TEDDY ROOSEVELT DIES IN SLEEP AT OYSTER BAY
Oyster Bay, New York (JFK+50) The 26th President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, died in his sleep early this morning at the age of 60.
Theodore Roosevelt
26th U.S. President
(1901-1909)
Painting by John Singer Sargent
White House Historical Association
Mr. Roosevelt had been hospitalized for inflammatory rheumatism before the Christmas holidays.
The former president, who died between 4 & 4:15 a.m., was asleep in his bed at the family home, Sagamore Hill.
Theodore Roosevelt's Home
Sagamore Hill
Oyster Bay, New York
Photo by GK tramrunner @
en.wikipedia
Colonel Roosevelt seemed to be fine on Saturday as he was dictating articles & letters.*
*TR was a colonel in the volunteer cavalry known as the "Rough Riders" in the Spanish-American War.
The house servant, James Amos, alerted the family doctor that something was amiss with the Colonel's breathing.
When Dr. George W. Faller, of Oyster Bay, arrived at the home, he found the Colonel had just died.
Mr. Amos said that Mr. Roosevelt's last words before retiring were:
"Please put out that light, James."
The 26th President of the United States, who is survived by his wife, Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt, is expected to be buried at Youngs Memorial Cemetery after a service at Christ Church here in Oyster Bay.
Vice-President Thomas Marshall, upon learning of TR's death, said:
"Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."
The cause of death was determined to be a blood clot which entered the lungs or the brain.
A contributing factor was the fever TR contracted during his Brazilian expedition in 1914. The fever left poison in the blood which caused him periodic illness.**
**TR was buried on January 8.
The casket was carried up a steep, snow-covered hill. After the graveside service, former President William Howard Taft remained alone by the casket.
Taft later wrote: "I loved (TR) always & cherish his memory."
Grave site of Theodore Roosevelt
Youngs Cemetery
Oyster Bay, New York
Photo by Shadow 2700 at
en.wikipedia
Historian W.R. Thayer expressed this view of TR as President:
"I have no doubt that (Theodore Roosevelt) will stand in history as our greatest (President) after Lincoln."
Washington, Jefferson,
Theodore Roosevelt
& Lincoln on Mount Rushmore
Photo by Bbadgett (2011)
