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Research Associates Wanted

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Believe it or not, sometimes I spend an astonishing amount of time trying to find an appropriate topic to feature in a Trail Baboon post.

It’s not that there’s a lack of interesting topics to cover, it’s just that every idea raises questions, and those questions lead to other questions, and partial answers lead to different questions, and then there’s a funny You Tube video of a cat that barks like a dog, and somebody mentions a book that I want to find at the library, Michele Bachmann just said something remarkable, and suddenly it’s midnight. Dang.

Why do I engage in so much aimless, randomly guided research? I like to have all the information and questions answered before getting started on a post, which means I never get started on a post. And towards what purpose? It’s not like writing a blog post is about KNOWING anything. Far from it.

So instead, I offer you a question to consider. It’s something I’m wondering about but frankly, spending ten minutes looking for the answer convinced me that I would soon spend another 90 minutes at it, possibly all within the next half hour. And when it was done, I would have nothing to show for it except an even larger sleep deficit and whatever trinket I might buy on Amazon in the process.

Today is the anniversary of the attack on President William McKinley by Leon Czolgosz, an anarchist who felt he could change the government by taking out one guy. Czolgosz approached McKinley at a reception at the Temple of Music in Buffalo, NY. He held a revolver wrapped in a cloth, and shot McKinley twice as the President reached out to shake his hand. There might have been a third shot, if not for quick action by three men who were nearby. Here’s the NY Times account from September 7th, 1901.

There was an instant of almost complete silence, like the hush that follows a clap of thunder. The President stood stock still, a look of hesitancy, almost of bewilderment, on his face. Then he retreated a step while a pallor began to steal over his features. The multitude seemed only partially aware that something serious had happened.

Then came a commotion. With the leap of a tiger three men threw themselves forward as with one impulse and sprang toward the would-be assassin. Two of them were United States Secret Service men, who were on the lookout and whose duty it was to guard against just such a calamity as had here befallen the President and the Nation. The third was a bystander, a negro, who had only an instant before grasped the hand of the President. In a twinkling, the assassin was borne to the ground, his weapon was wrested from his grasp, and strong arms pinioned him down.

McKinley later died of his injuries, and Teddy Roosevelt became President.

But here’s the piece of the puzzle that interests me – the brave bystander. We hear time and again that in a moment of crisis there is confusion, silence, paralysis. It’s the rare individual who leaps into action and in the attack on Mckinley, one person did, alongside two Secret Service Agents. Until tonight, I’d never heard anything about him.

Is that our man in the center of this drawing by T. Dart Walker?

Who was he? What, if anything, was written about him? Tell me Baboons, if you can, about this quick thinking bystander.

Or, if you don’t have a day to waste on this, tell us about your most successful research project.

59 thoughts on “Research Associates Wanted”

  1. Happy to oblige……

    James Benjamin Parker, A Black Hero

    No one had stayed in line longer than “Big Ben” James Parker, a six-foot six inch Negro waiter from Atlanta who was laid-off by the exposition’s Plaza Restaurant. Parker had been standing outside the temple since mid-morning in order to get into where the president was to appear. Finally, at 4:00 P.M. the doors of the Temple of Music opened and hundreds of people made an orderly, single-file procession to the front of the auditorium where President McKinley, flanked by John Milburn and his personal secretary, George Cortelyou, stood waiting. It was extremely hot in the room — over ninety degrees — and everybody was carrying handkerchiefs, either wiping their brows or waving them at the president. Anarchist Leon Czolgosz had wrapped his right hand in a handkerchief like a bandage and held it as if it were in a sling. His revolver was hidden underneath. A short, Italian man with a thick mustache caught the eye of the president’s chief of security, Foster, as suspicious. Foster quicky grabbed the man who was shocked, but harmless. He was let go. This incident distracted Foster and the other guards, by the time it was Czolgosz’s turn to shake the President’s hand. But Big Ben Parker was in line behind Czolgosz.

    As the fast-moving line brought him directly in front of the president, Czolgosz shot twice. The first bullet knicked off a button on McKinley’s vest, the second tore into the President’s stomach. The handkerchief burst into flames, falling to the floor.

    A secret service man’s initial eyewitness acount:

    “Parker struck the assassin in the neck with one hand and with the other reached for the revolver which had been discharged through the handkerchief and the shots had set fire to the linen.While on the floor Czolgosz again tried to discharge the revolver but before he got to the president the Negro knocked it from his hand.”

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    2. There’s a contradiction between these accounts. The NY Times says Parker “had only an instant before grasped the hand of the President”, implying he was ahead of Czolgosz. This account says “Parker was in line behind Czolgosz”. Which is it? Did Parker have his chance to shake the President’s hand, or not? Does someone have 10 or 12 housrs to research this for us?

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  2. The courageous African American was James B. Parker, often later called “Big Ben Parker.” Parker was 6′ 6″ and weighed about 250 pounds. In other words, he would fit right in at linebacker in most NFL backfields. At the time, the average American male was only about 5′ 7″, so Parker stood out.

    According to one account, that might have contributed to the tragedy. One of the two Secret Security agents standing by McKinley was watching Parker instead of the fellow whose heavily bandaged right hand concealed the gun.

    The assassin was able to fire two shots, one of which struck McKinley in the stomach. Parker smashed the shooter, hitting him on the neck and dropping him to the floor. There was a tussle for the gun that resulted in a third (wild) shot, and then Parker knocked it away.

    Sadly little is known about Parker after that. He was encouraged to enter show business to capitalize on his fame, but he refused to become a “freak show” object. He was concerned that the nation know an African-American had tried to save McKinley.

    Parker’s quick action should have saved McKinley’s life by preventing the shooter from getting off more shots. The single shot to the stomach might not have been fatal had doctors practiced proper hygiene. But they did not.

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  3. Good morning baboons.
    Well Dale, after a few minutes on the internet, I think I can tell you that the tall black man in the center of the drawing is not the bystander you’re looking for. According to the NY Times account that you quoted in the blog, the bystander had only an instant before grasped the president’s hand, so he would have been ahead of Czolgosz. The man in the drawing is James Parker, a six-foot six inch black waiter from Atlanta laid-off by the exposition’s Plaza Restaurant, who was standing immediately behind Czolgosz. At Czolgosz’ trial, Secret Serviceman George Foster admitted that he had not seen Czolgosz’ wrapped up hand because he had been paying close attention to Parker.

    This, of course, doesn’t answer your questions about the bystander, but at least I think we can eliminate that man as a likely prospect.

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    1. Beth-Ann and mwg, I’m impressed. Did you know this beforehand? If not, what’s your source. I guess my conclusion was based on the NY Times report being accurate, a dangerous assumption apparently. I stand corrected. Now I’ll have to research Mr. Parker.

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      1. The Wikipedia listing for the assassination is quite good. It includes two sources with more detailed information on Ben Parker. But before today, I’d never heard of the guy. Thanks Dale, for the assignment.

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      2. African American History of New York State has even more information on Mr Parker including how the Secret Service agents tried to discredit him at trial.

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  4. Rise and Do Your Homework Baboons!

    Well, because I slept in this a.m. Beth-Ann, Steve, and PJ did my research for me so I don’t have to. This weekend I spent some time researching the breed etiology of my rescue dog. The internet makes this much easier than it would have been 25 years ago.

    She is a DOXLE–a designer hybrid dog which is a cross between a Beagle and a Dachshund. This appears to be a successful hybrid creating such a sweet, loving, and quiet dog it is difficult to believe. She quietly hunts down and kills rabbits in my yard and will happily tree squirrels.

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  5. mckinley was a third cous in on my mothers side. it is one of her claimes to fame. i didn’t connect that teddy roosevelt came in after the shooting. as for dales observation that you can get lost going off onto tangents on the internet, i can concur. it is unbelievable how you can be looking for something then find yourself 5 steps away and off on to subject b in an interested serch that has nothing to do wiht the main idea just a minute ago. back in the day when research meant gathering books and going to the library to hold up in the research room there was a feeling of achievemnet and dedication to researching things, today you are a lost soul on an endless internet search on into the time tunnell where minute turn into hours and the days go by without any indication that you were ever there. a little you tube video, a piece of information from the wikipedia archive on the topic.. off into the vast amounts of miniscule detail folks have assembled on whatever the topic. you can sit there forever and spin from page to page. dales plight is one i know all to well. thanks dales for the time and effort spent. now focus and get back to work..

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    1. It is easy to get lost researching genealogy. 4-5 years ago we were decorating graves in the family cemetery (really a municipal cemetery in Nevada Ia, but filled with my kin) and ran into to a cousin doing the same activity. He has been researching genealogy for some tim. He was thrilled to tell us, as we stood around a Walker Grandmother’s grave, that he had traced this line back to Elijahu Walker, founder of Yale University, and that this further meant that we are related to George W(alker) Bush. I nearly died of humiliation (which would have been convenient, since I also will have my ashes kept at this cemetery).

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  6. Sara Vowell has a book called “Assassination Vacation” about the first three presidential shootings.Saw it in B & N; thumbed through it. Sort of weird because she does her glib humor along the way. She makes the point that presidents and assassins have to have a similar sort of monster ego and megalomania to do what they do.

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    1. It’s an enjoyable read – Sarah Vowell does have a unique editorial voice, but her enthusiasm for the geekiest parts of history mostly make up for what otherwise might get annoying.

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  7. I once traced down the location of all the rural schools of Lake County. There was an amazing number of them. Got their names ans locations. Visited most but not all the sites. My brother and sister attended the Isabella one for 3 years.
    I did this just for fun. Then I had a course in grad school in which I could do that sort of research project. Got the topic approved on Friday, handed it in on Monday. Was he impressed.

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    1. There used to be a law in Iowa mandating that there would be a schoolhouse within every (?) four miles of prospective students. I think it was four miles. It was against the law, in other words, for students to need to hike more than four miles to school. Think about that. That would require MANY schoolhouses, almost all of them single room schools, I’d think.

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      1. You are correct. I learned this in ISU’s “Iowa History” class. This could solve the present-day obesity problem in children–hiking 8 miles/day would crack this issue.

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      2. Jacque: you are right! My walk to junior high and then high school was 9.5 miles. I’d do that four times a day, since I walked back home for lunch each day. That’s a total of 38 miles just getting to school, and after school I really did some walking.

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  8. I am currently researching the psychological aspects of testamentary capacity and undue influence for a lecture I have to give at an Adult Protective Services conference. It has required extensive perusal of the North Dakota Century Code (those are all the State laws) as well as the Probate Code.both of which I have found quite intriguing. Any adult of sound mind can make a will in North Dakota, but there is no legal definition of what constitutes a sound mind. My earliest legal reference for undue influence involves a case heard by Sir Francis Bacon in the 1500’s. The legal write up by Bacon is fascinating and could been written today.

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  9. Good morning to all,

    I also read the Wikipedia info on James Parker, including the foot notes. It is interesting that at the trial of the Mckinley assassin it was indicated that Parker was not involved in arresting the assassin and in the news following the trial it was indicated that Parker didn’t participate in the arrest. It seems clear he really was involved in the arrest and it seems that there were protests by black people about the denial of Parker’s role in the arrest. Another example of the distortion of our history by “the powers that be” that continues to this day.

    Dale, I think you should feel free to use us as your research associates any time. If you want to, just point us in some direction that comes to your mind and take a break from doing whatever research you think should be done. If this morning is a good example, it seems that this group can come up quickly with any research needed or at least something to say, research or no research.

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  10. Morning all… wonderful topic today as I love “finding out stuff”. Many days you all have sent me off looking for one thing or another and the number of books that have been added to my list are numerous.

    The most fun research projects for me are often tied to vacations or time that the teenager and I are going to spend together. I pour over the state tourism books, search all over the internet and send away for brochures. For example, I just found out this summer that New Ulm, MN was the home of author Wanda Gag, who wrote “Millions of Cats”. I never knew. Unfortunately, our route didn’t get us through New Ulm this summer, but someday……….

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      2. Wanda Gag wrote a picture book, Millions of Cats, which won a Newbery Honor award in 1929. Very few picture books have won Newbery recognition. Goodnight Moon is a classic picture book, also old, but not as old as Millions of Cats. So there is some sort of connection…at least in my brain.

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    1. Yes, I’m trying to work out how to get the maximum amount of entertainment for minimal cost. I’d like to do both days if I can work out a place to stay. I have a friend who lives about thirty miles from St. Peter who might be willing to let me camp out there overnight. What’s your plan?

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      2. tim – are you going down? I’m trying to decide which day to go…. would love to see Divers on Sunday, but would also love to spend time w/ fellow baboons. Linda… you can always drive w/ me if I can get off this fence?????

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    3. I will send something on e-mail. So far I think those going may include Jim, Sherrilee, Jacque, tim and me – and Krista of course – I have e-mail addresses for everybody and we can figure out how to connect. Anyone else? Barbara has said she can’t. Anna? Steve? madislandgirl? Beth-Ann? Others?

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  12. And tangential to this topic, there’s the fact that this event ushered in Teddy Roosevelt, who I had thought was a great guy from the image portrayed in the history books. But Husband just finished a book he’d found at the library, The Imperial Cruise by James Bradley. It brought out Theodore Roosevelt’s (and many others of our culture at that time) white supremacist views, how he initiated the slaughter of the Filipinos, and ultimately set the stage for Hitler. A very sobering read.

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    2. It is so hard to make the right sort of allowance for cultural norms when you look backward to an earlier historical time. Racism was the norm in this country and others for a long time. One of the few leaders who was so intelligent he was able to cast off the fallacies of racism was Abraham Lincoln . . . and he was a racist much of his life.

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    3. PBS did a wonderful Am. Exp. on TR that really takes you on the roller coaster of who he was. It seems he was yet another case of the party putting him in the vice-presidency as a way to appeal to certain voters while simultaneously getting him out of their hair.

      Started reading about him this summer, and then got side-tracked by the tin mines of Cornwall-don’t ask.

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  13. I have had great fun the last couple of years doing research for the art and music presentations I have given in Daughter’s classes. Both of the programs come with a book full of information, but that has not held me back from doing a little more digging…and the research and background in those books is fun, too. The added bonus is bringing that information alive for the kids in Daughter’s classes (and figuring out fun stuff to do related to whatever the music or art topic is…).

    OT – but another subject that could take you on a Wikiwalk – the Google doodle today commemorates Freddy Mercury’s birthday. It’s a fun animation…and the links with it I’m sure could suck up an afternoon easily (must…not…click…through…doodle…).

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  14. Morning everyone–

    This is related to ‘research’:

    (Website Story)

    You simply MUST watch the Freddie Mercury Google doodle as Anna mentioned. I spent a good chunk of yesterday watching tributes to Freddie on You Tube.
    Today is research on CO2 fire extinguishers, sea foam, Little Mermaids (and SpongeBob / Underwater), Moving lights, LED Lights, trussing and dumpster diving at my sisters house.
    I can’t believe I get paid for this!!

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