The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1885-02-18
THE CURSE OF GUITEAU.
PRONOUNCED BY THE ASSASSIN
UPON THE SCAFEoLD.

THE CURSE OF GU1TEAU.
PRONOUNCED By The ASSASSIN
UPON THE scAFFoLD.
How tho People who Were Promi.
=. 'hent At the Trial Prosper Under n
Legacy.
For some weeks past, says q Washing
ton letter in the Chicago NeUs,a paragraph
has been floating about the country set
ting forth the fact that Guiteau's curse
which he pronounced upon the scatfold
has fallen with baneful effect upon a
number of those who were connected
with his trial and execution. Last even
ing the Mes correspondent directed the
attention Of General Croker, the warden
of the Jail, to the article, and asked him
how much truth there was in the state
mcnt. ct is utterly without founda.
ton. ard is as flimsy and unsubstantlal
a tigmcnt of the IMAGINATION as could
we'll be DEVISED" replied the general.
There were probably fifty persons
more or less directly connected with
Guiteau's imprisonment. Nineteen OF
these were the guards and prison attaches
were Guitcau was confined. Twelve were
members of the jury, and the remainder.
including Judge Cox, were officers OF
the court, government counsel, and oth.
ers. Three of these gentlemen have died
since the hanging Of Guiteau, but when
| it is remembered that most of these peo-
! pic were men of middle age or even
older. it is II matter OF surprise that so
few should in the course Of nature have
passed away. Policeman Fowler has
been mentioned as one upon whom the
curse has fallen with particular violence.
Fowler was killed a few months ago 10y
a prisoner whom he was attempting to
arrest. AS q matter of fact, he had no
more to do with the trial than any of a
dozen newspaper men who were present
from day to day. He was sometimes de-
tailed for duty at the court room, but
beyond that he had no connection what
ever with the proceedings. DR.. Noble
Young, the Jail physician, who died re-
Gently, is another victim. DIR. Young
died calmly in his bed at the advanced
age of cighty-two years, and the only
wonder is that he lived so long, as he
had been q constant sufferer from kid
ney troubles for the past decade. The
last of these alleged unfortunales is juror
Pcttibonc, but as you may remember,
Pttti zone was sick during the course OF
the trial. and q postponemcnt occurred
several times on his account. His death,
which followed a few months later, can
hardly be coupled with any curse Guiteau
might have uttered"
"Docs it not appear to you, general"
interrupted the correspondent, THAT, so
far from the people who surrounded
Guitcau being cursed, the very opposite
proves to be the case?"
That IS the very suggestion / was
going to make. Colonel Corkhill, the
United States district attorney who had
charge of the case, has fallen heir within
the past eighteen months to a fortune
~variously estimated at from SIC, 1000 to
$500, 900, and is to-day more prosperous
and wealthy than ever before. His
assistants, Messrs. Davidge and Porter,
are we'll and happy and enjoy a large
practice in this city and New York.
Sergeant Mason, who attempted to kill
Guiteau by firing into his cell and in fact
narrowly missing the assassin, is living
in peace and retirement on his farm in
Virginia, purchased with the $1,000 con-
tributicn which was raised by voluntary
subscription during his confinement in
the Albany pcnitentiary. Prior to this
Mason had drawn o salary of SIT a
month as an undcr-sergeaut in the regu-
lar army, while his wife had helped sup
port the family by taking in washing and
performing other mental services. They
are rich to-day beyond their widest
expectations. But for Guiteau they
would still be living a hand. to-mouth
existence. Bill Jones, the avenger, as
he was facetiously called, who, in a
drunken frolic, also attempted Gui.
teau's life, pursucs his vocation as a
farmer just across the Maryland border,
aud finds great comfort in the
thought that his name will be linked
with that of the assassin of Garfield
by the historian of future ages. The
eleven jurymen who survive Mr.. Petit
bone are all leading contcnted and peace
full lives, and the same may be said OF
the prison attaches. Perry Carson, the
tall, good-looking negro who drove the
prison van from the Jail to the court
house, became a figure of such import
ancc during the trial that his admiring
colored friends of the district sent him
rs q de egatc to the Republican conven-
ton at Chicago. He is now the proprie-
tor of a hourishing liquor-saloon near
the Pennsylvania avenue railway station,
and has a substantial sum to his credit in
one OF the local savings banks. He
never probably earned $50 a month be-
fore the shooting.
Mrs. Garfield, as you know, is worth
half q million of dollars. President
Arthur has lived to finish his term as
chief magistrate. So you sec there's
nothing in Guiteau's curse. The people
who fell under his displeasure seem to
have p~rospered, while, so far as am
able to judge, it has injured no one."
"What disposition of Guiteau's body
was made?"
General Croker, who had been talking
with great glibness, began pulling his
beard %nelvously, and when he replied
did so with evident embarrassment. 81
can't answer that question:" he replied.
"Why not? Is there any mystery
connected with it,"
There are but two other people in
the world who know the place of Cult
eau's burial. There are reasons why it
should be kept q secret"
but his skeleton is said to be on
exhibition at the medical museum"
"If people choose to believe so, that
don't prove its correctness, does it,"
"No; but why should you object to
cnlighten men," :,
Men at Washington, higher and
mightier than I, desired that the secret
of his grave should die with those of us
who performed the interment. do not
think the exact place of his burial will
ever be known to another living SOUL"
There was the same mystery about
John Wilkes Booths last resting place.
Years aftcrward it was discovered that
he had been buried in the basement of
the United States arsenal, where the re-
mains had been deposited in quick-limc
and almost entirely destroyed. Within
recent years the few bones that re-
manned were disinterred at his brother
E6win's rcoi,ost and now rest in the