3-066-024 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The White House, Washington, where the wounded President lies, 1881. ' [The attempt took place] in the waiting room at the station of the Baltimore and Potomac Railway...The President [James A Garfield] and Mr. Blaine had advanced some little distance into the room, and the Venezuelan Minister, raising his hat, was about to speak, when Guiteau sprang forward and shot the President from behind...Guiteau then advanced two steps in a crouching position, deliberately pointed his pistol at the President and fired another shot into his body. Mr. Garfield fell forward on the floor...The President was then examined. He lay as he had fallen forward on his face, apparently dead. Assistance was sent for, and he was removed to the White House. The President soon recovered consciousness, and ordered a telegraphic message to be sent to his wife...The calm cheerfulness which the President has shown has astonished all who have come into the sickroom. From the first, Mr. Garfield understood the serious nature of his wound, and ordered the doctors to hide nothing from him. When told that there was little hope of saving him, he remarked, "God's will be done. I am ready to die".' From "Illustrated London News", 1881.