Theodore Roosevelt was a pretty tough customer. Besides earning the Medal of Honor for bravery leading a charge up San Juan Hill, and surviving an assassins bullet, he was nearly killed after being thrown from a carriage on September 3, 1902. While touring New England in an attempt to help Republicans win seats in the off year congressional elections, his carriage was struck by a speeding trolley car in Pittsfield Massachusetts and the carriage carrying the president was thrown 40 feet. The Governor of Massachusetts, presidential assistant George Cortelyou and Roosevelt were thrown clear of the carriage. Roosevelt landed on his face in the mud but the governor was the luckiest being the least injured of the group. Cortelyou was knocked cold but his injuries were not that severe. Roosevelt's lip was bleeding and a huge bruise was forming on the right side of his face. His silk hat was dented and covered in mud. He would later discover that he had seriously injured his shin.The driver was critically injured. He was bleeding from both ears and it was feared that he would not survive. He would later recover from his injuries, however. Roosevelt's favorite Secret Service agent, William Craig, was torn to pieces under the wheels of the trolley. His skull was crushed and his chest and abdomen were ground into the track for a long distance. Craig was the first Secret Service agent killed in the line of duty protecting a president. Because of the assassination of William McKinley the Secret Service was tasked with protecting the president.
William Craig was born in Scotland in 1855. He stood 6'4" tall and weighed 260 pounds. A giant of a man for his day. Craig had been a British soldier for 12 years before migrating to America and applying for the U.S.Secret Service. Roosevelt said of Craig "The man who was killed was one of whom I was fond and whom I greatly prized for his loyalty and faithfulness." The president was furious and demanded the name of the trolley driver. All trolleys had been ordered stopped for the presidents visit but the crew of this trolley didn't get the order. It was filled with passengers trying to get a view of the president and was traveling at a high rate of speed for a trolley of that time, which was about 25 miles an hour. When he located the driver, Euclid Madden, the two men would have come to blows had it not been for the intervention of bystanders. Madden would later be forced to pay a large fine and spend six months in jail. He would later be reinstated in his job, however. Roosevelt continued his tour but asked crowds not to cheer in honor of agent Craig. After a short break Roosevelt began a tour of the midwest. He had developed a bad abcess that became infected on his leg. Roosevelt was in danger of developing blood poisoning, which was a fatal condition before the advent of antibiotics. On September 23rd, in Indianapolis, he began limping and suffered intense pain with each step. Roosevelt was taken to the hospital so doctors could lance the abcess. With only a local anesthetic he endured intense pain in silence. Roosevelt would spend weeks in a wheelchair and eventually recover but would suffer pain from this injury for the rest of his life.
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| Agent Craig |
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| William Craig boarding the presidential carriage |
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| A trolley similar to the one involved in the accident |
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| An actual picture of the Roosevelt carriage before the accident |
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| The carriage after the accident |
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| Craig's grave in Chicago |
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