Today is Thursday, October 29, 2020.

On this day in 1901, Leon Shalgosh was put to death for shooting President William McKinley.

Welcome to Today in True Crime, a Spotify original from podcast.

Due to the graphic nature of today's story, listener discretion is advised.

Extreme caution is advised for listeners under 13.

Today we're discussing Leon Shalgosh, President McKinley's assassin.

Now let's go back to the pre-dawn hours of October 29, 1901 at the state prison in Auburn, New York.

28-year-old Leon Shalgosh slept quietly in his isolated cell.

He knew he only had a few hours left, and he was intent on enjoying them.

But at 5am, his rest was interrupted.

The prison guards flicked on the lights.

It was time to wake up and prepare for death.

The young man stared down his guards, annoyed and requested to speak with a superintendent.

On another day, perhaps they would have left and ignored him, but today was different.

The guards nodded and left.

15 minutes later, they returned.

In the meantime, they asked Shalgosh to get dressed.

They handed him gray pants and a shirt.

Both were specially made to allow electric diodes to be placed on the body.

As superintendent Collins slowly made his way from his office toward Shalgosh's cell,

he thought back on the whirlwind of the last few weeks.

53 days earlier, news had spread of an assassination attempt on President McKinley at the Pan-American Expo in Buffalo, New York.

...