Throughout history there have been many different presidents of the United States who’s lives
were cut short through assassination.
The most infamous was JFK, but in the century before Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes
Booth inside of a theatre in Washington.
But another president who was assassinated was James A Garfield, who served as the President
of America for around 6 months until he was shot by Charles J Guiteau.
Guiteau was then later executed for his crime, after Garfield died two months after from
his infections related to the wounds.
But what is the story of his execution?
Join us today as we look at the execution of the man that shot President Garfield.
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Charles J Guiteau as a young man inherited a large sum of money from his grandfather
and he then attended the University of Michigan, but he failed the entrance exams.
He later joined a religious sect, but there was a group marriage policy int he group,
and Guiteau was rejected during his 5 years there.
He left the community twice, and then he began to work as a clerk at a Chicago law firm.
He was not a successful lawyer, and he only argued one case in court, and he made most
of his money as a bill collector.
He married a librarian, who later said he was involved in dishonest activity, and he
would regularly take amounts from his collections, and would rarely give money to his clients.
The couple moved to New York, and he then took an interest in politics, as a Democrat.
Guiteau was physically violent to his wife, and she wanted a divorce, and he turned his
back on religion.
His father would claim that his son was possessed by Satan, and and he would spend a large part
of 1880 in Boston where he was accused of theft.
But he remained interested in politics, and the winner of the next election was James
A Garfield who became the president.
During the early parts go Garfields presidency, which began in March 1881, Guiteau was living
in Washington, and he was poor and forced to live between rooming houses without paying
for his lodgings and meals.
He had to walk the snowy cold city without a coat or boots, and he spent a large part
of his days in hotel lobbies reading newspapers, and keeping a track about President Garfield
and his cabinet.
He would become obsessed with Garfield, and he even approached the Secretary of State
at one time and he asked about an appointment to a position of government, showing how he
was losing touch of reality.
Guiteau considered himself a republican and Stalwart, and he convinced himself that his
work for the party was important to Garfield’s election.
He later convinced himself that Garfield was going to destroy the party, and after his
encounter with the Secretary of State, he became determined to take out Garfield, and
to make the Vice President Chester A Arthur, the next president.
He believed that the President would be too strong to be killed with a knife, and said
‘Garfield would have crushed the life out of me with a single blow of the fist,’ and
he then came up with the plan to shoot the President.
He felt Garfield needed to be killed, and he borrowed $15 from a relative to buy a revolver.
He thought he needed a large calibre weapon, and he settled on a Webley Calibre revolver.
He could not afford the extra dollar for an ivory grip, but the store owner let him off.
He spent a few weeks practicing, and the recoil from thew weapon was so severe he was knocked
over the first time he fired it.
During one incident, Guiteau began to shadow President Garfield to the Baltimore and Potomac
Railroad Station, as he was saying goodbye to his wife as she was off to a beach resort.
However his wife was in poor health, and Giteau changed his plans, as he allegedly did not
want to upset his wife, however on the 2nd July 1881, he would change his idea.
He was waiting at the station getting his shoes shined, and pacing.
President Garfield entered the station, and he was looking forward to a holiday with his
wife, however Charles J Guiteau stepped forward, and he then shot Garfield twice from behind.
The Second shot pierced the first lumbar vertebra, but missed the spinal cord.
Guiteau surrendered himself, and said ‘I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts.
Arthur is president now!’
But initially the gunshots did not kill the president.
But after a battle with infections, and the fact his doctors were poking the wound with
unwashed hands, and dirty equipment, Andrew Garfield died on the 19th September, almost
3 months after being shot.
Many believed that he would have been saved if clean equipment was used, but the bullet
wound had caused a serious infection and blood poisoning.
However once Garfield was dead, the government officially charged the assassin with murder.
He had previously been accused of attempted murder, and he pleaded not guilty.
His trial occurred in Washington, and it was one of the first high profile cases in America
where temporary insanity was considered.
Guiteau insisted he had been legally insane at the time of the shooting, and he as not
really medical insane.A defence witness said, ‘he is not only now insane, but that he
was never anything else.’
But a prosecuting witness said, ‘He's no more insane than I am.
There's nothing of the mad about Guiteau: he's a cool, calculating blackguard, a polished
ruffian, who has gradually prepared himself to pose in this way before the world.
He was a deadbeat, pure and simple.
Finally, he got tired of the monotony of deadbeating.
He wanted excitement of some other kind and notoriety ... and he got it.’
His bizarre behaviour, attracted the media, and at trial he would insult and curse at
the judge and the witnesses.
He even gave his testimony in epic poetry, and asked for legal advice from random spectators
via notes which were passed.
He appealed to the new president to set him free, saying that ‘The doctors killed Garfield,
I just shot him.’
However he was sentenced to death after being found guilty, and he would fire one last insult
at the jury.
He appealed his conviction, but this was rejected.
On the 30th June 1882 in the District of Colombia, Charles J Guiteau was brought to his execution.
He was led to the gallows, and he smiled and waved at the spectators and reporters.
On the way to the gallows he danced and delivered a last dying prayer, and he said that God
did inspire the act for which I am now murdered.’
He said ‘This government and nation by this act will incur the internal enmity, thy divine
law of retribution will strike this nation and my murderers.’
He called the President a coward, who’s ingratitude to the man that made him and saved
his party and land from overthrow has no parallel in history.’
Guiteau signalled he was ready to die after dropping the paper containing a poem he had
written.
After this was finished, whilst he was stood on the gallows, a black hood was placed over
his smiling head, and then seconds later he was shuffled over the trapdoor which was then
sprung, and instantly he fell through and the rope broke his neck with the fall.
Guiteau’s remains were not returned to his family, and he was autopsied and buried in
the corner of the prison yard.
Pieces of the hanging rope were sold as souvenirs, and rumours began to emerge that the prison
guards were going to dig up his corpse and to pass this onto grave robbers.
Charles J Guiteau was the man who assassinated an American president, and the event that
made him infamous is one which is largely forgotten in History.
His evil acts have been overshadowed by those such as Lee Harvey Oswald, or by John Wilkes
Booth, who also took the lives of presidents.
He was a man who was seen as crazy during his trial, and his trial captivated a nation.
But inside of a prison in Washington, he was executed for his act of killing a president,
and until the very end he appeared delusional, defiant and downright indignant.
His story is certainly a captivating one.
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