Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-09-15
An Impressive Scene In His
Friends Home-Not a Dry Eye
Among the Assemblage.
Declares His Intention to Follow
the Dead Presidents Plans.
Cabinet Asked to Continue.

the Dead PRESIDENTS rams
Cabinet Asked to Continue.
BUFFALO, N. Y, September a.
Theodore Roosevelt, who to-day was
tragically elevated to the chief magis-
tracy of the American republic, entered
this city of mourning this afternoon
after a remarkable and %perilous jour
ney from the heart of the north woods.
He had beer President under the con-
stitution and law OF the land since the
minute the martyred President ceased
to live. All the duties and powers OF
the office had deyolved upon him. but
he was as powerless as the humblest
citizen to exercise n of them until
he had complied with the constitu-
tional provision requiring him to take
a prescribed oath TO support and defend
the constitution and the laws of the
United States.
He tool thai oath at $50 o'clock this
afternoon in the library of the resi-
dence of Ansley Wilcox, a personal
/ friend with whom he stopped earlier
in the week when the physicians
thought President Mckinley would re-
cover from the wound inflicted by tbs
assassin.
There were present, when he swore
to the oath, Secretaries Root, Hitch
cock, Long, Wilson and Postmaster
General Smith; Senator Chauncey NJ.
Depew, of New York; Judge of the
Court of Appeals Haigbt; John n.
Scattered; Mr.. and Mrs. Ansley Wilcox;
Miss Wilcox; George n. Sawyer; Drs.
Mann. Park and Stockton; Mr.. n
Mrs. Carleton Sprague; Mr.. and Mrs.
John G.. Milburn; Secretary to the
President William Loeb. Jr.; Secretary
to the deceased President George b.
Cortelyou: DR.. and Mrs. Charles Carey;
r. c. Scattered; J. p. Sawyer and Vim.
letters, Official t~elesrapher, in addition
t. Judge John r. Hazel. of the United
States District Court, who admins
tered the oath.
The scene
Was Most Affecting.
The new President had just come
from the Milburn house where his pred
ece5sor lay col d in death. Overcome by
the deep personal sorrow he felt, in
his characteristically impulsiye way, he
had gone first to the house Of mourning
to offer his coincidence and sympathy
to tie broken-hearted widow.
Secretary Root, who twenty years
ago had been present at a similar scene
when Arthur took the oath after the
death of another President who fell
a victim to an assassin's bullet, al
most broke down when he requested
Mr.. Roosevelt on behalf of the members
OF the cabinet of the late President -
take the prescribed oath. There was
not a dry eye in the o
The new President was visibly shak-
en-, but he controlled himself and when
he lifted his hand to swear, it was as
steady as though carved in marble.
With the deep solemnity of the occa-
sion full upon him he announced to
those present that his aim would be 10
be Vim. McKinley's successor in dead
as well as in name. Deliberately he
proclaimed it in the words:
"In this hour of deep and
terrible national
1 wish to state that 1t shall be
my aim TO continue absolutely
without variance the policy of
President Mckinley for the
peace and prosperity and honor
of our beloved country
The great ~far-reaching significance
of this pledge to continue the policy
of the dead President, announced at
the very threshold of a new govern
mental regime. profoundly impressed
his hearers and President Roosevelt's
first step after taking the oath was in
line with its redemption. His first act
l was to ask the members of the cabinet
to retain their portfolios in order to
aid him to conduct the government on
lines laid down by him whose policy
he had declared he would uphold. Such
an appeal was not to be resisted and
every member of the cabinet, including
Secretary of State Hay and Secretary
of the Treasury Gage, who We're CON-
municated with in ashington, have
agreed for the present at least to re-
tain their several portfolios.
! The President Has Made No Plans
as yet. He said he was so shocked by
this national calamity that had thrust
his new responsibilities upon him that
he had had no time yet to think of his
future career at Washington. He will
remain here quietly tomorrow and on
J. Monday will accompany the funeral
train TO the national capitol.
The house in which the President
took the oath Of Office is a pictur-
esque old mansion of colonial style,
built somewhere back in the 30's, and
standing upon ground once the prop
erty of the United States government.
II was used for some time as an army
headquarters. While the house has