William McKinley was as popular as presidents come, a saying that may need to be adjusted for inflation. On September 6th, 1901, Leon Czolgosz  waited in line to meet the president at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo NY. He fired two shots into McKinley’s stomach, and while the president battled his wounds for more than a week, he finally succumbed to gangrene. Czolgosz’ trial began 10 days later. He’d be found guilty within hours, and in a morbid twist of fate, would be sentenced to death by electric chair. The major theme of the exposition that year had been…the dazzling power of electricity.

You’ve been listening to the Columbia Quartette, with a…Columbia cylinder from 1902.