The Attempted Murder of Teddy Roosevelt Read online

  Minor changes, too. Alvey Adee’s crack about “Grand Duke Bore-us” came in an August 26 letter to Hay, not in a September 4 telegram, and the luncheon for the tsar’s cousin was held in the front hall at Sagamore Hill, not in the dining room. The scandal of the Austrian prince’s arrest in London occurred in July, not in September. Saint John’s Church was closed for repairs, and between pastors, in September 1902; the sermon that angered Roosevelt was actually delivered in front of him that day by his minister in Oyster Bay. I doubt that the door knocker at Mark Hanna’s home was shaped like a lion’s rump.

  I’ve also imagined most of the scenes and almost all of the dialogue. But I’ve tried to portray the world of TR’s presidency with factual and emotional accuracy, as it was changing into the world we can still recognize—or at least remember—today.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  My favorite quote about writing comes from Sinclair Lewis, who remembered being taught, by Mary Heaton Vorse, “The art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.” I spend long hours hunkered over my keyboard, flicking away. But I keep asking people for help and, to my surprise, they keep helping me.

  Librarians and curators are simply the best. Especially helpful were Nancy Kervin at the U.S. Senate Library, Jerry McCoy at the Washingtoniana collection at the DC Library, and Don Warfield and his colleagues at the local history section of the Berkshire Athenaeum in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. Deborah Capeless, Berkshire County’s clerk of courts, kindly showed me the room where the 1902 inquest took place. Susan Sarna, the curator at Sagamore Hill, couldn’t have been more obliging in answering my queries and suggesting books to read. The Library of Congress, with its incredible holdings and resourceful librarians, is one of the rare government agencies that truly work.

  Nonlibrarians were nicer still. Jim Hewes, the longtime bartender at the Willard’s Round Robin Bar, was a font of knowledge about the hotel’s glorious history. Mark Bergin, a retired policeman in Alexandria, Virginia, advised me on police procedures and on the sound and smell of gunfire. Paul Rosenberg suggested which guns to use. Other friends who helped include Bill O’Brian, Jim Brisbois, Harry Katz, Dan Shapiro, Mark Iwry, Tim Wendel, Glenn Davidson, and Dennis Quinn. I’m beholden to books about TR by Edmund Morris, Doris Kearns Goodwin, David McCullough, Edward J. Renehan Jr., Louis Auchincloss, Jerome Charyn, Owen Wister, and Roosevelt himself for illuminating a complicated man. I found John Taliaferro’s All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay, from Lincoln to Roosevelt invaluable in understanding my detective.

  Tom O’Malley, chairman of the Treasury Historical Association, was a detective himself in tracking down the Secret Service chief’s 1902-era office; the Treasury Department’s Melissa Moye generously arranged a tour. Richard Grimmett tutored me on the history of Saint John’s Church. National Park Service rangers—Geraldine Hawkins at TR’s birthplace in Manhattan and Bradley A. Krueger at Theodore Roosevelt Island in DC—answered every question I could think of. Thanks also to Eric Madison at the National Capital Trolley Museum in Colesville, Maryland, and to Jill Reichenbach at the New-York Historical Society. Julie Smith, my “mentor” at the Mystery Writers of America, helped me anticipate, and I hope skirt, the pitfalls of writing a sequel.

  At Macmillan’s Tor/Forge, I can’t thank Claire Eddy enough for her graceful and perceptive editing. Her assistant, Kristin Temple, has been a pleasure to work with. Kudos again to my agent, Ron Goldfarb, as well as Gerrie Sturman, for their legal—and moral—support.

  Which brings me to the people who matter the most. I am incredibly fortunate (not to jinx anything) to have both of my children, Anna and Matt, living nearby, with their wonderful spouses, Jasyn and Cat, and two amazing little boys, Nolan and Jack, who run in opposite directions. As always, my greatest—and gravest—thanks goes to my wife, Nancy Tuholski, who keeps getting lovelier.

  ALSO BY BURT SOLOMON

  FICTION

  The Murder of Willie Lincoln

  NONFICTION

  Where They Ain’t: The Fabled Life and Untimely Death of the Original Baltimore Orioles, the Team That Gave Birth to Modern Baseball

  The Washington Century: Three Families and the Shaping of the Nation’s Capital

  FDR v. The Constitution: The Court-Packing Fight and the Triumph of Democracy

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  BURT SOLOMON is a contributing editor for The Atlantic and for National Journal, where he has covered the White House and other aspects of Washington life. In 1991, he won the Gerald R. Ford Journalism Prize for Distinguished Reporting on the Presidency. He is also the author of the acclaimed Where They Ain’t, a history of baseball in the 1890s. He and his wife and family live inside the Beltway. You can sign up for email updates here.

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  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Copyright Notice

  Dedication

  Map

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Afterword

  Acknowledgments

  Also by Burt Solomon

  About the Author

  Copyright

  This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

  THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF TEDDY ROOSEVELT

  Copyright © 2019 by Burt Solomon

  All rights reserved.

  Map by Jon Lansberg

  Cover design by Kara Klontz

  Cover photograph courtesy of the Library of Congress

  A Forge Book

  Published by Tom Doherty Associates

  120 Broadway

  New York, NY 10271

  www.tor-forge.com

  Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.

  The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.

  ISBN 978-0-7653-9267-1 (hardcover)

  ISBN 978-0-7653-9269-5 (ebook)

  eISBN 9780765392695

  Our ebooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by email at [email protected].

  First Edition: December 2019