The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-09-22


fore his face!
Fellow citizens! God reigns, and the
government at Washington still livesr'
James A. Garfield to frenzied mob in
New York after the assassination of
President Lincoln.
Sixteen years after Mr.. Garfield gavn
utterance to this historic speech deli1,-
cred from the balcony of a New York
hotel to quiet angry men who. were surg
ing through the streets and wildly cry
ohg Tor vengeance upon the head of the
war presidents slayer and all who aided
or sympathized with him. he having been
elevated to the high station which Presi-
cent Lincoln had occupied was shot bv
gln assassin in railroad station in Wash
iu9tOn City
Wenty years afterward William Nc
Nlhley' htth successor of Garfield as
president of the United States. was shot
by an/assassin at Buffalo,
mus thrice in a period of thirty six
Nears-a period that Is well within the
memory Of many men who are living
now-has effort been made to kill the
ruler of the greatest republic the world
mas ever known.
The assassination of Lincoln by John
W likes Booth, in April, 1865. came at a
1n&e when the country was torn by the
passions of civil war; when the parti-
sans of the defeated cause were rendered
wholly desperate by disappointment and
sorrow for the failure of the flag they
had championed and by the goadinss of
the victors. There was an element of ex-
c'sse for the dethFonement of the reason
Cf a man, and especially of one so emo
tlonaL so reckless and SO irresponsible
"a Actor John Wilkes Booth.
When Garfield was slain there was none
of the passion of war But political pas
v-ac Of
unreasoning kind. Democrates were bit
ter; Republicans were divided. In each
camp there was anger. The Republican
party was split over the question of
spoilS. Garfield and his close personal
and political friend James G. Blaine
secretary of state, were assailed by Conk-
ting and Platt as leaders of the opposi-
ZION. Garfield maintained the right of
the chief executive of the nation to make
his own selections for appointment to
office; the opposition contended that the
legislative branch should be recognized
There was rancor and bitterness in the
debates, private and public. Charges and
counter-charges were made. "Stalwarts"
were arrayed against Administrations
lists and there was no peace.
charles J. Guiteau, disappointed office
seeker was one of those who felt most
bitter toward the president. He was a.
person of little influence and no party
passion with him. He had asked for an
appointment as minister to Austria and
Failing in that, had asked for other
offices. None had been given him. He
became wrapped up in the magnitude
OF his own grievance; he saw in the
president who refused to give to him IOm
The wealth OF the appointive power the
gift he sought the embodiment of his
misfortune He brooded, and fed his
weakening mind upon the unhealthy food
OF angry debates and vicious charges
against Garfield. He began to look upon
himself as the person who was fated to
rld the country of the man who stood
between himself and his own ambition
and so he crept up behind the president
ured upon him twice, and, as the second
bullet lodged in Mr.. Garfeld's beck and
brought him to the ground cried: Now
we VIII have a. Stalwart Administrations
The attempt upon the 4efe of NIT Nc
knley had not for its motive either an
insane desire for revenge for lost cause
or narrow passion for retaliation for
personal disappointment There is so
far, nothing to indicate that it had any
motive other than wantonness. The man
who shot him claims that he is an an
archist; recognized leaders of anarchy
as it is found in America disclaim him
He had not been an applicant for polit-
ical appointment: he was not an advocate
of any great cause. He was simply Frank
J. Czolgosz, a, person who is described by
his stepmother as "weak-minded and
cowardly," and who claims that he was
fired to the perpetuation of the deed by
the teachings of Emma Goldman.
The assassination of Lincoln occurred
In public theater in Washington City;
that of Garfield in the ladies' waiting
room of the Pennsylvania railroad at
Washington City, and the attempt upon
2+ckinley's life was made in the Tenn
ni5 Of lTrTpTa De-,
ton at Buffalo, where the president was
holding a public reception.
Lincoln was enjoying the presentation
OF a comedy; Garfield waste quote the
words of Mr.. Blaine-''in conscious en-
loyment of the beautiful morning, with
an unwonted sense OF leisure and a keen
anticipation of pleasure" to come from a
meeting with his invalid wife and friends
OF his bOyhood and his college days; Nc
Alnley was happy in meeting thousands
Of his felIow-citizens and in shaking them
10y the hand.
Lincoln had, but a short while before
delivered his famed Second Inaugural
IN which he had said with malice
toward none; with charity for all; with
frmness in the right as God gives US to
see the right, let US strive on to finish
the work we are in; to bind up the ma
tons wounds; to care for him who shall
nave borne the. battle. and for his widow
sfitNA lis VI Plldi-lO 90 ali winch may
achieve and cherish a Just and lasting
peace among ourselves and with all ma
tons"
Garfield had, to again quote Blaine.
but short while before he was shot ex-
pressed his keen pleasure in the belief
that grave difficulties confronting him
at his inauguration had been safely
passed and that troubles lay behind him
and not before him.
Mckinley, on the day before he was
shot, had, in an address at BuIralo. said:
Gentlemen, let us ever remember that
Our interest is in concord, not conflict,
and that our real eminence rests in the
Victories of peace, not those of war.
Our earnest prayer is that God
VIII graciously vouchsafe prosperity, hap
pINess and peace to all the peoples and
Powers of the earth"
The tragic details of the attack upon
Mr. Mckinley are of too recent occur
renee and, therefore, too fresh in the
public mind to justify a review of them
a this time. But the regrettable incl
dent at Buffalo gives timelfness to stories
of the assassination of Lincoln and Gar
field
LINCOLN.
Lincoln had q, premonition of his fate
I.ernaps this was but natural, considering
TIE excited condition of the country az