The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1918-02-11
All About The GarfieldS
(Jay E. House, in the Topeka Capital

N0dy r. IlOuoe, III IHe lOpehd CdplldlJ
Memory is CALLED and tickle jade.
| 1t conserves unimportant information
through the average lifetime and
fails utterly when the important task
of notifying the laundry driver to call
for the sack" on Monday morning is
imposed upon it. What started us
to "projicking" in this infreqently
travelled byway of thought? We
were just thinking about the Garfelds
We had planned to make the premier
paragraph of today's offering a touch,
ing tribute to the reconciliation of
Mort Although and Conner Davies. As
we toyed with the idea, intent on
phrasing it in such way as to Of
fend neither, the boy came in with
the afternoon paper and our atten-
tion was diverted to the spectacle, of
one hundred million free-born Ameri.
can citizens kicking DR.. Harry w.
Garfield in the Stats. And thus by ca.
sy stages we traversed the back
ground to the assassination of DR..
Garfield's father, President James A.
Garfield. and the incident attendant
upon that tragedy. That was 81
years ago We were just old enough
to read a newspaper, What follows
is the result Of a mental wager that
we can write column of unimportant
detail about the Garfield family, not
line of which has been in public
Print since the early eighties.
James A. Garfield was elected Pres
ident in November 1880. His oppo,
nent was the noted Union General.
Winfield Scott Hancock. Hancock
wasn't much of Democrat nor, pre-.
sumably, much of a statesman. But
it was believed he would collar" a
big Soldier" vote, and the soldier
vote elected Presidents in those dear
dead days beyond recall. During the
campaign much stress was laid on the
fact that Garfield, who had endured
rigorous youth, had been a tow.
path boy on the Ohio canal. What
that had to do with his qualifications
for the presidency was not apparent
Political dope" hasn't changed much
in 81 years. They still use the old
recipe. Garfield had also been a
Campbellite preacher. But not SC
much stress was laid upon that phase
of his career. Religious lines then
were more closely drawn, and the Of
Tense to the Presbyterians and the
Methodists was minimized as much
as possible. Garfield had been a bri
gadier general in the Union army and
had sat in Congress for nearly TWEEN.
ty years. He wore a silken full beard
which descended to the second but.
ton Of his "wescot" and was a great
favorite with the ladies'. It was said
that the capital "J' in his signature
was perfectly, formed.
Garfield was President only little
more than six months, and during
more than three months Of that pc.
riod was incapaciated by what proved
to be his death wound. He was shot
down in the Baltimore & Ohio station
in Washington on July 3, and died in
summer cottage at Elberton, N. j.,
on September 10, following. His as
sassin, Charles j. Guiteau, was the
first nut" to make has way into the
pages of American history. Wilkes
Booth, who shot Lincoln, was a IA,
matte. Guiteau was a plain nut"
In those days the plan nut" was an
infrequent type. Now the woods are
full of them Gueteau was hanged
the following spring. after long and
tedious trial The day before his ex
ecution he refused to eat the rasp
berries served with his dinner be
caused they had not been iced.