Description:

GEORGE CORTELYOU ANNOUNCES MCKINLEY'S DEATH
GEORGE CORTELYOU (1862-1940) American lawyer and statesman, and the first Secretary of Commerce & Labor (1904). Cortelyou was with President William McKinley as McKinley was greeting visitors at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on September 6, 1901, when he was shot twice at close range by lone assassin Leon Czolgosz. As McKinley collapsed, he was caught and supported by his aides, including Cortelyou. As he was held in their arms, he whispered, 'My wife... be careful, Cortelyou, how you tell her. Oh, be careful.' He died eight days later at the age of fifty-eight. A pair of historic manuscript telegrams in sent by Cortelyou as McKinley lay dying, both in secretarial hands on Western Union telegraph forms, each 1p. oblong 8vo., Buffalo, Sep. 14, 1901 - the day McKinley died. Each was sent to 'W. S. Hawk[?] at the Hotel Manhattan in New York, neither is time-stamped. Cortelyou's first telegram reads: 'The president is dying', the second reading: 'The president passed away at a quarter after two oclock this morning' Both telegrams are toned but otherwise very good.

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April 2, 2025 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

Alexander Historical Auctions LLC

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