The National tribune., 1902-02-27

a certain semi-religious society in Chicago,
| OF which he had been an active member
The scheme was, as he stated ii to a
guard the evening before his execution,
that two members of the organization, Q
man and woman, were to visit his coll
and request to be left alone with the pris-
oner in order that they might hold relig-
ious services with him. The woman was
to weep prOfusely and keep her handksr-
chief to her face. Once alone in the cell
with the condemned man he was to have
changed clothes with the woman. Then
when the cell door was opened Guiteau, in
feminine attire, apparently weeping bit
terly, his face covered with the handker-
chief was to be led out by the man, while
the real woman was to cover her face
with her hands as though in responsive
Tears, and sit on the prison cot, her head
| bowed in her hands, until the escape of
the assassin was assured
Inc vigilance of Gen. Crocker the jail
Warden, who, by the way, served during
the COS in the old Iron Brigade" pre-
| vented the consummation of this daring
scheme.
The other plan to cheat the gallows,
about which much was written at the
time, was the sending OF Il poisoned boz
quet to Guiteau by his sister, with the
whispered injunction. Eat the big white
rose in the center" This rose. upon
chemical analysis by DR.. Tilden, was
found TO contain enough strychnine to kill
a brace of oxen
Guiteau was always hopeful. even TO
the last moment. that he would be re-
proved by President Arthur. The night
before his execution he dreamed that the
President had been visited hv q great
thronS of angels, who prevailed upon him
20 grant the assassin q pardon He re-
carded that dream as q revelation, and
Informed the Jail guards that it portended
his early release from custody.
During the last month Of his jail life
Guiteau evinced a great fondness for rasp-
berries and the colored caterer who was
perInitted to serve his meals proyidcd him
with the berries twice each day. The as.
Sassln saved several hundreds of the seed
nf the fruit and eXacted 4 promise from
the colored man that in the event of his
death the seed would he planted and prop
a"ated rs new species Of the berry to
he known as "thc Guiteau Raspberry"
The colOred man received the seed in an
envelope from the condemned man the day
before his execution. but whether he has
propagated the new brand under the op-
prohrioUs name is not known.
Some of Guiteau'S clothes and other ef-
fects were sold after his death to dime
museum prOprietors and mOrbidly curious
rersOns by the colOrcd caterer, tn whom
they were beGUeathed by the assassin Sew
eral noted Crave-robbers sought to steal his
body, but they We're cleverly outwitted by
the authorities. The announcement was
nublicly made that the remains had been
buried in n vdult under the Jail. whore
they wor1d be kept for some time. The
second night after the execution an army
ambulance was driven to 4 point in rear
nf the Jail. near the smallpox hospital. ST.
lently and quickly the remains of the as
sassin were placed in the vehicle and
driven to the Army Medical Museum. then
located in tho old Ford Theater Building,
on Tenth street. where President Lincoln
was assassinatcd. There the bones were
stripped and prepared for articulation.
Chemist Schairt, of that institution, Sc
cured the mask, which he stuffed with
excelsior and placed in q large jar of al
cohol for private view only. Other por-
tions of the body were similarly pre-
served. The last grim relic of the Ma
tional tragedy. Guiteau's skeleton. occu-
pies an unmarked glass case in the Army
Medical Museum in this city. Its silent
companions are the skeleton remains of
giant Indian chief, a powerful negro
dwarf. and an unknown Western settler
whose body was pierced by several arrows
fred by hostile red men. --