This is a closeup of the signature on page five of Theodore Roosevelt's resignation letter to the Mayor of New York, ceding his position as President of the New York Police Department, on 17 April 1897. The text is digitized at <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Resignation_letter_(Roosevelt)" class="extiw" title="s:Resignation letter (Roosevelt)">s:Resignation letter (Roosevelt)</a>.
Theodore Roosevelt
1897-04-17
Scans are taken from an auction of the letter (<a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://cgi.ebay.com/THEODORE-ROOSEVELT-Letter-of-Resignation-NYPD_W0QQitemZ320000215450QQihZ011QQcategoryZ33776QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem">non-permanent online page</a>) Additional important information regarding source: This letter was stolen in 1974. This letter was in the possession of Margaret "Daisy" Suckley. Daisy was confidant to Franklin Roosevelt, a sixth cousin, and archivist at the Hyde Park Presidential Library. This may have been the source of the revised (draft) letter. Daisy gave it to Francis and Mary Crowell.  Frank Crowell framed the letter and displayed it in his office at his residence at 17 Mill Street in Rhinebeck, NY. From Francis and Mary Crowell, the letter passed to Janet Montgomery Baldwin. Janet T. Baldwin lived with Frank and Mary. From Janet it passed to Anne B. Cox (daughter of Janet), and then to Michael and Charles Cox (sons of Anne) residing at 3 N. Randolph Ave, Poughkeepsie, NY. In 1973, worried about the safety of the letter, Michael folded the letter around a piece of cut cardboard and sealed it behind a framed envelope with an uncut pair of black Washington stamps that hung in a frame on the wall of Cox's bedroom. The letter with black Washington stamps was posted circa 1850 and written on blue linen paper. The letter was between Eugene Lynch and Ogden Lynch (ancestors of Francis Crowell) concerning their dry-goods and mining supply trade in Coloma CA. The Lynch letter and the Roosevelt letter hidden behind it, along with other antiquities, including original bills of lading from the Flying Cloud, referenced in Lynch's letter, were stolen in June 1974 by coworkers who were visiting Anne Cox. Anne was packing and making preparations to move her family to California within days of the theft. The theft was witnessed by a friend of Michael. The friend, 15 years old, challenged the thieves when they attempted to remove some of Friend's personal property. He then noticed articles the thieves had placed in their car, but when challenged by the friend, the thieves told him the articles were theirs and the friend believed them. The full significance was not understood until Michael Cox reported the theft of the article upon arrival and unpacking in California. Cox was a minor, and the thieves vehemently denied the theft, and Cox was now in California, so the police did not follow up. The image here clearly shows the fold lines of the frame in which Michael Cox placed it.