The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-10-20
GUITEAU'S CONFESSION.
HIS Story OF President Garfield. Assassi-
nauon-Thc Motive "PureIy Political ana
Patriotic"-No Confederate. &c.

nauon-The Motive "PureIy Political ana
Patriotic"-No Confederate. &c.
The New York WeraM of Thursday
contained scvcn closely printed columns
of what purports to be an autobiography
OF Gultcau, the assassin Of President Gar
field, as dictated by him to stcnogra.
pher, the narrative being condensed. i, is
alleged, to one.third of the actual amount
of matter as taken down in series of in
teryicws from Guiteau's own lips. Iii.
story of the assassination, or, rs he prefers
TO style &c, "thc removal of the presi.
dent" is one of the most cold-bloodei
accounts Of dreadful crime that was ever
put on paper. "My idea, simply stated :"
ne remarks, "was to remove as easily rs
possible Mr.. James a. Garfield, Il quiet
and good. .natured citizen of Ohio, who
temporarily occupied the position of
President of the United States, and sub.
stltutc in his place Mr.. Chester 4. Arthur
of New York, distinguished and highly
estimable gentleman. Mr.. Garfield in.
tended to quietly remove to paradise
(which is great improvement on this
world), while Mr.. Arthur saved the re.
public" And he adds: Not soul in
the universe knew Of my purpose to re-
move the President. If it has failed |
shall never attempt tagain. My motive
was purely political aud patriotic, and
acted under Divine pressure. 1t was the
same kind ofpressure that led Abraham
to sacrifice his son Isaac"
All that part Of the narrative relating
to his genealogy, his sojourn with the
Oneida Company, his shiltless life in
Chicago and New York, his law studies
and subsequent practice, his joining sev-
eral churches in succession, his career as
religious lecturer, and finally as Il poll.
tician, we pass over as being already gen
orally known TO the public. The pro
found interest Of his confessions centres
about his motives for assassnating the
President, and the series of attempts he
made to accomplish his purpose prior to
firing the fatal shot. After giving an nc.
count of his application for either the
Austrian mission or the Paris consulship,
and the little satisfaction lie obtained
either from President Garfield or Secrc.
tnry Blaine in respect to these appoint
ments, he asserts that the rcbuiis he met
with chad not the slightest influence on
him either one way or another in refer
encc to his removing the President"
lie came, he said to the bloody detcrmi.
nation pending the answer to his request
for the Paris consulship, and for several
weeks after being denied an interview
with the President lie did not press his
application either TO him or Mr.. Blaine.
In the meantime, according to his story.
he Sas brooding over the quarrel that had
broken out between the Stalwar,s and
the Hall-brecds in consequence of the
ht,A At e I,
in the Senate. At this point we follow
closely the narrative.
rHE CONCEPTION OF TIE CRIME.
"fy conception of the idea of rcmoy.
ing the President was this Mr.. Conk.
ling resigned Monday, May 1G, 1881.
On the following Wednesday / was in
bed. think | retired about oclok.
felt dcpl essed and perplexed on account
OF the political sifI'ntinn. ond- iutiicu
l1fh} IA }udP usdPERlier RiH 5H j5an usual felt wearied
8 o'clock, and was thinking over the DO.
litical situation, when ,he idea flashed
through my brain ihat if the President
was out Of the way everything would 90
better. At first this was a mere impress
sion. 1t startled me, but the next morn
ing it came to me with renewed force,
and began to read the papers with my
eye on the possibility that the President
would have to 60, and the more read
the more saw the complication of public
affairs, the more was 1 impressed with
the necessity Of removing him. This
thing continued for about two weeks.
| kept reading the papers and kept being
impressed, and the idea kept bearing aud
bearing and bearing down on me that the
IN fa F,o Al.
Republican party and save the republic
and Democrats was to quietly remove the
President
"Two weeks after l conceived the idea
my mind was thoroughly settled on the
intention to remove the President. |
then prepared myself | sent to Boston
for copy ofmy book, "rhe TRUTH and I
spent week in preparing that. cut
out paragraph and line and word
here and there and added one or two new
chapters, put some new ideas in it, and
greatly improved it. | knew that j.
would probably have large sale, on ac.
count of the notoriety that the act Of
removing the President would give me,
and wished the book to go out to the
public in proper shape. Tat was one
preparation iOT IL. AHOIL>T pTcpa-
ration was to think the matter all
out in detail and to buy revolver and TO
prepare myself for executing the idea.
This required some two or three weeks.
and gave my entire time and mind in
preparing myself to execute the conccp-
ton of removing the President. never
mentioned the conception to living soul.
soul. did most of my thing in the park
and on the street, and used to 20 to the
Arlington and the Riggs House daily to
read the papers.
"After had made up my mind to re-
move him, the idea when I should re.
move him pressed me, and was some
what confused on that. l knew that it
would not do to go to the White House
and attempt it, because there were too
many of his employees about, and /
looked about for several days to try and
get chance at him, and one Sunday
ithe Sunday before he went to Long
Branch) | went to his church in the
morning. 1t is small frame building,
and stood there at the door moment.
/ was little late; the services had pro.
crossed about one-third. noticed the
President sitting near an open window.
about three feet from the ground and
thought to myself, that would be a good
chance to get him. intended to shoot
through the back of the head and let the
ball pass through the ceiling, in order
that no one else should be injured and
there could not possibly be better place
to remove man than at his dcvotions.
| had my revolver in my possession when