American Historical Ephemera & Photography, including African Americana

2 photographs of the dissection of the body of James B. Parker, the man who subdued President McKinley's assassin. Ca 1908.

8 5/8 x 6 1/2 in. silver gelatin photograph on cardstock mount (print toned, with diagonal tear to left edge and vertical tear to bottom edge; mount with loss and significant separation to left portion). Names of the subjects are inscribed on mount beneath image: "D. E. Cary. / D. F. Sells / L. [?]. Soairis[?] / W. B. Rice. / Norman Riggs / B. F. Bowersox." The body of Parker appears partly disected, with bandages wrapped around his feet. A small case of scalpels covers his genitals, and some of the examiners pose as if interacting with his body. One holds a scalpel to Parker's torso, another holds an implement to Parker's head, and one holds Parker's hand over his own shoulder. Verso bears clipped newspaper article dated 26 March 1908, detailing how Parker's body came to be on the dissecting table at Jefferson College.

8 3/8 x 6 1/4 in. silver gelatin photograph on cardstock mount (print with significant separation to lower left portion, punctures,, toning, and staining; mount with separation and loss throughout). Some of the same subjects pose around the body of Parker, which appears more deteriorated and dissected than in the previous image. One of the examiners holds a cigar in one hand, which is rested on Parker's head. Other subjects pose with scalpels held against various parts of Parker's body.

Together, 2 photographs.

The son of formerly enslaved parents, James Benjamin Parker (1857-1907) had worked several different jobs in Chicago, Atlanta, and various cities throughout New York, before being hired on as a Pullman car conductor, the position he allegedly held at the time of McKinley's assassination (some sources say he was on staff at the Pan-American Exposition at the time of the assassination). On 6 September 1901, President McKinley was receiving visitors at the Pan-American Exposition's Hall of Music in Buffalo, NY. Parker was in attendance behind a man named Leon Czolgosz, who approached the president, using a handkerchief to conceal a small handgun. Czolgosz shot the president twice in the stomach at point-blank range, and Parker leapt on him, bringing him to the ground where he was beaten and disarmed. and shot McKinley at point-blank range. Parker recounted the affair in an interview: "I heard the shots. I did what every citizen of this country should have done. I am told that I broke his nose - I wish it had been his neck....the life of the head of this country is worth more than that of an ordinary citizen and I should have the caught the bullets in my body rather than the President should get them." Although McKinley's recovery initially seemed promising, he perished from his wounds a week later. Parker was lauded by Booker T. Washington and traveled through the country giving lectures.

Though he received a great deal of praise for his actions in the immediate aftermath of the assassination, he died only 6 years later, penniless, at the Philadelphia Hospital. His body was turned over to the State Anatomical Board, and thence to Jefferson Medical College, where it was placed on the dissecting table for examination. A newspaper article detailing the event reported on 26 March 1908: "The brain of the colored man will be examined by a noted alienist of the city within the next few weeks and it is ex[pe]cted that it will prove one of the mo[st inte]resting studies ever made in Philad[elphia]."