The Attempted Assassination of ex-President Theodore Roosevelt | Page 3

out to those who were wildly

tearing at the would-be assassin:
"Don't hurt him; bring him to me here!"
The sharp military tone of command was heard in the midst of the
general uproar, and Martin, Girard and the policemen dragged Schrank
toward where Mr. Roosevelt stood. Arriving at the side of the car, the
revolver, grasped by three or four hands of men struggling for
possession, was plainly visible, and I succeeded in grasping the barrel
of the revolver, and finally in getting it from the possession of a
detective. Mr. Martin says that Schrank still had his hands on the
revolver at that time. The Colonel then said:
"Officers, take charge of him, and see that there is no violence done to
him."
The crowd had quickly cleared from in front of the automobile, and we
drove through, Col. Roosevelt waving a hand, the crowd now
half-hysterical with frenzied excitement.
After rounding the corner I drew the revolver from my overcoat pocket
and saw that it was a 38-caliber long which had been fired. As the
Colonel looked at the revolver he said:
"A 38-Colt has an ugly drive."
Mr. McGrath, one of the Colonel's secretaries riding at his right side,
said:
"Why, Colonel, you have a hole in your overcoat. He has shot you."
The Colonel said:
"I know it," and opened his overcoat, which disclosed his white linen,
shirt, coat and vest saturated with blood. We all instantly implored and
pleaded with the Colonel to drive with the automobile to a hospital, but
he turned to me with a characteristic smile and said:
"I know I am good now; I don't know how long I may be. This may be

my last talk in this cause to our people, and while I am good I am going
to drive to the hall and deliver my speech."
[Illustration: Shirts Worn by Ex-President Roosevelt Showing Extent of
Bleeding from Wound While He Spoke to 9,000 People.]
By the time we had arrived at the hall the shock had brought a pallor to
his face. On alighting he walked firmly to the large waiting room in the
back of the Auditorium stage, and there Doctors Sayle, Terrell and
Stratton opened his shirt, exposing his right breast.
Just below the nipple of his right breast appeared a gaping hole. They
insisted that under no consideration should he speak, but the Colonel
asked:
"Has any one a clean handkerchief?"
Some one extending one, he placed it over the wound, buttoned up his
clothes and said:
"Now, gentlemen, let's go in," and advanced to the front of the
platform.
I, having been asked to present him to the audience, after admonishing
the crowd that there was no occasion for undue excitement, said that an
attempt to assassinate Col. Roosevelt had taken place; that the bullet
was still in his body, and that he would attempt to make his speech as
promised.
As the Colonel stepped forward, some one in the audience said audibly:
"Fake," whereupon the Colonel smilingly said:
"No, it's no fake," and opening his vest, the blood-red stain upon his
linen was clearly visible.
A half-stifled expression of horror swept through the audience.
About the first remark uttered in the speech, as the Colonel grinned

broadly at the audience, was:
"It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose. I'm all right, no
occasion for any sympathy whatever, but I want to take this occasion
within five minutes after having been shot to say some things to our
people which I hope no one will question the profound sincerity of."
Throughout his speech, which continued for an hour and twenty
minutes, the doctors and his immediate staff of friends, sitting closely
behind him, expected that he might at any moment collapse. I was so
persuaded of this that I stepped over the front of the high platform to
the reporters' section immediately beneath where he was speaking, so
that I might catch him if he fell forward.
These precautions, however, were unnecessary, for, while his speech
lacked in the characteristic fluency of other speeches, while the shock
and pain caused his argument to be somewhat labored, yet it was with a
soldierly firmness and iron determination, which more than all things in
Roosevelt's career discloses to the country the real Roosevelt, who at
the close of his official service as President in 1909 left that high office
the most beloved public figure in our history since Lincoln fell, and the
most respected citizen of the world. As was said in an editorial in the
Chicago Evening Post:
"There is no false sentiment here; there is no self-seeking. The guards
are down. The soul of the man stands forth as it is. In the Valley of the
Shadow his own simple declaration