The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1881-10-20
The Assassination = How President
Garfield Fell.
Guiteau's Arrest and ImprisOn-
ment In Jail.
His Previous Visits to the Executive
Mansion.
His View of the crime-He Would Like
to Marry and Then Become
President.

washi ngton correspondence to New York Herald ]
THE assassin, Charles Guiteau, has
narrated to me the history of his life.
To print it in its entirety would demand
more than twenty of the Herald's col
umns in the smallest Of its news type
In literary point of view, the work, 1t
is needless to say, is of no value what
ever. As the record of a man who will
in all our history as one of the greatest
Of our criminals ii possesses, however,
a special interest and Importance. Gui-
teau, in a series of interviews, dictated
the work, and the passage within quo
tatiOn marks which follow, contain the
exact language as taken down by a
shorthand writer, which he used. His
vanity has been, to your correspondent,
literally nauseating. Guiteau has an
idea that the civilized world Is holding
its breath waiting to hear of the mi
nutest details in his career. He thinks
the people have an especially acute de-
sire to be fully Informed concerning his
conduct during confinement in jail, and
he has frequently urged your cores
pOndent to describe his dress and de-
meanOr. At the interviews Guiteau
used a memorandum containing list
of subjects about which he wished to
talk. He spoke with deliberatiOn, Oc-
casiOnaIly emphasizing, somewhat
dramatically, with his voice or by ges-
ture a remark which he deemed of
transeendent importance. or chuckling
at the mention of some incident which
he considered amusing. He observed
the utmost discrimination as to Ian
guage many times balancing in his mind
for some moments the appropriateness
of an expression or word, and even di-
recting the manner of paragraphing
and punctuation. He objected strenu-
Ously to the continuity of his thought"
being disturbed by interruption and
frequently stated so in a most imperi-
GUS way, intimating that the fnterrup
tiOns had placed in immediate jeopardy
of destruction some thought of vital i'm
pOrtance to the community.
The manuscript has been withheld
from publication to this period of time
from Considerations of prOpriety, and it
is scarcely necessary to add that it Is
now published not to humOr the intense
desire for nOtOriety on the part of the
prisoner, but in difference to public
anxiety-tO correct, If possible, various
misapprehensiOns and suspicious which
may still exist respecting the true sig
nificance of the crime.
GUITEAU's VIEWS OF THE ASSASSINATION.
u6 dSSdSSlu DbRlub WIFI u DIl6l
chapter, which he calls introduction, -
in which he seeks to explain his crime
81 have not" he says, used the words
assassination or assassin i'll this work
These words CRATE on the mind and pro
duae a bad feeling. l think of General
Garfield's condition as a removal and
not an assassination. My idea simply
stated was to remove as easily as pOssi-
BILE Mr.. James A. Garfield, a quiet and
good natured citizen of Ohio, who tenn
pOraTily occupied the position of Presi-
dent of the United States, and substi-
/ tute in his place Mr.. Chester A. Arthur
of New York, distinguished and high.
ly estimable gentleman. Mr.. Garfieldal
intended to quietly remove to Paradise
| (Which is a great improvement ON this
wOrld), while Mr.. Arthur saved the Re
public" And he adds:-"Not soul in
| the universe knew of my purpose to re-
move the President. If it has failed
| shall never attempt it again. My mo-
tive was purely political and patriotic
and / acted under Divine pressure. II
was the same kind of pressure that Leo
Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac
These hysterical utterances are follow
ed by what he calls an address to the
American people," in which he reiter
ates the declaration that he alone is re-
sponsible. The Presidents nomination,
he says, twas an act of God; his elec
| tiOn was an act of God; his removal was
an act of God. These three specific acts
of the Deity may give the clergy text
A CHAPTER IN GENEALoGY.
Guiteau then goes on to tell about his
family. my full name," he says, sis
| Charles Julius Guiteau. l have dropped
the Julius; 1 prefer to be known as
Charles Guiteau. My surname is spell
G-u-i-t-e-a-u; it is pronounced Gett-O
| 1t is French name. My fathers an
| ces ior, two hundred years or more back
was a physician connected with thu
| royal family of France. l do not know
much about my genealogy. There is
John M. Guiteau in New York who be
longs to our family and who has it
genealOgy. He is a lawyer and a maj
| of considerable wealth, believe. H,
| has lived in New York about twenty-fiY,
years, and formerly practised law a
| Cincinnati, Ohio. There were TIVE
brothers named Guiteau, who came tt
| this country, as | understand it, from
| France, a good many years agony
| fathers ancestor and the ancestor o
! John NJ. Guiteau. These are the OnIy
| two branches of the Guiteau family il
| America that | know of. My father
| family settled in Central New York
| JnO. NJ. Guiteau's ancestors went to Ohio
My paternal grandfather was a physi
clan and very prominent one, at the be
| ginning of the century, near Utica, n.
| NY father was born at WhitesbOrO, nea
| Utica, N. Y. in 1910. He died in August
1880, at Freeport, ILL.,, having nvet
there for about forty years. He ordi