Qualla: Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt

Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt: Introduction

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit photographer not credited. (Credit: Harvard College Library), Public domain. The folded speech was fifty pages thick. The steel eyeglass case sat in the breast pocket beside it. Together, they stopped a bullet that would have killed Theodore Roosevelt on the night of October 14, 1912, outside the Gilpatrick Hotel in Milwaukee. The former president looked down at the hole in his coat, felt his chest, checked his handkerchief for blood, and made a calculation. He was an experienced hunter and anatomist. He was not coughing blood, so the bullet had not reached his lung. He waved off suggestions to go to the hospital. He had a speech to deliver at the Milwaukee Auditorium, and he intended to deliver it. "Ladies and gentlemen," he told the crowd, "I don't know whether you fully understand that I have just been shot, but it takes more than that to kill a bull moose."

Image: photographer not credited. (Credit: Harvard College Library) | Public domain

Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt: The Stalker from New York

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. John Schrank was a Bavarian-born saloonkeeper from New York who had drifted along the East Coast for years after selling his properties. He was deeply religious, a fluent Bible scholar whose debating skills were known around his neighborhood's watering holes and parks. He wrote p...

Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt: "He Pinked Me, Harry"

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Rickster77 (talk) at en.wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. Roosevelt had just finished dinner at the Gilpatrick Hotel and stepped into an open car when the crowd began cheering. He stood to acknowledge them. Schrank fired one shot from a Colt Police Positive revolver. The bullet pierced Roosevelt's heavy overcoat, passed through the stee...

Image: Rickster77 (talk) at en.wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt: Face to Face

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bruxton, CC0. What happened next is one of the most remarkable moments in American political history. Roosevelt ordered Schrank brought before him. The two men looked into each other's eyes. Roosevelt placed his hands on Schrank's head, studying the face of the man who had just shot him, tryin...

Image: Bruxton | CC0

Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt: The Bull Moose Stumbles

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bruxton, CC0. The assassination attempt came at the peak of one of the most dramatic presidential campaigns in American history. Roosevelt had served as president from 1901 to 1909, ascending after McKinley's assassination and winning election in his own right in 1904. He endorsed William Howa...

Image: Bruxton | CC0

Attempted Assassination of Theodore Roosevelt: Where It Happened

Sun, 22 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Bruxton, Public domain. The Gilpatrick Hotel where the shooting occurred no longer stands. Its site on West Kilbourn Avenue in downtown Milwaukee is now occupied by the Hyatt Regency Milwaukee. A memorial marker at 333 West Kilbourn Avenue commemorates the event. In 2012, for the centennial of the assas...

Image: Bruxton | Public domain