The Attempted Assassination of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt | Page 2

incidents of the shooting closely.
The story told is an historical narrative in the preparation of which
accuracy never has been lost sight of.

CHRONOLOGY.
October 14, 1912--At 8:10 o'clock P.M., John Flammang Schrank, of
New York, a paranoiac, shoots ex-President Theodore Roosevelt in the
right side with a 38-caliber bullet as the ex-President is standing in an
automobile in front of Hotel Gilpatrick, Milwaukee. Schrank is
immediately arrested, after a struggle to recover the revolver and
protect him from violence. Col. Roosevelt, bleeding from his wound, is
driven to the Auditorium, Milwaukee, and speaks to an audience of
9,000 for eighty minutes. Immediately after his speech he is taken to
the Johnston Emergency hospital, Milwaukee, where his wound is
dressed. At 12:30 o'clock he is taken on a special train to Chicago, then
to Mercy hospital.
October 15, 1912--Schrank is arraigned in District court, Milwaukee,
and admits having fired the shot. He is bound over to Municipal court
for preliminary hearing.
October 18, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt passes crisis in Mercy
hospital, Chicago.
October 21, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt leaves Chicago for his home
at Oyster Bay, R.I.
October 22, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt reaches home after a trip not
seriously impairing his condition.
October 26, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt takes first walk out of doors.
October 27, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt celebrates his fifty-fourth
birthday.

October 30, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt speaks to an audience of
16,000 in Madison Square Garden, New York, over 30,000 having
been turned away. He is given an ovation lasting forty-five minutes.
November 1, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt again speaks to an
audience filling Madison Square Garden. But for his request that it
cease so that he could speak, the ovation would have exceeded that of
October 30.
November 3, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt makes his last campaign
speech at Oyster Bay, R.I.
November 5, 1912--Ex-President Roosevelt votes at Oyster Bay, R.I.
November 12, 1912--John Flammang Schrank pleads guilty to assault
with intent to murder before Judge August C. Backus in Municipal
court, Milwaukee. Judge Backus appoints a commission of five
Milwaukee alienists to determine, as officers of the court, Schrank's
sanity.
November 14, 1912--The sanity commission begins examinations of
Schrank.
November 22, 1912--The sanity commission reports to Judge A. C.
Backus in Municipal court, Milwaukee, that Schrank is insane and was
insane at the time he shot ex-President Roosevelt. Schrank is
committed to the Northern Hospital for the Insane at Oshkosh, Wis.
Judge Backus in making the commitment orders that in the event of
recovery Schrank shall face trial on the charge of assault with intent to
kill.
November 25, 1912--Schrank is taken to the Northern Hospital for the
Insane, Oshkosh, Wis., by deputies from the office of the sheriff of
Milwaukee county.
CHAPTER I.
THE SHOT IS FIRED.

RELATED BY HENRY F. COCHEMS AFTER THE SHOOTING.
At 8:10 o'clock on the night of Oct. 14, 1912, an attempt was made to
assassinate Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt in the city of Milwaukee.
Col. Roosevelt had dined at the Hotel Gilpatrick with the immediate
members of his traveling party. The time having arrived to leave for the
Auditorium, where he was due to speak, he left his quarters, and,
emerging from the front of the hotel, crossing the walk, stepped into a
waiting automobile.
Instantly that he appeared a wild acclaim of applause and welcome
greeted him. He settled in his seat, but, responsive to the persistent roar
of the crowd, which extended in dense masses for over a block in every
direction, he rose in acknowledgement, raising his hat in salute.
At this instant there cracked out the vicious report of a pistol shot, the
flash of the gun showing that the would-be assassin had fired from a
distance of only four or five feet.
Instantly there was a wild panic and confusion. Elbert E. Martin, one of
Col. Roosevelt's stenographers, a powerful athlete and ex-football
player, leaped across the machine and bore the would-be assassin to the
ground. At the same moment Capt. A. O. Girard, a former Rough Rider
and bodyguard of the ex-President, and several policemen were upon
him. Col. Roosevelt's knees bent just a trifle, and his right hand reached
forward on the door of the car tonneau. Then he straightened himself
and reached back against the upholstered seat, but in the same instant
he straightened himself, he again raised his hat, a reassuring smile upon
his face, apparently the coolest and least excited of any one in the
frenzied mob, who crowding in upon the man who fired the shot,
continued to call out:
"Kill him, kill him."
I had stepped into the car beside Col. Roosevelt, about to take my seat
when the shot was fired. Throwing my arm about the Colonel's waist, I
asked him if he had been hit, and after Col. Roosevelt saying in an
aside, "He pinked me, Harry," called