Charles Julius Guiteau ( Video Charles J. Guiteau
Early life and education
Guiteau was born in Freeport, Illinois, the fourth child of six brothers Jane August (nÃÆ' Â © e Howe) and Luther Wilson Guiteau, whose family is of French descent Huguenot. He moved with his family to Ulao, Wisconsin (near Grafton today), in 1850 and lived there until 1855, when his mother died. Soon after, Guiteau and his father moved back to Freeport.
He inherited $ 1,000 from his grandfather as a youth and went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, to attend the University of Michigan. Due to inadequate academic preparation, he failed the entrance exam. Despite cramming French and algebra in Ann Arbor High School, during which time he received many letters from his father about his progress, he quit, and in June 1860 joined the Utopian One Utopian religious sect, in Oneida, New York, with which Father Guiteau already has a close affiliate. According to Brian Resnick of The Atlantic, Guiteau "adores" the group's founder, John Humphrey Noyes, after writing that he has "perfect, total and absolute confidence in everything."
Apart from the "group marriage" aspect of the sect, he was generally rejected for five years there, and was dubbed "Charles Gitout". He left the community twice. After leaving, he went to Hoboken, New Jersey, and attempted to start a newspaper based on the Oneida religion called The Daily Theocrat. This failed and he returned to Oneida, only to go again and file a lawsuit against No. Guiteau's father, embarrassed, wrote a letter to support Noyes, who considered Guiteau irresponsible and insane. In 1875, Guiteau's father was convinced that his son was possessed by a demon. Instead, Guiteau himself becomes increasingly convinced that his actions are divinely inspired, and that his destiny is "to preach a new gospel" like the Apostle Paul.
Maps Charles J. Guiteau
Careers
Guiteau later obtained a legal license in Chicago; However, he did not succeed as a lawyer. He's only debating one case in court, most of his business is in billing. His ex-wife then details his dishonest business, explaining how he will maintain a disproportionate amount of bills and rarely give money to his clients.
He then turned to theology. He published a book on a subject called The Truth almost entirely copied from Noyes's work. He traveled from town to town giving lectures to anyone who wanted to listen to his religious words, and in December 1877 gave a lecture at the Congregation Church in Washington, D.C.
Guiteau spent the first half of 1880 in Boston, which he left behind for money and suspected of stealing. On June 11, 1880, he was a passenger at SS Stonington when colliding with SS Narragansett at night in heavy fog. The Stonington can return to the port, but Narragansett is burned to the surface of the water and sinks, with significant loss of life. Although there were no fellow passengers on the wounded Stonington, the incident led Guiteau to believe that he had been saved for a higher purpose.
Guiteau's interest later turned to politics. He wrote a speech to support Ulysses S. Grant called "Grant against Hancock", which he revised to "Garfield against Hancock" after Garfield won the Republican nomination in the 1880 presidential campaign. In the end, he changed a bit more of the title and Grant in the speech itself. The speech was delivered at most twice, and copies were distributed to members of the Republican National Committee at their 1880 summer meeting in New York, but Guiteau believed he was largely responsible for Garfield's victory. He insisted that he should be given a consulate for his supposedly important help, first asked Vienna, then decided that he would choose that in Paris. Guiteau's personal requests to Garfield and his cabinet as one of many job seekers marching every day to see them personally continue to be rejected, as well as his numerous letters. By this time, Guiteau was poor and was forced to sneak from boardinghouse to boardinghouse without paying for lodging and eating, and to walk around snowy Washington, D.C. in a thin suit, without a coat, hat or boots. He spent his days in the hotel lobby reading the discarded papers to track Garfield's schedule and his cabinet and use the free stationery of the hotel to write letters that suppressed his claim to the consul. In the spring, he was still in Washington, and on May 14, 1881, he once again met with Secretary of State James G. Blaine personally, who eventually said in despair, "Do not talk to me again at the consulate building of Paris as long as you live ! "
Garfield's murder
Guiteau considers himself a loyal Republican, and his narcissistic personality assures him that his work for the party is very important for Garfield's election to the presidency. Later convinced that Garfield would destroy the Republican Party by removing the patronage system, after his last meeting with Blaine in May, Guiteau decided the only solution was to remove Garfield and appoint Vice President Chester A. Arthur - a Conkling conqueror - to the presidency.
Guiteau feels that God told him to kill the president; he felt that such an act would be "abolition" as opposed to murder. He also feels that Garfield should be killed to get rid of the Party Secretary of State, James G. Blaine. To borrow $ 15 from George Maynard, a relative with a wedding, Guiteau went to buy a revolver. He knows a bit about firearms, but he knows that he will need a big caliber weapon. While shopping at the O'Meara store in Washington, he had to choose between.442 Webld Webber caliber revolver of the Web with a wooden grip or one with ivory grip. He chose the one with the ivory handle because he wanted to look good as a museum exhibit after the assassination. Although he can not afford the extra dollars, the shopkeeper drops the price for him. He spent the next few weeks in target practice - retreating from the revolver nearly knocked him out the first time he fired him - and stalked Garfield. The gun was found after the assassination, and was even photographed by the Smithsonian in the early 20th century, but was lost.
On one occasion Guiteau trailed Garfield to the train station when the President saw his wife go to a beach resort in Long Branch, New Jersey, but he decided to postpone his plans because Garfield's wife, Lucretia, was in poor health and Guiteau did not want to upset him. On July 2, 1881, he waited for Garfield in Baltimore and the ruined Potomac Railroad Station, shining his shoes, pacing, and using a taxi to take him to jail later. When Garfield entered the station, looking forward to a holiday with his wife at Long Branch, Guiteau stepped forward and shot Garfield twice from behind, the second shot through the first vertebral lumbar but lost the spinal cord. When he surrendered to the authorities, Guiteau said: "I am a supporter of Stalwarts... [Chester A.] Arthur is president now!"
After a long, painful battle with an infection, perhaps caused by his piercing doctor and examining his wound with his unwashed hands and unsterilized instruments, Garfield died on September 19, eleven weeks after being shot. Most modern physicians familiar with the case claim that Garfield would easily recover from his injuries with sterile medical treatments, which were common in the United States ten years later, while Candice Millard argued that Garfield would survive Guiteau's gunshot wounds as his doctors left just like that. himself, herself. Garfield's biographer, Allan Peskin, states that medical malpractice does not contribute to Garfield's death; Inevitable infection and blood poisoning that will occur from deep bullet wounds cause damage to some organs and spinal bone fragmentation.
Trial and execution
After Garfield died, the government officially accused Guiteau of committing murder. He was formally indicted on October 14, 1881, on charges of murder, who had previously attempted murder after his arrest. Guiteau pleaded not guilty to the allegations. The trial began on November 14, 1881, in Washington, D.C. The presiding judge in this case is Walter Smith Cox. The court-appointed defense attorney in court is Leigh Robinson and George Scoville, although Guiteau will insist on trying to represent himself during the entire trial. Wayne MacVeagh, US Attorney General, served as chief prosecutor. MacVeagh appointed five lawyers to the prosecution team: George Corkhill, Walter Davidge, retired judge John K. Porter, Elihu Root, and E.B. Smith.
The Guiteau Court is one of the first high-profile cases in the United States where a defense based on temporary insanity claims is considered. Guiteau firmly insisted that when he was legally insane at the time of the shooting (because God had taken his free will), he was not really medically mad, which was one of the main causes of the rift between him and his defense lawyer..
Edward Charles Spitzka, a leading alienis, testified as an expert witness. Spitzka has stated that it is clear "Guiteau is not only now crazy, but he has never been any other." While in the pulpit, Spitzka testified that he "no doubt" that Guiteau is both mad and "moral monstrosity". Spitzka came to the conclusion that Guiteau had a "crazy way" he often observed in asylum houses, adding that Guiteau was a "selfish egoist" with "a tendency to misinterpret real life affairs". He thought the condition was a result of "congenital malformations of the brain".
George Corkhill, a District District court prosecutor and prosecuting team, summed up the prosecutor's view of the Guiteau madness in a pre-trial press statement that also reflected public opinion on the issue.
He's no crazier than me. There's nothing crazy about Guiteau: he's a cool and calculating imitator, a polished scoundrel, who has been gradually preparing to pose this way in the world. He is deadbeat, pure and simple. Finally, he got tired of the deadbeating monotony. He wanted the joy of some other kind and fame... and he got it.
Guiteau became a media sensation during the entire trial for his strange behavior, which included frequent cursing and humiliating judges, mostly witnesses, prosecutors, and even defense teams, and formatting his testimony in epic poems he read aloud, and seeking legal counsel from a random audience in the audience through a forwarded note. He dictated his autobiography to the New York Herald , ending it with a personal ad for "a good Christian woman under 30 years old". He was unaware of America's public resentment about him, even after he was nearly killed twice. He often smiles and waves at audiences and journalists inside and outside the courtroom, seemingly delighted to be the center of attention for once in his life.
Guiteau tried to convince President Chester A. Arthur to release him by mail because he had just increased Arthur's salary by making him president. At one point, Guiteau argued before Cox's Judge that President Garfield was killed not by bullets but by medical malpractice ("The doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him"). During the trial and up to execution, Guiteau was placed at St. Hospital. Elizabeths in the southeastern quadrant of Washington, DC While in prison and awaiting execution, Guiteau wrote a plea for his murder and a report on his own trial, published as Truth and Removal.
Until the end, Guiteau made plans to start a lecture tour after being considered close and would run for president in 1884 while at the same time continuing to enjoy the media circus surrounding his trial. He was found guilty on January 25, 1882. After the guilty verdict was read, Guiteau stepped forward, despite his lawyer's attempts to silence him, and yelled at the jury by saying "You're all low and perfect bastard!" plus a stream of curses and dirty words before he was taken by the guard to his cell to await execution. Guiteau appealed his conviction, but his appeal was rejected, and he was hanged on 30 June 1882, in the District of Columbia, just two days before the first anniversary of the shooting.
When led to his execution, Guiteau is said to continue to smile and waved at the audience and reporters, glad to be in the limelight to the end. He famously danced his way to the gallows and shook hands with his executioner. On the scaffold, as a last request, he read a poem entitled "I Go to God", which he had written during his imprisonment. He initially asked the orchestra to play while singing his poems, but this request was rejected.
After reading his poem, a black hood was placed over Guiteau's smiling head and a few moments later the gallows appeared, the rope breaking his neck in a fall. Guiteau's body was not returned to his family, because they could not afford a private funeral, but instead it was autopsied and buried in a jaily corner. After an autopsy, it was discovered that Guiteau had a condition known as phimosis, an inability to pull back the foreskin, which at the time was thought to have caused the madness that caused him to kill Garfield.
With small pieces of hanging ropes already sold as souvenirs to the dazzled public, rumors soon began to swirl that prison guards planned to dig up Guiteau's bodies to meet the demands of this emerging new market. Fearing scandal, the decision was made to sect the corpse. The corpse was sent to the National Health and Medicine Museum in Maryland, which housed Guiteau's brain and the enlarged spleen found on autopsies and whitened the skeleton. It's placed in the warehouse by the museum. The parts of Guiteau's brain remain on display in a jar at the MÃÆ'¼tter Museum in Philadelphia.
Psychological ratings
Dr Allan McLane Hamilton said in 1881 that he believed that Guiteau was sane when he killed Garfield. The autopsy of Guiteau's brain reveals that his dura mater is very thick, suggesting he may have neurosyphillis, a disease that causes mental instability; he can get the disease from a prostitute. George Paulson, former chair of neurology at Ohio State University, denied the diagnosis of neurosyphillis, arguing that Guiteau suffers from schizophrenia and "great narcissism".
In 2014, criminal psychologist Kent Kiehl diagnosed Guiteau as a psychopath, giving him a score of 37.5 out of 40 on the PCL-R scale.
In popular culture
Guiteau's life, focusing on psychological disorders and his plan to kill Garfield, was the subject of "Portrait of an Assassin", a radio play by James Agate Jr. The drama was produced as Episode 1125 of CBS Radio Mystery Theater and the first broadcast on October 8, 1980.
Guiteau is portrayed in the musical Stephen Sondheim Assassins, where he mentor Sara Jane Moore, a woman who tried to kill Gerald Ford. Guiteau sang sections of "I am Going the Lordy" in the musical song "The Ballad of Guiteau".
In the episode of American Dad! "Garfield and Friends", Hayley Smith uses DNA Guiteau to revive him. He uses her like a sniffer dog to track down Garfield's life again.
See also
- List of assassins
- Stalwart (politics)
- Patronage
- List of people dying by hanging
References
Note
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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