The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1881-09-17 00:00:00

PRESIDENT GARrIELD.

The American Ambassador in London received on Monday
tatorning the following telegram from Lobgbranch :
" The President had an increase of fever last night,
kid was very restless until 5 a.m. During the day
be had been somewhat better, but his pulse, tempe-
112_ turv, and respiration have been higher for the 24
Tours than on any preceding day since he reached
4,ongbranch. His other symptoms are not reassuring,
%Id his general condition gives rise to anxiety.—
wigned) BLAINE, Secretary."

LoNGBRANCH, Sept. 12.
The following official bulletin has been issued :
" The President passed an unusually good night. The
Darotid trappuration has almost ceased. The cough is lc ss,
lO tfre expectoration has materially diminished. Pulse,
; temperature, 981; respiration, 18. '
Uuch uneasiness was felt last night regarding
6Peral Garfield, the idea prevailing that his con-
illon had again become critizal. The statements of
Physicians, however, are not to this effect. Dr.
"ea declares that the affection of the lungs is a
"al inflammation of the lower portion of the
ht organ, and that time only will develop
'whether a pus cavity is forming. He thinks, how-
teler, that the President will overcome this complica-
n°n• Notwithstanding the statement of Dr. Bliss,
l
'/eheral Garfield yesterday passed a very unfav9ur-
It° 111 day, to say the least, and many persons believe
/1114 PYMMia has set in. At eleven o'clock last night
,e Patient was sleeping, and the pulse and tempera-
;tre were reported to have decreased somewhat,
thciugh their actual state had not been ascertained.

September 12.
I. The President's pulse this evening is 100, tempera-
Ltll,e 986, and respiration 18. His condition is gene-
,444Y considered better. The anxiety concerning the
ction of one of his lungs has lessened, as the
.._7geons consider it to be under contro and do not
d it as serious.
d air. James, the Postmaster-General, saw the Presi-
bait t()-dai, and says that he found him much im-
U"...."(1-,...tte was in good spirits, and his voice wastic.'" They had a brief conversation, during which
R 2 President manifested a lively interest in the Civil
—vrvico reform and the Star Route investigation.

In—The Anlerican Minister in London received the following
107 r: on Tuesday morning, dated Longbranch, Sept. 12,
In the absence of Mr. Blaine, the attending phy-
Ileuins have requested me to inform you of the Presi-
4ent's condition. He has during the day eaten sufficient
nh relish, and has enjoyed at intervals refreshing
P- The wounds and the incisions made by the sur-
ge°llB all look better. The parotid gland has ceased sup-
tiation, and may be considered as substantially well.
er has exhibited more than his usual cheerfulness of
„IPilite- His tempeiature and respiration are now
`l,ennal, and his pulse is leas frequent and firmer than
t' the same time last evening. Notwithstanding these
_lreurable symptoms, the condition of the lower part
rn.the right lung will continue to be source of anxiety
seme days.—(Signed) M`VEAGH."

WASHINGTON, Sept. 11.
—, .Sergeant Mason, of the 2nd Battery of Artillery,
walle relieving guard at the gaol to-day, fired at the
trait ner Guiteau through the window of his cell. The
11• Ls grazed Gniteau's head and lodged in the wall of
--ueel,
Mason was arrested immediately and im-
:-.moned.

r, The Correspondent of The Times, in a telegram
Philadelphia, dated Sept. 18, says :—" With
Uret to the attempt on the life of the prisoner
Rn„,_teau on Sunday night, it appears that the military
Tieru'e outside the gaol drew lots, by which Mason was
eeneeted to shoot the prisoner when he looked from his
v.ktilthidow, where they could distinctly see him. Mason,
the watching the window, shouted, There he is !' at
,P same thne firing his rifle. Mason, when arrested, told
14,U about it, and said he hoped the shot had finished
Crltiditea'u. The guards ran into the cell and found
teau on his knees in terror. He cried, What do
-4:168e tnen mean? Do they want to murder me? '
i:•:!.e bullet had passed close to his ear, going through
r,41,2 oeat and lodging in the wall. Guiteau said it
Z'ghtened him nearly to death. He was removed
olltside
"" another cell, which a shot cannot reach from the
.”

tall. curious legal complication has arisen by the re.
4°,41 of the President. Under the common law
pl„Len prevails in Washington, if a mortal stroke is
:Yen in one county or State and death ensues in
zother county or State, the Courts of neither county
thavP jurisdiction. It is the opinion of some lawyers
if the President were to die at Longbranch,
...Utreau could not be punished for the crime.

dae following is an extract from a letter of the correspon-
„7f The Times, written from Philadelphia on the
dent '.t•—some days previous to the removal of the Fred-
Longbranch :
et; The public literally watch the President as
BeLY almost as his immediate attendants. Every
overeent and indication is bulletined, and put
in hundreds of public places where crowds gather
to watch the announcements. The three
,ar bulletins daily—morning, noon, and night-
-2,o—.onterspersed with scores of announcements as
run'ils condition of the patient. The telegraph wires
I into a chamber in the White House adjoin-
the sick room, where the operators sit day
ti
8-„' night, having kept an unbroken vigil
isee they put the instrument in on the day the
Lesi,dent was shot. The country hangs, as it were,
the ticking of that instrument, which conveys the
lare,sident's every pulse-beat almost throughout the
ha'n; There is no monopoly of this part of the news
traet, for the newspapers immediately display all
eY get to the public gaze that will give any new idea
the subject, and they do this without waiting for
aze!r regular editions, for every newspaper building in
c large cities has a front covered by bulletin boards,
.trstantly surrounded by anxious throngs. Among
doe People the President's health, his ups and
y. 111,5, his chances of life and death—is the uni-
'4l topic of conversation. As the case has
cone for better or worse, changing from day to day,
hopeful, now almost hopeless, the very aspects of
i
;ale crowds n the streets have told the story—jubi-
ta;nt or sorrowful, as the case might be. "How is the
..._'rresident? " is now the universal salutation, and so
i.Peesing is the popular interest in the case that
irre, need be no fear of anything connected with the
1-21!„ted States Government going awry so long as
_s44rneld lies on his sickbed. The public are on their
,"0(1 behaviour, for they will make any sacrifice to
"irre the President's return to health and his con-
nce in office.
engrossing national interest in this great
Zaraity has driven off almost every other subject of
7°41 summer attention, and the people have dwelt
iltft, the one great theme alone. In country and city
c," la all the same. As the trains on railways and tile stages
roads go out from the centre of news, the onetnlversal
restion at all stopping places is, "How is the Presi-
"lt?" In many places signal systems have been
ado
th ksted by flags or by steam whistles to announce that
h rresident still lives so' that whole neighbourhoods
..;'e thus notified. I know of a dozen flagstaffs
Zioout Philadelphia that are thus watched in the early
gling. Steamboat captains on the rivers similarly
to the villages and towns on shore as they pass.
flia -one subject overrides all else. When a relapse
g".:aes the people in the streets look as if bowed down
h-"..Z. an overpowering sorrow; when the cloud passes
coswaY their faces beam again. The latest relapse came
411; last Saturday, August 27; even the most hopeful
nng the surgeons gave him 9, and some of them
weat so far as to notify the family to prepare for the
t:Atet• _But Mrs. Garfield would not believe them;
to" there comes a dramatic story from Washing-
thn, describing how she sent the doctors back to
their Posts, and told them of her unshaken belief in
ti.se President's recovery. The country has an admira-
e. for this second Lucretia that is equal in its way to
I,2ti.felt for her husband. Her constant post is at his
bTai, de, and though for a moment she may elsewhere
teraY a woman's emotion, she is there all encourage-
_,ent and hope. There is no limit to the public appre•
itation of her great virtues and strength of character,
14118 forced to the front by this appalling calamity.
end, next to these, there is an admiration developed
ctlanghout the United States for England on account
dh7o,e deep interest and heartfelt sympathy she has
ti7PlaYed in this American misfortune. Blood is
Z.Loker than water, and we are all Anglo-Saxons
7.g,_8421- When we are hopeful, so is England ; when a
tweukjee brings sadness, the cable quickly responds
a sympathetic chord from the mother country,
Arl,d generally the earliest signal is a message of con-
.,_"clence from England's Queen. Nothing could have
"'Dourred that would have better cemented the friendship
ni the two countries. I could send pages from promi-
nent American journals proving this, but the task is
naneceessary.

THE POLITICAL EFFECT OF PRESI-
DENT GARFIELD' S ILLNESS.
~.911 the above subjeet, the Pall Mall Gazette publishes an
F.lcle from its New York Correspondent, dated Sept. 2,
'OOl which we take the following :

t Politics absolutely stopped here the Saturday after-
now_ nearly two months ago, when President
ifsrfield was wounded, and have not stirred since. It
not merely that good feeling and a respect for the
:7aerer prevent men from pursuing actively, or even
qlscussing, the struggle in the midst of which the
4esassin struck him; it is that the whole interest and
abtention of the country are so fixed upon the sick
_roolo at Washington that nobody cares to talk or
'rite about anything else. There has probably
been no instance in history when so vast a
multitude of human beings have been hanging
on and praying for the life of one. Every newspaper
ives at least five columns daily to his condition,
aeseribing, with the utmost fulness of detail, not only
the symptoms presented by the wound, by the swollen
Paxotid gland, by the patient's system generally,
out also reporting all the vestibule gossip which
e4o be picked up from hangers about who have
liuestioned the doctors and others as they go in
.I,lnd out of the White House, or who have scanned
41.113* thirfield's face as she goes out for an occasional
In many public places; through the cities,
Ittld at the doors of lege hotels in the watering-places,
copies are posted up three or four times a day of
l'elegrams from Washington round which eager crowds
gather. This has gone on 'for eight weeks; but the
.excitement was perhaps, except during the first day or
,cwo, never so intense as last Saturday and Monday.
On Saturday morning the President had virtually been
Riven up, and everybody expected to hear on Sunday
ndorning the bells announcing his departure. But on
14;aturday afternoon he suddenly took a turn for the
Better, and during the following days (till that on
,Which I write) has so far held his ground as to have
inspired the whole nation with fresh hope. A philo-
- might almost wish for him that he should die
now, for he cannot if he lives and rules maintain the
almost sacred position which he now holds in the
Irtinds of the people. Be it remembered that eighteen
months ago he was very little known, and that
since his accession to office he had had no opportu-
nity of showing what higher gifts he possessed,
01' of rendering any conspicuous service to his
Fclnotr3'. The feeling expressed towards him is,
however, not all due merely to indignation at the
Crime committed against the representatives of the

nation and sympathy for a sufferer who suffers on
account of his public place. Something must fairly
be set down to the sin.gular dignity, fortitude, and
simplicity which the President seems to have dis-
played since he was struck down, and a good deal
also to that domestic sentiment which is so extremely
strong among the Americans, even stronger than in
our own iniddle class. The picture of the President's
wife nursing him, of his children brought to his bed-
side, of his aged mother watching her garden gate
to see the daily messenger come with news, has
created a keen sympathy in the houses of the American
people, which could hardly have been given to any
unmarried victim, however great his virtues. ‘,
The crisis has sec American institutions and cha-
racter in some creditable lights. The machinery of
Government has gone on without a hitch, much less a
check, although in ordinary times the President's
initiative is constantly required by his Ministers. He
has, it need not be said, far more practically im-
portant duties to discharge than are now left to the
Crown of England. No rumour of dissensions or hesi-
tations among the Cabinet has arisen, although it is a
new Cabinet, dating from the President's own acces-
sion; all has proceeded from the Atlantic to the
Pacific just as if the Chief Magistrate, the source and
centre of executive power, was at the helm.