Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-09-06

| - A the lIClUenIS ana the excite
ment attending the assassina-
| ton of President Garfield at the old Penn
! sylvania station twenty-seven years ago.
| There but few people living today
| who were officially connected with the
| sad tragedy. Mr. Weldon was in charge
| of the ambulance of the health depart
| ment at the time and accompanied it TO
! the railroad station. where the stricken
! President was placed in ii and removed
| to the White House. His story of the in
! cident is Interesting:
Il was in charge of the ambulance of
/ the health department at that time he
! relates. and on the morning of July >
! 1881. when Policeman kearney. then sta
! toned at the depot sent word to the old
| police headquarters building at AZ street
! and Pennsylvania avenue that the Presi-
! den; had been shot, We hurried to the
| scene
When we got there with the ambu-
! lance. there big crowd OF people
around the building. who had heard of
! the shooting. but We forced our way
! through II and entered the station.
BY that time the President had been
! taken upstairs to the Office of the general
| passenger agent on the SECOND floor
/ Physicians had been sent for and several
! had arrived. The crowd was growing
/ larger every moment. and there was an
angry buzz which sounded i'll for the
I man who had committed the dastardly
! crime
After some time ii was decided that
/ the President should be removed from the
station. and he was taken downstairs and
! placed in the ambulance and driven rapid
~ possible to the east entrance of
the White House, where he was placed
in the room where he lay for so many
weeks.
Il do not know what he said on that
journey. but | remember that one of the
doctors told arother-So that | heard him
that the President wished to go fast, SO
that the people could not catch up with
the ambulance. He wanted to get away
from the crowd. There We're several per-
sons in the ambulance. one of whom
remember. was DR.. Bliss, another was Dr.
Townsend. We hurried as much as We
could but the crowd kept getting larger
and larger all the way.
There are many persons who think
that they have pieces of the sheets or
mattress that the President lay on in that
the White House some one tried to take
such mementoeS. They were all taken
away, however, at that time. and the iden-
teal sheets used on the day the Presi-
den- was shot were used on that ambu-
lance for many years afterward. and
many an injured man rested on the same
couch that the martyred President had
once occupied.
Il remember some time afterward that |
got letter from Il museum manager in
Chicago offering me $500 for the sheets,
ETC. on which the President rode. | re-
fused it. however. l noticed some time
later that the manager was advertising
to the effect that he had these relics on
exhibition
Other Details of Tragedy
What Mr. Weldon didn't have time to
notice history tells just about as follows:
The president came into the station that
summer morning TO take train for the
cas-, where he was to have addressed the
ing on graduation days. His coming trip
had been announced in the newspapers
and it was known that he would leave at
9:3O O'Clock. He entered the station by
the street door shortly before train
time. walking arm in arm with Secretary
Blaine. Several members of his cabinet
including Secretaries Hunt and Window
AMI Postmaster General James and Mrs
Hunt had preceded him and had already
entered the train.
Guiteau had been noticed lOafing about
the station before the Presidents arrival,
but of course no one paid any particular
attention to him or his actions although
he paced the station reStleSsly.
Mr.. Garfield offered an easy mark to the
ssin. He walked into the main
station through the door of the ladies'
waiting room and Guiteau fired at his
back. The first bullet did no harm. 1t
entered the right sleeve of his coat and
came out at the shoulder without touching |
the flesh.