Charles Guiteau: Presidential Assassin, The Assassination, Chapter 4, Click2Biography

<body link="0000ff" alink="ff0000" vlink="000000" bgcolor=000033> <table width="100%" bgcolor=000033> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <table width=90% bgcolor=ffffff> <tr> <td align=center valign=top> <tr> <td> <div align=center><p><b><font face="arial, helvetica" size=5 color=000000><b>CHARLES GUITEAU</p> <p><font size="4"><b>CHAPTER 4 - THE ASSASSINATION</b></font></p> </div>  <center> <table width="90%"> <tr> <td align="left" valign="top"> <div align="justify"> <p><font face="arial, helvetica" color="000000" size="3">The President had arrived at the rail station with his <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/28/1/28-0056a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Secretary of State</b></a>, James G. <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/7/5/07-0433a.gif" target="_blank"><b>Blaine</b></a>. Six weeks before, on meeting Guiteau at the State Department, Blaine had instructed Guiteau:</p> <center><font face="Times New Roman"><b><i>Never bother me again about the Paris consulship so long as you live.</b></i></font></center> <p align="justify"><font face="arial, helvetica">(<i>The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau</i>, by Charles E. Rosenberg, 1976 edition, page 39.)</p> <p>As the President and his entourage passed through the station’s waiting room, Guiteau approached Garfield from behind. He <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3a10000/3a10000/3a10200/3a10265v.jpg" target="_blank"><b>fired</b></a> two shots. One was inconsequential, grazing the President’s arm. The other, sending a bullet <a href="http://images.amazon.com/images/P/1561632287.01.LZZZZZZZ.jpg" target="_blank"><b>into</b></a> Garfield’s back, was serious but not necessarily fatal.</p> <p>Garfield sank to the floor, allegedly falling on a <a href="http://americanhistory.si.edu/presidency/images/medium/2000-7303_M.jpg" target="_blank"><b>floor tile</b></a> which is now housed at the Smithsonian Institute. He was initially <a href="http://www.printsoldandrare.com/garfield/203gar.jpg" target="_blank"><b>examined</b></a> at the station by Dr. Smith Townsend, the first doctor to reach him.</p> <p>Frail and in poor health, <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/cph/3a50000/3a53000/3a53300/3a53342r.jpg" target="_blank"><b>Lucretia</b></a> (“Crete”) Rudolph Garfield, the First Lady, was not with <a href="http://media.nara.gov/media/images/40/19/40-1846a.gif" target="_blank"><b>the President</b></a> at the train station. Recovering from a serious bout of malaria, she was at a resort in New Jersey. <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/history/firstladies/lg20.html" target="_blank"><b>She</b></a> quickly returned to the White House.</p> <p>Garfield’s wound was initially 3.5 inches long. But as one doctor after another poked and prodded the president, looking for the bullet, Garfield’s condition <a href="http://www.printsoldandrare.com/garfield/204gar.jpg" target="_blank"><b>worsened</b></a>. His pus-oozing wound eventually measured 20 inches!</p> </div> <p align="center"><font size="2"><a href="charles_guiteau_ch3.htm">GO TO LAST CHAPTER</a>     <a href="charles_guiteau_ch1.htm">BACK TO FIRST CHAPTER  </a>   <a href="charles_guiteau_ch5.htm">GO TO NEXT CHAPTER</a></p><br> </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table>  </td> </tr> </table> </body>