Theft

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Corinne Roosevelt Robinson

Theodore Roosevelt relates the chase and capture of three thieves that had stolen his boat. The thieves were captured along the river and then Roosevelt took them overland to the sheriff in Dickinson, Dakota Territory. He read Anna Karenina during the trip and has mixed feelings about the quality of the book but enjoyed Leo Tolstoy’s writing style. Roosevelt requests that Corinne Roosevelt Robinson deliver some flowers to Edith Kermit Carow before Carow travels abroad. Typed copy of original handwritten letter.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1886-04-12

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to James Rudolph Garfield

President Roosevelt requests Secretary of the Interior Garfield personally look into the matter of the highwayman in Yellowstone National Park and its implications on future policing of the park.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1908-09-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Henry Cabot Lodge to Theodore Roosevelt

Senator Lodge informs President Roosevelt of a request from the Post Office Department to reinstate Rachel F. Sullivan of Hyde Park, Massachusetts, to the classified service. Lodge had her resign some time ago due to evidence that she might be taking money, but within a few weeks, the post office discovered that it was another employee. Lodge is asking for Roosevelt’s assistance because she can only be restored via executive order.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-09-14

Creator(s)

Lodge, Henry Cabot, 1850-1924

Letter from W. Pitt Scott to Edwin C. Pendleton

Lieutenant Scott from the USS Missouri reports on his landing team’s work in disaster relief in Kingston, Jamaica. The men under his command assisted in tearing down walls that had been made unstable, removing dead bodies from the rubble, and disinfecting streets and areas where the dead were found. The people of the city were deeply appreciative of their help.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-01-19

Creator(s)

Scott, W. Pitt (William Pitt), 1873-1942

Sheriff’s work on a ranch

Theodore Roosevelt relates a tense meeting with Native Americans and his personal capture of three boat thieves.

Collection

Dickinson State University

Creation Date

1888

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919; Remington, Frederic, 1861-1909

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to David Gray

Theodore Roosevelt thanks David Gray for his letter. He informs Gray that he has written a synopsis of the stolen cases, which he will send to the The Outlook and print in pamphlets for nationwide distribution.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06-27

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Zélie Colvile

Theodore Roosevelt and Zélie Colvile discuss their families and the future career moves of their children as well as a theft suffered by Lady Colvile’s son.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1912-06-04

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to William Allen White

President Roosevelt expresses his concern about Senator William Edgar Borah’s alleged connections to timber stealing and the potential impact on the Haywood-Moyer murder trial.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-08

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Letter from Theodore Roosevelt to Philip Battell Stewart

President Roosevelt has received information from Mr. Stevenson that Wayne is a thief and asks Philip Battell Stewart to confirm this information.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1902-01-06

Creator(s)

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919

Telegram from Martin J. Hutchens to William Loeb

Martin J. Hutchens notifies the president that the Chicago Journal has unearthed Charles H. Moyer’s criminal record and that the newspaper will give information to the Associated Press.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-05-10

Creator(s)

Hutchens, Martin J., 1867-1929

Letter from Edward P. Guild to Theodore Roosevelt

Edward P. Guild, secretary of the Living Age Company, previously retained a check from President Roosevelt for the value of his signature. The check was recently stolen along with Guild’s pocketbook. Guild requests that Roosevelt have his secretary stop payment of the check and possibly send a new check.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-08-27

Creator(s)

Guild, Edward P. (Edward Payson), 1857-1925

Letter to Benjamin F. Barnes

In light of the criticism Benjamin F. Barnes is receiving from the newspapers over the incident regarding Mrs. Minor Morris’ visit to the White House, the author wishes to provide background information on Morris. The author writes that Morris framed her maid for stealing diamonds that Morris had actually pawned earlier and that her behavior severely distressed the other tenants in her apartment building. The author believes that the newspapers’ portrayal of Morris is inaccurate.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1906-04-18

Creator(s)

Unknown

History of Schercliffe’s noted career

Partial newspaper article summarizing the Pollock diamond robbery and suggesting the involvement of Frank Schercliffe and Tom Dennison.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1904

Creator(s)

Unknown

Excerpt from “Kaleidoscopic Lives”

An excerpt from the book Kaleidiscopic Lives by Joseph Henry Taylor describes the attempt of Michael J. Finnegan and his partner to steal Theodore Roosevelt’s boat so they could trap and shoot beaver. They were unaware it was Roosevelt’s boat and were subsequently caught. Finnegan did time in the penitentiary because of this crime. 

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-05-08

Creator(s)

Taylor, Joseph Henry, 1845-1908

Fully as black as has been painted

President Roosevelt and Assistant Postmaster General Joseph L. Bristow pull back a curtain to reveal black paint that reads, “Bristow’s report regarding the Post Office Department scandal: corruption, fraud, bribery, and theft.” Roosevelt holds a paper in his hand: “The guilty shall be punished to the limit of the law.”

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-12

Creator(s)

Dittmar, W. J. (Walter John), 1879-1964

Literal interpretation

President Roosevelt holds a daily paper with the headline: “More graft in the Postoffice Department!” Caption: The President: “The Postoffice Department must be cleaned out!” Elsewhere, three men, labeled as “Grafters” hold a “bogus contract” and shovel money out of the Post Office Department. Caption: And they took him at his word.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1903-09-12

Creator(s)

Bradford, Walter R., 1872-1925

Liberty bond salesman to serve 5 years in jail

General Sessions Judge James T. Malone has sentenced Frederick Jackson, a Liberty Bond salesman, to five years in prison for stealing and illegally pawning Liberty Bonds.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1918-02-01

Creator(s)

Unknown

Explanation—Re: “Fire Control System”—as now fitted to the Battleships in the Navy

The article states that Thomas Gilbert-Russell is the true inventor of the naval innovation which uses telegraph apparatus to aim heavy machinery. Gilbert-Russell took this idea to his superiors, William Henry May and Arthur C. Leveson, who passed the idea off as their own.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

Unknown

Creator(s)

Unknown

Letter from William Wingate Sewall to Samuel T. Sewall

William Wingate Sewall describes the pursuit and capture of three thieves that stole a boat from Theodore Roosevelt. The boat, the best one on the Little Missouri River, had been purchased by Roosevelt in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and it was very useful. Sewall and Wilmot Dow built a new boat and they headed after the thieves a few days after the boat went missing. The thieves were captured without violence and Roosevelt accompanied them to Dickinson, Dakota Territory, for trial. Sewall and Dow continued down the river with the boats to Mandan, Dakota Territory, and then took a train back to Medora, Dakota Territory.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1886-04-21

Creator(s)

Sewall, William Wingate, 1845-1930

Complaint filed by Theodore Roosevelt against Michael Finnegan and others

Transcript of the case against Michael Finnegan, Edward Burnstead, and Chris Pfaffenbach, thieves who stole Theodore Roosevelt’s boat along the Little Missouri River on March 24, 1886.

Collection

State Historical Society of North Dakota

Creation Date

1886-04-12

Creator(s)

Starr, Western, 1854-1940