Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
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42 “Your arrival and ‘Professor’ Tainter’s”: Mabel Bell to Alexander Graham Bell, July 16, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
43 “the experiment will be watched”: “Search for the Pistol Ball,” Washington Post, July 15, 1881.
44 “Ordinary telegrams I presume”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
45 Since he had agreed to a brief interview: Bell, “Volta Lab Notes,” July 18, 1881.
46 “carried a bullet in his body”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 18.
47 “sonorous spot”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 23, 1881, quoted in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 54.
48 “Will you do us the favor”: D. W. Bliss to Alexander Graham Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
49 “tired, ill, dispirited”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
50 If Bell added a condenser: What was then known as a condenser is today called a capacitor.
51 Breaking open the instrument: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
52 Not only did it improve the sound: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 20.
53 Bell could now detect a bullet: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 16–20; Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 345.
54 “trial of the apparatus”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
55 “Mr. Garfield himself is reported”: Mabel Bell to her mother, July 17, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
56 “so calm and grand”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
57 “the look of a man”: Ibid.
58 Frantically, Bell tried everything: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 55.
59 The sound, however, was distracting: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
60 Taking in the long wires: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 237.
61 “His head was so buried”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
62 After carefully pulling: Ibid.
63 As everyone in the room: Ibid.
64 “sharp and sudden reinforcement”: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 346.
65 Finally, with the president quickly tiring: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 55.
66 “I feel woefully disappointed”: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 346.
67 Returning to his laboratory: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 55.
68 “Private and confidential”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 26, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
Chapter 19: On a Mountaintop, Alone
1 On July 23: “Conkling and His Friends,” New York Times, July 24, 1881.
2 Conkling, who had always worked: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 3.
3 “renew their pledges”: “Roscoe Conkling Beaten,” New York Times, July 23, 1881.
4 “must not reap the reward”: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 355.
5 “moody and fretful”: “Conkling and His Friends,” New York Times, July 24, 1881.
6 “done with politics”: Conkling, The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling, 306; Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 115.
7 “I presume that if Mr. Arthur”: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 354.
8 “Disguise it as they may seek to do”: “The Senatorial Contest,” New York Times, July 6, 1881.
9 Some took a tactical approach: “Arguing About Possibilities,” New York Times, July 6, 1881. Arthur had been born in Vermont.
10 “shoulder their muskets”: Chicago Tribune, July 3, 1881, quoted in Ackerman, Dark Horse, 394.
11 “There is no doubt that he is suffering keenly”: “Vice President Arthur,” New York Times, July 5, 1881.
12 “seemed to be overcome”: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 242.
13 “unable to conceal his emotion”: “Gen. Arthur in Washington,” New York Times, July 4, 1881.
14 Finally, a journalist from New York: New York Times, July 5, 1881.
15 “his head bowed down”: Ibid.
16 “received no visit”: “Conkling and His Friends,” New York Times, July 24, 1881.
17 “The hours of Garfield’s life are numbered”: Julia Sand to Chester Arthur, August 27, 1881, Chester Arthur Papers.
18 “dead and buried”: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 296.
19 “Your kindest opponents say”: Julia Sand to Chester Arthur, August 27, 1881, Chester Arthur Papers.
20 Over the years, he would keep: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 478.
21 “It is not the proof of highest goodness”: Julia Sand to Chester Arthur, August 27, 1881, Chester Arthur Papers.
22 “As the President gets better”: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 242.
23 “thoroughly aired and cleaned”: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 9; Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 44.
24 Soon after taking charge of the case: Rockwell, “From Mentor to Elberon.”
25 Now, Bliss took over: “President Garfield’s Case,” American Observer, 494.
26 “devoting all my professional skills”: D. W. Bliss, on White House stationery, August 13, 1881.
27 “farther into the cavity”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 46.
28 “Courage”: Mabel Bell to Alexander Graham Bell, July 29, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
29 When Bliss’s letter arrived: Boston Herald, quoted in Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 347; author interview with Roger Sherman, National Museum of American History.
30 “Splendid!”: Bell, “Volta Lab Notes,” July 30, 1881.
31 In just four days, he had managed: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 24, 29.
32 “forced exertions”: Ibid., 26–27.
33 “In its present form”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 31, 1881, in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 56.
34 On July 31: Bell, “Volta Lab Notes,” July 31, 1881.
35 “no difficulty”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 30, 1881, in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 57. Just the day before, Bell had tested McGill with no success, writing dejectedly in his laboratory notebook that he had been able to “get no indication” of the bullet in McGill.
36 “no need of further secrecy”: Bell to Mabel Bell, July 31, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
37 “Come up and see us”: Boston Herald, quoted in Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 346–47.
38 “My new form of Induction Balance”: Bell to D. W. Bliss, July 31, 1881, in Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 56.
39 “suspected spot”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 32; “The President’s Case,” Washington Post, August 1, 1881.
40 “the only other person present”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 32.
41 Finally, he asked the first lady: Harper’s Weekly, August 13, 1881.
42 “a general expectation”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 32–33.
43 “if success crowns the effort”: Ibid., 32–33.
44 “now unanimously agreed”: Prichard and Herring, “The Problem of the President’s Bullet,” 627.
45 “In the absence”: Bell, Upon the Electrical Experiments, 33.
46 “perfectly sure”: Ibid.
47 Still, Bell was not convinced: Ibid.
48 He had just begun: Ibid., 34.
49 Determined to find a way to keep working: Tainter, “The Talking Machine,” 37.
Chapter 20: Terror, Hope, and Despair
1 “This fighting with disease”: Garfield to Lucretia Garfield, February 23, 1862, quoted in Shaw, Crete and James, 126.
2 “They will not be allowed to get large”: “The Doctors’ Reasons for Hope,” New York Times, Aug. 30, 1881.
3 “facilitate the escape of pus”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 301.
4 Using a long surgical knife with an ivory handle: Garfield exhib
it at National Museum of Health and Medicine.
5 “a profuse discharge”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 53.
6 “without an anæsthetic”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 301.
7 Neither the incisions: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 67–71; Rutkow, James A. Garfield, 119–20.
8 “It is thought that some pus”: “Steps Toward Recovery,” New York Times, August 13, 1881; D. W. Bliss to [??], August 13, 1881.
9 “Not the minutest symptom”: “The Surgeons’ Confidence,” New York Times, August 20, 1881.
10 What did cause Bliss apprehension: The infection contributed to Garfield’s starvation by itself consuming calories.
11 In less than two months: Herr, “Ignorance Is Bliss,” 459.
12 The barrel-chested: Ibid.; The Death of President James A. Garfield, National Museum of Health and Medicine.
13 “the limit of what a man can lose”: “The Doctors’ Reasons for Hope,” New York Times, August 30, 1881.
14 “at the best meal”: New York Herald, August 16, 1881, quoted in Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 100.
15 Most days, Garfield was able: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 89.
16 Although Garfield found it difficult: Ibid.; Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 60.
17 The White House cook: Seale, The President’s House, 525.
18 Realizing that he urgently needed: “Dr. Bliss Reassured,” New York Times, August 17, 1881.
19 For a stretch of eight days: Prichard and Herring, “The Problem of the President’s Bullet,” 628.
20 Then Bliss began altering the mixture: Ibid.; Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 101.
21 The danger was that: Author interview with David Lounsbury, MD; Eltorai, “Fatal Spinal Cord Injury of the 20th President of the United States,” 336.
22 At first, Garfield seemed: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 101.
23 As well as being malnourished: Author interview with David Lounsbury, MD; Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield.
24 While newspapers continued: “The Fight for Life,” Evening Star, August 23, 1881.
25 “This dreadful sickness”: Harriet S. Blaine and Beale, Letters of Mrs. James G. Blaine, 233–34.
26 It seemed that everyone: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 93.
27 “darkness,” she told her family: Harriet S. Blaine and Beale, Letters of Mrs. James G. Blaine, 225.
28 “Your father [is] much exercised”: Ibid., 236–37.
29 The Constitution was of no help: The government did not tackle the issue of presidential disability until 1967, when it finally ratified the Twenty-Fifth Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment had been spurred by the assassination of President John F. Kennedy four years earlier.
30 Finally, Blaine sent a cabinet member: Ackerman, Dark Horse, 421.
31 “Disappoint our fears”: Julia Sand to Chester Arthur, August 27, 1881, Chester Arthur Papers.
32 “Dear Mother”: Garfield to his mother, August 11, 1881.
33 “I wonder”: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James A. Garfield, 2:1193.
34 He dreamed of returning: “Longing to Be at Lawnfield,” New York Times, August 21, 1881.
35 “I have always felt”: Garfield, Diary, June 19, 1881, 4:613.
36 “It would not now be prudent”: Medical Bulletin, August 25, 1881.
37 “It’s all right now”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 68.
38 Lucretia had been so sick: Seale, The President’s House, p. 526.
39 “banished despair”: Evening Star, August 1881.
40 “one prolonged, hideous nightmare”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
41 “despair,” a reporter noted: Evening Star, August 1881.
42 Brown rarely left the White House: Sunday Herald, July 5, 1881; Evening Critic, July 19, 1881.
43 “During all this terror, hope, despair”: Evening Critic, July 15, 1881.
44 “until control of her voice”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
45 “anguished face”: Ibid.
Chapter 21: After All
1 Although he had returned: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 347.
2 “strong and healthy little fellow”: Gray, Reluctant Genius, p. 222.
3 “Little boy born prematurely”: Bell to his father, August 15, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
4 “Nothing will ever comfort me”: Bell to Mabel Bell, December 12, 1885, Bell Family Papers.
5 After his son’s funeral: Tainter, “Home Notes,” 37.
6 Just three days after Edward’s death: Tainter, “Home Notes,” 37. Bell’s attachment for the induction balance was, in Tainter’s words, “an electrical attachment to be made to the ordinary exploring needle so that when the point of the needle touched the bullet it would be indicated upon a telephone placed in the circuit.”
7 Bliss refused to let Tainter: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 347.
8 “Heartless science”: Bell, “Science and Immortality,” The Christian Register Symposium, 96.
9 “stopped the proceedings immediately”: McCabe, Our Martyred President, 592.
10 In the city, it was 90 degrees: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 57.
11 “Well,” he said, “is this the last day”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 302.
12 “No, no,” he said: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 80.
13 At two o’clock the next morning: Ibid.
14 “in the hope”: Crook, Through Five Administrations, 274.
15 The train, which pulled four cars: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 80.
16 The president’s car, number 33: Ibid.; Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 105.
17 “determine,” Bliss explained: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 302.
18 It was, she would later write, “the saddest”: Edson, “The Sickness and Nursing of President Garfield,” 620.
19 “by no strange hands”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 302.
20 “A last token of amity”: Crook, Through Five Administrations, 274.
21 The train ride to Elberon: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 81.
22 “No sound of bell or whistle”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 303.
23 “At every station”: Ibid.
24 “It was indeed”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 82.
25 When the train finally reached Elberon: United States v. Guiteau, 124.
26 “I am willing that you should ruin”: Brown, The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 241.
27 Before the train could reach: Ackerman, Dark Horse, 425.
28 “Instantly hundreds of strong arms”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 303.
29 When he was carried into his room: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 84.
30 “This is delightful”: Ibid., 89.
31 “Throughout his long illness”: Rockwell, “From Mentor to Elberon.”
32 When Bliss told him that a fund: The fund had been started by Cyrus W. Field, an American financier who helped found the Atlantic Telegraph Company, the first company to attempt to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic. The fund for Lucretia eventually reached $350,000. She used it not only to live on and to send her children to college, but to help establish Garfield’s library, the first presidential library, in their home in Mentor.
33 “What?”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 301.
/> 34 “Doctor, you plainly show”: Ibid., 303.
35 “from a labor and responsibility”: Medical Bulletin, September 8, 1881, 6:00 p.m.
36 “clearer road to recovery”: Quoted in Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 107.
37 “Despite the announcements”: Quoted in ibid., 98.
38 “may live the day out”: Peskin, Garfield, 606.
39 “Do you think my name”: Ibid., 607.
40 Rockwell was again with Garfield: Ibid.
41 “Well, Swaim”; Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 95.
42 “wonderful productions”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 304.
43 Moments later, Lucretia: Ibid.
44 “hear the long, solemn roll”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
45 “the witnesses of the last sad scene”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 304.
46 “A faint, fluttering pulsation”: Ibid.
47 “All hearts,” Bliss would write, “were stilled”: Ibid.
48 “begged her to retire”: Ibid., 305.
Chapter 22: All the Angels of the Universe
1 “Extra Republican!”: Bell to Mabel Bell, September 19, 1881, Bell Family Papers. Bell began this letter to Mabel earlier in the evening of the 19th. As he was writing, it turned midnight, and soon after he heard the newsboy’s cry, announcing Garfield’s death.
2 “Please hunt in the study”: Ibid.
3 “How terrible it all is”: Ibid.
4 “the final agony”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
5 In the end, the autopsy: “The Result of the Autopsy,” New York Times, September 21, 1881.
6 “The missile”: Bliss et al., “Record of the Post-mortem Examination of the Body of President J. A. Garfield,” 4.
7 “this long descending channel”: Ibid.
8 “no evidence that it had been penetrated”: Ibid., 3.
9 Evidence of the proximate cause: Ibid.; Author interview with Dr. David Lounsbury, June 29, 2010.
10 “The initial point of this septic condition”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 97.