The Turn of the Tide [excerpt]

EARLY in September, 1901, a small company of childhood friends of Vice President Roosevelt received on their dahabeah on the Nile the startling news that President McKinley had been shot by a half-crazed fanatic at Buffalo. “He will not recover,” remarked one of the party. “We all know the Roosevelt luck.” A few days later, upon the assurance of the physicians that the President was making good progress, Colonel Roosevelt left Washington for a wilderness journey of rest and recreation in little frequented parts of the Adirondacks. On September 13th he reached Lake Colton, near the summit of Mount Marcy, accessible only by means of a human messenger. Toward noon one such arrived, a mountain guide sent to bring the news that the President was sinking rapidly.
     Within a few hours Colonel Roosevelt had returned to the house where he lad left his family, and by midnight, attended by none save the driver, he was descending the mountain in a buckboard, heedless of rain, darkness, and almost impassable roads. Before dawn he had covered the thirty miles to the nearest railway station, to find a special train awaiting him, and a despatch which announced that once more a Vice President had suc- [301][302] ceeded to the office of Chief Executive. When he reached Buffalo, the Cabinet was assembled, and within a few moments he had taken the solemn oath which made him, at the age of forty-two, the youngest of American Presidents.