UNITED STATES. 



809 



until 1885 if the amendment was adopted. (For 

 particulars of the State canvasses and the re- 

 sult of elections, see the several States.) 



The general result of the elections for Con- 

 gressmen was to give the Democrats a large 

 majority in the House of Kepresentatives of 

 the Forty-eighth Congress. The result of the 

 senatorial elections of the winter following gave 

 the Republicans just one half of the memhers 

 of the Senate, reckoning the Virginia Readjust- 

 ers with the Opposition. The subject of po- 

 litical assessments figured among the influences 

 which affected the course of events. (See PO- 

 LITICAL ASSESSMENTS.) Among other incidents 

 of public affairs was the organization of the 

 Utah Commission and the trial of the Star-Route 

 case. (See STAE-RODTE TRIAL.) 



WILLIAM E. CHANDLER, SECRETARY OP THE NAVT. 



[Born in Concord, New Hampshire, December 28, 1835; 

 graduated from Harvard Law School in 1855; served 

 three terms in the New Hampshire Legislature, as Speak- 

 er in 1863 and 18(54 ; appointed by President Linco'n 

 Judge-Advocate-General of the Navy Department, March 

 9, 1865 ; held the office of First Assistant Secretary of tho 

 Treasury, with Hugh McOulloch, for two years. Selected 

 by President Arthur as a member of his Cabinet, his ap- 

 pointment was confirmed by the Senate April 12, 1882.] 



The case of Guiteau, the assassin, was car- 

 ried to the full bench of the Supreme Court of 

 the District of Columbia on questions raised 

 hy the defense. The decision was rendered on 

 the 22d of May. Regarding the question of 

 jurisdiction, it was held that the crime con- 

 sisted in the blow which caused death, and 

 where that blow was struck the crime was 

 committed. On that ground the jurisdiction 

 of the criminal court was sustained. The other 

 exceptions were overruled, the motion for a 

 new trial was denied, and the judgment of the 

 court below was confirmed. Application was 

 made for a re-argument before the court, on the 

 ground that there were new considerations to 

 be urged, but to this application the Court re- 

 plied on the 5th of June : " In the case of Gui- 



teau, the judges who listened to the argument 

 in that case have come to the conclusion that 

 they have exhausted their powers upon it. 

 They have heard it patiently, fully, and fairly, 

 and re-argument would bring them to no other 

 conclusion than that which they have already 

 arrived at; and they decline to reopen the 

 case for argument." Application was subse- 

 quently made to Mr. Justice Bradley, of the 

 Supreme Court of the United States, for a writ 

 of habeas corpus. This was denied on the 19th 

 of June. The counsel for the doomed man 

 next resorted to the President, in the hope of 

 obtaining a reprieve, and the appointment of a 

 lunacy commission to determine the question 

 of the prisoner's insanity. This effort was 

 backed by a number of philanthropists and 

 scientific experts, but it failed. The question 

 was referred to the Attorney-General, who ad- 

 vised against the reprieve, and expressed doubt 

 of the President's power to appoint such a 

 commission as was asked for. In concluding 

 his opinion, the Attorney-General said : 



At the last hour, you are asked to reprieve this just- 

 ly condemned man, to investigate, in an unusual, if 

 not irregular, way, a fact that nas been solemnly de- 

 termined by the constituted authorities of the law. I 

 submit it ought not to be doue. It will establish a 

 dangerous precedent. It will shake public confidence 

 in the certainty and justice of the courts, by substitut- 

 ing your will for the judgment of the law, and its fo- 

 rums, at the instigation of a few who assert he was and 

 is insane, and who press their applications, contrary 

 to the preponderance of medical talent of this country, 

 who believe the other way, and think him sane, as is 

 admitted by one of the most conspicuous, earnest, and 

 important of the petitioners. 



Guiteau was executed on the 30th of June at 

 the jail in Washington. An autopsy was made 

 under the direction of Dr. D. S. Lamb, of the 

 Medical Museum, in the presence of a number 

 of physicians, and the result was reported in 

 an official manner. Of this it was said that 

 some deviations were shown from the typical 

 brain, but "they have absolutely no signifi- 

 cance from the point of view of mental de- 

 rangement." The skeleton was added to the 

 curiosities of the Medical Museum. 



The question of compensation to President 

 Garfield's medical attendants was made a mat- 

 ter of controversy in Congress, and was finally 

 referred to a Board of Audit which made the 

 following allowances: Dr. Bliss $6,500, Drs. 

 Agnew and Hamilton $5,000 each, Reyburn 

 and Boynton $4,000 each, and Mrs. Edson 

 $3,000. " The board also allowed different par- 

 ties $5,929 for services and supplies, including 

 the receiver of the Central Railroad of New 

 Jersey, $1,500; C. Jones, Elberon, $1,162. 

 The allowance for outside claims was about 

 $11,000 less than the amount available, mak- 

 ing the total balance nearly $19,000 out of the 

 entire appropriation of $57,000. There were 

 allowances amounting to $5,440 for extra ser- 

 vices by Government employes, the highest sum 

 being $300 to William Crump. The other al- 

 lowances vary from $15 to $200. The allow- 

 ances for physicians aggregated $8,000 less 



