Mr. M’Kinley Disliked Presence of a Guard

     WASHINGTON, Sept. 7.—President McKinley was averse to a body guard or to restrictions on his movements and was exceedingly informal and democratic while in this city. On many pleasant mornings he indulged in a half hour’s stroll, entirely alone through the southern portion of the grounds surrounding the white house.
     Very often he left the gate at the western side of the grounds and was joined by Comtroller [sic] of the Currency Charles Dawes, also an early riser, and together these two men would make the circle of the eclipse south of the white house grounds. Upon these occasions he was never accompanied by a body guard or a secret service man. It is said Mr. McKinley was often warned that the strolls alone were dangerous, the idea of which he ridiculed.
     Frequently Mr. McKinley drove alone about the city and its suburbs. Often the President himself handled the reins, but at no time was there ever a secret service man in attendance, either near or at a distance.
     The closest attendant in the secret service force that the president had was Mr. George Foster who constituted his personal body guard.
     A few days ago a reporter at Buffalo talked with Capt. Valleley of the exposition force on the precautions he would take to insure the president’s safety. Capt. Valleley said he had the picked men of the country under him, and that all the time the president was in the exposition grounds he would be surrounded by alert detectives who would form a constant body guard and ridiculed the possibility of danger.