Fires

President Roosevelt holds a “big fire stick” as he watches the “national prosperity” barn burn from “The Roosevelt Panic” fire. A variety of rats rush out: “abuses,” “errors,” “rebates,” “unfair methods,” and “bank looting.”

comments and context

Comments and Context

Cartoonist W. A. Rogers, in the Democratic New York Herald, addressed the current Wall Street Panic in a way that surely must have been discussed by voters and bankers, yet oddly was infrequently charged in opposition cartoons. Rogers’s opinion is that President Roosevelt’s reforms — of trusts, of banking abuses, of corporate corruption — precipitated the financial crisis.

An old and haggard “Justice” sits in a chair on a rock in the East River. Cobwebs have grown over her sword, scales, and an “Indictment.” In the background, the steamship General Slocum is engulfed in flames. (It burned on June 15, 1904, with a loss of over 1,000 lives.) Caption: “Slocum? Slocum? Where have I heard that name?”

comments and context

Comments and Context

This front-page cartoon is a brutal and stark presentation of the fact that the East River fire and sinking of the excursion boat the General Slocum — a maritime accident still recorded as one of worst disasters in New York City and United States history — had gone relatively neglected by investigators and responsible agencies. The public was properly outraged at the time of the sinking, but many properly thought that justice lagged.

On the left, a theater manager is bribing an inspector during an inspection of fire prevention equipment, while the specter of the Grim Reaper hovers above. On the right, a female figure labeled “Public opinion” holds three diminutive men labeled “Politician, Manager, [and] Inspector” and points toward the remains of a theater following a fire.

comments and context

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

The Democratic Party platform is in flames with a donkey labeled “Democratic Party” rising from the flames as the mythological phoenix. Eleven Democratic Party members have gathered around the fire to supplicate the supernatural being. Caption: The Democratic Phoenix. — If they’d just keep that Bryan boy from playing around me with matches I wouldn’t have to do this stunt every four years.

comments and context

Comments and Context

The caption of Keppler’s cartoon is cynical, sarcastic, and true. The Democratic Party had been for years its own worst enemy, in electoral terms. Some of the leading Democratic politicians and journalists praying for the scruffy Phoenix to rise include former cabinet member William C. Whitney, Senator John T Morgan of Alabama, U.S. Representative Bourke Cochran, former Governor David Bennett Hill of New York, Senator Arthur Pue Gorman of Maryland, and Henry Watterson, Editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal. 

Northeast view of the burnt remains of John Mason’s mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1936

East end of the crumbling John Mason mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island after a fire consumed the island.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

Unknown

North elevation for the crumbling John Mason mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island after a fire consumed the island.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1905

South elevation for the west wing of the crumbling John Mason mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island after a fire consumed the island.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1905

South elevation for the crumbling John Mason mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island after a fire consumed the island.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1905

A remaining wall of John Mason’s mansion after a fire swept through Roosevelt Island. The overgrown nature of the forest is clearly visible.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1930

The burnt remains of John Mason’s mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1930

The burnt remains of John Mason’s mansion on Theodore Roosevelt Island. A fire spread over the island in 1906. Caption on reverse of photograph lists location as Analostan Island, a previous name for Theodore Roosevelt Island before it was purchased for the Theodore Roosevelt Island Memorial.

Collection

Theodore Roosevelt Island National Memorial

Creation Date

1910

President Roosevelt thanks Secretary of War Taft for the efforts of the army to provide relief to San Francisco following the earthquake that devastated the area. Roosevelt recalls other instances in which the army has provided similar relief, and affirms that the army has met these challenges “in noble fashion and with an efficiency which justified to the full its equipment in men and means.” Item includes shorthand and typewritten text.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-28

Theodore Roosevelt praises the Boy Scouts of America in developing citizenship and leadership among boys. Roosevelt emphasizes such teachings incorporate the Ten Commandments and the Golden Rule to instill honor, respect, courage, and fair dealing. Roosevelt relates how scouts from two troops in Manila assisted firefighters in a devastating fire in the Philippines.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-07-20

Theodore Roosevelt is sorry for the loss of George E. Boschert’s cottage to fire and wishes he had more to give his friend than the photograph.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-08-20

Archibald Roosevelt is resting at Oyster Bay, New York, and is anxious to leave college and get to work. He seems to be enjoying himself and is considering a career in business. Archibald will also be going on a hunt this year. The Roosevelts have become “enthusiasts in burning brush-heaps” after Theodore Roosevelt’s “labor among small trees.” Roosevelt is delighted that Kermit Roosevelt is working hard in South America and married to Belle Roosevelt. However, he hopes that Kermit can return to the United States after four years.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1915-02-17

President Roosevelt praises Commander Snowden and the crew of the Mayflower for their actions in putting out a magazine fire in the Washington Navy Yard.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-06-05

President Roosevelt was concerned to hear of the fire at Joseph Wilmer’s place, and was thankful that at the very least his house was saved.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-08-26

President Roosevelt congratulates General Felix Agnus for starting the Baltimore American again in a new building one year after the fire.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1905-02-06

Assistant Secretary of the Navy Roosevelt sent Secretary of the Navy Long a telegram about the burning of the Navy Yard. He gave President McKinley information after he inquired about the naval forces on the Pacific Coast. The “teapot tempest” about the Hydrographic Office “continues to simmer wildly.” Roosevelt made arrangements for the Navy Department for the few days he will be in New York.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1897-04-23