Two Pieces of Ephemera relating to the man who took down McKinley's assassin, including a ticket to an early lecture and a cabinet card
- Chicago , 1901
Chicago, 1901. Very Good. Chicago: 1901-2. Two pieces of ephemera relating to the Black waiter "Big Jim" Parker (1857-1907), who attempted to save McKinley from assassination. The pieces include a ticket to an early stop on his lecture tour in Chicago (6x10cm.) and a cabinet card depicting a portrait painted after a photograph (17.5x12.5cm.). Lecture invitation a bit toned with faint vertical crease, cabinet card spotted and damp stained along bottom right-hand edge, else Very Good examples of both pieces.
Exceptionally rare pieces of ephemera relating to the meteoric rise of James B. "Big Jim" Parker. Born into slavery in Georgia in 1857, Parker was, in 1901, a local waiter who had come to shake hands with President McKinley at the Temple of Music during his tour of the Buffalo Exposition. When the anarchist Leon Czolgotz opened fire on the president at close range, Parker was allegedly the only man in the scrum who had the instinct to knock him down, not difficult for someone who stood six foot six. While McKinley lingered from his wounds, Parker was touted as the man who had saved his life, embarking upon a string of lectures describing his experience.
His luck began to turn when McKinley succumbed to his wounds. At Czolgotz's trial, no white witness made mention of a Black man at the scene and "White accolades about Parker were replaced by charges of fraud and glory-seeking" (Wills). Parker did manage to continue lecturing, as evidenced by the present ticket which is dated December 19th, 1901, two months after Czolgotz's execution. The text caption of the cabinet card on offer also tempers the urge to lionize Parker: he is both "the negro waiter who was the first to seize the assassin Czolgosz after the President had been shot." But he also "reaped a snug fortune by selling the buttons from his clothing as souvenirs."
That "snug fortune" is debatable. Parker's descent from the public's esteem was rapid and catastrophic. By 1907 he had been picked up in Atlantic City for vagrancy and placed in an asylum where he died later that year, aged 49.
Reference: Matthew Wills, "Two William McKinley Assassinations.
Exceptionally rare pieces of ephemera relating to the meteoric rise of James B. "Big Jim" Parker. Born into slavery in Georgia in 1857, Parker was, in 1901, a local waiter who had come to shake hands with President McKinley at the Temple of Music during his tour of the Buffalo Exposition. When the anarchist Leon Czolgotz opened fire on the president at close range, Parker was allegedly the only man in the scrum who had the instinct to knock him down, not difficult for someone who stood six foot six. While McKinley lingered from his wounds, Parker was touted as the man who had saved his life, embarking upon a string of lectures describing his experience.
His luck began to turn when McKinley succumbed to his wounds. At Czolgotz's trial, no white witness made mention of a Black man at the scene and "White accolades about Parker were replaced by charges of fraud and glory-seeking" (Wills). Parker did manage to continue lecturing, as evidenced by the present ticket which is dated December 19th, 1901, two months after Czolgotz's execution. The text caption of the cabinet card on offer also tempers the urge to lionize Parker: he is both "the negro waiter who was the first to seize the assassin Czolgosz after the President had been shot." But he also "reaped a snug fortune by selling the buttons from his clothing as souvenirs."
That "snug fortune" is debatable. Parker's descent from the public's esteem was rapid and catastrophic. By 1907 he had been picked up in Atlantic City for vagrancy and placed in an asylum where he died later that year, aged 49.
Reference: Matthew Wills, "Two William McKinley Assassinations.