York
Herald
, 15 Sept., and New York
World
, 29 Sept. 1901. There are further reminiscences by these men and other contemporary witnesses in Eloise Cronin Murphy,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Night Ride to the Presidency
(Adirondack Museum, N.Y., 1977), and Christina Rainsford, “A Momentous Ride,”
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
, summer 1981. Richmond B. Williams explains the impromptu communications network that sprang up along the slope of the mountain in “TR Receives His Summons to the Presidency,”
Bell Telephone Magazine
, autumn 1951. Supplemental details come from
The New York Times
, New York
Press
, and New York
Sun
, 14 Sept. 1901, and from a reconnaissance made by the author in October 1979. Route 28N, resurfaced and renamed “Roosevelt-Marcy Memorial Highway,” now connects many of the places mentioned, so smoothly as to cast doubt on old accounts of the difficulties and dangers TR faced. However, a film of local wet-weather conditions, ca. 1910, preserved in the Adirondack Museum, proves these accounts were not exaggerated. (Rain had been falling continuously for three days preceding TR’s ride.)
3 Yesterday’s telegrams Facsimile telegrams (TRB). There has been some confusion about the sequence of fifteen telegrams received by TR on Mount Marcy. A comparison of the originals with medical bulletins issued by McKinley’s secretary, George Cortelyou (in GBC), makes it clear that he read the most urgent message—Elihu Root’s—last. It was dispatched at 10:20 P.M. (William Loeb to Root, 13 Sept. 1901 [ER]). EKR, in her diary of 13 Sept. 1901, states that it came “between 11 and 12 when we were in bed [in the vacation cabin at Upper Tahawus].” See Sylvia Jukes Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady
(New York, 1980), 212–14. TR’s reply (in ER) is datelined Lower Tahawus, 14 Sept. 1:32 A.M. Thishelps explain TR’s curious delay in leaving for Buffalo after receiving the first message, from Cortelyou, near the summit at 1:25 P.M. on 13 Sept. TR twice confirms in
An Autobiography
(New York, 1913), 364, and in the Leary Notebooks that he realized the President was dying when he saw the messenger approach. Yet the telegram stated only that McKinley’s condition caused “the gravest apprehension.” The next few telegrams, awaiting TR at Upper Tahawus at 5:15 or 5:30 P.M. (Murphy,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Night Ride
, 18–19, indicated some improvement. Hence his remark, about 9:00 P.M. , to EKR: “I’m not going unless I’m really needed” (Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 212). Then the telegrams became too urgent to resist.
Note on timings:
An analysis of available data works out thus: dept. Upper Tahawus 11:31 P.M. , 13 Sept.; arr. Lower Tahawus (ten miles) 1:31 A.M. , 14 Sept.; dept. 1:35 A.M.; arr. Aiden Lair (nine miles) 3:36 A.M.; dept. 3:41 A.M.; arr. North Creek (sixteen miles) 5:22 A.M. Total: thirty-five miles covered in five hours, fifty-one minutes.
4 the president appears Facsimile telegram (TRB).
5 He was now A bronze tablet on Route 28N, not far north of Aiden Lair, commemorates TR’s accession to the Presidency.
6 He sat alone William Allen White,
Masks in a Pageant
(New York, 1928), 294; “How the President Wears His Hat,”
New York Tribune
, 29 Nov. 1901; Orin Kellogg in New York
World
, 29 Sept. 1901.
7 In his opinion TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 141–42;
The Works of Theodore Roosevelt
, memorial edition (New York, 1923–1926, vol. 17, 96; Orin Kellogg in Murphy,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Night Ride
, 21. Czolgosz did not “get away”; he was executed within weeks.
8 meanwhile, in washington New York
Press
, 4 Sept.;
Harper’s Weekly
, 21 Sept. 1901; Charles Willis Thompson,
Party Leaders of the Time
(New York, 1906), 261–62, 281–82; New York
World
, 17 Sept. 1901.
9 at about 3:30 A restored version of Aiden Lair Lodge may be seen beside Route 28N. Upper Tahawus is now a ghost town, but the Roosevelts’ cabin
Herald
, 15 Sept., and New York
World
, 29 Sept. 1901. There are further reminiscences by these men and other contemporary witnesses in Eloise Cronin Murphy,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Night Ride to the Presidency
(Adirondack Museum, N.Y., 1977), and Christina Rainsford, “A Momentous Ride,”
Theodore Roosevelt Association Journal
, summer 1981. Richmond B. Williams explains the impromptu communications network that sprang up along the slope of the mountain in “TR Receives His Summons to the Presidency,”
Bell Telephone Magazine
, autumn 1951. Supplemental details come from
The New York Times
, New York
Press
, and New York
Sun
, 14 Sept. 1901, and from a reconnaissance made by the author in October 1979. Route 28N, resurfaced and renamed “Roosevelt-Marcy Memorial Highway,” now connects many of the places mentioned, so smoothly as to cast doubt on old accounts of the difficulties and dangers TR faced. However, a film of local wet-weather conditions, ca. 1910, preserved in the Adirondack Museum, proves these accounts were not exaggerated. (Rain had been falling continuously for three days preceding TR’s ride.)
3 Yesterday’s telegrams Facsimile telegrams (TRB). There has been some confusion about the sequence of fifteen telegrams received by TR on Mount Marcy. A comparison of the originals with medical bulletins issued by McKinley’s secretary, George Cortelyou (in GBC), makes it clear that he read the most urgent message—Elihu Root’s—last. It was dispatched at 10:20 P.M. (William Loeb to Root, 13 Sept. 1901 [ER]). EKR, in her diary of 13 Sept. 1901, states that it came “between 11 and 12 when we were in bed [in the vacation cabin at Upper Tahawus].” See Sylvia Jukes Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady
(New York, 1980), 212–14. TR’s reply (in ER) is datelined Lower Tahawus, 14 Sept. 1:32 A.M. Thishelps explain TR’s curious delay in leaving for Buffalo after receiving the first message, from Cortelyou, near the summit at 1:25 P.M. on 13 Sept. TR twice confirms in
An Autobiography
(New York, 1913), 364, and in the Leary Notebooks that he realized the President was dying when he saw the messenger approach. Yet the telegram stated only that McKinley’s condition caused “the gravest apprehension.” The next few telegrams, awaiting TR at Upper Tahawus at 5:15 or 5:30 P.M. (Murphy,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Night Ride
, 18–19, indicated some improvement. Hence his remark, about 9:00 P.M. , to EKR: “I’m not going unless I’m really needed” (Morris,
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
, 212). Then the telegrams became too urgent to resist.
Note on timings:
An analysis of available data works out thus: dept. Upper Tahawus 11:31 P.M. , 13 Sept.; arr. Lower Tahawus (ten miles) 1:31 A.M. , 14 Sept.; dept. 1:35 A.M.; arr. Aiden Lair (nine miles) 3:36 A.M.; dept. 3:41 A.M.; arr. North Creek (sixteen miles) 5:22 A.M. Total: thirty-five miles covered in five hours, fifty-one minutes.
4 the president appears Facsimile telegram (TRB).
5 He was now A bronze tablet on Route 28N, not far north of Aiden Lair, commemorates TR’s accession to the Presidency.
6 He sat alone William Allen White,
Masks in a Pageant
(New York, 1928), 294; “How the President Wears His Hat,”
New York Tribune
, 29 Nov. 1901; Orin Kellogg in New York
World
, 29 Sept. 1901.
7 In his opinion TR,
Letters
, vol. 3, 141–42;
The Works of Theodore Roosevelt
, memorial edition (New York, 1923–1926, vol. 17, 96; Orin Kellogg in Murphy,
Theodore Roosevelt’s Night Ride
, 21. Czolgosz did not “get away”; he was executed within weeks.
8 meanwhile, in washington New York
Press
, 4 Sept.;
Harper’s Weekly
, 21 Sept. 1901; Charles Willis Thompson,
Party Leaders of the Time
(New York, 1906), 261–62, 281–82; New York
World
, 17 Sept. 1901.
9 at about 3:30 A restored version of Aiden Lair Lodge may be seen beside Route 28N. Upper Tahawus is now a ghost town, but the Roosevelts’ cabin
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