USA > Wisconsin > Milwaukee County > Milwaukee > History of Milwaukee, city and county, Volume I > Part 57
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"The fifth Liberty loan was oversubseribed by $13,799,300. The eity went over the top in less than its allotted time, and with an enthusiastic and patriotic spirit as evident without the incentive of actual war as before the signing of the armistice. In the fifth loan Milwaukee raised a total of $38,741.750.
"The same patriotic spirit that has characterized Milwaukee's work in
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going 'over the top' in all the Liberty loan campaigns has also been mani- fested in the Red Cross and other drives of similar war relief organizations. In the first Red Cross war fund campaign Milwaukee was asked to raise $500,000 and obtained total contributions of $780,000, showing that Milwaukee has demonstrated itself to be fully as generous in making donations to worthy war funds as it has been in loaning its money to the Government for the purpose of successfully prosecuting the war. In the second Red Cross war fund Mil- waukee had been requested to obtain $750,000, but the great body of loyal Milwaukeeans who have participated in the various money raising campaigns voluntarily increased Milwaukee's allotment and started out to obtain con- tributions of $1,000,000, with the result that the final figures on the last day of the drive showed a total of $1,160,000, or more than 150 per cent of the amount it had been asked to raise.
"When the Y. M. C. A. and Y. W. C. A. asked Milwaukee to obtain for it in a joint campaign the sum of $165,000, the enthusiastic war workers of the city took up the work and again did themselves eredit by raising $185,000. or $20,000 more than they had been required to secure.
"In the Knights of Columbus drive for funds for war relief work, the city was scheduled to raise $100,000 and piled up again an oversubscription, report- ing total contributions of $146,000, or $46,000 over its goal. Under the anspices of the Elks' lodge, the Salvation army conducted a campaign for funds here for the purpose of raising $25,000. In responding to this appeal Milwaukee contributed $50,000, or twice the amount it was allotted. Milwaukee obtained $125,000 in the campaign for the Jewish war relief work."
One Year of War to Five of Peace .- It may be interesting to notice in this connection an instructive compilation, which appeared in the Congressional Record in 1921, of the wars in which our country has been engaged since it became an independent nation, as published in the Chicago Evening Post in its issue of July 26, 1921. as follows :
"The Congressional Record recently printed the following tahle showing the actual duration of this country's warlike operations since we became a free people on July 4, 1776 :
Years. Days
Revolution : From the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776, to the withdrawal of the British troops from New York, Nov. 25, 1783
War of 1812: From the declaration of war by United States, 7 144
June 18, 1812, to the battle of New Orleans, Jan. 5, 1815. . .. 2 204 War with the Barbary pirates: Declared by Algiers in 1812. Ex- elnding time concurrent with war of 1812, and calculating from conclusion of that war, Jan. 5, 1815, to final treaty with the Dey of Algiers, conelnded on flagship of American navy, July 6, 1818. 3 182
Mexican war : From the declaration of war by United States, April 24, 1846, to signing of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb. 2, 1848 1 284
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Civil war: From attack on Fort Sumter, April 12, 1861, to sur- render by Gen. Kirby Smith of last confederate force in the field, May 26, 1865.
4 44
Spanish war: From date declared by congress as date of com- mencement of state of war. April 21, 1898, to signing of treaty of Paris, Dec. 10, 1898. 0 211
Philippine insurrection : Feb. 1, 1899, to restoration of civil gov- ernment, July 4, 1901. 2 153
World war: From declaration of war by United States, April 6,
1
219
1917, to armistice, Nov. 11, 1918.
Total duration of American wars. 23 346
"Thus for practically twenty-four out of the 145 years which elapsed be- tween the first Independence day and its anniversary of 1921, the United States has been involved in some sort of active war. And the calculation does not include our Indian wars ; nor yet the post-armistice period of 712 months before President Wilson signed the treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919, nor the 'irreconcilables' war of twenty-four months between that date and July 2, 1921. Here are a few more years of technical warfare to be added.
"Our war history, at lowest calculation, amounts to 16.5 per cent of our whole history, or one year of war to every five of peace. And yet we are the best protected, least grasping, most benignantly peaceful power on the globe. "Here is a practical lesson in pacifism. All of our wars, with the possible exception of the Spanish and Filipino 'involvements,' have been justified by history, although there was precious little immediate justification for our declaration of war on Mexico. No despotie power in our state has ever forced us into a war to which the majority were opposed."
CHAPTER XXXV
ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
An event that overwhelmed Milwaukee with grief and stirred the hearts of the people throughout the nation, and of the whole world beyond its bor- ders, occurred on October 14, 1912, in the attempted assassination in Mil- waukee of Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt. Perhaps no city in the Union contained a larger proportion of the friends and admirers of the ex-president than might be found in the chief city of Wisconsin, and while condneting his campaign as the presidential candidate of the newly formed progressive party he had arranged for a great meeting in the Milwaukee Andiforim for the evening of the day mentioned.
Description of the Auditorium .- Milwaukee's Auditorinm, a semi-public building, covers an area of an entire city block, at the intersection of Cedar and Fifth streets. Its main hall will seat 10,000 persons, thus being adapted to use for publie gatherings, inelnding conventions or for general speaking purposes. It will accommodate the largest grand opera production, concerts and other great spectacles. One of the largest stages in the country, with every facility for handling stage equipment, and with commodions dressing rooms, is a feature of this main hall.
Colonel Roosevelt had dined at the Hotel Gilpatrick in Milwaukee with the immediate members of the party which accompanied him on his speaking tour. He left the hotel and entered an automobile which was to convey him and his party to the Auditorium. The car was instantly surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd of people, extending in a dense mass for over a block in both directions, shonting a welcome to him. Ile had taken his seat in the car, but desiring to acknowledge the reception thus given he arose to a standing position, raising his hat in salute. At this moment an insane assassin in the crowd, whom no one had previously observed, rushed forward and at a distance of only four or five feet from the automobile, fired a shot from a revolver directly at the person of Mr. Roosevelt, the bullet from which entered his body near the waist line of his clothing. The shot was fired at 8:10 o'clock, P. M., "the echo of which swept around the entire world in thirty minutes," as one of the witnesses of the scene has written.
Excitement of the Crowd .- It was soon ascertained, however, that the shot was not immediately fatal in its effects, and the distinguished visitor main- tained his usual self-possession, while the excitement of the crowd grew to tremendons proportions. "Instantly there was a wild panie and confusion, " writes Henry F. Cochems in a book describing the event, entitled, "The At-
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tempted Assassination of Ex-President Theodore Roosevelt." prepared by Oliver E. Remy. Henry F. Cochems and Wheeler P. Bloodgood. The account is continued, as follows: "Ehner E. Martin, one of Colonel Roosevelt's stenog- raphers, a powerful athlete and an 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 Rongh Rider and body- guard of the ex-president, and several policemen were upon him. Colonel Roosevelt's knees bent just a trifle, and his right hand reached forward to the door of the car tonneau. Then he straightened himself and reached back against the upholstered seat; but in the same instant, he again straightened himself, and again raised his hat to the crowd. A reassuring smile appeared upon his face, and he was, apparently, the coolest and least excited of any one in the frenzied mob who, erowding in upon the man who fired the shot, continued to call out, 'Kill him, kill him'!
"I had stepped into the car beside Colonel Roosevelt," continues Mr. Cochems in his account, "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 Colonel Roosevelt saying in an aside. 'Ile pinked me, Harry,' he called 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 (the misereant who had fired the shot ) toward where Mr. Roosevelt stood.
The Struggle for the Revolver .- "Arriving at the side of the ear. the re- volver, 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 erowd had quickly cleared from in front of the automobile, and we drove through, Colonel Roosevelt waving his hand, to 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 weapon which had been fired.
"As the Colonel looked at the revolver he said : 'A 38-Colt has an ugly drive.' Mr. MeGrath, 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 im- plored and pleaded with the Colonel to drive with the automobile to a hospital, but he turned to me with a characteristic smile, and said: '] know 1 am good now. but I don't know how long it 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.' "
Scenes at the Auditorium .- Among the many witnesses of these exciting events the brief account furnished by a young woman at the present time
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(April, 1921), employed as an assistant in the library of the First Wisconsin National Bank, Miss Virginia Hinners, who as a child was present on that historic occasion. is here inserted :
"The audience was buzzing with curiosity, then murmuring with wonder at the prolonged delay. This delay Mr. Cochems' introduction did not clearly explain.
" Mr. Roosevelt's unsteadiness was excusable. He told the audience that the doctor had advised against his speaking. He opened his coat and vest and displayed his blood-stained shirt front. lle explained how, as he was speaking to the crowd ontside the door of the llotel Gilpatrick, a man had shot at him, a man whom Mr. Roosevelt vaguely compared to the traitor. Judas.
"All of this furnished opportunity for the Bull Moose enemies to reiterate on Roosevelt's love for, or tendeney toward, 'grand stand play.'"
"By the time we had arrived at the hall, " says Mr. Cochems, "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 Drs. Sayle, Ter- rell 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 shouhl he speak. but the Colonel asked : 'Has any one a clean handkerchief ?' Some one extending one, he placed it over the wound, but- toned 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," continues Mr. Cochems' account. "after admonishing the crowd that there was no occasion for undne excitement, said that an attempt to assassinate Colonel Roosevelt had just taken place, that the bullet was still in his body, but that he would attempt to make his speech as promised. As the colonel stepped forward, some one in the andienee said audibly, 'Fake'; whereupon the Colonel smil- ingly 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 smiled 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.'
A Dramatic Scene .- " I have never witnessed a seene on any American stage more awe-inspiring and at the same time more dramatic, " said William George Bruce, who ocenpied one of the boxes at the Auditorium when Colonel Roosevelt arrived. "It was real-no play acting. There had been a half hour's delay in the appearance of the distinguished guest. When at last the Roosevelt party appeared upon the stage it was apparent that something unusual had happened.
" Roosevelt was the central figure. There were those who led him, and the attending party crowded about him with an apparent desire to assist him. But, he walked boldly to the front of the stage and bared a blood-stained Vol. 1-39
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shirt. The audience was at first expectant and amazed, and then horror stricken. Roosevelt had been shot by an assassin! His breast was bleeding. Where was the bullet ? But, there he stood bravely, defiantly, erectly. Behind him sat men in the attitude of catching him in their arms should he fall.
"lle began to speak. IE's voice was faint, hoarse and high pitched. It gained in strength and volume as he continued. The suspense which held the audience made even a whisper audible in that great auditorium. Grad- nally the truth dawned upon them. Roosevelt had been assassinated! Some political fanatie, some erank, some enemy had shot him! The assassination of Garfield and MeKinley came into mind. What a humiliation to the Republic ! What a humiliation to Milwaukee! Tomorrow it would be heralded to the world that a leading American statesman had been assassinated in one of the most peaceful, law-abiding cities on the continent.
"And yet the victim stood before his fellowmen to tell the story, to con- demn the assassin, and to espouse fearlessly and with complete self-possession the cause to which he had dedicated his life, his energies and his services. Ilis own life was but a passing incident, the cause was holy, leading and im- perative. Those who saw Roosevelt that night will never erase him and the dramatie incident from their memory."
Colonel Roosevelt Continues His Speech .- " 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," continues Mr. Cochems in his account.
"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 disclosed to the country the real Roosevelt, who at the elose of his official service as president, left that high office the most beloved publie figure in our history since Lincoln fell, and the most respected eitizen 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 of his sineerity, his own revelation of the unselfish quality of his devotion to the greatest movement of his generation, will be the standard by which history will pass upon Theodore Roosevelt its final judg- ment. This much they cannot take from him, no matter whether he is now to live or die.'
Passages From His Speech .- "To the men of America, who either love or hate Roosevelt personally, these words from his speech must carry an im- perishable lesson : 'The bullet is in me now, so that I cannot make a very long speech. But I will try my best.
"'And now, friends, I want to take advantage of this incident to say as solemn a word of warning as I know to my fellow Americans.
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ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
" .First of all, I want to say this about myself; I have altogether too many important things to think of to pay any heed or feel any concern over my own death.
".Now I would not speak to you insincerely within five mimites of being shot. I am telling you the literal truth when I say that my concern is for many other things. It is not in the least for my own life.
" .I want you to understand that I am ahead of the game anyway. No man has had a happier life than I have had, a happier lite in every way.
" .I have been able to do certain things that I greatly wished to do, and I am interested in doing other things. I can tell you with absolute truthful- ness that I am very much uninterested in whether I am shot or not.
".It was just as when I was colonel of my regiment. I always felt that a private was to be excused for feeling at times some pangs of anxiety abont his personal safety, but l cannot understand a man fit to be a colonel who can pay any heed to his personal safety when he is occupied, as he ought to be occupied, with the absorbing desire to do his duty.
" 'I am in this cause with my whole heart and soul, I believe in the Pro- gressive movement-a movement for the betterment of mankind, a movement for making life a little easier for all our people, a movement to try to take the burdens off the man and especially the woman in this country who is most oppressed.
". . I am absorbed in the success of that movement. I feel uncommonly proud in belonging to that movement.
" .Friends, I ask you now this evening to accept what I am saying as absolute truth when I tell you I am not thinking of my own success, 1 am not thinking of my own life or of anything connected with me personally.'
Effects of the Attempted Assassination .- "The disabling of Colonel Roose- velt at this tragic moment," says Mr. Cochems in his account, "was a great strategie loss in his campaign. The mind of the country was in a pronounced state of indecision. He had started at Detroit, Mich., one week before and had planned to make a great series of sledge hammer speeches upon every vital issue in the eampaign, which plan took it to the very elose of the fight. He had planned to put his strongest opponent in a defensive position, the effect of which, now that all is over, no man can measure. Stricken down, an immeasurable loss was sustained. In the years that lie before, when mis- judgments and misstatements which are the petty things born of prejudice, and which die with the breath that gives them life, shall have passed away, this incident and the soldierly conduet of the brave man who was its vietim will have a real chastening and wholesome historical significance."
Colonel Roosevelt on the Platform .- The account of the seene just de- scribed by Mr. Cochems, one of the chief actors in this drama of heroic actions, is amply confirmed in the stenographic report published in the Mil- waukee Sentinel. In his aecount Mr. Cochems still further relates: "Stand- ing with his roat and vest opened, holding before him the manuscript of the speech he had prepared to deliver, through which were two perforations by Schrank's bullet, the ex-president was given an ovation which shook the mammoth Auditorium to its foundation.
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HISTORY OF MILWAUKEE
"The andience seemed unable to realize the truth of the statement of Mr. Cochems, who had introduced Colonel Roosevelt, that the ex-president had been shot. Colonel Roosevelt had opened his vest to show blood from his wound. Even then many in the audience did not comprehend that they were witnessing a seene destined to go down in history-an ex-president of the United States, blood still flowing from the bullet wound of a would-be assas- sin, delivering a speech from manuscript perforated by the bullet of a mur- derous assailant."
Colonel Roosevelt continued his speech, as follows: "Friends: 1 ask you now this evening to accept what I am saying as absolutely true. when I tell you I am not thinking of my own snecess. I am not thinking of my life or of anything connected with me personally. 1 am thinking of the move- ment. I say this by way of introduction because I want to say something very serious to our people and especially to the newspapers.
"I don't know anything about who the man was who shot me to-night. Ile was seized at once by one of the stenographers in my party, Mr. Martin. and I suppose is now in the hands of the police. He shot to kill. He shot- the bullet went in here-I will show you" (opening his vest and showing the bloody stain in the right breast,-the stain covered the entire lower half of his shirt to the waist ). "I am going to ask you to be as quiet as possible for I am not able to give the challenge of the bull moose quite as loudly. Now I do not know who he was or what party he represented. He was a coward. Ile stood in the darkness in the crowd around the automobile and when they cheered me and I got up to bow he stepped forward and shot me in the dark- ness.
Denounces the Action of the Assassin .- " Now. friends." continued Mr. Roosevelt. "of course I do not know, as I say, anything about him, but it is a very natural thing that weak and vicious minds should be intamed to acts of violence by the kind of awful mendacity and abuse that have been heaped upon me for the last three months by the papers in the interest of my op- ponents.
"Friends, I will disown and repudiate any man of my party who attacks with such foul slander and abuse any opponent of any other party, and now I wish to say seriously to all the daily newspapers, to the republican, the democratie, and the socialist parties, that they cannot, month in and month ont. and year in and year out, make the kind of untruthful statements, or of bitter assaults that they have made, and not expect that brutal, violent natures. or brutal and violent characters, especially when the brutality is accompanied by a not very strong mind :- they cannot expert that such natures will be unaffected by it.
"Now friends, I am not speaking for myself at all. I give you my word I do not care a rap about being shot, not a rap. I have had a good many ex- periences in my time and this is one of them. What I care for is my country. I wish I were able to impress upon my people .- our people. the duty to feel strongly but to speak the truth of their opponents. I say now I have never said one word against any opponent that I can not-on the stump-that I can not defend. Ihave said nothing that I could not substantiate and nothing
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ATTEMPTED ASSASSINATION OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT
that I ought not to have said, nothing that looking back at I would not say again.
"Now friends, it ought not to be too much to ask that our opponents- (speaking to some one on the stage, 'I am not sick at all, I am all right.') 1 cannot tell you of what infinitesimal importance I regard this incident as com- pared with the great issues at stake in this campaign, and I ask it not for my sake, not the least in the world, but for the sake of our common country, that they make up their minds to speak only the truth, and not to use the kind of slander and mendacity which, if taken seriously, minst ineite weak and violent natures to crimes of violence. Don't you make any mistake. Don't you pity me, I am all right. 1 am all right and you cannot escape listen- ing to my speech either." Th's part of the speech was responded to with laughter and applause.
"And now, friends, this incident that has just occurred. this effort to as- sassinate me, emphasizes to a peculiar degree the need of this Progressive movement. Friends, every good citizen ought to do everything in his or her power to prevent the coming of the day when we shall see the creed of the 'Ilavenots' arrayed against the creed of the 'Ilaves,' When that day comes then such incidents as this tonight will be commonplace in our history. When you make poor men-when you permit the conditions to grow such that the poor man as such will be swayed by his sense of injury against the men who try to hold what they improperly have won,-when that day comes, the most awful passions will be let loose and it will be an ill day for our country.
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