T.R's assailant sorry he failed to kill

MILWAUKEE, Wis., Oct. 15, 1912 (UP) -- John Schrank, former New York saloonkeeper who last night shot Col. Theodore Roosevelt as the latter was on his way from the Gilpatrick hotel to the Auditorium to make a speech, today pleaded guilty and was bound over to the municipal court.

Schrank's trial will be held in December. If Col. Roosevelt recovers, Schrank's sentence can be made one to fifteen years in the penitentiary.

Schrank showed no emotion when the warrant charging him with "shooting with intent to kill one Theodore Roosevelt" was read to him in his cell.

Schrank admitted to newspaper men today that he does not care what becomes of him, and reiterated his statement that he was sorry his bullet did not put an end to the third party leader.

"I am not worried about what they are going to do with me," said the prisoner.

"That is a most trivial matter in my mind. I am only sorry that my intentions were not realized and that I failed to kill Roosevelt. I am able to stand the consequences of my act. No man has a right to a third term."

Schrank talked freely to newspaper men and jail attaches today. Asked if he had ever had a sweetheart, he said he had and her name was Elsie Zeigler, but he added:

"She went down on the General Slocum and I have never felt right since."

The would-be slayer extolled the virtues of Elsie Zeigler, who he said was a beautiful girl and whom he had planned to marry "when everything was right."

"Have you ever had another sweetheart?" asked a reporter.

"No," said Schrank, "that would not be right to Elsie.

"When she went down on the General Slocum, I thought of suicide and did not know how I could live without her," he continued.

"I resolved to be true to Elsie and have never had another sweetheart."

Schrank told jail officials early today that he was hungry. A plate of sausage and bread and a cup of coffee were set before him.

He took a bite of the food and pushed the rest away, saying that his appetite had failed him."

Schrank said that he had not planned suicide, but thought that to kill a man of the colonel's popularity was equivalent to suicide, for he expected a mob would tear him to pieces.

That this was expected was shown by a final letter he wrote when registered at the Jackson hotel, Chicago, as Alfred Ross. He said:

"While in Chicago on Saturday I decided if I failed to get Roosevelt at the Coliseum to come to Milwaukee.

"I came to Milwaukee Sunday morning. I purchased newspapers to inform me as to Roosevelt's whereabouts, and learned on Monday that he was to arrive at 5 o'clock. I learned, also, that he was to be a guest at the Gilpatrick, and managed to gain a position near the entrance, where I could shoot to kill when Roosevelt appeared.

"I am sorry that I caused all this trouble for the good people of Milwaukee and Wisconsin, but am not sorry that I carried out plan."

Schrank nervously paced his cell at police headquarters all night.

Schrank was badly bruised from the rough handling he received from Albert Martin, Col. Roosevelt's stenographer, and Henry F. Cochems, a Wisconsin bull moose leader.

They leaped on him from the automobile as soon as they saw the flash from his revolver, and crushed him to the pavement. Martin got one arm around the man's neck, and with the other hand disarmed him. Cochems leaped upon his shoulders.

The bullet was fired point blank, Schrank standing within five or six feet of the colonel, who was just sitting down in his automobile.

Col. Roosevelt had been taken to the Gilpatrick hotel for dinner by a group of progressive leaders. The party hurried through the dinner so that Roosevelt could go directly to the Auditorium to deliver his speech.

And as soon as coffee had been served Roosevelt, Martin, O. K. Davis, Cochems and others hurried out through the lobby to the waiting automobile.