The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1881-08-23
The Attempt 10 XIII President laoAson


The Attempt 10 XIII President Jackson.
A NDREW JACKSON had many bit
IA ter enemies. Being naturally man
of violent temper he had never learned to
control himself and in the discharge of
his official duty he had been compelled
to give great ollense to many who hon
eslly differed from him. His veto of the
Bank bills and his prompt measures to
put down nulliflcation had ln1amed the
passions of his political opponents.
Many said and believed that he was
running the country, and he aggravated
the feelings against him by his unyleld-
ing and imperious manner. A Mr. Ran
dolph, who had been - Lieutenant in
the navy and had been cashiered, at.
tempted to pull Presidents Jackson's
nose publicly, and report says, more
than half succeeded. At least, the Pres
ident's face was with covered blood.
His pride was wounded In this case, but
there was no actual danger. " Had |
known" said Jackson, " that Randolph
stood before me, / should have been
prepared, and / could have defended
myself. No william ever escaped me
before, and he would not, had 1t not
been for my confined situation (The
President was seized in an arm chair
when attacked).
Far more serious was the attempt
made upon the Presidents life Jan. 30,
1885. On that day the President and
his Cabinet and both houses of Congress
met in the hall of the House of Repre-
sentatives to take part in the funeral
ceremonies Of deceased member OF
Congress from South Carolina. AS the
President, near the head of the process
sion, was passing out from the rotunda
of the Capitol and was about to enter
the portico, a man stepped out of the
crowd, and, standing not eight feet from
the President, leveled IA pistol at him
and pulled the trigger. The cap missed
fire. The man instantly drew second
pistol from under his cloak and again
tried to shoot. But the second cap also
missed fire. President Jackson rushed
furiously at the assassin with uplifted
cane, and would have felled him to the
ground, but, before he could reach the
man, Lieut.. Gedney, of the navy, had
knocked him down, and he was speedily
secured. The prisoner, who was an
English house painter named Lawrence
Porter, explained his motives in words
which apply with singular aptness to
the case of the wretched Guiteau:
Hearing on all sides that the country
had been ruined by the measures of Gen.
Jackson, the project of assassinating
him had fastened itself in his crazy
brain. The physicians who examined
him reported F." He stated that, believ-
ing the President to be the source of all
his difficulties, he was still determined
to kill him and, If his successor pur-
sued the same course, to put him out of
way Also"
Lawrence was placed in an asylum.
The insinuations of the Globe that he
was the agent of conspiracy obtained
no general credence. But Jackson him.
self always insisted that abler minds
than Lawrence's had instigated the as
sault. Miss Martineau, who witnessed
the funeral ceremonies and had con-
fused view of the exciting scene when
the President was shot at, writes in her
" Retrospect of Western Travel:''
When / did go 10 the White House
took the briefest possible notice to the
President of the "insane attempt" of
Lawrence, but the word reused his ire.
He protested, in the presence of many
strangers, that there was no insanity in
the case. 1 was silent, of course. He
protested that there was plot and that
the man was a tool, and quoted the
Attorney General as his authority. 1t
was painful to hear a chief ruler public
ly trying to persuade foreigner that
any of his constituents hated him to the
death, and i took the liberty TO change
the subject
Gen. Jackson to his dying hour sus-
pected George Poindexter, of Missis-
sippi, of having participated in the at
tempt TO assassinate him; but few, if
any, even of his own partisans, shared
in this suspicion.