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www.lakeviewcemetery.com

“One hundred thousand mourners paid their respects to the late president…”

—Richard Norton Smith

Whether Garfield died at the hands of an assassin, or from the unsanitary probings of his doctors, remains a topic of scholarly debate. Beyond question was the depth of popular grief occasioned by his passing. One hundred thousand mourners paid their respects to the late president as he lay in state in the Capitol Rotunda; another twenty thousand requested tickets for Guiteau’s hanging. In the aftermath, Congress enacted civil service legislation, much as lawmakers eight decades later would be shamed into passing a civil rights bill associated with the martyred John F. Kennedy.

That is not all Guiteau’s crime inspired, as any visitor to Cleveland’s Lake View Cemetery can see for himself. Part of a distinguished company that includes John D. Rockefeller, Mark Hanna, and John Hay, the twentieth president rests in a turreted red sandstone tower soaring 180 feet into the air. Beneath Memorial Hall, whose ornate mosaics and elegant tilework have recently been restored to their original splendor, a nineteen-foot white Carrara marble Garfield stands forever poised on the edge of a campaign oration. Downstairs a crypt holds the caskets of the president and his wife, Lucretia. Forget the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; when in Cleveland, head for Lake View.

One of Garfield’s neighbors in Lake View Cemetery

—RNS

Chester Arthur

Buried: Albany Rural Cemetery, Albany, New York

Twenty-first President - 1881-1885

Born: October 5, 1829, in Fairfield, Vermont

Died: 5:00 a.m. on November 18, 1886, in New York, New York

Age at death: 57

Cause of death: Stroke

Final words: Unknown

Admission to Albany Rural Cemetery: Free

The circumstances surrounding Chester Arthur’s birth nearly cost him the presidency. Arthur was born the son of a Baptist minister in Fairfield, Vermont. His political enemies knew that one way to keep Arthur out of the presidency was to prove he was born in Canada rather than Vermont, thus making him ineligible to be president. Though such charges followed him throughout the campaign of 1880, evidence that he was in fact Canadian was never provided.

The vice presidency under James Garfield was Arthur’s first elective office. Arthur had not gotten over his wife Nell’s recent death from pneumonia when James Garfield was assassinated in 1881. When he was president, Arthur hung Nell’s portrait in the White House and insisted that fresh flowers be placed underneath it each day. Ironically, Arthur was himself seriously ill, suffering from Bright’s disease, a kidney ailment that left him feeling extremely fatigued. Reports of his condition, which Arthur steadfastly denied, appeared occasionally in the press.

The Angel of Sorrow at the Arthur tomb

Due to his illness, Arthur was not enthusiastic about another term but nevertheless sought his party’s nomination. He was unsuccessful, losing the nomination to James G. Blaine. His health rapidly declined; by the later months of 1886, the former president was bedridden at his home in New York City, unable to eat solid food. Arthur remained optimistic, filling his days with books, newspapers, and visitors. His condition worsened after he was taken on a long ride through Central Park; Arthur never fully recovered. About two weeks before his death, Arthur fell into a state of depression and ordered all of his personal papers burned.

On the night of November 16, 1886, Chester Arthur suffered a severe stroke. A maid who came to wake him the next morning found him partially paralyzed and unable to speak. He soon fell unconscious. He died on November 18 in his home at 123 Lexington Avenue. A doctor and Arthur’s two sisters were at his bedside; his daughter and nephew nearby. Telegrams were sent to the former president’s other relatives and the surviving members of his cabinet, and an undertaker was summoned. Although many mourners came to pay their respects, the family