318 



GARFIELD, JAMES A. 



The two entered the station arm in arm, and 

 while they were passing through the ladies' 

 waiting-room two pistol-shots were heard in 

 quick succession, one of which took effect in 

 the President's back. He sank to the floor, 

 bleeding profusely, and for a moment was un- 

 conscious, and then was affected with vomit- 

 ing. To get him out of the confusion he was 

 carried to the offices of the company, on the 

 second floor. Several physicians were sum- 

 moned, and, after a superficial examination of 

 the wound, the President was taken back to 

 the Executive Mansion. His wife was sum- 

 moned from Long Branch, whence she was to 

 have joined him on his Eastern trip. Among 

 the physicians first summoned was D. "W. 

 Bliss, an old friend of Garfield, for whom 

 Secretary Lincoln had sent his carriage, and, 

 at the request of the President, he took charge 

 of the case. With the acquiescence of Mrs. 

 Garfield, he selected Drs. J. K. Barnes, Sur- 

 geon-General of the Army, J. J. Woodward, 

 also of the army, and Robert Reyburn, as his 

 assistants. The result of their first careful 

 examination was the opinion that the bullet 

 had penetrated or grazed the liver, and had 

 lodged in the front wall of the abdomen. They 

 believed that the injury was not necessarily 

 fatal, but concluded that it was not advis- 

 able to attempt the removal of the bullet. 

 On the evening of July 3d it was decided to 

 call in Drs. D. Hayes Agnew, of Philadelphia, 

 and Frank H. Hamilton, of New York, for 

 consultation and advice. They approved of 

 what had been done, acquiesced in the opinion 

 of the other physicians as to the course of the 

 bullet, the inadvisability of attempting to ex- 

 tract it, and the chance of recovery. 



The person who had fired the pistol at the 

 railroad-station had been promptly seized and 

 taken into custody. He proved to be Charles 

 J. Guiteau, who had been a persistent but un- 

 successful applicant for an appointment, first 

 as minister to Austria, and then as consul- 

 general to Paris. He describes himself as a 

 lawyer, a politician, and a theologian, and is 

 reported to have said, on being taken into cus- 

 tody : " All right, I did it, and will go to jail 

 for it. I am a Stalwart, and Arthur will be 

 President." A letter was found on his person 

 in which the death of the President was spoken 

 of as a "sad necessity" that would "unite 

 the Republican party and save the republic." 

 Guiteau was lodged in the District of Colum- 

 bia jail, to await the result of the President's 

 wound. 



The news of the attempted assassination 

 created intense excitement throughout the 

 country, and it was considered in some quar- 

 ters as an indirect result of the political system 

 that encouraged unregulated office-seeking and 

 occasioned many disappointments, and to the 

 quarrel between the so-called " Stalwarts " and 

 Administration Republicans, which had origi- 

 nated in the controversy over appointments 

 in the State qf New York. There was an al- 



most universal outbreak of sorrow and indigna- 

 tion at the crime, and sympathy for the sufferer 

 and his family, and this found expression in 

 the action of numerous public bodies and polit- 

 ical assemblies, of both parties and in all sec- 

 tions of the country. It extended to foreign 

 lands, and brought forth many official and un- 

 official expressions of sympathy. After the 

 first shock had passed, the announcement that 

 the wound was not necessarily fatal, and that 

 there was a chance of recovery, gave rise to a 

 hopeful feeling, which increased with daily re- 

 ports of favorable progress. As early as the 

 10th of July Governor Foster, of Ohio, sug- 

 gested to the Governors of all the States the 

 appointment of a general day of thanksgiving 

 for the President's escape from death, and the 

 prospect of his speedy recovery. In several 

 States this suggestion was acted on. The fa- 

 vorable reports continued for some days, and 

 the President's recovery was confidently pre- 

 dicted by the surgeons in attendance. They 

 concluded that no important organ had been 

 injured, and that the bullet was likely to be- 

 come encysted and harmless, or might possibly 

 declare its presence in a way that would admit 

 of its successful removal. The first check in 

 the favorable symptoms was on the 18th of 

 July, and was followed by an apparent resump- 

 tion of progress. The first serious relapse oc- 

 curred on the 23d of July, being attended with 

 chills and more or less of fever. The bullet 

 had entered between the eleventh and twelfth 

 ribs about four inches to the right of the spinal 

 column, the assassin standing about six feet 

 behind and a little to the right of his victim, 

 and the bones had been somewhat splintered. 

 The diagnosis assumed that there had been a 

 deflection which sent the bullet downward and 

 to the right. The probing and treatment of 

 the wound had followed this supposed course, 

 where there was by this time a channel several 

 inches in depth. The unfavorable symptoms 

 were caused by obstruction in the flow of pus, 

 and on the morning of the 24th an incision was 

 made by Dr. Agnew to give a freer passage 

 from the supposed track of the wound. This 

 was followed by relief and a resumption of 

 hopeful reports. On the 28th there was a 

 slight recurrence of fever, and day by day 

 thereafter there was more or less of febrile rise 

 in the temperature and pulse, attended with 

 abnormal respiration. 



The heat of the season aggravated the diffi- 

 culty of dealing with the case, and artificial 

 means of cooling the atmosphere of the Execu- 

 tive Mansion were resorted to. Large quan- 

 tities of ice were placed in the cellar, over 

 which air was passed and then admitted to the 

 sick-room by means of an apparatus specially 

 devised for the purpose. The case was also 

 believed to be more or less complicated by 

 malarial influences prevailing in and about the 

 White House. Besides the physicians already- 

 mentioned, there were in constant attendance 

 on the President his intimate friends Colonel 



