A manuscript page that may have saved Theodore Roosevelt's life during a 1912 assassination attempt has resurfaced in Pennsylvania, offering a tangible link to one of the nation's most dramatic political violence incidents.
The document, signed by the 26th president, was discovered by presidential historian Nathan Raab in the possession of a private collector. It is the opening page of a lengthy typewritten speech Roosevelt carried in his breast pocket on October 14, 1912, at a campaign rally in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Two bullet holes pierce the manuscript where a gunman's shot tore through before striking Roosevelt's metal spectacles case.
Despite the wound, Roosevelt informed the stunned crowd he had been shot, then delivered the entire speech before finally sitting down and announcing he was ready for medical attention. The bullet remained lodged in his chest for the rest of his life.
Raab said he is aware of only two other surviving pages from that day's speech, making this discovery particularly significant. What sets this page apart is Roosevelt's own handwriting inscribed on it: "This is one of the manuscript sheets through which the bullet went at Milwaukee. TR." The inscription suggests Roosevelt himself marked the document as a memento shortly after the assassination attempt.
The manuscript was given to a friend by Roosevelt and eventually passed into a New York family's collection roughly 75 years ago, where it remained unknown to scholars and the public until now. Raab valued the artifact at $150,000.
A 1912 photograph held by the Library of Congress shows the bullet-torn manuscript being held by Elbert Martin, Roosevelt's stenographer and acting bodyguard, who tackled the gunman and prevented a second shot. The damage is plainly visible in both the historic image and in photographs released by the Raab Collection.
Roosevelt was running as a third-party Progressive candidate at the time, challenging both incumbent Republican William Taft and Democrat Woodrow Wilson. The assassination attempt occurred less than a month before the general election, which Wilson won decisively. Roosevelt eventually died in January 1919 at age 60, the bullet still embedded in his body.
The shooter, John Schrank, was a German-American tavern owner with a documented history of mental illness. Roosevelt's improvised speech that day, delivered while wounded, dealt extensively with the motivations behind political violence and its place in American history. That speech differed markedly from his prepared remarks, reflecting the raw immediacy of having just survived an attempt on his life.
Raab, who has previously uncovered lost letters from George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, said the discovery underscores that important historical artifacts continue to emerge after disappearing for generations.
Author James Rodriguez: "This page is a visceral reminder that Americans have confronted political violence before, and Roosevelt's willingness to finish his speech speaks to a different political era entirely."
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