The Evening critic., 1881-07-05
RIDICULOUS RuMoRs
Circulating I'm Connection with the
Late ShcOting-One Relating To the
Vice. President Exploded.

assassinationsa and all those ridiculous things
were hawked about in various localities,
and some of the stories were tclegraphed
out of town. As fact no dependence should
be placed in them. One story, and the only
policeman and New York detective had
been detailed to keep cc-Presidcnt Arthur
in sight whenever he appeared upon the
streets to guard against any possibility of
An Attempt 10 Assassinntc Him.
This story was not confirmed by the
police authorities nor was it denied, but
there is little reason to believe that it is
true. Vicc-President Arthur regularly
supplied with news from the White House,
has spent the best portion of the day at the
residence of Senator Jones, of Nevada, on
Capitol Hill.
JOY Pcryading All Glasses and Com
ditiOns.
Jerry Smith, one of President Garficld's
faithful house servants, was asked how he
felt by CRITIC reporter after he learned
of the Presidents improved condition:
Good Lord, " said Jerry, if anybody feels
any better than do this morning, they
must have wings and fly"
MIR. TiIdcn's sorrow and sympathy.
Hon. Samuel j. Tilden, in an interview
with New York reporter, said he first re-
ccivcd the news of the attempted assassina-
ton with incredulity, which soon turned to
horrer. He was asked, "What do you
think of it from national point of view?"
and replied:
"This: Our young American civilization
and our system of elective constitutional
Government cannot afford the frequent re-
currcnces of attempts to change the admin
istration of Government and the possession
of individual political power by the act of
an assassin. l don't mean to say that our
fifty millions of people can in any way be
made responsible for the crime of n single
integer of that vast aggregate. OF course,
such acts may happen in any country or
any age, but the consequences are none the
less calculated to fill with dismay and dis
gust the whole community, and to weaken
the confidence in n system like our own,
where they are less excusable than any
where else in the world At present we are
all filled not only with concern for the pub
lie effects of such crime, but with sympa-
thy for the distinguished victim, his family
and his immediate friends. 1t is too early
to moralize upon the subject, but two things
are so obvious that they cannot escape con-
sideration even now. The first is the great
peril that attends the enormous and increas-
lug power of the Chief Executive Magis-
tracy. 1t addresses temptations too strong
for public safety to the interests and pas
sions of millions of persons.
ado you refer to the civil service?" he
was asked. He replied:
"Partly only. More particularly this:
The putting up periodically, at the end of
every four years, of the vast power of the
government of fifty millions of people, the
enormous expenditure that it involves and
the redistribution of the one hundred thou
sand Offices at IA rattle in which the whole
people actively participate, must be fruitful
of evils vet unseen. Civil connections,
fraud, and violence are the natural results.
The second consideration perhaps grows out
of the first. 1t is the unbounded IL
centiousness that characterizes our
party competitions and political dis
sensons, the assassination of private
character, and the INSCRIPTIONS methods
resorted to to influence public judgment
All good men of all parties ought to do
their utmost to limit and restrain these
mischicfs. The undue stimulus to mad
passions arms the hand of the eccentric in
out the results perhaps under the insane
ambition for notoriety of infamy. But |
turn from the subject with feeling that
now when every public scnsibility and
every private sympathy is deeply wounded
am not equal to drawing the lessons which
the deploroble event suggests to our peO-
pie Let us hope that President Garfeld's
recovery will reduce to II minimum the
public evils of his assassination, while it
will remove the weight of the private be-
reavcment which fills us all with concern
and sympathy"
Mrs. GarHeld's Beautiful Faith and
Heroic Conduct.
A correspondent thus describes Mrs. GAR
fields beautiful conduct in the sick room:
The President is only thoroughly content
when Mrs. Garfield is near him. Upon
leaving the sick chamber after her first
visit Mrs. Garfield said confidently to the
ladies who met her in the corridor, "He
will not die an opinion to which she has
since chung. Later events fortified this
opinion, and when she left the President
for the night she said to her friends, cheerily
referring to his improved condition, ~
knew he would not die" The President
fell asleep just after she left him. He was
awake several times aftcrward during the
night, but in the morning his eyes
fell first upon her, and her sweet
greeting opened the day brightly
for him. She had occupied the. room adj
joining that in which he lay. She had left
no instructions for calling her, perhaps
knowing that she would be called if neces-
sary, but she was sustained chiefly by her
perfect faith that death was not yet to visit
her home. At sunrise she appeared in the
sick room, taking her place quietly near the
sufferer. Dr. Bliss and the other physicians
are charmed with her behavior. Unob-
trusivc, tender, never interfering with the
attendants yet always willing to assist,
quick and accomplishing in her obedience
to the slightest wish either of the
physicians or of the President, and
maintaining through all sweet and cheer
full comp0sure she shows herself II model
nurse and heroic wife. 1t had been feared
that in her own weak condition the shock
would have overpowered her, but it has
seemed instead to have strengthened her to
brave everything so long as the President
can hold to life. Swollen eyes and other
traces indicate beyond mistake the ordeal
and suffering through which she has passed,
but in the presence of Others she has borne
herself so bravely as to have inspired among
the friends who have been with her the
confidence expressed by herself in the Presi-
dents recovery. Even DIR. Bliss has signi-
fled the appreciation of the benefits of her
presence by removing all restrictions upon
the free exercise of her own inclination.
n