Destiny of the Republic - Candice Millard [158]
18 It was, she would later write, “the saddest”: Edson, “The Sickness and Nursing of President Garfield,” 620.
19 “by no strange hands”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 302.
20 “A last token of amity”: Crook, Through Five Administrations, 274.
21 The train ride to Elberon: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 81.
22 “No sound of bell or whistle”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 303.
23 “At every station”: Ibid.
24 “It was indeed”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 82.
25 When the train finally reached Elberon: United States v. Guiteau, 124.
26 “I am willing that you should ruin”: Brown, The Life and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 241.
27 Before the train could reach: Ackerman, Dark Horse, 425.
28 “Instantly hundreds of strong arms”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 303.
29 When he was carried into his room: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 84.
30 “This is delightful”: Ibid., 89.
31 “Throughout his long illness”: Rockwell, “From Mentor to Elberon.”
32 When Bliss told him that a fund: The fund had been started by Cyrus W. Field, an American financier who helped found the Atlantic Telegraph Company, the first company to attempt to lay a telegraph cable across the Atlantic. The fund for Lucretia eventually reached $350,000. She used it not only to live on and to send her children to college, but to help establish Garfield’s library, the first presidential library, in their home in Mentor.
33 “What?”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 301.
34 “Doctor, you plainly show”: Ibid., 303.
35 “from a labor and responsibility”: Medical Bulletin, September 8, 1881, 6:00 p.m.
36 “clearer road to recovery”: Quoted in Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 107.
37 “Despite the announcements”: Quoted in ibid., 98.
38 “may live the day out”: Peskin, Garfield, 606.
39 “Do you think my name”: Ibid., 607.
40 Rockwell was again with Garfield: Ibid.
41 “Well, Swaim”; Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 95.
42 “wonderful productions”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 304.
43 Moments later, Lucretia: Ibid.
44 “hear the long, solemn roll”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
45 “the witnesses of the last sad scene”: Bliss, “The Story of President Garfield’s Illness,” 304.
46 “A faint, fluttering pulsation”: Ibid.
47 “All hearts,” Bliss would write, “were stilled”: Ibid.
48 “begged her to retire”: Ibid., 305.
Chapter 22: All the Angels of the Universe
1 “Extra Republican!”: Bell to Mabel Bell, September 19, 1881, Bell Family Papers. Bell began this letter to Mabel earlier in the evening of the 19th. As he was writing, it turned midnight, and soon after he heard the newsboy’s cry, announcing Garfield’s death.
2 “Please hunt in the study”: Ibid.
3 “How terrible it all is”: Ibid.
4 “the final agony”: Stanley-Brown, “My Friend Garfield,” 101.
5 In the end, the autopsy: “The Result of the Autopsy,” New York Times, September 21, 1881.
6 “The missile”: Bliss et al., “Record of the Post-mortem Examination of the Body of President J. A. Garfield,” 4.
7 “this long descending channel”: Ibid.
8 “no evidence that it had been penetrated”: Ibid., 3.
9 Evidence of the proximate cause: Ibid.; Author interview with Dr. David Lounsbury, June 29, 2010.
10 “The initial point of this septic condition”: Reyburn, Clinical History of the Case of President James Abram Garfield, 97.
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