Jasper County Democrat, Volume 21, Number 81, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 January 1919 — ROOSEVELT DIES WHILE ASLEEP IN OYSTER BAY HOME [ARTICLE]

ROOSEVELT DIES WHILE ASLEEP IN OYSTER BAY HOME

Death if Former President Caused by Pulmonary Embolism. FUNERAL WILL BE PRIVATE Suffered New Attack of Inflanun** tory Rheumatism on New Year’s I Day, but Was Not Considered , Seriously Ill—Greived Over Son’s j Death, z-** ■wMMamMaMMS Oyster Buy, N. Y., .Tin. 7. —Col. Theodore Roosevelt died <n his sleep at his home on Sagamore Hill In this village. believed to have been due to rheumatism which affected his heart. The colonel suffered a severe attack of rheumatism and sciatica on New Year’s day, but none believed that his illness would prove fatal. The former president sat up most of Sunday and retired at eleven o’clock Sunday night. The exact time? of Colonel Roosevelt’s death was 4 : 15 a. m., ns nearly as can be determined, for there was so person at his bedside at the moment he passed away. A minute or two before, his attendant, James Amos, the young colored man who has been in the employ of the colonel ever since he left the White House, noticed that the patleqt was breathing heavily in his sleep and went to call a nurse. When he returned with her the former president was dead. Mrs. Roosevelt was Immediately summoned. < Telegrams were dispatched to the colonel’s children, who were In other parts of the country. Two of the colonel's sons, Maj. Theodore Roosevelt, Jr., and Capt. Kermit Roosevelt, are in service abroad. Statement by Colonel’s Physician. The following statement was given by Dr. G. W. Fudler of Oyster Bay, the physician who Inst saw the colonel: ‘‘Colonel Roosevelt retired at twelve o’clock Sunday night feeling much better. At 4:15 o’clock Monday morning he simply ceased to breathe. Death was caused probably by a pulmonary embolism.”

Because of Mrs. Roosevelt's wish, the colonel will be buried as a private citizen. The funeral, which will be held Wednesday in Christ Episcopal church, which the family attended, will be private. Telegrams of condolence, and sympathy began to pour in from all parts of the country as soon as the news of Colonel Roosevelt’s death became known. , The former president came to his home on Sagamore Hill from the RoosevelKhospital on Christinas day, but a week later was stricken with a severe attack of rheumatism and sciatica, from which he bad been suffering for some time. The rheumatism affected his right hand and It became much swollen. He remained in his room and efforts were made to check the trouble. Mrs. Roosevelt Phones News. News of the death of the former president was received in New York by Miss Josephine Stricker, the colonel’s secretary, In a telephone message from Mrs. Roosevelt. The Immediate cause of Colonel Roosevelt’s death was pulmonary embolism or lodgment in the lung of a clot from a broken aeln, it was stated later by one of his physicians. Death, it was said, came to him painlessly as he slept. Forty-eight hours before his death the former president had been visited by one of his physicians, who stated he found the colonel apparently In good condition and spirits. 11l Nearly Year. Colonel Roosevelt’s last illness maybe said to date from last February. On February 5 it was announced that he had been removed from his home in Oyster Bay to the Roosevelt hospital in this city, following an operation on one of the ears. Broken by Son’s Death. One of the tilings that is believed to have contributed more than any other to the colonel’s breakdown was the death last fall of his son, Lieut. Quentin Roosevelt, the aviator, in action In France. Proud of his heroic son’s achievements, Colonel Roosevelt bore up under the sorrow of his death with a fortitude that was in keeping with Ns spirit in public life. Friends said that While the father "did not carry Ns heart on bls sleeve,” he suf-' Tered most poignant griefs in silence and'tried to forget them by plunging Harder than ever Into his work. Was Bom In New York. Colonel Roosevelt, statesman, soldier and author, and the twenty-sixth

president of Jne United States, was the most spectacular and picturesque figure that ever appeared upon the stage of American public life. For upward of thirty years Colonel Roosevelt was In the public eye in one role or another and he was perhaps the best known man of his day. A man of tremendous personality, his magnetism won him a host of followers who stuck by him through the ups and of his long and historic political career. Colonel Roosevelt was born in New dry on October 27, 1856, being the second son of Theodore Roosevelt, a merchant and philanthropist. The colonel could trace his American ancestry back to 1644, when the first of the Roosevelt family came to this country from Holland Succeeded McKinley. Colonel Roosevelt turned to politics ns soon as he had been graduated from Harvard in 1880 and his aptitude for public life made Itself apparent at once. He worked his way through the New York state assembly nnd the governorship to the vice presidency of the United States and finally became the twenty-sixty president In 1901. The colonel was not elected to his first tenure of the presidency, having succeeded President McKinley when the latter was assassinated by an anarchist in Buffalo, N. Y. But In 1904 he was elected president us the popular choice of the people. . z Colonel Roosevelt was married twice. His first wife was Alice Hathaway Lee, to whom he was united on October 27, 1880. She-died four years later. When President McKinley was elected he appointed Roosevelt assistant secretary of the navy. Roosevelt believed that conditions in Cuba .would sooner or later lead to war with Spain. He was ever pleading for more men nnd ships. He fitted out the squadron which carried Admiral Dewey to glory at Manila. ’ Organizes “Rough Riders.” When the blowing up of the battleship Maine in Havajtyi harbor set the nation aflame Roosevelt resigned from the navy .department. With Dr. Leonard Wood, an army surgeon, he went west and organized the “Rough Riders.’’ The official title was “First regiment, United States Volunteer cavalry." The men were mostly cowboys and ranchmen, with a sprinkling of adventurous eastern college graduates. They needed no great amount of drill. Every man already knew how to shoot straight and to ride anything that had four legs. The Rough Riders made history. They were In the first skirmish in Cuba at Las Guasimas, and did their full share of the work at San Juan hill. Roosevelt was promoted to the colonelcy for distinguished bravery.

Wins the Nobel Peace Prize. During his first administration the Russo-Japanese war broke out. When the Japanese had driven the Russians nearly up to the Amoor river, taken Port Arthur and destroyed the Russian fleet, which attempted its relief, President Roosevelt offered mediation. His offer was accepted and the treaty of peace was signed by the representatives of the warring nations at Portsmouth, N. H. For his services in thus bringing about a termination of the war, Theodore Roosevelt was in 1906 awarded the Nobel peace prize of 000. v Starts the Panama Canal. During his administration also occurred the failure of the negotiations with Colombia for tffe right of- succession by the United States to the rights of the French Panama canal company, with the ensuing insurrection of the Panamanians, he intervention of the United States In a manner that effectively prevented the • Bogota govern-* ment from putting down the revolt, the recognition of the independence of Panama, and the making of agreements with the new republic under which the work of building the Panama Canal was undertaken by the United States and carried to a successful conclusion.

After Mr. Taft’s inauguration Mr. Roosevelt left the country on a tour which included visits to the capitals of western Europe and a long hunting trip in Africa, whose adventures are recorded in two volumes. Meanwhile he did not lose touch with American politics, in which he was soon .destined to play a part as disruptive of the Republican party as his earlier efforts were promotlve of its success. Birth of Progressive Party. At the Republican convention in Chicago, beginning June 18, 1912, Taft was nominated by 21 votes over a majority, but a few hours before the nomination Roosevelt had withdrawn his name as a candidate, and that night at a meeting In Orchestra hall, Chicago, the Progressive party was given its first real Impetus In a demonstration for Roosevelt and at which he was named for president by the new party. A formal convention was , held later and he ran as the regular candidate of the third party, drawing support from Republicans and Democrats alike. Roosevelt denounced the nomination by the Republicans as a “naked theft,” declaring that illegal delegates In sufficient numbers to nominate Taft had been seated. Shot and Wounded by Crank. Colonel Roosevelt campaigned over the entire country, invading the “solid south” and reiterating his slogan of “Let the people rule I” He had covered the greater part of the nation when he was shot at Milwaukee October 14

by a man giving tne name qf John Schrank of New York, who said he had been told by the spirit of McKinley* to kill Roosevelt. The wound was found to be not sellout, but retarded the candidate’s campaign for some time. The assassin was declared to be demented. The early months pf 1914 found the energetic colonel in South America with a party, including his son, Kermit Taken 111 With FeVer. At one time during his South American journeying he was taken ill with a fever and was some time in a bad way. He returned to* America, however, in the latter part of May with his health restored and again plunged into politics, picking up the threads where he had dropped them seven months before.