Follow us as we journey through the tale of a shocking assassination a
Forgotten hotel and a mad rush to a dying president's bedside
As we continue into the Adirondack Mountains the peaks loom ahead dark with trees
it was within this very remote area across hundreds of miles of mounds and
Forests that a national crisis played out at the turn of the 19th century
Our goal today is the long abandoned hotel, we're a part of these dramatic scenes occurred
our history begins in 1901 as William McKinley is sworn in for a second term as US president and
Takes Theodore Roosevelt as his second vice president
Replacing Garret Hobart who had died in office
Shortly afterwards McKinley embarked on a tour which took him on its final stop to the pan-american exposition in Buffalo
New York
There on September 5th, he gave a speech to a crowd in which lurked a man who had planned to end his life
the following day
against the advice of
Security he set out to the temple of music where he planned to meet the public. It was there his assassin chose to strike
Having hidden the gun in a handkerchief. He shot McKinley twice in the stomach upon being the next to be greeted in line
Leon tall cos an anarchist was arrested and the president was rushed away for surgery
After removal of one of two bullets, he was sewn up and began to recover
Theodore Roosevelt who had been in Vermont at the time of hearing of the attack had begun to rush back to Buffalo but stopped and
Continued his vacation in the Adirondacks once he learned the president was okay
however, when the 13th the president began to deteriorate as internal gangrene began to poison his blood
Learning of this at midnight Roosevelt began his rapid return in a wagon
Leader changing to a fresh one and then stopping at the very hotel. We explore today to again change to another carriage
the owner of the hotel mike cronin
Hiding the fact McKinley had already died drove Roosevelt from there to the train station in
Record time down rocky and dangerous roads where at around 5 a.m. Roosevelt learned akin
Lee had died a few hours previous Roosevelt then rushed to Buffalo by train to be sworn in as president
While a popular in during the 1800s on a stagecoach route the building today seems ready to collapse at any moment a
Recent fire has torn through the upper areas leaving them blackened
It stares out with empty windows upon the mountain road that now carries tourists in cars to other
Destinations if you would think this building held a part in one of the most shocking events in US history
Around the side old rusted radiators lie in the grass. I mean you have wide open doors, but it is not safe
There's wide open doors, but you can't get to them
Going in
Wow, there's like crazy spiderwebs in that window or else it's curtain that's disintegrated. I can't really tell
Oh, yeah, there's a suite fireplaces
Yeah, pretty dark there's no fucking way I'm going in no absolutely not yeah
Take a look at this
The structure is extremely unsafe a look and quick walk inside on the first floor proves
Not only is the place infested with huge spiders
Which I walked into
But also the floor is sagging and buckling at each step
Large holes dotted and a tub from the floor above has fallen through the ceiling to sit next to an old stone fireplace
We head around the back to see what the other side looks like
a hint of its importance shows in the side turret
The local woodwork of the balcony also offers a glimpse of its past
Through a back cellar entrance, it's clear the floor is gone in many areas
Yet a perfectly functional dam remains with a ruined bridge over a bubbling stream
That must have offered a great view from the balconies about for seasonal visitors
After completing the circuit we say goodbye to the end
Following Roosevelt's return McKinley's assassin was put on trial for murder
Nine days after the president's death and was executed by electric chair on October 29th 1901
The tale does not however end here in a strange twist of fate
Roosevelt later suffered his own assassination attempt and too was shot but survived and even continued the speech
he had been delivering when injured as
for the old hotel it continued operating until
1914 when in another strange episode
Its owner who had aided Roosevelt in the journey went insane and the hotel burst into flames a month later
the inn was rebuilt down here as you see it today and the owner died shortly after finally in the
1960s it closed down for good becoming a local footnote that slowly became forgotten
Once a sign stood in front now gone
Nature slowly reclaims it and a recent fire damaging. The upper level has sealed its fate seemingly forever
with the Hoofbeat echoes of Roosevelt's wild ride it now fades into the wilderness that has begun to swallow it whole
Join us next time as we continue into the mounds exploring two more forgotten places