The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1903-09-03
AleFtneSS -Of Officer
Saves Life Of
President.
Other. Providers Escape in
Confusion Following
the Attempt.
special naspate,l to The Call.

OYSTER BAY l. T., Sept 2-No one
better than President. Roosevelt realizes
h6w- near he was 70 death at the hands
. Of a. crazed. would-be assassin last night
Attracted. by she noise Of a disturbance
in the grounds surrounding Sycamore
IfIl. AR. Roosevelt stepped. out into the
porch: Less. than 100. feet away in a bug
gy stood Henry Weilbreaner a young
farmer of Syosset, L J.. with a revolver
aimed directly at the President as he
stood 'sllhouetted by the light from his
library. WithiE a fraction Of second
: the bullet would have sped on its way
p 'f:d not. the .nfanlae's revolver been
F. Knocked from his hand by. secret service
: agent.
AT the same time two men who have
. not. yet been captured or. Identified were
prowlihg. about the grounds while the
President was left entirely unguarded in
his house; all the secret service men. bav-
ing kurried to the spot where WeiIbrenner
. was overp6wered.
.; Realizing that something was wrong,
the President called. for some one. His
-shOgt. was heard by. John Seaman. his
gardener, at. his cottage IN the hollow be-
low the President 5. house. who hal al
. ready. been. awakened by the noise made
~ by two men crossing his porch. Seaman
ran. 10 the secret service men where they
were surrounding Weilbrenner.- warned
them Of the presence. Of two other men in
the grounds and with one Of them rushed
. To- tire side: Of the presidents
r SEARCH FOR STRANGERS.
-Reinforcements were flurriedly sum
noned from the: village and a search Of
l.rr~ 49,
: gers whom the. gardener had heard prowl-
ing about his cottage could not be found.
. Their footprints, however, were plainly
visible where they had made their way up
the hill roadway and about the grounds.
- -.:Come on, it's all right Seaman heard
one Of them say TO the other on his cot
tage porch Then one Of them stumbled
against a rustic chair and the two were
heard running away in the darkness. II
there is any connection between Well
. brenner and these two, the fact has not
vet been learned by the. secret service
men. Eeibrenner has been closely ques-
toned as TO whether he: had any accom-
pIices, but So far as is. known denies that
any one except himself was connected
with the attempts on the Presidents life.
4yenbrenner admits his own part Of it.
Il wanted to Kill him; 1 had my shoot
ing iron ready" he told the secret service
agents. Weilbrenner gives every indica-
ton of being insane, his dementia taking
the form Of fancied injuries he has re-
ceived al the Presidents hands.
q Weilbfenner fancies that his own mis-
fortunes. and those. Of his family are due
10 the; Presidents attitude toward or
ganIzed labor and he has for several
months been cherishing grievances
against tho President
::"Why doesn't the President do some
thing for organized :labor?" he asked one
. Of his neighbors.
For the unsettling % Weilbrenner's
mind his younger brother William ap-
d pears. to be responsible William, who
had been working in NJ -ork, lost his
employment last spring and returned to
the farm TO brood over his troubles and
pour the tale Of his misfortunes into the
ears OF his elder brother
MAKES THREE ATTEMPTS.
Shortly after 10 o'clock last night Well
brenner drove TO Sycamore Hill in a
phaeton buggy. He was stopped by the
secret service operative on duty. We'll
brenner said he had a personal engage
ment with the President and desired 10
Continued on PAGE q Column &