Arizona weekly citizen., 1881-09-25
THE PRESIDENT IS DEAD.

- The nation has slowly been prepare
 sto read that dread sentence, '|The Presi @dent is dead" but in spite of the lon
 ksweeks of anxious waiting, the days an, E hours of alternate hope and fear. an, Ethe few last days of almost hopeless
 ness, 1t falls like lead upon the heart { We are forced to say, sIt cannot be. i 5s slcannot be" But it is solemn, dread
 tul fact, and it is rendered all the nor, Sssad by the circumstances which oeea
 sloned 1t. It is not as if disease had
 sclaimed a victim of decay, or old age E had called him from labor to refresh. s5ment, but he has fallen the victim of q ksmost cruel assassination. { man in the
 prime of life, and in the midst of ca
 sreer of usefulness and honor, the chief
 Executive of great nation, beloved by
 the people, was shot, and after long
 and dreary struggle for life is now dead. i, Such in brief are the circumstances ; which now occasion a nations grief.
 There is not room within the limits oF Ia brief editorial notice to even sum up
 "a character like that of the dead Presi1 ident. It needed not title or station to| ! make James 4. Garfield man of mark J
 That he became first scholar, then al
 soldier and then a statesman were potI
 the results of fortunate circumstances;
 surrounding him, but he overeamel gall these in spite of early disad- 5vantages, and after struggles whichf
 would have crushed a nan less deter. mined He succeeded, and by his strug-i
 gles and his successes he has. betterf
 than any other man, exemplified the bestE possibilities of true manhood in thisH country.
 After practical training such as few
 men have had, and filling every positioDE with honor and marked ability, he was! selected President of the United States.f 4 tried statesman, not owing his elec-k .tion to some isolated circumstance. thek nation had much to expect from his ad-f administration. Certainly, no man was ever inducted lnto the Presidential of- .ice who was better equipped, either inE brains or experience, than James A.E Garfield. He has been cut off almosts .at the beginning of his term of office. and the country has suffered an irrepar-E able loss, and he has been deprived off the opportunity of adding to his fame the results of wise and faithful ad- His past career, however, ss soldier and statesman, and his tragic death, will insure to his name a prominent place in the pages of Ameri- E can history. E
 Twice has this nation been called upon to mourn the loss of President by assassination In the case of Lin-l soln it was the result of the bitternesss i engendered by an internecine struggled his time the assassin was a chronic of i ice seeker, maddened by his lack of suc- cess.
 It is fortunate for the country that this murder possessed no political sig si else we might entertain grave 'orebodings as to the perpetuity of our What significance 1t does possess applies with equal force to aIE parties, and is warning against greed Tor office and the present pernicious pat ronage system. Fl
 To the family of the deceased Presi- # lent thIs blow must come with crushingEE force. A true man, with a heart whichE irew and held personal friends as fewE men can do, the ties of family, of son,k Df father and of husband, were in this ,ase unusually strong, and the grief of those who mourn the loss of one whoE held all these relations before that ofe, President, must be intense. H
 A nations tears will be mingled with.s theirs. S
 We will not at this time say anythingss in relation to NIT. Garfield's successor. To-day the nation is bowed down with a ass grief too profound to admit of idle po- itical speculations. As patriotic citi-.ss .si lens we can only hope that the future, has in store for this nation continued prosperity, which is only possible withS wise government. M