John Flamming Schrank
The scene was an odd one, even by Milwaukee standards. Early in the evening on Monday, October 14, 1912, a rotund little man, having had his fill of beer, asked the house musicians at the Herman Rollfink Tavern on Third Street to play the “Star-Spangled Banner.” As the band played, the man danced a pathetic little jig. He had been at the bar since about 3 in the afternoon and, having soaked up enough courage and with his patriotism on full display, walked across the street and shot the president.
The man was John Flamming Schrank, a native German who had settled in New York as a saloon keeper. He was known as something of an eccentric: a lively barroom debater, a highly devout religious scholar, and a part-time poet who took long nighttime walks throughout the city streets. He was also haunted, or so he would later claim. Shortly after William McKinley was assassinated in 1901, elevating Theodore Roosevelt to the presidency, Schrank said that the martyred president began appearing in his dreams. He wanted Schrank to avenge his death, and the dreams made it clear that Roosevelt was the one needed to pay.
Roosevelt would fill McKinley’s term and then serve one of his own before retiring. But in 1912, Roosevelt wanted his old job back. After failing to wrest the Republican nomination from this successor, William Howard Taft, Roosevelt broke with the party and put himself at the head of the Progressive Party ticket. Schrank’s dream now focused on the specter of a third Roosevelt term. His mania would simply not allow for it to happen.
While Roosevelt threw himself into his doomed campaign (he and Taft would be soundly beaten by Democrat Woodrow Wilson), Schrank spent more than a month following him through the South and into the Midwest. Having just missed his chance one night in Chicago, Schrank went ahead to Milwaukee to wait. He arrived in town a day early and, after learning Roosevelt would be staying at the downtown Gilpatrick Hotel, he camped out at the tavern and waited.
Stay on top of the news of the day
Subscribe to our free, daily e-newsletter to get Milwaukee's latest local news, restaurants, music, arts and entertainment and events delivered right to your inbox every weekday, plus a bonus Week in Review email on Saturdays.
Up Close With a Gun
Less than an hour after this performance at the bar, Schrank got his chance. He had mixed himself into the masses of people crowding outside the Gilpatrick, where Roosevelt’s car waited to take him to the nearby Milwaukee Theater to deliver a campaign speech. At 8:10 p.m., Roosevelt emerged from the hotel, strode briskly to the car and climbed aboard its runner. As he waved to the cheering crowd, Schrank was no more than six feet away. He pulled out his .38 caliber pistol, aimed it square at the former President’s wide midsection, and fired. Roosevelt, hit in the chest, buckled at the knees and swayed back. As pandemonium broke loose, bodyguards tackled Schrank and dragged him into the street. As some in the crowd called out for Schrank to be lynched, Roosevelt regained himself. He stood and continued to wave.
The bullet had struck Roosevelt right in the coat pocket, where he had a copy of the lengthy speech he had planned to deliver, as well as his eye glasses case. The bundle had slowed the bullet and limited its damage, but soon blood appeared on Roosevelt’s shirt. Amazingly, he insisted on going ahead with his talk. Before he began, he opened his jacket to show the audience at the Theater—some 10,000 in number—the creeping red stain. There were screams of horror from the hall, but Roosevelt raised a hand to silence them. “It takes more than one bullet to kill a Bull Moose!” he declared.
Roosevelt spoke for 80 minutes before finally allowing his aides to take him to the hospital. Meanwhile, Schrank was hauled to the central police station. In 1912, he would be ruled insane and was eventually sent to the state prison mental hospital at Waupun. Roosevelt recovered quickly and would live the rest of his life with Schrank’s bullet still lodged in his chest. Schrank mostly kept to himself in confinement. He never had guests and received no letters. The only topic that seemed to bother him was the prospect of someone serving a third term as president. He would occasionally speak of the shooting, insisting he’d been justified in trying to prevent a third term for TR. In 1940, when Franklin D. Roosevelt was running for a third term, Schrank, his health failing, said that if he were a free man, he’d do something about it. He died in 1943 at age 67.
To read more Milwaukee history articles, click here.
To read more articles by Matthew J. Prigge, click here.
