This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 5/29/2026
Very rare first-hand account of President William McKinley's medical condition immediately following the assassination attempt on his life, described in a letter by the nurse who attended to him that night. Dated Sunday, September 8th (1901) on ''Pan-American Exposition 1901'' stationery, letter is accompanied by the ''Pan-American Exposition'' envelope postmarked 9 September 1901 from Buffalo, N.Y., addressed to Miss Margaret Barnes, the sister of the letter writer Mary D. Barnes, one of the two nurses known to have attended to McKinley the night he was shot. Immediately after the shooting, McKinley was taken to the Pan-American Exposition medical tent where Barnes worked. Although that tent had a makeshift operating table, it wasn't staffed by the regular doctor, which some blame for McKinley's death. In this letter Barnes describes that first night with McKinley, including both the President's condition and also his state of mind. Letter reads in part,
''...I have had the greatest honor possible. I assisted with President McKinley's operation and was one of the special nurses with him the first night after the operation. Of course you have read all the particulars concerning the shooting. It was a horrible thing. I shall never forget it - such excitement. Our ambulance was sent & he was brought right to the emergency hospital and operated upon in our operating room. Miss Norris and I happened to be the only nurses on duty at the time and we had to hustle. Of course we were not fully prepared for such operations and he was a long time under the ether. I can safely say I never saw such grand work under the circumstances. I know I never worked so hard before. After the operation another nurse & myself a couple of orderlies a bed & all appliances were piled into an automobile & driven to Mr. Milburris' house on Delaware where we prepared a room for the President. He arrived a few moments later in our ambulance in good condition...Of course as a case it wouldn't worry me a bit but when I realized what a man we were nursing it was perfectly appalling to me. We were under such a strain.''
She continues, ''We two nurses were alone with him all night. Two doctors were in and out all of the time and on call. We took his pulse every ten minutes all night and his temperature every hour... I never saw such a beautiful character as President McKinley, and his every thought all night was for others - not to alarm the nation. And for the prisoner he expressed nothing but sorrow. Mrs. McKinley was very brave minded. They thought seriously of keeping we two nurses on the case, but we could not be spared form the Hospital very well & I am very glad. It was worn out just in one night but wasn't it an honor Peggy...If he only gets well. So far it is hard to tell, but from my experience it would seem almost impossible. Peritonitis or blood poisoning seems almost unavertable. I hope and pray it may not be so. He has a fine constitution & is a wonderfully good patient. He did everything all night just as we told him...Mar''.
Barnes' judgement would prove correct, with McKinley passing six days later. Four page letter on two sheets measures 8'' x 10.5''. Folds, overall near fine condition. Accompanied by a prescient retained copy of a letter from 1900 to President McKinley warning of ''anarchist gatherings and plotting'' that might result in an attempt on the President's life.