Los Angeles herald., 1908-09-08
CRANK
TRYING TO FIND
THE PRESIDENT
LURKS NEAR SYCAMORE HILL
WITH BIG GUN
MAY HAVE MEANT TO ASSAs-
sINATE EXECUTIVE
When Questioned, Prisoner Declares
He Came to "Ask for Ten Thou-
sand Troops to Catch
Yeggmen"
BY Associated Press.

By Associated Press.
OYSTER BAY, N. Y, Sept IA
crank armed with bulldog re-
yolver was caught near the presi-
dents house today by the secret SER
vice guards.
The man described himself as John
Coughlin, a detective, and when
stopped by the secret service men pre-
sented a card upon which was in
scribed his name and the word "Of-
ficer''
He said that he had come to ask
the president to order 10000 troops to
catch yeggmen, who had been terror
izing Boston.
Coughlin is supposed to have reached
Oyster Bay on the 1919 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 place.
The two guards who were on duty
in the daytime stand at either end of
the house, and their view commands
both roads after they form at the ten
mis- grounds.
Suspected for Walking
One of the rules for visitors at Sag
amore Hill is that no one shall come
on foot, so when Secret Service Agent
Adams caught sight of Coughlin toll
ing up the hill road he guessed that
something was wrong, and motioned
for the man to go back. Coughlin kept
right on. Adams ran down the road to
meet him.
Coughlin produced his card and ex-
planned in the most casual way that
he had come to confer with President
Roosevelt concerning recent outrages
by yeggmen in Boston and to lead back
such troops as the president saw fit to
order out
The secret service man tried to ex-
plain that the president was not seeing
visitors at the moment, hoping to get
him quietly out of the grounds. Cough
| lin hesitated a mome~+ and then slid
| his hand toward the back pocket of his
| trousers.
| Adams grappled with him without
further parley. Coughlin struggled for
a moment, but he is a slight built man
and Adams had no difficulty in holding
him until Secret Service Agent James
Sloan, jr., came to his assistance
Gun Is Discovered
Sloan searched the prisoner and found
in his hip pocket a 32-caliber revolver
of the bulldog" type.
The weapon was wrapped in woolen
bag and according 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 with
out alarming the presidents family got
automobiles 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 Minneola. Cough
lin will be examined as to his sanity.
According to secret service men
Coughlin told them that he had been
connfiued for three years in an asylum
for the insane.
President Just Passed
President Roosevelt had returned
from a horseback ride only short
time before Coughlin appeared at Sag
amore Hill. He did not witness the ar
rest of the crank and had not been In
formed of the occurrence this evening.
The news that an armed crank had
attempted to reach the president at
Sycamore Hill started a rumor that a
shot had been fired at the president
while he was out horseback riding last
Saturday.
1t was said the president was riding
along the cove road near the house of
his cousin, W. Emlin Roosevelt, when
he was fired upon by some one con-
cealed in a clump of bushes at the
roadside.
That there was any foundation for
the story was denied by those in a po-
sition to know. James Sloan, jr., the
chief of the presidents guard of secret
service men, emphatically denied the
story of the ambush.