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Date | September 3, 1902 |
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Location | Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
Type | Traffic collision |
Cause | Miscommunication[ citation needed ] and operational lapses |
Deaths | 1 |
Non-fatal injuries | 3 |
Arrests | Euclid Madden[ citation needed ] |
Charges | Manslaughter[ citation needed ] |
Trial | Madden found guilty, fined, and sentenced to six months in jail[ citation needed ] |
The 1902 Pittsfield Streetcar Incident was a collision involving President Theodore Roosevelt, who was traveling in a horse-drawn carriage in Pittsfield, Massachusetts. A speeding electric streetcar hit the presidential carriage as it crossed the trolley tracks, jettisoning Roosevelt who was injured. The accident resulted in the death of William Craig, Roosevelt's Secret Service agent, and injured George B. Cortelyou. Governor Winthrop M. Crane was lightly bruised. [1] [2]
In September 1902 President Theodore Roosevelt embarked on a tour of New England. The President rode in a barouche, an open-top carriage seating four, pulled by four horses. President Roosevelt sat in the back seat beside Massachusetts Governor Winthrop M. Crane, while George Cortelyou, Secretary to the President and former Secretary to President McKinley, sat alone in the front seat facing the rear. On the left side of the carriage's front bench, livery owner David J. Pratt of Dalton, Massachusetts, drove the team of horses, with Agent William Craig seated on the right side of the elevated perch. The carriage left Pittsfield around 10:00 AM and, accompanied by a mounted escort. [3] [ better source needed ]
People in the Presidential Carriage [3] | |
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Drivers | |
David J Pratt | |
Passengers | |
As the streetcar turned onto the street with the presidential carriage, the driver rang the trolley bell and attempted to stop. However, the trolley hit the carriage. William Craig yelled for the president to “Look out! Hold fast!” before they were both thrown off the wagon. Craig was thrown under the streetcar and killed instantly while Roosevelt was thrown out and hit his head on the sidewalk. George B. Cortelyou, the Secretary, sustained serious injuries. The driver of the carriage was seriously injured as well. Governor Winthrop M. Crane, also in the carriage, escaped uninjured. [4]
The driver was taken to the House of Mercy, a Cottage hospital in Pittsfield.
Pittsfield is the largest city and the county seat of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, United States. It is the principal city of the Pittsfield, Massachusetts Metropolitan Statistical Area which encompasses all of Berkshire County. Pittsfield’s population was 43,927 at the 2020 census. Although its population has declined in recent decades, Pittsfield remains the third-largest municipality in Western Massachusetts, behind only Springfield and Chicopee.
Alton Brooks Parker was an American judge. He was the Democratic nominee in the 1904 United States presidential election, losing in a landslide to incumbent Republican Theodore Roosevelt.
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George Bruce Cortelyou was an American cabinet secretary of the early twentieth century. He served in various capacities in the presidential administrations of Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Theodore Roosevelt.
Winthrop Murray Crane was an American businessman and Republican Party politician who served as the 40th governor of Massachusetts from 1900 to 1903 and represented that state in the United States Senate from 1904 to 1913.
John Davis Long was an American lawyer, politician, and writer from Massachusetts. He was the 32nd governor of Massachusetts, serving from 1880 to 1883. He later served as the Secretary of the Navy from 1897 to 1902, a period that included the primarily naval Spanish–American War.
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William J. "Big Bill" Craig was among the first agents of the United States Secret Service tasked with protecting a President of the United States. He was also the first of only two Secret Service agents who have ever been killed in the line of duty while protecting an American president, the other being Leslie Coffelt. Before protecting presidents, Craig was known for teaching and exhibiting use of the broadsword, as well as for his work apprehending counterfeiters.
Beekman Winthrop was an American lawyer, government official and banker. He served as the governor of Puerto Rico from 1904 to 1907, as assistant secretary of the Treasury in 1907–1909, and assistant secretary of the Navy in 1909–1913.
William McKinley, the 25th president of the United States, was shot on the grounds of the Pan-American Exposition in the Temple of Music in Buffalo, New York, on September 6, 1901, six months into his second term. He was shaking hands with the public when an anarchist, Leon Czolgosz, shot him twice in the abdomen. McKinley died on September 14 of gangrene caused by the wounds. He was the third American president to be assassinated, following Abraham Lincoln in 1865 and James A. Garfield in 1881.
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Dana Malone was an American politician who served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1893 to 1894 and a member of the Massachusetts Senate from 1895 to 1896, District Attorney for the Northwest District from 1901 to 1905, and Massachusetts Attorney General from 1906 to 1911.
Harding and Seaver was an architectural firm based in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, active from 1902 to 1947. It was the partnership of architects George C. Harding (1867–1921) and Henry M. Seaver (1873–1947).
The 1901 United States Senate election in Massachusetts was held in January 1901. Incumbent Republican Senator George Frisbie Hoar was re-elected to a fifth term in office.
The following events occurred in September 1902:
George Hinckley Lyman was an American political figure who served as chairman of the Massachusetts Republican state committee and collector of customs for the port of Boston.
William Alexander Gaston was an American lawyer, banker, and politician who was the Democratic Party nominee for Governor of Massachusetts in 1902, 1903, and 1926 and the United States Senate in 1905 and 1922. Outside of politics, Gaston served as president of the Boston Elevated Railway and National Shawmut Bank.
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