McKinley Gave Away Lucky Carnation

US President William McKinley regularly wore a red carnation on his lapel as his trademark good-luck charm. During a public reception at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo on September 6, 1901, a 12-year-old girl named Myrtle Ledger asked for the flower, and McKinley gave it to her. Moments later, at 4:07 p.m., a man named Leon Czolgosz shot him twice in the abdomen with a concealed .32-caliber revolver. McKinley's wounds became gangrenous, and he died eight days later on September 14.

Previous Fact Next Fact