Partly-Printed Autograph Document Signed by (ROOSEVELT, Theodore.) MOORE, Dan Tyler (1877-1941)

This lieutenant colonel served as an aide to Roosevelt during his first term, and used to partake in friendly sparring bouts with the president; unknown to him at the time, one of their matches in 1905 caused blindness in one of Roosevelt's eyes; not until October 1917, when Moore commanded the 310th Field Artillery at Camp Meade, Maryland, did he learn what had happened. He replied: "But could you ask for any better proof of the man's sportsmanship than the fact that he never told me what I had done to him, never told anybody else that I know of -- at least, it never got around to me till I saw in the papers the other day that he had said that he lost the sight of his eye while boxing with a captain of artillery who was his aide. He didn't name anybody then, but I knew that he must have meant me, for I happen to have been the only boxing aide he had who was in the artillery." Partly-Printed ADS, 1p, 7½" X 3", Washington, DC, 1917 May 24. Near fine. Usual perforated cancellation. Bank vignette at left. Check drawn on The Riggs National Bank, made out entirely in Moore's hand in black ink to N.F. Ramsey in the amount of $10 and handsomely signed -- just a few months before learning what his right hook had done to the Boss.