Name William Craig Role Secret Service | Died September 3, 1902 | |
William Craig (1855–1902) was the first agent of the United States Secret Service killed in the line of duty.
Biography
He was born in Scotland in November 1855. He was fair-haired, blue-eyed and stood 6 foot 4 and weighed 260 pounds. He spent 12 years in the British military and was honorably discharged and immigrated to Chicago’s South Side at the age of 38. He joined the Secret Service in 1900.
After the assassination of President William McKinley, the Secret Service was given the task of presidential protection. Craig was killed on September 3, 1902, when a speeding trolley car rammed into the open horse-drawn carriage carrying President Theodore Roosevelt in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Also in the car were Massachusetts governor Winthrop M. Crane and presidential assistant George B. Cortelyou. The President received only superficial cuts and bruises. The President said: "The man who was killed was one of whom I was fond and whom I greatly prized for his loyalty and faithfulness."
Craig was buried in Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago.