On this day, Oct. 14, in 1912, saloonkeeper John Schrank shot President Theodore Roosevelt during a campaign stop in Milwaukee. With the .32-caliber bullet still in him, Roosevelt delivered his speech anyway.
Roosevelt, president from 1901 to 1909, had founded the Bull Moose Party and sought a third term. On his way to the rally, Schrank fired a single shot. The bullet was slowed by Roosevelt’s steel eyeglass case and a copy of his speech before lodging in his chest.
Schrank was apprehended and declared, “Any man looking for a third term ought to be shot.” Police found letters on Schrank saying that the ghost of William McKinley had told him to avenge his death by killing Roosevelt.
Roosevelt went on with the speech. He showed the bloody manuscript, “It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose.” He spoke for an hour before he was hospitalized. The bullet remained in his body until his death seven years later.
Shrank was committed to a mental hospital. He died in 1943.
– Scott McCabe
