Wounds and injuries

President Roosevelt has read Dean Hurlbut’s letter regarding Ted Roosevelt’s unexcused absence from Harvard University to the “harum-scarum individual.” Roosevelt explains that Ted has been recovering from injuries sustained from football and an elevator accident at home, as per his doctors’ advice. Roosevelt instructed Ted to write to Hurlbut, though Ted claims he already sent a letter. If there is anything else Roosevelt can do, Hurlbut should let him know.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1907-12-04

President Roosevelt is relieved that the coal strike is settled and reports that the bone was hurt by the accident, but his leg is healing.

Collection

Massachusetts Historical Society

Creation Date

1902-10-28

A small man labeled “Consumer” is badly bruised after running between two rows of Native Americans labeled “Provision Trust, Ice Trust, Fuel Trust, Butter & Egg Trust, Clothing Trust, [and] Copper Trust” who have beaten him with a sack of “Self Rising Flour” and a “Sugar Cured” ham, a coal scuttle, bundle of wood, a “Gas Meter,” ice tongs, eggs, copper coins, and a bolt of cloth with boots, socks, and gloves attached. Caption: And every year he votes as though he liked it.

Comments and Context

“Running the gauntlet,” the practice and etymology of which go back to ancient Greece but became widespread in many world societies in the seventeenth century, provided the starkly visual metaphor for cartoonist Will Crawford in this double-page cartoon. In fact it was a common practice in Sweden, on sailing ships, and as a literary metaphor seemingly before Native American tribes adopted it.

The practice is a punishment traditionally viewed as milder and less dishonorable than flogging or stocks. The accused has to pass through a line of peers on each side who beat him with objects. 

A doubtful Uncle Sam watches as two horses pass on a racetrack headed for the start of the race. On the first horse labeled “Wilson Bill” is jockey William L. Wilson wearing a ribbon labeled “Tariff Reform.” Several bandages encircle the horse’s legs, tail, and neck labeled “Senate Amendments, Concessions to Collar and Cuff Trust, Concessions to Sugar Trust, Concessions to Coal Trust, Favors to Lead Trust, [and] Favors to Iron Trust.” On the second horse labeled “McKinley Bill” is jockey William McKinley wearing a ribbon labeled “Protection.” Caption: Uncle Sam–Neither one of these animals is good for anything; – they say there’s a new horse being trained, called “Free Trade,” that will beat ’em both!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-06-20

In the aftermath of a battle, David B. Hill is draped over a cannon, while Charles A. Dana and many New York politicians, identified as “Croker, Grant, Hinckley, Sheehan, Gilroy, Murphy, McLaughlin, Smyth, [and] Divver,” as well as the Tammany Tiger, appear to have some wound or injury. Puck is standing on the right holding a military standard that states, “The Principles We Fought For. Free Raw Materials – Civil Service Reform – Honest Money – Economical Government.” Caption: Puck–It is for the benefit of any party to be purified of its baser elements!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1894-11-21

Many wild animals in a jungle setting, several wearing bandages, look at a lone footprint in the sand and wonder if Theodore Roosevelt has finally departed, leaving them safe from his big game pursuits.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1910-03-16

Two fashionably dressed women, a mother and her daughter, attend a football game. Caption: Mrs. Newcome (her first game)–Oh! isn’t it awful? Horrible! Why, they will kill that man underneath! / Her Daughter (an enthusiast)–Oh! he doesn’t mind it, Mother. He’s unconscious by this time!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1899-12-20

President Roosevelt, as little Lord Fauntleroy, helps elderly Uncle Sam, bloated by “Overcapitalization” and a bandaged right foot labeled “Wall Street,” walk with a cane. Caption: “Lean on me, Grandpa.”

Comments and Context

Udo J. Keppler, in Puck, relies on an extremely popular book (and stage play) of the day for a metaphorical context. His front-page cartoon refers to a famous scene in the 1886 children’s novel Little Lord Fauntleroy in which the privileged young scion nobly offers his shoulder to his infirm grandfather.

“‘Just lean on me,’ he said. ‘I’ll walk very slowly,” was the caption in the book’s illustration drawn (and later painted, in another edition) by Reginald Bathurst Birch. The tale by Frances Hodgson Burnett originally was serialized in St Nicholas magazine, then published as a book in 1886.

A deer hunter labeled “Wickersham” holds a rifle labeled “Sherman Law.” A deer labeled “Restraint of Trade” runs off into the woods while a man labeled “Legitimate Business” holds his leg where Wickersham shot him.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1911-11-01

Theodore Roosevelt expresses his admiration for Yolande de Baye.

Collection

Harvard College Library

Creation Date

1918-05-05

A person labeled “Bossism” sits in a chair, with many bandages labeled “New York, New Jersey, Penn. [and] Ohio.” On the table next to him is a medicine bottle labeled “Cashtoria.” He is being attended to by a well-dressed man labeled “The Big Interests” pretending to be a doctor. Caption: Old Doctor Dough — Keep quiet a while longer and I’ll pull you through.

Comments and Context

Cartoons like Keppler’s were cyclical — observing, or celebrating, the possible demise of bossism and political corruption — through the years, precisely because “reform” waves were likewise cyclical. In 1872 presidential candidate Horace Greeley railed against the corrupt administration of Ulysses S. Grant: “Throw the Rascals Out!” They were not thrown out.

Thomas Nast’s cartoons helped defeat Tammany Hall in elections, 1872, and send William Marcy “Boss” Tweed to jail. But Tammany bounced back. At least twice in young Theodore Roosevelt’s career he was credited as crippling Tammany Hall; in 1894 and 1902 reform / fusion mayors elected in New York City only to wait, ultimately, for the next wave of reformers to have better luck.

A bald eagle, bruised and battered, stands on a pile of spent fireworks, following the celebration of the Fourth of July.

Comments and Context

Modern readers might be tempted to see incipient regrets over an Independence Day celebration by the iconic American symbol. But the wan smile reflects the dangers of handling fireworks (perennial warning cartoons that were ubiquitous in magazines of the day), and not a criticism by cartoonist Keppler of the new American Century in any way.

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Mars, the Roman god of war, with bandages on his head, arm, and foot, sits in his tent with a map of “Manchuria” on the small table next to him; hanging on the wall behind him are his helmet and shield. “Peace” is standing at the entrance to the tent and is asking if she may come in to visit. Caption: Peace–May I come in?

Comments and Context

What history knows as the Russo-Japanese War had dragged through 1904. Joseph Keppler’s brilliant cartoon presented the case simply: the war had run its course; and, it could be argued, the Russian Empire was as beat up as the figure of Mars was in this drawing.

Longtime rivals Russia and the Empire of Japan had several points of friction on the map, the most prominent being Manchuria and Korea. The Czar overshadowed Manchuria, mostly at the expense of China; and forced a lease of Port Arthur, a Chinese city, for a portion of the Russian fleet. An aggressive Japan wanted control (and a recognized sphere of influence over) Korea.

Illustration showing the British Lion, wearing a military uniform, aghast by the tattered look of a female figure labeled “Peace,” her clothing torn, head and left arm bandaged, and walking with a crutch, the dove at her feet looks plucked. In the background is a sign stating “The last Boer ditch” stuck in ground labeled “South Africa.” Caption: Great Britain. — Didn’t you tell them the war was over? Peace. — “Yes; – and they immediately filled me full of lead; – said it was only a rumor of war!

Collection

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs

Creation Date

1901-02-20

Theodore Roosevelt notifies Anna Roosevelt Cowles of Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s injuries from being thrown from her horse, and despite her injuries, the doctor is not concerned for Edith. Roosevelt informs Cowles that Archibald “Archie” B. Roosevelt will delay his trip out west due to her accident, but is doing well in his examinations and will most likely get into Harvard University.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-02

Theodore Roosevelt tells Charles J. Bonaparte that while he will be happy to meet with William Henry Welch, he has already told Welch he cannot give any speeches at the moment. Roosevelt says Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is recovering well.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-18

Theodore Roosevelt tells Theodore A. Bingham that he was written to the Century with pleasure and Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is getting better.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-18

Theodore Roosevelt appreciates Henry L. Stimson’s telegraph, and mentions that Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt is grateful for Mabel Wellington White Stimson’s visits and her health is improving slowly.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-13

Theodore Roosevelt tells Mary Cadwalader Jones about Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt’s accident in which she was thrown from a horse and fell unconscious for seventy-two hours. Though she is in pain and bedridden, Theodore Roosevelt says Dr. Pearce Bailey has been treating her and says she will make a full recovery.

Comments and Context

Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt had been thrown from her horse on September 30, 1911, causing her to hit her head and remain unconscious for several days.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Theodore Roosevelt thanks Winthrop Chanler for writing and says Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt will recover from her horseback riding accident, but it may be a slow recovery process. Theodore Roosevelt sends Chanler’s wife Margaret Chanler his love, is sorry he did not get a large moose on his recent hunting trip, and hopes to tell him of Kermit Roosevelt’s recent travels.

Collection

Library of Congress Manuscript Division

Creation Date

1911-10-13