Leon Czolgosz

Leon F. Czolgosz (ˈtʃɒlgɒʃ , ˈlɛɔn ˈt͡ʂɔwɡɔʂ; May 5, 1873 – October 29, 1901) was an American laborer and anarchist who assassinated president William McKinley on September 6, 1901, in Buffalo, New York. The president died on September 14 after his wound became infected. Caught in the act, Czolgosz was tried, convicted, and executed by the State of New York seven weeks later on October 29, 1901. While some American anarchists described his action as inevitable, motivated by what they saw as the country's brutal social conditions, others condemned Czolgosz for hindering the movement's goals by damaging its public perception. Leon F. Czolgosz was born in Detroit, Michigan, on May 5, 1873. According to Paul Czolgosz, the "F" did not stand for anything and that it was there because he "liked the extra initial". He was one of eight children born to the Polish-American family of Paul (Paweł) Czolgosz (1843–1944) and his wife Mary (Maria) 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 Czolgoszes moved to Natrona, Pennsylvania, where Leon worked at a glass factory. At age 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. He 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, along with his brother Micheal coming back from the Philippines, Czolgosz went to live with his father, who had bought a farm the year before in Warrensville, Ohio.