MR. ROOSEVELT WOUNDED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15125, 16 October 1912, Page 7

MR. ROOSEVELT WOUNDED.

SHOT . BY A . MADMAN. MAKES SPEECH WITH BULLET 1 BREAST HIS RECOVERY ASSURED. arrest of the assailant INTENSE EXCITEMENT AT MILWAUKEE. By Telegraph.— Association.—CopjriffM (Received October 15, 8 p.m.) New York, October 15. Mr. Theodore Roosevelt, ex-President of the United States, and who is again seeking election to that office, was shot in the breast by a Socialist last evening while engaged on his campaign in Milwaukee. The shot was fired outside Mr. Roosevelt's hotel, while he was. on , his way to deliver a political address in the Milwaukee' Auditorium. Mr. Roosevelt refused to allow doctors to examine the wound. Though the bullet was still in his body he proceeded to the Auditorium and addressed a huge meeting. ' An announcement made while the meeting was in progress that Mr. Roosevelt had been shot threw the audience into a panic. The chairman begged them to remain calm. As Mr. Roosevelt continued his speech he became visibly, weakei, but refused to sit down. The audience cheered him frantically. Towards the end of his address he became weak through loss of blood, and was removed to his hotel. ■ Doctors then examined the wound, and expressed themselves confident that it will not prove fatal. Mrs. Roosevelt heard the news while attending a . New Yoik theatre. • _ . Mr. Roosevelt's assailant is one, John Schrank, a resident of New York. When the shot was fired a mob tried to lynch Schrank, but the police held them back. ■ 3 ' ' Schrank was arrested. He declared to the • police that any man seeking a third term of office as President ought to be shot. When searched at the police station documents were found in Schrank's possession setting forth that he had had a dream in which the late President McKinley's spirit visited him, indicated Mr. Roosevelt as President McKinley's murderer, and asked Schrank to take vengeance on Mr. Roosevelt. • Schrank is undoubtedly crazy. Mr. Roosevelt declares that too much fuss is being made about a trifling matter.

MR; ROOSEVELT'S CAUSER. A STRENUOUS LIFE. ROUGH RIDER AND PRESIDENT. Mr. Theodore Roosevelt is considered by many most brilliant of "the" Presidents of - the United - States. His admirers consider him the knightliest figure of his generation in American politics. From the outset of hie political career lie has been a tireless enemy of corruption in every form. He is essentially a fighter, and in reaching almost every rung.of his political ladder, ho has been beset with foes. In his youth be was not physically strong, but sustained athletic exercises have made him a particularly robust man. He entered N?w York politics at an early stage of his life, but it was when he went to the Wild West in 1884 that he. first became a national figure in the life of the United States. In the Wild West Mr. Roosevelt revelled with his horse and rifle. He read Shakespere to the cowboys, and penned his sketches of the wild Western life.' He grew very fond of the rough pioneers, and they became devoted to him—a devotion that never faded when Mr. Roosevelt had long left their midst, and had taken his seat as the great chieftain of the Republic. The cowboys and the Indians flocked to the national capital when he was inaugurated, and never had Washington presented such a bizarre spectacle before. This life on the Western plains was very valuable to Mr, Roosevelt, not only in the development of an exceptionally fine physique bub of physical and moral courage. The cowboys, the trappers, and the hunters soon found that Mr. Roosevelt was a kindred spirit. He seemed to have had little difficulty in showing them quickly that he was not to bo trifled with in " gun play" and the other diversions that made life a hazard. He was molested cnlv once in one of the " cow towns. A. bully took him for a " tenderfoot,' and ordered him to treat to liquor, at the point of two revolvers. In the saloon a crowd stolidly watched the incident. Mr. ! Roosevelt started apparently to treat, and ' in the next instant his fist shot out and the bully was stretched out on the floor. When the ruffian " awoke/ the ' tenderfoot" was standing over him and calmly displaying his "two guiw." " You re a good *'un," said the bully with an oath, while the crowd laughed. J lie Tufhau then treated. . ... Manv stories of his hunting exploits made Mr. Roosevelt more of a national figure as a writer and sportsman at first I than as a politician. His experiences had left a profound impression upon&tlie young American mind. In 1886 Mr. Roosevelt ran for the Mayoralty of New York, but wae defeated. He then had a term rts President of the Board of Police Commissioners, in which office, he made a great name for himself, xle was next Assistant Secretary to the Navy, and left this office to organise the famous Roosevelt Rough Riders for the SpanishAmerican war. JTe distinguished himself in the war, was elected Vice-President in 1900, and in 1901 became President to the assassination of President McKinlcy. In 1904 Mr. Rqoseveltwas re-elected, President by an overwhelming vote. His two terms as President were noted for his strenuous campaigns against trusts. In the domain of foreign politics Mr. Roosevelt's most brilliant service was his mediation which brought to a close the war between Russia and Japan, winch won for him the Nobel peace prizo. _ On the completion of his second term in the Presidency _ in 1909, Air Roosevelt threw all his influence on the side of Mr. W. H. Taft, who became his successor in bite House. Mr Roosevelt and Mr. Taft were then fast friends, but in recent months friendship has been turned to enmity, and the I resident and ex-President have said nianv bitter things of each other. Released of the cares of office Mr. Roosevelt went in 1909 to Africa on a big game shooting expedition. When lie returned to the United States he contented himself for a time with literary work, but when the approaching election for the Presidency became a popular topic Mr. Roosevelt once again shot into political prominence. For some months he was mentioned as a likely rival to Mr. Taft for the Republican nomination, but in reply to pointed queries he repeatedly answered that lie was not, seeking re-election. Finally the cryptic statement, "My hat is in the ring." was generally accepted as an announcement that Mr. Roosevelt had decided to seek a third term in White House. On his election for a second term he announced himself against third terms in the Presidency, and since be entered the present contest

his action in socking a third term has been, the subject of much hostile criticism. At tho Republican Convention, held some months ago. the fortunes of Mr. Taft and Mr. Roosevelt hung in the balance for dave, but the Convention decided in favour of Mr. Taft. Then came the split in the party. Mr. Roosevelt formed a new party of Progressive Republicans, and in his campaign he has denounced the Republican party in measured terms. Tho sensational incident at Milwaukee

cannot ■ fail to have an influence .on the election, which takes place on November 5. On September 1, 1903, a German named Weilbrenner, who was proved to be insane, made an attempt to shoot President Roosevelt at his home at Sagamore, Oyster Bay, Long Island. He did not succeed in ' his effort, .and ' was arrested with a revolver in his possession.

THREE ASSASSINATIONS. PRESIDENTS WHO HAVE BEEN MURDERED. LINCOLN, GARFIELD, AND McKINLEY. Tliree of the 27 Presidents who have held office in tlio United States have died by an assassin's hand. Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President, was shot by J. Wilkes Booth, while sitting with his family in Ford's Theatre, at Washington, on April 14, 1865. He died the following day. Mr. Seward, the Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and his son, were wounded in their own house by an. assassin about the same time. James Abram Garfield, the 20th President, was shot in • the street by Charles Guitea-u, a Chicago lawyer and disappointed office-seeker, at the Washington railway station, "on July 2, 1881. He lingered for seven weeks, his death occurring on September 19, 1881. : 1 .

President McKinley, the 25th holder of the office, was shot in the breast and abdomen whilst holding a .retention at the Exhibition Buildings at Buffalo on September 7, 1901, by an" anarchist named Leon Czolgojtz, a native of Detroit', but of Polish nationality. Czolgosz, amidst a dense throng, approached the President, who smiled and extended his hand. The assassin brushed the hand aside and fired two shots at the President from a revolver which he had secreted in a handkerchief in his left hand. Mr. McKinley lingered for eight days, his death taking place on September 15, 1901. Czolgosz, who was d years of age, asserted that anarchist lectures and literature prompted him to commit the crime, lie believing that the American form of Government was wrong, and that the best remedy was to kill the President. He was tried and convicted of the murder and executed.