Iuka reporter. (Iuka, Miss.) 1888-1894, 1888-08-30
WAS ARTHUR SHOT AT.
A Tale of Bullet Fired into Sen
ator Jones House.

1t was through window of Jones
house that a bullet, intended for The
Chesterfieldian successor of Garfield
sped vainly on its way. You never
heard of such a thing2 I do not won
der at that, because the secret has neye,
becn disclosed before. Arthur died in
ignorance of it. received permission
the other night to tell the tale. as nc
reason now exists why it should be bur
led in silence.
One night, few days after Guiteau
had felled Garfield to the ground and
the Presidents life was still hanging in
the balance, the then city editor of the
Cncinnatti Enquirer, who was in Wash
ington, became impressed with the i'm
portance Of having an interview with
Vice President Arthur who was at that
time domiciled in the house of John p.
Jones. He got in a coupe and fastened
to the bonanza kings residence, reach
ing there about midnight. He wat met
by Senator Jones, who told him that the
Vice-President was in his bed and he
would not like to disturb him at that
hour, as Mr.. Arthur had gained little
rest since the assassination Of the Presi-
dent. He invited the newspaper man
however, to the library for smoke, and
the two sat down in q bay window front
ing upon the street and quietly chatted
about the singular events which were at
that time testing the endurance of re-
publican institutions in this country.
The air was warm and the easements
were raised. The waiting carriage was
drawn up in the shadow of tree on the
opposite side of the highway. The
driver slept. Nothing disturbed the
quiet of the scene except the occasion.
al stamping of the restless horse. The
room was lighted only and intermittent
ly by the glow of the cigars behind
which the two men talked in subdued
tones. Suddenly there wins flash OF
light in front of the window, sharp re-
port, and bullet whistled between the
Senator and the scribe and sank into the
wall behind them. The waiting horse
ratified his feet on the asphalt pavement,
his awakened driver uttered an exclama-
ton OF alarm, and footsteps were heard
hurrying away. The newspaper man
had sprung to his feet. Senator Jones
grasped his guests arm and whispered.
don t move"
'Some one fired in here" said the
journalist. 81 will pursue him.
EDO nothing of the kind" said SEN
ator Jones in an agitated whisper.
"Make no alarm. That william could
not be caught now and no one must
hear of his attempt, lest others should
be led to initiate it,
"What do you mean ?" asked the other
in surprise. t,-
II mean this; That man thought he
was shooting at the Vice President of
the United States, who, by reckless
newspaper publications, he had been led
to believe is indirectly responsible for
Garfeld's fate. Mr.. Arthur must never
hear of this, and, above all, the public
must never hear of it. / consider that
Mr.. Arthur's life is in your hands. If
you publish this incident other cranks
will repeat to-nights attempt l trust
to your honor to keep this event a
secret.
Iheard the occurrence narrated by the
journalistic participant in Senator
Jones presence and the latter fully cor
roborated it, and added these further
historical facts: cat that time Mr..
Arthur's friends had great difficulty in
keeping from him the threatening let
ters which poured in upon him. He
was deeply distressed by the unfortunate
position in which he found himself, and
we dreaded the result if he discovered
that hundreds of letters were addressed
to him charging him with Garfields as
sassination, and threatening him with
like fate. 1 we'll remember receiving
at that time confidential letter from
Murat Halstead, editor of the Cincinnati
Commercial. in which he warned me that
he had credible infoi nation to the effect
that seven men in Boulder county, Col.
had solemnly pledged one another to GO
to Washington and .ake Arthur's life. ]
told Mr.. Arthur nothing of the matter,
but wrote to Mr.. Halstead that had
no fear Of the Boulder county desperadoes
or any other men who took the trouble
10 register solemn oaths and all that sort
of thing, and that she Vice. Presidents
only danger was at the hands of just
such cranks as Guiteau."