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July 14, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 12, 2004 Presidential assassins, Part 2 Jeff Cheek The column two weeks ago introduced two of four presidential assassins. This week covers the last two, Booth and Czolgosz. John Wilkes Booth - The man who killed President Lincoln was illegitimate. In 1821 his father, British actor Junius Brutus Booth, immigrated to the United States, bringing with him a flower girl named Mary Ann Holmes. He introduced her as his wife. She bore him 10 children. His third, but actually fourth son was John Wilkes. Booth still had a wife and son back in England. Just weeks before his death in 1852, Junius finally married Mary Ann. John and Junius Jr. became successful actors. John was widely acclaimed as "the handsomest man on the American stage." He and Junius had opposite views on the Civil War. Junius was a Unionist; John Wilkes an ardent Confederate. Junius once taunted his brother by asking why he did not enlist in the rebel army and fight for the south. His patriotic fever was not that compelling. He made $900 a week when he appeared on stage. A Confederate private was paid $2l a month, not enough to support his lavish life style. However, John did not hide his Confederate leanings. When Lincoln saw him play the lead in "The Marble Heart," he was so impressed he asked permission to came backstage and meet the actor. Booth refused to see the president. His first plot was to kidnap Lincoln and ransom him for thousands of rebel POWs, restoring the military balance. When this failed and Richmond was captured, he decided to paralyze the federal government by simultaneously killing the president, Vice President Johnson and Secretary of State Seward. Booth shot Lincoln in the back of the head in Ford's Theater on the night of April 14, 1865. Lincoln died early the next morning. Johnson escaped unscathed when the conspirator sent to kill him lost his nerve. Seward was stabbed in bed but survived. Two weeks later, John Wilkes Booth was shot to death as he ran from a burning stable in Virginia. Leon Frank Czolgosz - The man who killed President McKinley was born in Detriot in 1873, one of seven children of Polish immigrant parents. Leon grew up in the most degrading poverty. At age 10 he left home to work in a wire factory in Cleveland, Ohio. This was the era of the "Robber Barons" and he saw the government and the owners as equal partners in their exploitation of the working class. By 1898, Czolgosz was making a comfortable salary of $4 per day. When the workers tried to unionize, they were all fired. He went home. His mother had died and he clashed with his devout Catholic stepmother. He was now an agnostic and anarchist. Religion was not the answer. Only violence could curb the tyranny of management over labor. And, since the government wrote and enforced the laws which shackled the workers, the head of government was the person most guilty of this oppression. In 1901, that man was the President, William McKinley. He shot McKinley at the PanAmerican Exposition in Buffalo, New York on Sept. 6, 1901. Tried and pronounced guilty, he was electrocuted Oct. 31, 1901. He left a note: "I killed the president because he was an enemy of the good working people. I am not sorry for my crime." McKinley loved his wife's Spiced Fried Potatoes Ingredients 3 large potatoes 1 stick butter 1 tablespoon thyme Preparation Peel potatoes, boil until done but still firm. Chill. Slice lengthwise into six or eight pieces. Fry in butter until golden brown. Add salt and pepper if desired. Sprinkle with thyme. Mix well and serve. DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams