Your TR Source
Theodore Roosevelt writes to his sister Anna Roosevelt about his recent trip to Mandan, North Dakota, to testify against the boat thieves he caught. He stayed with friends in Mandan and had a pleasant three days.
1886-08-11
Theodore Roosevelt writes to Anna Roosevelt about a recent encounter with a band of thieves. He, Bill Sewall, and Wilmot Dow hunted them down and turned them over to the sheriff. Roosevelt also discusses Leo Tolstoy’s book, Anna Karenina.
1886-04-12
Ernest Hamlin Abbott writes to President Roosevelt expressing his frustration with the Congressional attitude toward the Arbitration treaties.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1905-02-07
Photograph of an informational display entitled “Law and Order,” which discusses thievery in the Little Missouri range in the 1880s, and Theodore Roosevelt’s subsequent establishment of the Little Missouri River Stockmen’s Association in 1884; museum exhibit #25 in the South Unit visitor center of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
1967-03-30
Photograph of a wooden sign recounting the story of “Roosevelt and the Boat Thieves” in the North Unit of Theodore Roosevelt National Park.
Theodore Roosevelt National Park
1961-04
National Park Service; Maeder, Richard H. (Richard Henry), 1926-2001
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.
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1907-05-10
A bruised and beaten “Congress” is surrounded by a group of men: a “crook,” a “thief,” a “timber thief,” a “land thief,” a “briber,” and a “forger.” President Roosevelt holds the “logic” big stick and walks back to the “White House.” The timber thief says, You pretty near whipped him,” while the briber says, “Old interference is spoiling everything.” The forger says, “It was a noble battle,” while the land thief notes, “You did the best you could for us.”
Library of Congress Manuscript Division
1909-01-08
Theodore Roosevelt reluctantly accepted the Republican nomination for mayor of New York, New York, after being “implored” by prominent Republicans. There is no chance for success and his best hope is for a decent run. An absurd aspect of the campaign will occur when Roosevelt’s article, “Machine Politics in New York City,” is published. He had “great fun” in the West over the summer, including killing three “White Antelope-goats” and bringing three cattle thieves into Mandan for trial.
1886-10-21
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.
1886-04-12
Photograph of a re-enactment of Theodore Roosevelt keeping watch over boat thieves he captured with the help of William Wingate Sewall and Wilmot Dow.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
1886
Photograph of a re-enactment of Theodore Roosevelt keeping watch over boat thieves he captured with the help of William Wingate Sewall and Wilmot Dow.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
1886
A staged image of William Wingate Sewall and Wilmot Dow in pursuit of boat thieves. In March 1886, three thieves stole a boat from Theodore Roosevelt’s Elkhorn Ranch. Sewall and Dow made a new boat, shown here, and pursued them with Roosevelt. They captured the thieves after several days, but were hindered in bringing them in by ice on the Little Missouri River. Roosevelt took the men in over land to Dickinson (N.D.), where they were indicted.
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site
1886
Diary kept by Theodore Roosevelt while at Elkhorn Ranch in North Dakota from January 1 to July 3, 1886. Pages for April 23 to June 17 are torn out. There were no entries from July 4 to December 31. April 1 tells of Roosevelt’s capture of boat-thieves, as described in Roosevelt in the Bad Lands by Hermann Hagedorn.
Also included are six typed transcript pages of diary text.
1886