South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1881-09-23
Death OF the President.

sat Elberon, near Long Branch, y. j. i
,whlther he was removed from Wash;
|ington city on the 9th inst, from the
wounds received on Saturday, the I'd,
Iof July, at the hands Of the assassin,
!Charles Guiteau. President Garfield
has fallen with his robes of Office yeti
new upon him, less than seven monthsj
from the day when, amid the salvosI
'of cannon and the applause of thou-I
sands OF his fellow-citizens and thej
good wishes of millions, he took thei
oath OF office and was formally induc-y
ted into the chief magistracy of the
Union. The weeks Of anxious sus.!
'pense, OF hope alternating with fear,
(which have elapsed since the electric!
wire flashed to the ends of the coun- j
try, and over the civilized world ons
the fatal morning the startling intelli-
Igence that the President of the Uni-s
ted States had been ruthlessly, wan.y
|tonly shot down i'll the city of Wash I
|ngton, and lay PROSTATE in the exc
,cutivc mansion, will hardly lessen the;
,shock of the terrible reality OF hisE
death. 1t seemed so unnatural, sol
'cruel, that people hardly comprehen-t
.ded at first that it could be true. Andi
when the particulars of the shooting!
became known, and the grave, almost;
desperate character of the wounds wasj
the President was so vigil
lorous, so strong, so brave, that ALL
Though hoping almost against hope,I
Everybody eagerly fastened upon the:
least indication that seemed to augurI
Ia favorable result, and chung to the!
SMALLEST encouragement. But that
result was not to be, and to-day the
President lies dead at Elberon, and,
the American people are face to face
with the bloody, shameful, horribleI
I fact that for the sccod time in sixteen'
syears the freely chosen ruler of free
speople has fallen by the hand Of an
assassin. In reality the assassination,
sof President Garfield seems a more
5terrible thing than that of President
sLiacoln, because of the difference in
the times and all the circumstances of
sthe time. When Mr.. Lincoln was so
Scruelly assassinated in April, 1868,
sthe mighty ground swell of passion
Sthat succeeded the storm of civil war
Swas still agitating the country. Mems
sminds had not recovered from the
Stension of that fearful ordeal of four
Syears of deadly strife between those
Awho had so lately been fellow. citizens
sneighbors, friends and brothers. The
sechocs of the cannon that had so cea-
Sselessly Numbered around the land
chad hardly died upon the ear, the hos
Spitals were still filled with the grim
Sshapes and spectres of war, and the
sarmies were not disbanded. At such
"a time the bloody act of Wilkes Booth
Sseemed like another chapter in the
Stoo familiar tale of death and carnage.
EBut today, when peace and plenty
Hreign throughout the land, when the
Scup ofnational prosperity never seem
Eed more full and OVERLOOKING, and the
Ndissensions of local politics aud poIiti-
gcians only occasoned a feeling Of inn
Hpatience and WEAKNESS in the public
5mlnd ut their pettiness, the assassina-
Ation OF the President by man who
zdoes not profess to have been a per-
Ssonal enemy falls upon the country
with the suddenness and terror of q
Ethunderbolt out Of clear sky. Ora.
&zy or not crazy the wretch Guiteau
sbas with his pistol changed the adj
aminstration of the government. He
Shas done what it required the whole
4pOwer of the American people to do,
sunder the forms of the constitution
Athrough the instrumentality of
sthe ballot-box. He has removed
SJames A. Garfield from the office to
(which the sutfrages Of the people had
gelevated him and installed Chester A
Arthur as President in his stead. Il
smay be said that fractions horse. n
scareless coachman, drunken or in
scompetent engineer or switch tender
gmight have unwittingly accomplished
sthe same result. The ordinary vicis-
ssitudes of life and death Presidents
fare no more exempt from than the
shumblest of their fellow-citizens But
assassination is not one of those vicis.
ssitudes which the American people
shad learned TO reckon among the pos
IsibiIities. The fate of Mr.. Lincoln.
Ideeply as il stirred all hearts, had so
.little suggested to mems minds the
Likelihood of any recurrence Of the
,crime that today there is no other or
greater penalty upon the statutc-book
for taking or attempting the life OF
the President than the law imposes I'M
fanny other case Of homicide or assault
! with intent to kill. Had the Presi-
dent lived and not died, his assailant
might have been indicted, and, #
convicted, punished for such an as
ssault, the penalty, according to the
law OF the District OF Columbia, being
,not less than two nor more than eight
syears in the nenitentiarY-