People Talked About [excerpt]

     The young man from whom President Roosevelt first heard the news of the death of President McKinley, when the former, after his terrific Adirondack Mountain ride, reached the little settlement of North Creek, was his private secretary, William Loeb, Jr., of Albany, N. Y. For the space of three hours Vice-President Roosevelt was one of the very few persons in the United States who had not learned of the death of President McKinley, and if the scene, when the news was broken to him by his faithful secretary in the darkness of the stilly night, could be pictured, it would be impressive and historic. William Loeb, Jr., President Roosevelt’s private secretary, is a self-made man. He was thrown upon his own resources at the age of twelve, and has, through his industry and integrity, risen to a place of prominence. Mr. Loeb was born in Albany, N. Y., of German parentage, October 9th, 1866, and was the eldest of six children. When twelve years old he was obliged to leave school and become a wage-earner. He saved sufficient to enable him to return to school, and was graduated with high honors from the Albany high school, an academy of conceded high rank. He studied stenography and became one of the ablest short-hand reporters at the State capital. At the age of twenty-one Mr. Loeb was elected official stenographer of the New York State Assembly, and this marked the beginning of his successful business career. He served as private secretary to Senator J. Sloat Fassett while the latter was president pro tempore of the State Senate, and during Fassett’s canvass for Governor in 1891. He executed many commissions from Governor Morton and others to take evidence in cases which appealed for executive clemency, and in 1895 served as Lieutenant-Governor Saxton’s stenographer, and afterward as private stenographer of Governor Roosevelt, who has great confidence in Mr. Loeb’s ability, tact, and faithfulness. The young Albanian accompanied President Roosevelt to Washington, and will continue in his service at the White House. He is unmarried.