THE MEXICAN HERALD

Mexico City, Mexico

31 March 1901

(page 16)

A ROOSEVELT HERE.

Cousin of San Juan Hero in Mexico.

Is Traveling With French

Friends on a Pleasure Outing.

A. Roosevelt, of New York City, a cousin of Col. Theodore Roosevelt, the hero of San Juan Hill and vice-president of the United States, arrived in the city of Mexico yesterday accompanied by Dr. Chas. Thoan and H. Say, two of his companions from Paris.

The young men are out on a lark and came to Mexico on a pleasure trip. They are on a two months' vacation trip and are spending the time seeing the United States and Mexico. Mr. Roosevelt is the son of the well known New York and Paris banker, Cornelius Roosevelt, and he has been for the past year employed in one of his father's banking houses in New York, having just finished his college career. His education was secured in Paris and Heidelberg. Dr. Thoan is the interne of the Hotel Dieu in Paris, one of the well known hospitals of that city.

Mr. Say is a sugar king of France and his wealth is quoted in the millions.

Although a much younger man, Mr. Roosevelt is not altogether unlike his distinguished cousin to whom the whole American world now doffs its hat. He is a husky, well-built young man and desperately fond of outdoor sports. He smiles with the same immense intensity as his cousin Theodore, and possesses that rare gift of making himself agreeable by his strictly democratic nature common to the Roosevelt family. With a deep well-shaped forehead, a clear steady eye and a chin which tapers gracefully from the outlines of his face the attributes are complete which indicate the power and strenuousness so conspicuous in the vice-president of the United States. Mr. Roosevelt is inclined to imitate his brilliant statesman cousin in his mode of dress, by adopting the typical "Roosevelt hat," bicycle trousers and hickory shirt. He says that it is more convenient for traveling.

"We are here for fun," said he last night, "and we are having it. We have no itinerary and don't know where we will go next, or just when we will leave. We expect, however, to visit the Pacific coast. We have been spending the past few weeks among the rattle snakes of Florida, where Dr. Thoan has been making a number of scientific experiments with the poison of the reptile, not personally, but with dogs, cats, guinea pigs and other unfortunate animals. The doctor brought with him an antidote for snake bite for the purpose of giving it the most severe test of all, with the rattlers. The antidote is one of his own concoctions and the experiments have succeeded beyond our expectations.

"The doctor is also testing the effect of the different altitudes on the human system, and follows this experiment by tapping our blood vessels as we go up and down the mountains. He will gladly give the MEXICAN HERALD the results of his experiments when they are complete. We expect to take a trip to the top of Popocatepetl and will leave the city of Mexico for Amecameca tomorrow morning.

"Mexico is beautiful," concluded the young tourist, "but her grub is tough."

Dr. Thoan is a member of the celebrated Alpine Climbing society in France and discredits the claim of Chevalier O'Rourke [pseudonym of Aleister Crowley], to being a member in good standing of this distinguished society. The chevalier and his side Eckstein [Oscar Eckenstein] both have said they were Alpinere, but now come these gentlemen with the unmistakable accent and with no Bally Bay apostrophes chopped into their names, denying our friends their thunder with painful positiveness.

Mr. Roosevelt has spent about eight years of his life in Paris and several years in Germany and speaks French and German with the same fluency with which he handles his own native language.