My ancestor assassinated the US president

It was just another question posed at the English village community centre quiz night: “How many presidents of the United States have been assassinated?” Then, as fingers around the team tables counted up the most likely answer, the quizmaster revealed a long-held family secret that shocked the quizzers. One of his ancestors had assassinated a US president.

The American-born quizmaster Ken Haske detailed a direct family connection: “A great-great uncle of mine shot President William McKinley.” 

A gasp of surprise swept the hall at Frinton on Sea, North Essex, as the 20 teams strained to benefit from the clue and unsuspected local connection. The quizmaster revealed more details after the general knowledge round points had been totted up,

Ken Haske’s ancestor was the infamous anarchist Leon Frank Czolgosz (pron. Cholgoss), who shot President McKinley on 6 September 1901 in Buffalo, New York. The President died on 14 September after his wound became infected.

Two shots into his body

Armed with a fully loaded pistol, the assassin took a 20-minute, one-nickel ride on a street car to the Pan-American Exhibition in Buffalo. The President was greeting visitors when Polish-born Czolgosz, 28, fired two shots into his body. He was readying to fire again when bodyguards and other visitors pinned him down.

In his signed confession, he wrote: “ I shot once and then again. I did not think one shot was enough. As soon as I fired a second shot, I was knocked down and tramped on. The gun was taken away from me. The gun was fully loaded. All I have told you I have said of my own free will.

“I made my plans three or four days ago to shoot the President. When I shot him, I intended to kill him. The reason for my killing was that I did not believe in presidents over us. I was willing to sacrifice myself and the President for the benefit of the country.

“I felt I had more courage than the average man in killing the president and was willing to put my own life at stake in order to do it”.

An important part of history

Czolgosz was arrested on the spot and put on trial for first-degree murder. He was convicted and sentenced to death on 23 September 1901. His trial lasted 8 hours and 26 minutes, from jury selection to verdict. He went to the electric chair on 29 September, witnessed by his brother Waldeck. His last words were: “I killed the President because he was the enemy of the good people – the working people.”

His parents, Paul Czolgosz and Mary Nowak, were first-generation Polish immigrants. They arrived in the USA in 1872 after the birth of their third son.

Leon was born the fourth of his parents’ ten children, following three elder brothers, Waldek, Frank and Joseph. Four younger brothers named Walter, Jacob, John, Michael and two younger sisters called Celia and Victoria. Additionally, he had two half-siblings, Charles and Antoine, from his father’s second marriage.

That extended first-generation family would result in generations of descendants that century. Some of them were probably unaware of the infamy resulting from the shocking murder. 

Leon Czolgosz” ‘s descendant, Ken Haske, moved to Frinton on Sea on American Independence Day in 2023. He said: “I only discovered I had an assassin for an ancestor when I was compiling a family tree. It was a shock at that time. Now I realise the assassination was an important part of history – and no one can change that now.”

Quiz answer:

The four assassinated presidents of America were:

Abraham Lincoln (12 February 1809 – 15 April 1865)
Shot in the head by John Wilkes Booth.

James Garfield (19 November 1831 – 19 September 1881)
Shot twice in the back by Charles Guiteau.

William McKinley (4 March 1897 – 14 September 1901)
Shot twice in the stomach by Leon Frank Czolgolsz.

John F Kennedy (29 May 1917 – 22 November 1963)
Shot in the head by Lee Harvey Oswald. 

UPDATE

Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist who assassinated American President William McKinley, was born to first-generation Polish immigrant parents and brought up in poverty. He had only five years of formal education and started working in his mid-teens. However, he was an intelligent boy who read a lot outside school. He first became interested in socialism when, at the age of 19, he lost his job due to the prevailing depression. Very soon, he concluded that it was the state machinery which made the rich richer at the cost of the poor.

On September 6, 1901, the President was scheduled to meet the general public for ten minutes at 4 p.m. at the Temple of Music, an auditorium at the Pan-American Exhibition exposition ground. Seizing his chance, Czolgosz stood in the queue. HNe was carrying his revolver wrapped in a handkerchief, and reached the President at 4:07 p.m.

As the President extended his hand, Czolgosz slapped it away and shot him in the abdomen twice. The first bullet hit a coat button and ricocheted off. But the second hit his stomach, seriously wounding him. The President succumbed to his injury on 14 September 1901. SOURCE: The Famous People.

Leon Czolgosz is a central character in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Assassins. The musical number “The Ballad of Czolgosz” depicts his assassination of McKinley.

This Day In History: President McKinley Is Shot (1901)

Here’s another true family secret revealed

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