New-York tribune., 1908-09-08
A CRANK AT SYCAMORE
HAD Il BIG REVOLVER.
Vanted to See the Preident-4r-
rested by Guards.

oyster Bay. Sept IA crank armed with an
entjouated bulldog" revolver was caught near
5be Presidents house at Sycamore Hill by the
secret Service guards this afternoon The man
5ssc-fbed himself as John Coughlin a detective
md when stopped by the Secret Service men
presented card bearing his name and the
.o-d officer" He said he came to ask the
President 10 order out 10000 troops to catch
veernen who had been terrorizing Boston
roughlin IS supposed TO have reached Oyster
ssy on the 1919 train. He walked the three
-,fes 10 Sycamore Hill. appearing in the
Grounds shortly after 2 o'clock. The road lead
,,s 10 the Presidents house forks at the tennis
,o,,-t some two hundred yards from the house
en5 forms loop about the Presidents home.
The two guards who duty in the daytime
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
&c that no one shall come on foot. so when John
A6erns one of the Secret Service men, saw
couehain toiling up the hill road he thought at
nnce that something was wrong and motioned
a. the man to go back Coughlin kept on, but
without quickening his pace, and Adams at
,nce ran down the road 10 meet him. In re-
.-onss 10 the Secret Service mans demand to
know his business. Coughiin produced his card
end said in the most casual way that he had
cor,e TO confer with President Roosevelt con-
oeruing the recent outrages by yeggmen in Bos-
nm and 10 lead back such troops as the Presi-
6ent thought fit to order out.
The Secret Service man tried to explain that
The President not seeing visitors at the mo-
rnent hoping 10 get the man quietly out Of the
grounds Coughlin hesitated moment, glanced
surtively about and then slid his hand toward
the back pocket of his trousers. Adams grappled
with the man without further parley. Coughlin
struggled for moment, but he is slightly built,
and Adams had no difficulty in holding him until
James Sloan, jr. the chief Of the Presidents
guard. came TO his assistance. Sloan searched
the prisoner and found in his hip pocket a .32
calibre revolver Of the bulldog" type. The
weapon was wrapped up in a woollen bag, and,
according to the Secret Service men, was not
loaded.
The slight struggle near the tennis court had
not been observed al the house, and the Secret
Service men, without alarming the Presidents
family. called one OF the government eutomo-
biles and carried Coughlin down TO the Oyster
Bay Town Hail. where he was arraigned before
Justice Franklin on a charge Of carrying con-
cealed weapons. Justice Franklin committed
Coughlin to the county Jail at Mneola, and he
was taken there ar once in the government auto
mobile, He viii be examined as TO his sanity.
The Secret Service men say Coughlin told
them that he had been confined three years in
En asylum for the insane at Walpole, Mass. He
declared that his enemies had placed him in the
asylum because Of his cleverness at detective
work He said that he had learned detective
work by graduating from a law school.
In satchel Coughlin carried was bundle
Of Boston papers. in all Of which the princi-
pal news was The recent chase Of a determined
gang Of yeggmen. in which five hundred police
men were engaged at time. Coughlin
talked about the articles in a rambling way
and declared over and over again that he must
See President Roosevelt and enlist his aid in
suppressing crime in Boston
Coughlin told the Secret Service men that he
nae nrst gone to Washington. seeking the Pres
1oent- He said that his funds gave out there,
and finding that the President not in the
CITY he walked 10 York. Penn, and took train
10 the first station from Vermont
Coughlin appeared SO wandering in his mind
mat the Secret Service men We're not inclined
10 regard him as at all dangerous.
PRESIDENT Roosevelt returned from a horse
pack ride only short time before Coughlin ap-
peareo at Sycamore Hill He did not witness
1he arrest Of the crank and had not been in
aorlned O the occurrence this evening.