time for the late newspaper editions in the United States. In the era before radio, thousands stood in cities across the country outside newspaper offices, awaiting the latest bulletin from Buffalo. Fears that McKinley would not survive the day of his shooting were allayed by reassuring bulletins issued by Cortelyou based on information from the doctors. Large, threatening crowds assembled outside Buffalo police headquarters where Czolgosz was brought. Word that he had admitted to being an anarchist led to attacks on others of that belief: one was nearly lynched in Pittsburgh. At the Milburn House, McKinley seemed to be recovering. On Saturday, September 7, McKinley was relaxed and conversational. His wife was allowed to see him, as was Cortelyou; the President asked his secretary, "How did they like my speech?" and was pleased on hearing of positive reactions. Meanwhile, Vice President Roosevelt (who had been in Vermont), much of the Cabinet, and Senator Hanna hurried to Buffalo. Cortelyou continued to issue encouraging bulletins. The President was permitted few visitors, and complained of loneliness. As the crisis seemed to have passed, dignitaries started to leave on September 9, confident of the President's recovery. Roosevelt left for a vacation in the Adirondack Mountains after expressing outrage that Czolgosz might serve only a few years under New York State law for attempted murder, the maximum penalty for attempted murder in New York at that time being ten years. Attorney General Philander Knox went to Washington, searching for a means to bring Czolgosz under federal law. Secretary of State John Hay had been closely associated with the two presidents to be assassinated: he had been Lincoln's secretary, and a close friend of James Garfield. He arrived on September 10; met at the station by Babcock with an account of the President's recovery, Hay responded that the President would die. McKinley biographer H. Wayne Morgan wrote of the week following the shooting: His hearty constitution, everyone said, would see him through. The doctors seemed hopeful, even confident ... It is difficult to understand the cheer with which they viewed their patient. He was nearly sixty years old, overweight, and the wound itself had not been thoroughly cleaned or traced. Precautions against infections, admittedly difficult in 1901, were negligently handled. According to McKinley biographer Margaret Leech, McKinley's apparent recovery "was merely the resistance of his strong body to the gangrene that was creeping along the bullet's