Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President
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11 “irregular form”: Bliss et al., “Record of the Post-mortem Examination of the Body of President J. A. Garfield,” 5.
12 This, they realized: “Official Bulletin of the Autopsy,” 1.
13 “slipped entirely through”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
14 “I daren’t ask him”: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 247.
15 “All the noble aspirations”: Ibid., 244.
16 “the people and the politicians”: Ibid., 245.
17 “And so Garfield is really dead”: Julia Sand to Chester Arthur, September 28, 1881, Chester Arthur Papers.
18 Garfield’s body, which was returned: Ridpath, The Life and Work of James A. Garfield, 657.
19 “The whole city was draped in mourning”: Mollie Garfield diary, September 29, 1881, quoted in Feis, Molly Garfield in the White House, 101.
20 “in many respects”: “Looking Upon the Dead,” New York Times, September 23, 1881.
21 Only one man had no place: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 48.
22 More than a week earlier: United States v. Guiteau, 599.
23 “a great big musket-bullet”: After hitting the wall, the bullet was said to have been flattened into a nearly perfect likeness of Guiteau’s profile. An enterprising man, R. A. Whitehand, made molds from the bullet and sold facsimiles, whose authenticity was certified by John Crocker, the warden of the District Jail, and by Guiteau himself.
24 Although he would later: There was an outcry against Mason’s sentence, and a fund was established for his defense.
25 He was tired, he said: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 107.
26 “There is an American judge”: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 50–52.
27 “Mama says he ought”: Quoted in Feis, Molly Garfield in the White House, 95.
28 “For this man Guiteau”: “Gen. Sherman’s Timely Counsel,” New York Times, September 19, 1881.
29 “All a man would need”: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 98.
30 The legal standard for determining insanity: There is considerable disagreement about the spelling of M’Naghten’s name. Richard Moran, who wrote what is likely the definitive book on the case—Knowing Right from Wrong—devotes several pages to a discussion of this controversy. His conclusion is that the correct spelling is “McNaughtan,” and he makes a very compelling argument. However, the most common spelling is M’Naghten.
31 “gradual failure of heart’s action”: Moran, Knowing Right from Wrong, 186.
32 “We have seen the trials”: Quoted in ibid., 21.
33 “at the time of the committing”: Ibid., 22–24.
34 In America, it became known: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 118.
35 In 1859, Congressman Daniel Edgar Sickles: Mitchell, “The Man Who Murdered Garfield,” 470.
36 “I plead not guilty to the indictment”: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 116.
37 “Guiteau should have a fair trial”: “Guiteau’s Trial,” New York Times, November 14, 1881.
38 “If I didn’t think the unfortunate man was insane”: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 117.
39 “I think he ought to be hung”: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 114.
40 It took three days: Ibid., 116.
41 “for the first time in anyone’s memory”: Taylor, “Assassin on Trial,” 3.
42 The courtroom itself had been renovated: Ibid.
43 The rest were first come, first served: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 121–22.
44 Guiteau had planned to make: Ibid., 122.
45 “General Garfield died from malpractice”: Quoted in ibid., 122–23.
46 “I deny the killing”: United States v. Guiteau, 226.
47 “Now, don’t spoil the matter”: Ibid., 1730.
48 “The rich men of New York”: Ibid., 1110.
49 Finally, Scoville himself asked the court: Ibid., 163.
50 “could not have been prevented”: Ibid., 2330–31.
51 “All the links in the chain are there”: Beard, “The Case of Guiteau,” 22.
52 Before the trial had ended: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 71–72.
53 “with his hereditary history”: Taylor, “Assassin on Trial,” 5. The psychiatrist George Beard, who was convinced that Guiteau was not only insane now, but had been since he was eighteen years old, would go even further. Those who knew Guiteau best, he said, and had failed to have him admitted to an asylum, were to blame for his actions. “On his friends rests the real responsibility for the assassination,” Beard charged. “Mr. Scoville is the real murderer of President Garfield.”
54 “Did you have any question”: United States v. Guiteau, 965.
55 “A man may become profoundly depraved”: Taylor, “Assassin on Trial,” 6.
56 “disease of the brain”: United States v. Guiteau, 1591.
57 “Hanging is too good for you”: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 50.
58 A farmer from Maryland tried: “A Shot at the Assassin,” New York Times, November 21, 1881. Additional men had been assigned to guard Guiteau, and he was moved to a different cell, but he grew increasingly nervous. He attempted to hide a knife, asked to be vaccinated as protection against infection that might reach him through the mail, and insisted on making another announcement in court. “I understand that there are one or two disreputable characters hanging around this court, intending to do me harm,” he said, interrupting testimony about the gun he had used to shoot the president. “I want to notify all disreputable persons that if they attempt to injure me they will probably be shot dead by my body-guard. . . . There has been considerable loose talk on this subject this week, and I wish the public to understand it.”
59 “My blood be on the head”: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 223.
60 “I am willing to DIE”: Quoted in ibid., 233–34.
61 “Whatever your impressions may be”: John Guiteau to Charles Guiteau, June 20, 1882.
62 “The public have never had the facts”: John Guiteau to Charles Guiteau, May 31, 1882.
63 “an audience before a decision”: John Guiteau to Chester Arthur, June 23, 1882.
64 Arthur refused to see John: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 141.
65 “no grounds to justify”: “The President’s Decision in Guiteau’s Case,” New York Herald, June 25, 1882.
66 “Dear Madam: Humbly I address you”: Frances Guiteau to Lucretia Garfield, February 12, 1882, quoted in unnamed newspaper found in the Hiram College Archives.
67 When she could wait no longer: Mollie Garfield diary, June 29, 1882, quoted in Feis, Mollie Garfield in the White House, 107.
68 “dared to come”: Ibid., 106.
69 By the day of his execution: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 234n.
70 “I’m fully resigned”: “A Great Tragedy Ended,” New York Times, July 1, 1882.
71 “With the events of the past year”: “The Drop Falls,” unnamed newspaper, “Special Dispatch to the Inquirer,” June 30, 1882.
72 After Crocker had finished: “Final Moments of Life,” Washington Post, July 1, 1882; Fox, The Crime Avenged, 62.
73 A few minutes later, Hicks: “The Drop Falls,” unnamed newspaper, “Special Dispatch to the Inquirer,” June 30, 1882, Hiram College Archives.
74 Twenty thousand people: “The Gallows Prepared,” New York Times, June 30, 1882.
75 “I stubbed my toe”: “The Drop Falls,” unnamed newspaper, “Special Dispatch to the Inquirer,” June 30, 1882, Hiram College Archives; Alienist and Neurologist 4 (October 1882): 554.
76 “Except ye become”: “Final Moments of Life,” Washington Post, July 1, 1882.
Epilogue: Forever and Forever More
1 After the doors were opened: “Guiteau’s Grave,” Washington Post, July 2, 1882.
2 “His ultimate place in history”: “Garfield and Arthu
r,” New York Times, Sept. 25, 1881.
3 “I fear coming generations”: Century Magazine (April 1884): 807.
4 “Garfield does not belong”: Quoted in Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 62–63.
5 “This morning from the depth”: Quoted in Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 62–63.
6 In fact, Secret Service agents: Congress had allowed Secret Service agents to guard Grover Cleveland during his second term, in the mid-1890s, but it had not been an official assignment. Melanson, The Secret Service, 138.
7 The day McKinley was shot: Although Robert Todd Lincoln was not at Ford’s Theatre when his father was shot, he was by his side when President Lincoln died.
8 “We do not think”: Quoted in Hoogenboom, Outlawing the Spoils, 209.
9 “fresh grief to me”: Ackerman, Dark Horse, 448.
10 “outrageous”: Hudson, Random Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, 125–27.
11 “When I saw him afterwards”: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 256–57.
12 “disdained roast beef”: Ibid., 296.
13 “Gentlemen, you have been misinformed”: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, p. 374.
14 “His Accidency”: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 357.
15 “He didn’t crumble”: Ibid., 384.
16 “I am not going to die”: Conkling, The Life and Letters of Roscoe Conkling, 512.
17 Now, he paced the floor: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 380–86.
18 “It seems that the attending physicians”: Quoted in Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 112–13.
19 “more to cast distrust”: Quoted in Rutkow, James A. Garfield, 131.
20 “None of the injuries inflicted”: Gerster, Recollections of a New York Surgeon, 206.
21 “ignorance is Bliss”: Quoted in Herr, “Ignorance Is Bliss,” 460.
22 Bliss, however, refused: Rutkow, James A. Garfield, 128.
23 “Statement of the Services Rendered”: Bliss, Statement of the Services Rendered by the Surgeons in the Case of the Late President Garfield, 10–11.
24 “so greatly impaired”: Ibid., 7.
25 Seven years later: “At the Point of Death,” Washington Post, February 21, 1889.
26 “Now that Papa has gone”: Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 63.
27 “Had it not been that her children”: Quoted in Shaw, Lucretia, 107.
28 “armed defender”: Ibid., 109.
29 “not very good”: Ibid., 111.
30 She asked Joseph Stanley Brown: Ibid., 110.
31 The second floor of this wing: Presidential libraries would officially begin fifty-eight years later, in 1939, with Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s library.
32 “These are the last letters”: Shaw, Crete and James, 390.
33 “He has such poise and sanity”: Shaw, Lucretia, 116.
34 “Sometimes I feel that God”: Quoted in Feis, Mollie Garfield in the White House, 108.
35 “I believe I am in love”: Ibid., 110.
36 “a small stone”: Ibid., 113.
37 Three months later, Mollie and Joseph: Ibid., 116.
38 “It is now rendered quite certain”: Bell to Mabel Bell, 1881, Bell Family Papers.
39 “This is most mortifying to me”: Ibid.
40 “An old idea”: Bell, “Volta Lab Notes,” October 25, 1881.
41 In the years to come: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 348.
42 In 1886, Captain Arthur Keller: Ibid., 400.
43 “door through which I should pass”: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, viii.
44 Bell would live to be seventy-five years old: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 491.
45 “I must confess that”: “Lister Was the Father of Antiseptic Surgery,” New York Times, September 4, 1927.
46 “the greatest conqueror of disease”: “Lister and Surgery,” New York Times, October 5, 1913.
47 “My lord”: Keen, “Before and After Lister,” Science, June 18, 1915, 885. Keen attributes the quote to Thomas Bayard, as do several other sources, but Joseph Hodges Choate was the American ambassador to Great Britain in 1902. Bayard had died four years earlier.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Manuscript Sources
The Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
Charles Sumner Tainter Papers, National Museum of American History
Chester Arthur Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
Chicago Historical Society
East Carolina University, Special Collections Department
Hiram College Archives
Historical Society of Washington, D.C.
James A. Garfield Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
Joseph Stanley-Brown Papers, Library of Congress
Library of the New York City Bar
Library of the Stonington Historical Society
Lucretia Garfield Papers, Library of Congress, Manuscript Division
National Museum of American History
National Museum of Health and Medicine
Western Reserve Historical Society
White House Historical Association
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