The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-07-28
aU1TEAU's PISTOL MISSING.
Police Wish to Add 1t to Their Relic
Collection.
From the Washington Post.

From the Washington Post.
What has become of the revolver with
which Charles J. Guiteau shot President
Garfield at the Baltimore and Potomac
depot, July 2 1852 is a question that is
causing the police department and those
connected with the district attorneys
Office no small amount of worry As a
criminal relic it should have a place in
the Office of Maj. Moore, where a large
case of pistols, knives, burglarss tools,
and other paraphernalia used by the law
less classes is kept on exhibition
Many months ago Chief Clerk Sylvester
began making inquiries about the Gulteau
pistol for the purpose of adding 1t to the
| already large collection at police head
quarters, but thus fan no trace of the his
| toric weapon has been discovered. Under
the spell of Guiteau'S famous curse, pro-
claimed by the assassin just before his
execution. and which superstitious people
still regard with awe and fear, the
weapon appears to have dropped as
completely and mysteriOusly from view
as have the majority of those persons who
figured in the trial and conviction of the
murderer AS nearly as can be asCer-
tanned, after a lapse of twelve years, the
weapon was never given into the custody
of the police department through the GUS
tOmary channels; at least no record of it
can be found on the books of the property
clerk, who at that time was Mr.. Donovan.
The pistol used by Guiteau was of the
! British bulldog pattern. 1t was five
| barreled weapon, shooting a 44-caliber
ball and had a white bone handle. AT
ter the shooting of the President in the
ladies room of the Baltimore and PO-
tomac station Guiteau was seized and
placed unIcr arrest by officer Patrick
!
from the waiting room He was hustled
off to police headquarters, then located at
the corner of Pennsylvania avenue and
-Four and-a-half street. 1t is said by
some persons that the pistol was
wrenched from Guiteau's hand when he
was arrested, while others say that it
was afterwards picked up off the floor in
the waiting room. Still another story
| is to the effect that Guiteau placed the
weapon in his pocket after firing the
| shots, and that it was taken from him
when he was searched at police head
| quarters.
Among those who arrived at headquar-
| ters soon after the shooting was District
Attorney CorkhilI, who directed the pros
ecution against Guiteau. Mr.. Corkhill
| was in Lieut.. EcklOff's private room, and
asked to see the pistol with which the
/ shooting had been done. Mr.. Michael
| German, who was then, and is still clerk
in the detectives Office, handed the pistol
| to Mr.. Corkhill, who, after examining it
! several minutes, put ii in his pocket and
| started to leave the room
you must not take that pistol away"
| said Mr.. German. stepping between the
! district attorney and the door.
| "Oh, that is all right said Mr.. Cork
! hill. Perhaps you don't know who l
ann"
Yes, I do. You are District Attorney
| Corkhill, but that pistol must be turned
over to the property clerk said Mr..
| German.
After some further parleying, in which
! Lieut.. Ec6loff took a hand, Mr. Corkhill
was allowed to take the pistol away with
| him, and that, the police department says,
Is the last it saw of it or had anything to
| do with it.
The weapon was afterward produced in
evidence before the grand jury which in
! dicted Guiteau, also in the trial, but after
/ that it seems to have disappeared. 1t was
thought that some of the clerks in Mr.
/ COrkhills Office could throw some light
| on the whereabouts of the weapon, but
they seem to know nothing about it, Mr.
/ COrkhill was succeeded as district attOr-
ney by MIR. Worthington. Then came Mr.
| HOge, Judge Cole, and the present incum-
bent of the office, Mr.. Birney, so that
since the days of Mr. COrkhill so many
different clerks and assistants have been
employed in the Office that it is now i'm
/ possible to learn anything about the PTS
/ toll. Maj. Moore recently communicated
with MIR. Birney on the subject, and a
| thorough search was made of the records
| and vaults of the district attorneys Office
| all of which failed to deVelopd any trace
of the missing gun
"That pistol rightfully beloegs to the
! police department" said Chief Clerk SyI-
vester to a reporter for the Post yester-
| day, and if we could only get on the
track of it we wouldsvery soon add it to
! our collection of relics. "
There is one relic Of the Guiteau-Gar-
| field tragedy which is safe from tina mo-
| lcstation of relic-hunters, and will pssoba-
| bly, remain so while time continues
| Tightly Corked in a jar of alcohol in one of
! the cases at the Army anduMedical Mu
| scum is Guitcau's spleen, which was Sc
| cured by the government at the autopsy,
and is kept as curiosity on account of
! its enormous size. 1t vastly exceeds in
size the normal spleen, and is gazed upon
| by thousands of curious people who visit
| the museum every year, not wholly on
account of their knowledge of the abb
normality of spleens, but because it rep
| resents about all there is left of the as
| SdSSln.