"sadder than McKinley's funeral"

[Laurence Horn]

>         Last night I heard Kenny Washington, a local disk-jockey, talking
>about a situation he deplored, say: "folks, it's sadder than
>McKinley's funeral."  This is a new expression to me, and
>logophiliac that I am, I was delighted by it.  I assume that the
>McKinley in question was our still-lamented president.  His funeral
>was just about 100 years ago, and so beyond the memory of most of
>us, and certainly before Washington's time, who is a relatively
>young man.

That is weird.  I couldn't find any other occurrences of this,
although there's a nice stereoscope of soldiers lunching while on
guard at McKinley's funeral in Canton, Ohio--

http://www.boondocksnet.com/stereo/sv258f.html

--and maybe the sandwiches were particularly sad.
Seriously, the only connection I can think of is the traditional song
that starts off something like

Hey, Mr. McKinley
Why didn't you run
Seein' that man a-comin'
With a Johnson '41
 From Buffalo to Washington

It goes on to mention Czolgosz's fate, courtesy of the electric chair
(I assume McKinley was shot in Buffalo, and New York has long been a
chair state), and then the fact that

Roosevelt's in the White House
Doin' his best,
McKinley's in the graveyard
Takin' his rest
 From Buffalo to Washington

Pretty sad, especially for McKinley, but no specific mention of the
Canton funeral in the song.

larry