Destiny of the Republic - Candice Millard [160]
58 A farmer from Maryland tried: “A Shot at the Assassin,” New York Times, November 21, 1881. Additional men had been assigned to guard Guiteau, and he was moved to a different cell, but he grew increasingly nervous. He attempted to hide a knife, asked to be vaccinated as protection against infection that might reach him through the mail, and insisted on making another announcement in court. “I understand that there are one or two disreputable characters hanging around this court, intending to do me harm,” he said, interrupting testimony about the gun he had used to shoot the president. “I want to notify all disreputable persons that if they attempt to injure me they will probably be shot dead by my body-guard. . . . There has been considerable loose talk on this subject this week, and I wish the public to understand it.”
59 “My blood be on the head”: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 223.
60 “I am willing to DIE”: Quoted in ibid., 233–34.
61 “Whatever your impressions may be”: John Guiteau to Charles Guiteau, June 20, 1882.
62 “The public have never had the facts”: John Guiteau to Charles Guiteau, May 31, 1882.
63 “an audience before a decision”: John Guiteau to Chester Arthur, June 23, 1882.
64 Arthur refused to see John: Clark, The Murder of James A. Garfield, 141.
65 “no grounds to justify”: “The President’s Decision in Guiteau’s Case,” New York Herald, June 25, 1882.
66 “Dear Madam: Humbly I address you”: Frances Guiteau to Lucretia Garfield, February 12, 1882, quoted in unnamed newspaper found in the Hiram College Archives.
67 When she could wait no longer: Mollie Garfield diary, June 29, 1882, quoted in Feis, Mollie Garfield in the White House, 107.
68 “dared to come”: Ibid., 106.
69 By the day of his execution: Rosenberg, The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau, 234n.
70 “I’m fully resigned”: “A Great Tragedy Ended,” New York Times, July 1, 1882.
71 “With the events of the past year”: “The Drop Falls,” unnamed newspaper, “Special Dispatch to the Inquirer,” June 30, 1882.
72 After Crocker had finished: “Final Moments of Life,” Washington Post, July 1, 1882; Fox, The Crime Avenged, 62.
73 A few minutes later, Hicks: “The Drop Falls,” unnamed newspaper, “Special Dispatch to the Inquirer,” June 30, 1882, Hiram College Archives.
74 Twenty thousand people: “The Gallows Prepared,” New York Times, June 30, 1882.
75 “I stubbed my toe”: “The Drop Falls,” unnamed newspaper, “Special Dispatch to the Inquirer,” June 30, 1882, Hiram College Archives; Alienist and Neurologist 4 (October 1882): 554.
76 “Except ye become”: “Final Moments of Life,” Washington Post, July 1, 1882.
Epilogue: Forever and Forever More
1 After the doors were opened: “Guiteau’s Grave,” Washington Post, July 2, 1882.
2 “His ultimate place in history”: “Garfield and Arthur,” New York Times, Sept. 25, 1881.
3 “I fear coming generations”: Century Magazine (April 1884): 807.
4 “Garfield does not belong”: Quoted in Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 62–63.
5 “This morning from the depth”: Quoted in Comer, Harry Garfield’s First Forty Years, 62–63.
6 In fact, Secret Service agents: Congress had allowed Secret Service agents to guard Grover Cleveland during his second term, in the mid-1890s, but it had not been an official assignment. Melanson, The Secret Service, 138.
7 The day McKinley was shot: Although Robert Todd Lincoln was not at Ford’s Theatre when his father was shot, he was by his side when President Lincoln died.
8 “We do not think”: Quoted in Hoogenboom, Outlawing the Spoils, 209.
9 “fresh grief to me”: Ackerman, Dark Horse, 448.
10 “outrageous”: Hudson, Random Recollections of an Old Political Reporter, 125–27.
11 “When I saw him afterwards”: Reeves, Gentleman Boss, 256–57.
12 “disdained roast beef”: Ibid., 296.
13 “Gentlemen, you have been misinformed”: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, p. 374.
14 “His Accidency”: Chidsey, The Gentleman from New York, 357.
15 “He didn’t crumble”: Ibid., 384.
16 “I am not going to die”: Conkling, The Life and