140 years ago: U.S. President James A. Garfield dies after being shot by a pseudo-Christian utopian socialist

On September 19, 1881, James A. Garfield, 20th President of the United States of America, died at the age of 49. He had been shot in the back on July 2 at a train station in Washington. His wound was probably survivable, and it's been speculated that his death resulted not so much from the wound as from infection caused by poking and prodding by his doctors with unwashed hands using unsterilized instruments in an effort to find the bullet.

Mr. Garfield had taken office on March 4 and had made civil service reform a priority of his presidency. The assassin, Charles Guiteau, was an unsuccessful lawyer from Chicago who has been largely passed over in the history books as simply a deranged office-seeker. However, the history books have overlooked, as Paul Harvey would say, "The rest of the story."

Charles Guiteau, the fourth of six children, was born on September 8, 1841 in Freeport, Illinois and moved with his family to Ulao, Wisconsin in 1850, moving back to Freeport with his father after his mother died in 1855. He failed the entrance examinations for the University of Michigan, and abandoned remedial studies.

Mr. Guiteau's father Luther was closely affiliated with the Oneida Community in Oneida, New York. The United States of the mid-19th century contained a number of utopian sects, and the Oneida Community, founded by John Humphrey Noyes in 1848, was one of them. Mr. Noyes was influenced by the preaching of Charles G. Finney, the "Father of American revivalism," and underwent a religious conversion at the age of 20 in 1831; he claimed to be a Christian, but eventually embraced the unbiblical doctrine that believers can attain sinless perfection in this life. He studied at Dartmouth College, Andover Theological Seminary, and Yale Theological College, and while at Yale, came to the conclusion that the second coming of Christ had occurred in A.D. 70 and that "mankind was now living in a new age."

Mr. Noyes was a Perfectionist--he believed that it was possible for man to be free from sin in this lifetime--and on February 20, 1834, he declared himself perfect and free from sin. Mr. Noyes' declaration provoked outrage from Yale Theological College, and he was expelled and stripped of his recently-earned license to preach. Mr. Noyes returned home to Putney, Vermont, where he continued to preach his Perfectionist doctrines. In 1847 he was arrested for adultery, and he and some followers fled to Oneida, where he established a community in 1848, raising canned fruits and vegetables, and achieving success in various industries, including the silverware trade. The Oneida Community, which practiced communalism, complex marriage, male sexual continence, and mutual criticism, grew to over 300 members by 1878, and had branches in other locales.

Charles Guiteau joined the Oneida Community in June 1860 at the age of 18, and expressed perfect confidence in Mr. Noyes and his teachings. Despite the community's practice of group marriage, Mr. Guiteau was generally rejected by women during his five years there. He left twice, returning once and then leaving for good, filing several lawsuits against Mr. Noyes, demanding payment for work he had done on behalf of the community. Mr. Guiteau studied law, but failed in a brief career as a lawyer and at several other jobs. He met and married librarian Annie Bunn in 1869, but was abusive to her. Mr. Guiteau eventually reinvented himself as a theologian, although his writing on the subject was largely plagiarized from Mr. Noyes. He was increasingly convinced that his actions--which included defrauding clients--were divinely inspired, but by 1875 Luther Guiteau was convinced that his son was possessed by Satan.

Charles Guiteau turned his interest to politics, originally supporting former President U.S. Grant for the 1880 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination, and then supporting Mr. Garfield after the latter won the nomination. Mr. Guiteau believed his support had been crucial to Mr. Garfield's electoral victory, and made repeated personal requests--always rebuffed--for a consulship in Paris. By July 2, 1881, Mr. Guiteau was convinced that God wanted Mr. Garfield "removed."

In contrast to today, justice was swift in 1881. On October 14, Mr. Guiteau was charged with murder. His trial began on November 17; a plea of temporary insanity was unsuccessful, and he was convicted on January 25, 1882 and sentenced to death. On June 1, he composed a lengthy poem claiming that God had commanded him to kill President Garfield in order to prevent Secretary James G. Blaine’s "scheming" to war with Chile and Peru. Mr. Guiteau also accused Chester Arthur, who had succeeded Mr. Garfield as President, of the "basest ingratitude" for not pardoning him when he knew that the death of Mr. Garfield had saved the United States.

Mr. Guiteau was hanged in Washington, D.C. on June 30, 1882 at the age of 40. While on the scaffold, he recited a poem he had composed titled I am Going to the Lordy.