On the Mountain Top

Theodore Roosevelt First Learns He Is President of the United States.

     North Creek, N. Y., Sept. 14.—A short, thick-set man, wearing glasses, but not yet in middle age, was told yesterday afternoon as he stood on the top of Mount Marcy, the highest peak of the Adirondacks, that before morning he would be the President of eighty million people, the Chief Executive of the mightiest nation the world has even [sic]
     It was a panting guide who brought to the young man this startling message. All day they had been searching for him among the ravines and mountains of New York’s great northern forest, and at last, scarcely an hour before sunset, they found him there on the peak and told him the news that he was about to become the head of the nation.

Fitting Place to Hear News.

     It was the culmination of a career which had no parallel in American politics, and few parallels anywhere. It seemed fitting that nature and circumstances had provided such a setting for this scene—the vast forest, the lonely mountain top clothed in the light of the setting sun, and the young man, listening to the words which bore to him the most important news that any American can ever receive.
     He was clad in plain hunter’s dress, his hands were scratched by brushes and briers, and he leaned upon his gun as he listened. When he had heard all he said little, but at once hastened southward to take up the burden which the dying man at Buffalo was about to lay down.
     When Theodore Roosevelt left Buffalo he, like every one else, was confident that Mr. McKinley was getting well, and, after his custom when wishing to rest from a long strain, he put himself in hunting clothes and plunged into the wilderness in search at the same time of game and relaxation.

Report Surprises Roosevelt.

     He went to the Tahawas Club, thirty-five miles north of here, and at six o’clock yesterday morning, before the sun was up, left with guides on a hunting trip through the forest. He had no intimation then of Mr. McKinley’s relapse, and was in great spirits, looking forward to a day of exhilarating sport and the physical exertion that brings rest.
     Not many hours after Mr. Roosevelt’s departure from the club, however, the news of Mr. McKinley’s serious condition arrived, and it became necessary at once to find the vice president, and guides were sent everywhere for him. One guide found him as described.