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Random Facts about the Assassination of President Garfield
ASSASSINATION OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD
July 2, 1881, at 9:25 A.M., as President Garfield was
entering the Baltimore & Potomac Railroad depot at
Washington, preparatory to taking the cars for a two weeks'
jaunt in New England, he was fired upon and severely wounded
by Charles Jules Guitean, a native of Illinois, but of
French descent. The scene of the assassination was the
ladies' reception-room at the station. The President and Mr.
Blaine, arm in arm, were walking slowly through the aisle
between two rows of benches on either side of the room; when
Guitean entered by a side door on the left of the gentlemen,
passed quickly around the back of the benches till directly
behind the President, and fired the shot that struck his
arm. Mr. Garfield walked about ten feet to the end of the
aisle, and was in the act of turning to face his assailant
when the second shot struck him in the small of the back,
and he fell. The assassin was immediately seized and taken
to jail. The wounded president was conveyed in an ambulance
to the White House. As he was very faint, the first fear was
of internal hemorrhage, which might cause speedy death. But
as he rallied in a few hours, this danger was thought to be
averted and inflammation was now feared. But as symptoms of
this failed to appear, the surgeons in attendance concluded
that no important organ had been injured, that the bullet
would become encysted and harmless, or might possibly be
located and successfully removed. By the 10th of July, the
reports were so favorable, that the president's recovery was
regarded as certain, and public thanksgivings were offered
in several of the States, by order of the governors, for his
deliverance. The first check in the favorable symptoms
occurred on July 18, and July 23 there was a serious
relapse, attended with chills and fever. The wound had been
frequently probed but without securing any favorable result.
The induction balance was used to locate the ball, and was
regarded as a success, though subsequently its indications
were known to have been altogether erroneous. The probings,
therefore, in what was assumed to be the track of the ball,
only increased the unfavorable symptoms. During the entire
month of August these reports were alternately hopeful and
discouraging, the dangerous indications being generally on
the increase. By August 25, his situation was understood to
be very critical, though an apparent improvement on the 26th
and 28th again aroused hope. At his own earnest desire the
president was removed, September 6, to Elberon Park, near
Long Branch. N.J., in the hope that the cooler air of the
seaside might renew his strength more rapidly. However, the
improvement hoped for did not appear. On September 16, there
was a serious relapse, with well-marked symptoms of blood
poisoning, and September 19, the president died. A
post-mortem examination showed that the ball, after
fracturing one of the ribs, had passed through the spinal
column, fracturing the body of one of the vertebra, driving
a number of small fragments of bone into the soft parts
adjacent, and lodging below the pancreas, where it had
become completely encysted. The immediate cause of death was
hemorrhage from one of the small arteries in the track of
the ball, but the principal cause was the poisoning of the
blood from suppuration.
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