Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1908-09-08
ARMED CRANK
ARRESTEDAT
OYSTER BAY
WANTED 10000 TROOPS TOI
FIGHT BOSTON BURGLARS
Secret Service Agents Prompt
ly Suppress Unwelcome Wis
itori RumOr President Was
Fired on Is Denied.
!Ry MORNING JOurnaI speeIal Leasea wIrrl

my Morning journal Special Leased WirrI
Oyster Bay ~ Y Sept. IA crank
armed with an antiquated Bulldog"
revolver was caught near the presi-
dents house at Sycamore Hill today
by the secret service guards. The man
described himself as John Coughlin, a
detective and when stopped by the SO.
cret service men, presented a card
upon which was inscribd his name
and the word, Officer" He said that
he came to ask the president to or
der 10000 troops to catch yeggmen
who had been terrorizing Boston
Coughlin is supposed to have reached
Oyster Bay on the 12:19 train. He
walked three miles to Sycamore Hill
The road leading to the presidents
house forks at the tennis court, 200
yards from the house and forms a
loop about the presidents home. The
two guards who are on duty in the
day time stand at either end of the
house and their view commands both
roads after the fork at the tennis
grounds.
One of the rules for visitors at
Sycamore Hill is that no one shall
come on foot; so when Secret Service
Agent John Adams caught sight of
Coughlin toiling up the hill road he
guessed that something was wrong
and motioned for the man to go back.
| Coughln Kept right on. Adams ran
down the road To meet him. Cough
lin produced his card and explained
in the most casual way that he had
| come to confer with President Roose-
welt concerning the recent Outrages by
yeggmen in Boston and to lead hack
such troops as the president saw III
to order out.
The secret service man tried to ex-
plain that the president was not see
| ing visitors at the moment, hoping to
get him quietly from the grounds.
/ Adams grappled with him without fur
! ther parley. Coughlin struggled for a
moment but he is slight built man
and Adams had no difficulty in hold
! ing him until Agent James Sloan, Jr.,
] came to his assistance. Sloan searched
the prisoner and found in his hip
pocket 32 calibre revolver of the
Bulldog" type. The weapon was
wrapped in "a woolen bag and, accord
ing to the secret service men, was not
loaded. The slight struggle near the
| tennis court had not been observed at
the house and the secret service men
without alarming the presidents fam
| lily. called one of the government auto
mobiles and carried Coughlin to the
| Oyster Bay town hall, where he was
arraigned before Justice of the Peace
Franklin on a charge Of carrying con-
cealed weapons Justice Franklin
committed Coughlin to the county jail
at Mineola Coughlin will be exam
ined as to his sanity.
According to the secret service men
Coughlin told them that he had been
/ confined for three years in an asylum
| for the insane.
President Roosevelt had returned
| from q horseback ride only a short
/ time OeIOTe CouBullh dppVdiNh -
Sycamore HILL He did not witness
the arrest of the crank and had not
been informed of the occurrence this
evening.
The news that an armed crank had
attempted to reach the president al
Sycamore Hill started a rumor that
a shot had been fired at the president
while he was ont horseback riding
last Saturday It was said that the
president was riding along the Cove
road near the house of his cousin. VIII
liam kmlin Roosevelt, when he was
fired upon by some one concealed IN
a clump of bushes at the roadside.
That there was any foundation for
the story was denied by those In a
position to know. James s. Sloan. Jr.
the chief Of the presidents guard OF
secret service men. emphatically de-
MED the story of the ambush.