Seven Times Teddy Roosevelt Should Have Died — But Somehow Didn’t

Published January 6, 2023
Updated May 15, 2025

How The President Almost Died In A Carriage Accident

Theodore Roosevelt Streetcar Accident

Harvard University LibraryThe overturned presidential carriage following the 1902 collision.

The presidency can be a dangerous business. And almost exactly one year after William McKinley was killed, Teddy Roosevelt nearly lost his life in a carriage accident in Pittsfield, Massachusetts.

On Sept. 3, Roosevelt delivered a speech in a city park, then climbed into a carriage with several others, including Secret Service agent William Craig. But as they rode through town, the presidential carriage suddenly crossed the path of an electric trolley.

“Look out! Hold fast,” Craig shouted as he tried to shield the president, according to the New England Historical Society.

William Craig

New England Historical SocietyRoosevelt and Craig five days before the streetcar accident. Roosevelt is in the center of the frame; Craig is on the far right wearing a hat.

All four passengers were flung into the air. Craig, who tumbled beneath the carriage, was killed instantly, “his entire skull being crushed, and his body terribly mangled,” as The New York Times reported. Roosevelt landed on a pile of soft dirt and was “on his feet in a flash.”

“Who is in charge of this car?” the president demanded, “deeply overcome” by the sight of Craig’s body. When the driver identified himself, Roosevelt cried: “This is the most damnable outrage I ever knew!”

At the time, The New York Times reported that Roosevelt was not badly injured. “The left side of his lip was bleeding from contact with woodwork in the carriage, and the right side of his face was bruised,” the paper wrote. “His glasses were thrown off but not broken. His frock coat was ripped at the elbow, and his silk hat was ruffed by the toss in the sand.”

But the president hadn’t entirely escaped his brush with death unscathed. He’d fallen hard on his shin, and he soon developed a painful abscess “large as a baby’s fist, perhaps a little larger.” A few weeks after the carriage accident, Roosevelt had to undergo emergency surgery and use a wheelchair until his leg had healed.

The next time Theodore Roosevelt faced death, however, he would not be staring down a speeding electric trolley — but an angry African rhinoceros.

author
Kaleena Fraga
author
A senior staff writer for All That's Interesting since 2021 and co-host of the History Uncovered Podcast, Kaleena Fraga graduated with a dual degree in American History and French Language and Literature from Oberlin College. She previously ran the presidential history blog History First, and has had work published in The Washington Post, Gastro Obscura, and elsewhere. She has published more than 1,200 pieces on topics including history and archaeology. She is based in Brooklyn, New York.
editor
John Kuroski
editor
Based in Brooklyn, New York, John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of expertise include modern American history and the ancient Near East. In an editing career spanning 17 years, he previously served as managing editor of Elmore Magazine in New York City for seven years.
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Fraga, Kaleena. "Seven Times Teddy Roosevelt Should Have Died — But Somehow Didn’t." AllThatsInteresting.com, January 6, 2023, https://allthatsinteresting.com/teddy-roosevelt-cheating-death. Accessed July 20, 2025.