Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-10-20
The Assassin Guiteau.
An Account of His Dreadful Deed
from Own His Lips.

tailed history of his whole life-his con
nection with the Oneida community. his
Experience as lawyer, his adventures
as a theological lecturer, his services as d
campaign speaker. his hopes and disap
pointments as an office-seeker, etc. We
give the concluding portion of his story
referring to the shooting, the very Ian.
guage being his own, and taken as it fell
from his lips by shorthand writer:
my mind was perfectly clear in re-
gard to removing the President; | had
not the slightest doubt about my duty to
the Lord and to the -Amican people in
trying to remove the President, and
want to say here, as emphatically as
words can make it, that, from the mo-
ment when fully decided to remove the
President, / have never had the slightest
shadow on my mind; my purpose has
been just as clear and just as determin-
ed as anything could be. believed that
L was acting under special Divine au-
thority to remove him, and this Divine
pressure was upon me from the time
when fully resolved to remove him
until actually shot him. 1t was only
by nerving myself to the utmost that /
did it at all, and l never had the slight
est doubt as to the Divine inspiration of
the act, and that it was for the best in
terests of the American people.
NEARING THE END.
"Having heard on Friday from the pa
pers, and also by my inquiries of the
dooFkeeper at the White House, Friday
evening, that the President was going
to Long Branch Saturday morning, | re-
solved to remove him at the depot. l
took my breakfast at the Riggs House
about O'clock. | ate well and felt well
in body and mind. 1 went into Lafay-
cite square and sat there some little time
after breakfast, waiting for o'clock to
come, and then | went to the depot and
| got there about ten minutes after 8.
| rode there from the park in bob
| tailed car. left the Car, walked up to
a bootblack. got my boots blacked, and
| inquired for man named John Taylor,
whom, two weeks before, had spoken
to about taking me out toward the Con-
gressional Cemetery. They told me that
TaylOr's carriage WAS not there, and
there were three or four hackmen there
who were very anxious to serve me, and
| finally noticed Il colored man, and said
to him. What will you take me out to
the Congressional Cemetery for?' He
says, We'll, L will take you out there for
S2.' All right said 1, if 1 want to use
you l will let you know At that mo-
ment these other hackmen were pressing
me to get my business, and l said to
them, Keep quiet; yeu are too fast on
this ard told this colored man private
ly that if wanted his services l would
let him know in few minutes. 1 then
went into the depot and took my pri-
vate papers which l intended for the
press Gncluding revised edition of my
book, The Truth, Companion to the
Bible). and stepped up to the news stand
and asked the young man in charge if l
could leave those papers with him few
moments,and he said Certainly and he
took them and placed them up against
the wall on the top of some other pa
pers. This was about 20 mintes after 9,
and went into the ladies' waiting room,
and l looked around, saw there were
quite good many people there in the
depot and carriages outside, but l did
not see the Presidents carriage. | ex-
amined my revolver to see that it was
all right, and took off the paper that |
had wrapped around it to keep the mois-
ture off. l waited five or six minutes
longer, sat down on a seat in the ladies
room, and very soon the President drove
up. He was in company with gentle
man who, | understand, was Mr. Blaine,
and l am satisfied that it was Mr.. Blaine,
although did not recognize him. This
gentleman looked very old, and he had a
peculiar kind of headgear on, that l did
not recognize as that of Mr. Blaine. l
am satisfied that it was Mr.. Blaine, now
il.at my attention has been specially
called To it, because it was the same gen
ilemen that | saw with the President
the night be fore, and / know positively
that that gentleman was Mr.. Blaine
The President and this gentleman drove
in plain single seated carriage with
one horse; this gentleman, | think, was
driving. 1t was a single carriage-a
single seated top buggy. The President
seemed to be very earnest in private
conversation with this gentleman, who
evidently was Mr.. Blaine, although at
the timeI did not recognize him as Mr.
Blaine. They sat in the carriage l
should say some two minutes; they had
not completed their conversation when
they reached the depot, and during the
interval of two minutes they finished
Their conversation. During this time
they were engaged in very earnest and
priv ate conversation, as I have said
The President got out on the pavement
side and Mr.. Blaine on the other side
They entered the ladies' room; l stood
there watching the President and they
passed by me. Before they reached the
depot had been promenading up and
down the ladies' room between the tick
ct Office door and the news stand door, a.
space of some 10 or u feet. l walked
up and down there l should say two or
three times working myself up, and l
knew the hour was at hand. The Pres
ident and Mr.. Blaine came into the la
dies room and walked right by me; they
did not notice me, as there were quite a
number of ladies and children in the
room.
HOW THE PRESIDENT FELL.
"rhere was quite large crowd of
ticket purchasers at the gentlemen's
ticket Office in the adjoining room. the
depot seemed to be quite full of people.
There was quite crowd and commo-
tion around, and the President was in
the act of passing from the ladies' room
to the main entrance through the door.
should say he was about four or five
feet from the door nearest the ticket Of
fee, in the act of passing through the
door to get through the depot to the
cars He was about 3 ora feet from
the door. ! stood or six feet behind
him, right in the middle of the room, and
as he was in the act of walking away
from me when / pulled out the revolver
and fired. He Strengthened up and threw
l-his head back and seemed to be perfect
ly bewildered. He did not seem to know
what struck him. looked at him; he
did not drop; tbereupon pulled again.
He dropped his head, seemed to reel, and
fell over. do not know where the first
| shot hit: aimed at the hollow of the