions as to whether he would recover, the people began to gather on the streets and discuss the punishment of the assassin. As the bulletins became more and more ominous, the feeling rose to fever heat, and there was a rush toward the police station where Czolgosz was confined. Thousands of excited citizens clamored for the life of the criminal, but the police forced them back. Two regiments of the National Guard, the Sixty-fifth and Seventy-fourth, were ordered to assemble in their armories to meet any emergency that might arise.
“We do not propose to allow our prisoner to be taken from us,” said Superintendent Bull, of the police force. “We are able to protect him, and we have the Sixty-fifth and Seventy-fourth Regiments under arms if we need them. No matter how dastardly this man’s crime is, we intend for the good name of American people to keep him safe for the vengeance of the law.”
The fact that the President lingered until early in the morning, before death ensued, probably prevented any real conflict between the police and the indignant people.
The members of the two regiments were summoned to their armories by messenger, telegraph, and proclamation in theaters and public places. This news only helped to direct attention from the dying President to the cell which held his assassin.
That these preparations were quite necessary became apparent by 8:30 o’clock Friday night, when the people had assembled in the vicinity of police headquarters in such numbers that the streets were blocked and impassable.
The police roped off all the streets at a distance of three hundred to four hundred feet from the nearest of the buildings and refused to admit any one within that limit. One hundred patrolmen guarded the ropes and fought back the crowds, while ten mounted men galloped to and fro, holding the crowds in repression.
New details of police from the outside stations came in from time to time, and Superintendent Bull kept in constant touch on the telephone with Colonel Welch, who was at the Sixty-fifth armory, less than a mile away.