An Old Timey Podcast - 94: Dirty Doctors: How Infection Killed James Garfield (Part 6)

Episode Date: March 11, 2026

Mere minutes after the shooting, a doctor arrived on the scene. Using his ungloved, unwashed fingers, he dug into President James Garfield’s bullet wound. The doctor hoped to retrieve the bullet. That would prove a common theme in the president’s medical care. As James Garfield struggled to survive, doctors obsessed over retrieving the bullet. They subjected him to daily examinations — always with unsanitized tools and unwashed hands. Those examinations caused him tremendous suffering. They ultimately killed him.Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from: The book, “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President,” by Candice MillardThe book, “Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of President James A. Garfield,” by Kenneth D. Ackerman“Murder of a President” documentary and additional resources from PBS.org“‘As a Matter of Fact, I Presume I Shall Live to be President’”: A Brief Biographical Sketch of Garfield’s Assassin” from the National Park Service“Assassination and Insanity in Gilded Age America,” by Winston BowmanAre you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso. And I'm Norman Caruso. And on this episode, James Garfield struggles to survive. Oh, geez, this is going to be a bummer of an episode, isn't it? Everyone, this is your warning. This is your official warning, and I don't want to hear another word about it. This episode is disgusting and it's sad. Gross and sad. people who are struggling right now, stop listening. Leave the room. Before we get into this horrible, horrible episode, Kristen.

Yeah, thanks. Let's do a little banter. We just finished. Oh, that sounded so natural and not like you're a robot man at all. Let's do a little banter. Let's begin the banter session. Yes, excellent. We just finished the newest season of Love is Blind.

It was once again an absolute disaster. Mm-hmm. No crystal light chicken smoothies this season. That was a little disappointing. But we did witness the most average man I have ever seen talked down to a gorgeous doctor and then be stunned when the doctor wanted to end the relationship. I hope there's a big crossover between people who watch Love is Blind and who also want to learn about the assassination of James Garfield. Because if we've hit the right spot in that Venn diagram, boy, are people happy right now.

You know there is a huge crossover, Kristen. That freaking Keebler elf talking down to that doctor. My God, the audacity. He looks like a little hobbit that wandered out of the shire. And now it found himself on a reality TV show. Okay. Honestly, his behavior kind of reminded me of somebody from this series, Kristen. Mr. Roscoe Conkling, New York Senator.

Oh. Because he resigned his Senate seat. And then he just expected his colleague. who hated him to give him the Senate seat back, and he was like, what's going on? What's the big deal? Bit of a stretch, but I'll give it to you. Okay, thank you. Further proof, Kristen, that history doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes.

What's the rhyme? You know how people will say history repeats itself? History doesn't repeat itself. I'm sorry. But it often rhymes. There are similar themes. Wait, no, I get it now, and I'm embarrassed to how long it took me to get here, but I'm here now. And guess what folks?

I'm the one telling you this whole story. so you're in good hands. Hang on. It is 1230. It's a little too early to be recording right now. It's a little early to be recording, frankly. Well, if you enjoyed that historical analysis of Love is Blind, maybe you should sign up for our Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast

because there's plenty more of that in our bonus episodes. And for just $5 a month, you'll get access to our entire bonus episode catalog with full video. Folks, no one else on the internet is doing this right now. And you're going to learn that mediocre dudes have been doing insane things for a long time. Like remember when dudes were sowing monkey testicles to themselves to feel young again? I do remember. And you're not going to believe this, folks, but that didn't work. And so now they are just a bunch of mediocre dudes with monkey testicles sewed to their beanbags.

Can you really call them mediocre if they've got an extra set of animal balls dangling from them? I'd say that's pretty extra ordinary. I mean, good point, Kristen. But, you know, when sewing the monkey testicles did not work, they, for some reason, blamed the monkeys. You stupid monkey! Anyway, please consider supporting the small, sexy, independent podcast over at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. And with that, take it away, Kristen. Norm, I got to tell you, that Patreon plug, you took us on quite a journey.

I didn't know if we were ever going to hit the peak. But we're here now, and we're ready for me to take them. tumbling, sadly, down the mountainside. You know that phrase, rock bottom? We're about to hit it! We're going to hit it in the story. Oh, people, just a fair warning to you. I cried every day I worked on this story.

Yeah, Kristen would come downstairs after writing an episode. I'd be like, oh my God, is everything okay? And she was like, I've just been crying. And I'm just like, what's wrong? And she's like, well, I've been working on my script. That's just a taste of the pain you've got in store for you today, folks. All right, here we go. Give me that previously on.

Give me that previously on. Okay. Let me make sure it works first. Okay. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Take it away. Previously on an old-timey podcast. A deeply troubled, delusional man named Charles Guteau was livid.

He hadn't gotten the political appointment. he was so certain he deserved, and he blamed President James Garfield for that failure. Charles later claimed that God gave him the idea to assassinate the president. After all, with James Garfield out of the way, everything would be better. He was certain that once he assassinated President Garfield, Chester Arthur would pardon him. He'd become an American hero. So he stalked the president, and on June 2, 1881, when James,

Garfield arrived at the train station, ready to take off with his two sons for their family vacation, Charles Guteau shot him. The first bullet grazed the president's right arm. The second hit him in the back. The effects were immediate. He collapsed. He vomited and vomited and vomited on the train station floor. Blood soaked his suit jacket. As the president lay dying, the train station erupted in chaos. And in that chaos, Charles Gautau ran. As he fled, horrified, grief-stricken people screamed, Stop him, stop that man, he shot the president. Catch him, catch him!

In the confusion, Secretary of State James Blaine looked around. He spotted the little man, fleeing the scene. He knew exactly who it was. In this week's episode, the fight to save the president's life begins. Okay. I'm ready. And I'm not going to say anything because you're telling the story. Oh, you know what? You've been schooled by the history hose. They've said, hey, Norm, sit back and listen, bad boy. Also, I'm about to tell you a new rule for this episode. And I know some people aren't going to want to hear it, but I think it'll make more sense as this story goes, the soundboard.

Yeah. There are some sounds on there that in this story, you might be tempted. To deploy. Don't you fucking dare. I, nope. Okay. Nope. I'm a mature, responsible man.

Okay. I wield great power with this soundboard. It's true. And I am going to restrain myself. Very good. You really want to see a man's character? Give them power. Give him a soundboard.

Give him a soundboard on a podcast recording. Pretty good. Okay. Amidst the screams and chaos, James Blaine chased after Charles Gatow. He watched as Charles turned toward an exit, gun in hand. James yelled, bar the doors, bar the doors. James Blaine kept moving, propelled by shock and fury, chasing after that strange, insistent little man who for months had demanded to be named Consult of France. But then he came to his senses. Someone was going to catch Charles Gatot. For now, he needed to get back to his friend, his dying friend.

James rushed back to the president's side. The workers at the train station had been the first to step in and help the dying president. A janitor had tried to lift him to get him to safety, but quickly realized that the president could no longer stand. His injuries were too severe. The woman who worked in the lady's waiting area cradled the president's head in her lap as he vomited and bled. A station agent removed the president's tie, hoping to provide some comfort in that horrible, moment. People gathered, crying. Some prayed, some shouted. Charles Gutot was often running, and President James Garfield was on the floor of the train station, life slipping out of him.

His two boys, 17-year-old Harry and 16-year-old Jim had seen it all. They'd seen their father, happy and active moments earlier, and now they witnessed the unthinkable. Their father was unresponsive, surrounded by his own blood and vomit, breathing, barely, and not moving. Jim dropped to the ground, sobbing. As the crowd swelled around their dying father, Harry tried to take control. Keep back, keep back! That my father may have air! Keep back! They did. Soon enough, a doctor arrived, ready to help. He gave the president a stimulant to keep him conscious, and the medicine seemed to revive him. What? Do you know what kind of stimulant he got?

Okay, so he gave him. Oh, gosh, I took it out of the script. I think it was called essence of ammonia. Amonia? Wow. Shoot. I can't believe you asked a question like that. I took it out because I thought it wouldn't be important. Kristen, you know we're curious history hosts. We love the context. Check your scrap pile. Norman, I am officially opening the scraps because I feel like you're going to be asking a lot

of questions. Oh, boy. Okay. Here, I've got it. Aromatic spirits of ammonia. Ooh. Also a little brandy, you know, maybe for the pain, maybe for just a good time. Yeah, yeah, it was for a good time because he was not having a good time right now. In that moment of consciousness, the doctor asked him, where do you feel the most pain? Through gritted teeth and ragged breath, James Garfield responded that he felt it mostly in his legs in his feet. The doctor examined him. He pulled back the president's jacket and shirt to reveal a bullet wound.

And then, right there, on the floor of the train station, that doctor took his ungloved, unwashed hand, and, using his finger, dug into the president's wound, hoping but failing to retrieve the bullet. Ugh. That's gross and awful. Yeah, no, that's actually the perfect combination of words. It's gross and awful. Yeah. The pain he would feel from that and how unsanitary that is. Yes. And unnecessary. Yeah, that too. Soon enough, train station workers appeared with a bed for the president. It was a mattress they'd pulled off a railroad car. It was made of horrid. hair and hay. They lifted the president onto it. They carried him away from the crowd to a room above the train station. James Garfield could barely move. He went unconscious, then came back to, went unconscious,

then came back to. When he could speak, he spoke of his wife, Lucretia. He asked a friend to telegraph her, to let her know that he'd been seriously hurt. He vomited. He lost color. He vomited some more. Robert Todd Lincoln. Abraham Lincoln's only surviving son was at the train station that day. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. Not now, not again. His own father had been in that same position, shot by an assassin, but not immediately killed.

For a while, shock immobilized Robert Todd Lincoln. And then he ran, ran out of the room, down the stairs. He called for his carriage driver. He asked that Dr. Willard Bliss be brought to the scene. Dr. Bliss had been part of the team who'd treated his own father. And James Garfield knew Dr. Bliss. They'd grown up together in Ohio, just two miles apart. They'd been friends since they were boys.

I didn't know he was on Lincoln's medical team. He must have been a young doctor then, huh? Yeah. Yeah. And I think he had a pretty sizable medical team, so. Oh, yeah. Yeah, there were quite a few doctors looking at Lincoln. Let me tell you stuff about the Lincoln assassination.

Oh, okay. Please do. I will not. That is your area of expertise. Future topic. Oh, man. If you think this series has gone on too long, let's do Lincoln. Oh, if I did it?

Oh, my God. Anyway. The president might not survive, but at least he could be treated by a doctor with a familiar face. Meanwhile, as word spread, more doctors showed up. One of the first to arrive was Dr. Charles Purvis. He was the surgeon and she. of the Friedman's Hospital. He'd been one of eight black surgeons in the Civil War.

He knew what he was doing. He ordered blankets wrapped around the president's body and hot water bottles placed on the president's feet and legs. But when Dr. Bliss arrived, he took charge. And just like that first doctor, his goal was to retrieve the bullet. What is the rush to get the bullet out? Good question.

And I guess maybe we're showing that we don't have medical backgrounds at all. I could understand if a bullet is in a person and it's relatively easy to get out, you would want to get it out. Yeah, because there could be a risk of infection. Well. But ironically, trying to get it out can cause more infection. Are you sure? Yes. Norm, germs are a thing that was made up by some.

nutty European doctor. And I think you'll agree because that's what these guys here are going to say. Well, you know, we're finally turning the corner on that, thanks to Make America Healthy again. Germs overrated, not really a thing. I have to admit, I haven't paid a whole lot of attention to the Make America Healthy Movement, mostly because I just can't stop masturbating to that workout video that he did with Kid Rock. Oh, my God. I love that video so much. We all do. We all do.

Shirtless in jeans working out in a sauna. With that stupid, the graphics and the music. Oh, man. It's great. Talking about some hardcore old guys. Yeah, you know, what's interesting is, like, a lot of these old-timey folks that had been shot. Many of them went on to live long. Norman.

What? Norman. What? You're already doing it. Doing what? What do you think I'm telling you right now? I'm not talking about James Garfield right now. Norman, are you telling something that is obviously going to be part of this story?

No. Norman, for the edited version of this video, I want like the screen to go red during this time because you should feel shame. It's shame. Yes. This is ridiculous you're telling the story after you specifically, unprompted, said you would not tell the story. I just figured I could add some commentary to the story. Commentary that I am obviously going to provide. Okay.

All right. Kristen, please tell us more about bullets and bodies. Okay. Well, so as I said, when Dr. Bliss arrived, he immediately took charge, much like Norman when he's supposed to just listen to a story. We have that in common. Dr. Bliss pulled an unsanitized instrument out of his bag. It was essentially, I'm sorry, I keep smiling at you, I can't. This isn't funny, Kristen.

It's a little funny. I mean, not this, but you are a little funny. Okay. It was essentially a rod with a porcelain tip. James Garfield had been given nothing to ease his pain, and he was given nothing when Dr. Bliss began probing his bullet wound, but he lay still. He winced, but he didn't complain as Dr. Bliss inserted the instrument,

half an inch, a full inch, another half inch, two inches, two and a half, three inches into a dying man's back. So that bullet is in there? Yes. And it's probably probing around a bunch of organs. When Dr. Bliss decided he'd gone far enough, he pulled the instrument back, or tried to anyway. It was stuck. Oh, no. He pulled again harder.

No. It was very stuck. He figured that the probe was stuck on one of the president's ribs, probably a fractured rib, one that had been damaged by the bullet. So when pulling on the instrument proved ineffective, Dr. Bliss pressed his hand into the president's fractured rib, hard enough that the instrument was able to break free and slide out of the president's back. Oh, it's like the sword and the stone. It's awful. It's just awful. Poor James Garfield.

Absolutely. And what is going through that doctor's head, honestly? I mean, I don't know, but I'm sure there was a panic to save him, especially if he had to go through Lincoln's assassination, where you could immediately look at Lincoln and be like, he's not surviving. He's going to die. Whereas James Garfield is like, okay, he's semi-conscious. we have a chance here. And so there's like a panic to like make it right. And so yeah, maybe you're not thinking clearly about the best thing to do right away.

Wait, you're saying there's a chance he could live. So you're not thinking about the best way to keep him alive. That doesn't make any sense. I'm saying like in a panic state, you're just like you kind of get hyper focused. And you're like, we got to get the bullet out. We got to get the bullet out. and maybe you're not always thinking about some of the side effects of doing that. Folks, if this applies to you, if you're listening to what Norman says and you're like, that makes sense, don't be a doctor.

Just do me a favor of a don't be a doctor. I agree. I agree. That's why I'm not a doctor. With the probe out, Dr. Bliss went back into the wound this time with his ungloved, unwashed finger. He felt and felt. He felt that broken rib. James Garfield held still.

He breathed through it, breathed through the pain. There were nine other doctors in the room, but it was Dr. Charles Purvis who spoke up. He'd made history many times in his life. In fact, he'd made history moments earlier when he became the first black doctor to treat a United States president, and now, despite what had to be incredible pressure

to stay silent, he didn't. He said, please stop this examination. Oh, you told him to stop. Yes. I was going to ask, so what Dr. Bliss is doing right now is not recommended, even at that time? Yeah, so let's get into that. Okay.

Dr. Charles Purvis could see that Dr. Bliss was very likely doing more harm than good. It's unclear if Dr. Purvis was concerned about germs. A lot of doctors weren't back then, especially not American doctors. Joseph Lister had only discovered antiseptic medicine a little over a decade earlier. And when he first began talking about germs and trying to educate the medical community about ways to combat them and stop the spread of infection, he had a lot of detractors. They were set in their ways. The idea of germs, these mythical, invisible specks of evil, seemed laughable, ridiculous.

something from the middle ages. Yeah, they're like, we can't even see these things. Yeah. What are you talking about germs? Plus, think of all the work it would take to create a completely sanitary environment. Talking about not worth it. But his results spoke for themselves, and by 1881, he'd quieted those naysayers in Europe. But America was another story.

Granted, some Americans listened. But a lot of well-established doctors had grown. used to the old methods. They wore bloody, pus-stained coats with pride because the stains were proof of their experience. The awful stench that permeated every hospital? Well, that was just a good surgical stink. It meant work was being done. Oh, so it's like a college football team.

You know, they put stickers on their helmet for every win. Yeah. So it was like bragging rights. Isn't that kind of interesting? That's odd. I feel like the Mayo Clinic was kind of founded on the germ stuff. Like they were one of the first big hospitals. They were like, yeah, this germ thing's serious.

And they had very sanitary clinics and operating. Ken Burns did a great documentary on the Mayo Clinic. Never heard of him. I hope he does well for himself. Yep, up and comer. Not big in the history scene yet, but one day. Very sexy haircut. He changed his haircut.

He changed his haircut. Thank God. He did. I'm trying to go for his old one. Don't you dare. Don't you dare. I'm going to show Sarah, who is our hairstylist, a picture of Ken Burns, like, give me the Ken Burns. I will threaten her. I will threaten her very much.

And also, I don't think she would do that to the world. I don't think she would allow you to leave the salon looking like a boy from the 1970s. Oh, so you're saying she wouldn't listen to her clients. This turns into a terrible thing for Sarah's business. Sorry, Sarah. Sometimes in this story, it's tempting to say that what happened to James Garfield was just the result of doctors not knowing about germs or not understanding how vitally important it is to maintain a sanitary environment. But that doesn't paint the whole picture.

Because what happened to James Garfield was bad, even by the medical standards of 1881. And when Dr. Charles Purvis asked Dr. Willard Bliss to stop the examination, he absolutely should have. But Dr. Bliss didn't even dignify Dr. Purvis' request with a response. Instead, he selected another probe from the bag. He became more aggressive. Oh, my God, dude. He probed the wound in one direction than another and another up and down in the pathway of the bullet,

perhaps, maybe, but often creating new pathways. This dude's fencing in James Garfield's body? Essentially. Jesus. The president continued to bleed and endure to suffer and withstand until finally after an hour he asked to be taken back to the White House. It took several men, but they lifted him on that bloody, awful mattress and carried him down through the packed train station where people were still reeling from what they'd just witnessed. At the side of him, their president, who had just an hour earlier been in perfect health, the crowd went silent. They took off their hats. He was placed in an ambulance carriage of sorts. It was a communal effort getting him back to the White House. The examinations of his wound had been so needlessly painful, but now the carriage moved slowly, so slowly along the uneven brick streets that led back to the White House. In hushed silence, people followed the carriage. When it arrived at a pothole or a rough spot in the road, they lifted it

back onto solid ground. Oh, wow. Yeah. That's amazing. It is. Yeah, that really is like a team effort right there. So everyday citizens, like regular people are following this carriage and like making sure the ride's comfortable. I imagine a lot of them were soldiers who were doing the lifting.

But this story is so incredible to me because on the one hand, you have this horrible, senseless act. And you have a lot of people throughout this story who have behaved very badly. Can you give me some examples? I don't know if you've heard of this Roscoe Conk, like fella.

But I think you'll also see here a lot of stories of people doing tremendous good. Yeah. And, you know, this moment of him being taken back to the White House,

even just people choosing to be silent, they didn't want him to be in any discomfort. They didn't want him to be under any extra alarm. It's incredible. When the president's carriage arrived back at the White House, the staff was in shock. He'd cheerfully said goodbye to them that morning,

and now he was back, being carried upstairs, into a room where he would very likely die. Even in that moment, though, he was aware of the effect he had on people, on the nation as a whole, aware that he needed to be strong, to be brave, or at least appear that way. He thanked everyone for their efforts, knowing it might be the last time he spoke to them. When his son, 16-year-old Jim, began to cry again, James spoke with hope.

He grabbed his son's hand and said, The upper story is all right. It's only the hole that was damaged. Now, in bed at the White House, still surrounded by doctors, James Garfield found himself subject to another round of painful, merciless examinations, all aimed at finding and retrieving that bullet. But all that digging and probing, always with unwashed fingers and unsanitized tools, caused the wound to hemorrhage. And that kicked off another round of uncontrolled vomiting. Ugh. His breathing slowed. He fell in and out of consciousness. At one point he tried to make

sense of it all, to make sense of why he lay dying. He asked his secretary of state, James Blaine, why did that man shoot me? I have done him no wrong. What could he have wanted to shoot me for? James Blaine responded, sadly, quietly, he must be insane. That's the only response you can give. Yeah. Because if you listed Charles Gattot's reasons, yeah, it would sound insane. That moment was the last time James Garfield spoke of his assassin. I think that's pretty incredible because it was as though he understood immediately that there was no sense in it, no need in making sense of an act that was not rooted in reason. I'm sure what's going through his head is just like, I want to live.

Yeah. So it's like focus all of your mental energy and physical energy on like staying alive. So his focus was on Lucretia. She was still back at the shore, still recovering from her own brush with death, and he was worried about her, worried about what his death would do to her. At one point when he'd regained consciousness, he spoke to James Blaine's wife, Harriet. He told her he needed her to promise him something, to promise that whatever happened to him, she would look out for Lucretia.

Lucretia was never far from his mind as he came in and out, so close to death. He didn't want to leave her a widow, didn't want to leave her with five children to raise. At the very least, he didn't want to die without seeing her one last time. He asked Dr. Bliss for his odds of survival. And although Dr. Bliss would later prove to be overly optimistic to the point of outright lying to the media, in that moment, he gave James Garfield his honest opinion, one in one hundred. Oh. James Garfield replied through gritted teeth, through unimaginable pain.

We will take that chance, doctor, and make good use of it. For those who struggle with math, that is one percent. Thank you. I struggle with math. That's why I thought I'd mention it, Kristen. But you know what? Maybe I struggle so much that if I were in this position, I'd be like, that's great. I'm glad to hear it.

And then I'm so positive that it just takes me through. And Dr. Bliss is confused. He's like this stupid dying woman. As he clung to life, Lucretia was back at the shore. She and their daughter, 14-year-old Molly, were enjoying their time together, looking forward to the family vacation when she received an urgent telegram.

It said that the president was seriously hurt. He wished to see her soon. He loved her. The telegram had been delivered by a family friend, General David Swam. Its message, its vagueness, terrified her, but she steeled herself. She demanded the truth. What did they mean seriously hurt? Was he dead? Was he dead? The general told her that he'd been shot, but that the last he'd heard,

her husband was still alive. In that moment, that horrible moment, an unlikely person appeared at the doorstep, wanting to offer her comfort. It was Ulysses S. Grant. Oh. Ulysses had been famously bitter about losing the nomination to her husband. He'd been rude in the press. In fact, he'd been staying across the street from her this whole time. At the Jersey Shore? Yeah, but he had barely acknowledged her. He'd been so cold, not just to her, but to her husband,

that the media had picked up on it. Wow. But the news that James Garfield had been shot had rattled Ulysses out of that childish behavior, because that morning he took Lucretia by the hand. He offered her comfort and sympathy and most of all hope. He told her that he'd also received a telegram about her husband. And from what he'd heard about that shooting,

he believed that her husband would survive it. He told her what he knew to be true, that people could survive being shot. Norm, I know you hate that he's telling this part of the story and not you, but please listen. He'd seen it many times during the Civil War. Ironically, James Garfield had seen the same thing. Men were shot in battle,

but because of where they'd been shot and because of the path the bullet took in their body, the injury didn't always kill them. Her husband was in danger, yes, but his death was not a guarantee. Just to be clear, I was going to mention Andrew Jackson, who lived with a bullet inside of him, and served as president with a bullet inside of him.

Explains a lot, doesn't it? What do you mean? I don't know. Yeah, what do you mean by that? Those words did provide comfort to Lucretia. She clung to that idea, to that hope, as she and Molly boarded a special train for Washington. By that point, the news of the shooting was widespread.

There was a coordinated effort to rush the First Lady back to the White House. A train track was cleared for her journey. A special train, just an engine and a pole car, was arranged for her and her daughter and a few others. The train took off from New Jersey going full throttle. The train raced against time as her own mind raced. And then, about 20 miles outside of Baltimore, the train jolted. A pop pierced the air.

What the? A steel rod that connected the wheels had snapped. The engineer looked out the window and saw to his horror as a six-foot steel rod. swung wildly. It ripped at the train tracks. It ripped at the side of the train. It clawed at the wheels. In a panic, he pulled the brakes. The car jolted again. People fell forward. And still, the train kept moving. The steel rod kept tearing and ripping, threatening with every movement to derail the train. It would later be hailed a miracle that it hadn't gone off the tracks. If it had, everyone on board would have died. Wow. The first lady would have died trying to reach her dying husband. Yeah. When you say steel rod, I know exactly what you're talking about.

Some of those wheels are connected, that little rod. It's like the pistons. It's not a little rod, six feet. It's a big rod. But, okay, so it like disconnected from one of. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and it would dig into the dirt. Oh, man.

Yeah, that's super dangerous. It is a miracle. The train kept going for two full miles before it finally came to a stop. Oof. In another part of the country, James and Lucretia's two youngest boys, 11-year-old Irvin and 9-year-old Abram, were on a train headed to Ohio. They were visiting with extended family, with the plan that in a few weeks the entire Garfield family would reunite on their farm for the summer.

The boy's journey from Washington, D.C. to mentor Ohio was a long one. filled with stops, filled with people, filled with newsstands and newsboys who shouted the latest headlines. But as word spread that the president had been shot, word also spread that the president's two little boys were on a train, traveling through the country, completely unaware of what had happened to their father. But people knew, the railroad staff, the other passengers, they knew. but they also knew, collectively, that those little boys didn't deserve to find out like that. So people worked together. As the train that carried the Garfield boys passed through each station, people alerted the next stop that the boys were on board.

Do not shout the news. Do not talk about the news. The president's children are on board. They do not know. They have not been told. And thanks to that act, that incredible act of kindness. little boys arrived back home in Ohio, not trembling in fear or grief, but blissfully unaware. And when they did find out, they found out from family, not strangers. That act wasn't just an act of kindness. It was an act of solidarity of American people coming together, despite their differences, to do something good, something radically good, defiantly good, defiantly good. in the face of an act so inexcusable. Charles Gatot had shot the president thinking he'd become a hero.

He was sorely mistaken. In the immediate aftermath of the shooting, he'd fled, but he'd quickly been captured by two police officers. An angry crowd had demanded, lynch him, lynch him! Charles had responded with delusion. He'd asked the officers to take him to jail. He was confident that soon enough,

General William Tecumse of Sherman. Yeah, this plan. Commander of the Army would do as Charles had instructed him to do in a letter. That's right. That's right. Rescue me. Which last week when you talked about that, I thought that was probably the most delusional thing he thought. Boy, I mean, if we're going to rank it, we're going to have to have the Delulu Olympics norm because I don't know that that's the most delusional. I mean, it's pretty delusional.

It's up there for me. Okay. It's pretty wild. I'm going to give it an honorable mention. I'm thinking minimum bronze medal. Okay, you're right, you're right. Minimum. The officers kept moving through the angry, grief-stricken crowd toward the nearby police headquarters.

Charles Gatot certainly didn't want to face an angry mob, but he did want credit for what he'd done. He told the officers, loudly enough to be overheard. I did it. I will go to jail for it. I am a stalwart. and Arthur will be president. That declaration, I am a stalwart, sent shockwaves throughout the country. What does stalwart mean?

Okay, this is my bad. I blame myself. On this podcast, we've dubbed them the spoil system boys, because I thought, when are we ever going to need to know that they called themselves the stalwarts and the other group called themselves the half-breeds? I thought, I'll make up my own funny names. And then I get to this point in the story and I'm like, oh, damn it, is that what he shouted?

I'm going to have to re-explain myself to the people. Sorry people. Okay, so stalwart is a Republican who believes in the spoil system. Yeah, so Roscoe Conkling is their daddy, Chester, Arthur, is their uncle, they love them all. Right. Don't forget about Tom Platt. He is also there. Okay, okay.

When you said stalwart, my mind scrambled to understand what that word means. You had the weirdest look on your face. And I immediately pictured Stewart's root beer. It was the closest thing I could come up with that resembled the word stalwart. You know what? I appreciate you explaining yourself because when I looked up at you, I did think you looked vaguely amused and thirsty, which I thought was inappropriate for the moment. I looked like my mind was scrambling, right? Like it was like a fuzzy TV channel.

The country had already been fed up with the spoil sense. system boys. New York political boss, Roscoe Conkling, had launched countless attacks on James Garfield. He'd even resigned his Senate seat in a failed attempt to gain the upper hand against the president. An absolute clown. And Roscoe's political henchman, Vice President Chester A. Arthur, had done something no other vice president in the nation's history had ever done before. He'd publicly badmouthed the president. Really the first time? Yeah.

Gosh. I would think Thomas Jefferson would have badmouthed John Adams. Because Jefferson was John Adams' vice president, right? Okay. And they did not like each other. Well, I wonder if... But maybe just privately.

Probably privately. And, I mean, Chester Arthur, I mean, he badmouth James Garfield to the press. Yeah. said he should resign. I mean, that is ridiculous. Now, it's not ridiculous if he'd been doing something actually terrible, but instead he was just saying, hey, no, I think I'd like to appoint some people of my choosing to some of these positions, and that was, you know, terribly offensive.

We all get it. Isn't it a while back in the day that the president really didn't pick their vice president? I mean, I think it could kind of be argued that they don't really pick them today. I mean, I guess we get the illusion they do a little bit. Originally, it was whoever wins the election is the president, whoever came in second is the vice president. Yeah, that was fun. I think we need to bring that back. Wouldn't that be fun? Oh, God. I don't know.

And then it changed to, yeah, the political party chooses the vice president. I think it's still kind of that way, but nominee has some agency to select the vice president. Folks, Norman loves an illusion. That's why he loves a boob job. Just... Whoa! Whoa. No.

Together, Roscoe Conkling and Chester A. Arthur had painted the president as a dangerous liar, hell bent on destroying the country. And now, some lunatic had shot him. Anger spread across the country. Anger at Charles Gatot, but also anger at the men who stood to gain so much by the president's assassination. Well, and also... Their words influence Charles Gatot to do this thing. Yeah. So, yeah, the people are pissed.

It sounds like you're joining the people. I'm mad. You're about to time travel. I am upset. My parisocial relationship with James Garfield has been ruined because this guy shot him. After hearing the news, Chester Arthur was grief-stricken. He was stunned. He and Roscoe Conkling went to the Fifth Avenue Hotel.

The Fifth Avenue Hotel had always been the go-to place for the stalwarts. It was the happening place for the Republican Party in general. Roscoe and Chester were accustomed to being respected and revered there. But when they arrived, they discovered that all the people who'd worked with them, worked for them, who'd always liked them, or maybe just pretended to like them, were fuming, fuming and suspicious. Yeah, they should be. Because in the hours after the shooting, many wondered if Charles Gatot hadn't actually acted alone. Oh, conspiracy.

Charles Guteau was clearly a disturbed individual, but had he been coaxed into this act by someone with something to gain? Something like the presidency of the United States? Wow, I didn't even think about this. I think this is so interesting because, you know, being in this story, we know that that's not. what happened. But as far as conspiracy theories go, I think this is a pretty reasonable one. Pretty solid one. The vice president secretly hires a delusional poor man to assassinate the president. Yeah, I'd buy that. Well, and people specifically believed Roscoe Conkling because they believed Chester Arthur will become president, but the real president will be Roscoe Conkling.

That's right. That's right. They say any man with that kind of haircut, he's up to no good. Well, that's true. Looks like porky pig's ass. If not that, had he simply been influenced by the repeated assertions that James Garfield was a liar, that he was dangerous to the country and deadly to the Republican Party. Roscoe and Chester were looked at with equal suspicion, equal anger. And that shocked Chester Arthur. That day in the hotel, he hung back.

He asked the reporters if they had any updates on the president. He expressed his sympathy. to the Garfield family. And later, he wondered with great fear about whether he was about to ascend to a role that the whole world was certain he was unprepared to fill. No kidding.

You want to talk about an unqualified president? He was unqualified to be vice president. Yeah. And now here he is. About to be president, potentially. Crazy. Lucretia did make it to the White House that day. At around 7 o'clock,

that evening, roughly 10 hours after the shooting, James Garfield lay on his side, surrounded by doctors, virtually immobilized by pain, when he heard the sounds of Lucretia's carriage pull up to the White House. And he broke into a big smile. He said, that's my wife. That's sweet. Isn't that? You know, you've always described him as like a golden retriever. Yeah. Well, you know, it's kind of like, you know, a dog hears your car pull up. Yeah, it is. It's sweet. He'd put on a brave face with everyone else. But when she arrived at his side, that brave face fell. He began talking, talking like his life was over.

But Lucretia stopped him mid-sentence. She said, well, my dear, you are not going to die, as I am here to nurse you back to life. So please do not speak again of death. Privately, though, it did look like he would die. Dr. Bliss estimated that the president would die in as little as 30 minutes, probably three hours. Wow. He believed, inaccurately, that the bullet had pierced the president's liver.

James Garfield had received an injury that he simply couldn't survive. That night, they sent word to Chester Arthur. They needed him in D.C. quickly. Despite his doctor's predictions, James Garfield lasted through the night. He was in pain and he definitely wasn't doing. well, but he was alive. And as the president of the United States, he had a lot of resources at his disposal. On the day of the shooting, Robert Todd Lincoln sent out messages to nearly a dozen of the local top doctors asking them to come to the White House. And they had come. People answered the call.

But on Sunday morning, Dr. Bliss held a meeting with all the other doctors. He lied to them. He told them that he'd met with the president and the first lady. And the president and the president and First Lady had put him in charge. Uh, what? They didn't want all these extra doctors roaming around. They just wanted him. We don't want, we only want one doctor. My husband is dying, but I just want one doctor to look at him.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. The other doctors were stunned. Yeah. They argued with him. One of them pointed out accurately, but you're not even a very good doctor. Whoa, Jesus. Which, okay, rude but for.

fair. I mean, he did not have the level of experience that some of these other doctors had. Another argued that Dr. Bliss was trying to seize this moment, ironically, so that he could get a political position. Something like, gee, I don't know, Surgeon General. Oh. Hmm. Yeah. Okay. Think about it. I mean... I'm thinking about it. Thank you. Right now. When James Garfield's actual family physician showed up and tried to see the president, Dr. Bliss stopped him. And the man said, but that's my patient. He's been my patient for five years. And Dr. Bliss essentially told him, I don't care if he's been your patient for 10 years.

He's not your patient today. Okay, Robert Todd Lagan, can you please recall Dr. Bliss and say your services are no longer needed? So this is interesting. I'm going to tell you one more thing, and then let's talk about this. Okay. Those other doctors backed down. They didn't know that Dr. Bliss was lying. And even if they suspected it, it seemed like very poor form to get into a loud argument right outside the room where the president lay dying. Sure, sure.

So now let's talk. Okay. I think that makes a lot of sense. Also, I mean, I'm thinking about, okay, if I was in this position, obviously you want the best people, you want the most people. you want the most highly trained people. But by that same token, I don't want a ton of people. You know, to me it's kind of too many cooks in the kitchen. Too many hands in the honey pot.

That's right. Well, I guess that wouldn't really apply here, but too many cooks in the kitchen's good. So I can understand the logic potentially of like, let's narrow down this team. But what they've done is they've taken out all the good chefs. And they've got some, you know, loser from TGI Friday. no offense. They got young Normie C.

the 19-year-old prep cook running the kitchen, which is a bad idea. Tostino's pizza rolls for everyone. Totinos, Christen. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

My God, I didn't realize you had own stock in the company. Maybe I do. Maybe I took all of the money from our Patreon and I invested it into Totino's pizza rolls. People, please help me.

Please sign up and, you know, Somehow, we'll try to keep this money away from Norm. From that point on, Dr. Bliss isolated the president. That's not to say that he was the only doctor treating the president, though. When Lucretia had been on her own deathbed just weeks earlier, she'd been under the care of Dr. Susan Ann Edson. A woman.

I know. Fun fact, the newspapers were just so flummoxed by that. They called her Dr. Mrs. Susan Ann Edson. Dr. Mrs. Susan Edson? Ann Edson. Wow. Esquia, Ph.D. Mrs. Mrs. is the most important part. Right.

It would be funny. Like, you know, sometimes, you know, they give the full name and then comma and then extra titles. Yeah. In this case, they probably wanted to put Dr. and Mrs. Susan Ann Edson, comma, vagina, period. Right. So there's no confusion here. No, exclamation point. Vagina

Yes And actually, you know, in Spanish I always love in Spanish When you're reading A sentence that ends in a question mark Or an exclamation point You get the question mark At the beginning of the sentence

Yeah, so that you know what's coming for you Why isn't that happening in English? We don't know But I kind of think in this situation Dr. Mrs. Susan Ann Edson comma vagina exclamation point, but also put it at the front because it's just that shocking. Okay.

Now for male doctors, do we add penis? No, because that's the norm. That's what we're comfortable with. Okay, we don't have to do a special call-out because we're all very comfortable with these male doctors, with their unwashed fingies, and their desire to probe us until we die from the probing. Yeah. Here we go. So, Lucretia had asked Dr. Susan Ann Edson to treat us.

her husband. She'd also asked James Garfield's cousin, who was also a doctor, to treat him. But in a private moment, Dr. Bliss sidelined them too. Oh my God. Get this guy out of here. Right. Dr. Piss is more like it. Well done. I'm roasting this man. You'll never recover. Okay, another fact, just because you mentioned his name. The way he is styled is Dr. D. Willard Bliss. The D stands for Doctor. His name was literally Dr. Bliss. He was Dr. Dr. Dr. Willard His first name is doctor? Yeah. His parents wanted him to become a doctor, which I mean... Are you making this up? I am not making this up. I'm not. I swear to you, I swear to you.

He was Dr. Dr. Dr. Bliss? Yes. Yes. So if anyone is pregnant and they're thinking you want your child to have a certain job, there's an idea for you. Wow. Mm-hmm. incredible Mr. podcast Caruso Influencer Caruso Hi, my name is Day Trader Jones

Oh beautiful So Dr. Bliss Dr. Doctor, give me the news Sorry This is not a funny story He sidelined them too And he said

If you're going to care for the president You will work as nurses Not doctors Oh Oh They both agreed to it. Okay. I imagine again he was dishonest.

Is Dr. Bliss well respected in the medical community at this time? Oh, you know what? I cut a bunch of stuff. He had actually, he's an interesting character. And if you want to know a lot more about him in this story, in general, Candice Millard's book is excellent. She goes into detail about how he had gotten into trouble with the medical community years earlier. Ironically because he, I believe he was standing up for black doctors and saying

black doctors should be included in the community. I mean, he was doing a good thing. And James Garfield stood with him in that hard time. Yeah. So you've got this guy who on the one, you know, he's a complicated character. He did that good thing. But over the years, he really wanted to be back in the good graces. and his views on medicine changed.

He decided that the best course of action was the harshest course of action. A lot of doctors tend to practice like, let's do as little medicine here as possible to, you know, try to let the body heal itself. He went in the opposite direction, obviously. And... Pump them full of drugs, use every tool we got. And don't waste time washing the tools.

Right, right. But at this time, you know, he really, he wanted to gain a lot of respect. And this would be a way to do it, especially if he was able to cure the president. I mean, with the name, his first name's doctor. He's destined to be the greatest doctor in the land. Well, a doctor anyway. Yeah. Over time, Dr. Bliss would occasionally have doctors come in to consult, but he always made

it clear that he was the one in charge. He famously told the New York Times, If I can't save him, no one can. Oh, I hate this man. I'm sorry. No, I'm with you. I do not like this. That morning, as Dr. Bliss made his power grab,

James Garfield clung to life. Lucretia clung to hope. And the country hung in the balance. Chester Arthur showed up at the White House that morning. He asked the first lady to meet with him. She did, but it was uncomfortable. Yeah, because he's been running his mouth this whole time about her husband. Yeah.

And now all of a sudden he's here like, oh, poor James, oh, oh, will I be the next president? Maybe. Okay, put yourself in his shoes. Okay. How would you be feeling in this moment? Ashamed. Yeah. Guilty? Yeah.

What would you say to Lucretia? How can I help? How can I be of service? to the president right now and to you. Yeah. Eat shit. You wouldn't tell her to eat shit. Just to clarify.

Lucretia, why don't you eat shit? Oh, God. Because I'm going to be the next president. No, he's got to like swallow his pride. Maybe apologize. Yeah. Yeah. So it's interesting.

You're on the right track here. He was very ashamed. Yeah. Of course, he'd always been polite to her in public because, you know, he was always this fun, outgoing guy, not super serious, but he had been terrible to her husband. You know, he should have been an ally, and instead he'd been an adversary. And now they're in this situation where he has been shot, and a lot of people are, at the very least, blaming him. And at the most, they're thinking, oh, he conspired to make this happen.

Yeah, he's responsible. The other thing I'm thinking of is he lost his wife recently. Yeah. And so he's thinking about the fact that Lucretia might be losing her partner in life. Like he lost his partner in life. And he knows that feeling. Yeah. He knows that pain.

Mm-hmm. In that meeting, he tried to convey his sympathy, his grief, and he was so embarrassed when he couldn't really keep it together. He got very, very emotional. And yeah, maybe he was ashamed that despite all he'd done and despite the horrible emotional turmoil that he knew she was going through in that moment. And despite the resentment and anger, she must have felt toward him. She didn't yell at him. She didn't go off on him.

She treated him with respect. It was humbling to be extended that level of grace. I think in a situation like this, you might almost feel better. if someone told you off. Yeah. Well, it's like backing up how you're feeling almost. Yeah. Yeah, the fact that she is being so classy about this makes it even more clear how awful you've behaved.

That Fourth of July was a somber one for the country. Celebrations were muted. The shooting of a president threatened a widely held belief that we were different. our way of governing inoculated us from the threat of assassination. Other countries run by dictators and monarchies would deal with assassinations, but not us, not in a country where the leaders were democratically elected, where the president was elected every four years where the people were free. But as people tried to make sense of this horrible, senseless act,

they did in some places honor the 4th of July in the only way that seemed fitting. by quoting a young James Garfield. They quoted him from the night that Abraham Lincoln was shot. That night, in the panic and the grief and the confusion, he'd told an angry emotional crowd, fellow citizens, God reigns, and the government in Washington still lives. And so, on that July 4th, with the president shot,

with his life still in the balance, people found comfort in his own words. spoken 16 years earlier, fellow citizens, God reigns, and the government in Washington still lives. And in the White House, the president still lived, and it seemed like maybe he was getting better. Yeah. But, I mean, still not doing well. He'd had a sensitive stomach for years, dating back to when he'd contracted dysentery during the Civil War. This is so bad.

And as a result, he'd always followed a very strict. diet aimed at not upsetting his tummy. I should really take some advice from James Garfield. Okay, I don't know. See, again, from the Candice Millard book, he's told, you know, you've got to do this strict diet for your tummy, and the doctor prescribed him. Okay, whoa. Are you ready to hear what he was told to eat in order to stop his tummy troubles? Yeah.

A sandwich of stale bread and raw meat. Okay. Yeah. What kind of meat? Beef, I'm guessing? I think so. Okay, because raw chicken, that's not going to go well. Doctor, I am miserable.

Doctor, I keep having an upset tummy. It's got to be the bread. We're going to switch it to fresh bread. So, yeah, he'd always had stomach troubles. And now, suffering from a bullet wound, Dr. Bliss put him on a new strict diet, a diet of steak and potatoes, rack a lamb. Hard liquor.

Oh. And a whole bunch of bacon. I mean, that all sounds really good. No, it made James Garfield miserable. He vomited the rich foods. He lost weight. He became so dehydrated because he wasn't getting much fluid other than hard liquor. Maybe I've got a little Dr. Bliss in myself because I have a sensitive stomach,

and I plan on eating a frozen pizza after this recording, okay? Maybe it was Dr. Bliss was like, you know what? I'm going to order up a steak, and whatever he doesn't finish, I'm going to. to take home today. He was given morphine and large doses of quainine, which was good because it helped prevent malaria, and they needed to do that in D.C. in the summertime. But horrible because of its many side effects, which of course included nausea, oh God.

Diary, headaches, confusion, and sometimes death. I do not want to be in James Garfield shoes right now. No one does. This is awful. No, but especially for all you tummyache survive. out there. Oh my gosh. This is like the nausea feeling, vomiting, it is. Folks.

Oh, I can't take it. Folks, you do not know drama. You do not know drama until you have seen Norman with a tummy. Are you making fun of me? Yes. Your husband, your partner in life. I'm just stating facts. You're not being very lucretious right now.

Oh, I, come on now. You, there's no greater drama than you being like, I don't know what I ate that is doing this to me. Yeah, and then you see an empty five-pound bag of Cadbury mini-eggs in the trash can. This couldn't have been prevented. And then you start speaking of death, and I say, Norman, I'm here to nurse you back to the... God hath forsaken me, Kristen. Ugh.

But the president wasn't just in physical misery. James Garfield was a social person. But Dr. Bliss limited his visitors to a very tight circle of people. For what remained of his life, James Garfield only got to see his three youngest children one time. That sucks. Why can't he see his kids? Okay, we're going to go a little further in this, and then let's talk about that. Yes, ma'am. Dr. Bliss restricted the president from talking too much.

He kept the president in a small room surrounded by screens, screens that isolated him further, screens that deprived him of the simple pleasure of gazing out a window. This is the worst doctor in the world. On the one hand, you know, ironically, because of germs, I think, well, good, yeah, you should limit the number of people who are coming in. But of course, he doesn't believe in germs, so I don't know what he's thinking. Yeah. I think it's about control.

Yes. More than anything. It's about control. Yeah, and it's like having like positive feelings and positive vibes. Yeah. does affect your ability to recover. I think so. And when you're isolating him, that's not going to help.

Right. I think a big thing, you know, I mentioned the control. Dr. Bliss would issue these daily bulletins to the press about the, and, you know, often, especially in this early time, they were more than daily. I mean, they were very, very frequent to the point that James Garfield was a little humiliated. He was like, does the world need to know this much about me that I, poop today and then I, you know, like, come on.

But I think a big reason for those screens and for limiting his visitors to this very tight circle. I mean, even some of his closest friends couldn't come visit him. I think a big part of it was Dr. Bliss was lying to people saying, oh, he's doing great. He's doing great because he liked being the doctor who was saving the precedent. Yeah. But at a certain point, and, you know, his condition's going to. to go through some peaks and valleys here. But at a certain point, just seeing him, you would know,

oh, this is not a man who is recovering. No. So I think that's another big reason for limiting him. Dr. Bliss feels like he is in control of the country right now in a way. In a way, he is, honestly. You know what Dr. Bliss is? He's the substitute teacher who, tries to take control and be the actual teacher when it's like, no, all you got to do is roll in the TV card and let us watch Music of the Heart starring Merrill Streep and Gloria Stephan, okay? That's all we want to watch. Give us some positive vibes that day because we have a substitute teacher. Don't try to teach us a lesson. It's not going to happen.

We're not going to listen to you, okay? That sentence just tumbled right out of you. It's like you gave that speech to many a substitute teacher in your day. Hey, I had to fill in for some classrooms sometimes. And, yeah, I never tried to. I mean, I guess it was always up to the teacher what the sub was supposed to do. Yeah. You know.

You didn't try to come in there and be their daddy. I didn't try to come in and be a hero. I'm the sub. Another story that I didn't include in here, but I'm going to include it now. You know, James Garfield was able to speak. not a lot obviously but he was able to speak and after a while Dr. Bliss tried to completely limit that. No talking? He said basically that it was too much on his diaphragm. And James Garfield who, I mean, every day thanked the doctors for what they were doing, was very gracious and, you know, a very good patient, the definition of a good patient, following all these orders, you know, eating all the bacon, knowing he wasn't going to keep it down. I think. And it was that.

It was that thing where he said, well, but Dr. just breathing moves my diaphragm. Yeah. And Dr. Bliss had some bullshit of like, well, you know, talking is much more violent. So he's just, he's isolated. He's lonely, I'm sure, scared and miserable, physically miserable. Yeah, in pain, nauseous, filled with steak and potato. But the American people came to think of James Garfield as a true.

hero. One of the greats. He was bouncing back. Lucretia allowed reporters to photograph her going on carriage rides. People were amazed at her strength. They were getting through this. They were leaders. Rutherford B. Hayes, who'd so recently finished his own term as president, was overjoyed. He wrote to a friend that, after all that had happened, the American people now saw James Garfield in the same light that they saw George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Oh. Which meant that by the time the government got back to work in the fall, James Garfield would be able to do, quote,

any righteous and necessary work. He would be able to accomplish anything. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's probably true. See, this is another really interesting moment to me. You know, when you zoom out too far, you miss these things where, yes, as he's recovering, people love him. They are rooting for him on a whole new level

and the country is united behind him and there is this thought that holy shit, he's only a few months into this presidency. He is going to become legendary. He is going to get stuff done because who's going to stop him? Well, he'd be like the badass president.

It's like, yeah, he took a bullet, survived and he's still our leader. Yeah. I mean, surviving an assassination attempt does, like, rally the people. Yeah. It was true that if he recovered, he'd be able to do a tremendous amount of good. But that was still a big question, if he would recover. And if you'll remember from previous episodes, the White House, particularly the White House in the summer,

was not well-suited for human habitation. No, it was stinky. The room where the president lay confined, hotter and hotter. The humidity was stifling. There was fear, so much fear, that the conditions of the White House actually made healthy people sick.

So what was it going to do to someone whose life hung in the balance? From that concern, that concern for the president's life, people got creative. A group of engineers created a system that pushed air through cloth screens soaked in icy cold water.

Oh. It was the very very. very first form of air conditioning. Oh, hey, that's kind of cool. And it worked so well that it kept the room at a freezing 77 degrees. You know what? For old-timey times, that's pretty damn comfortable. Yeah.

I mean, it was a massive improvement. I am making fun, but it was a massive improvement. Yeah, so normally it's probably like, what, 90, 90 degrees in that room? Yeah. And you're wearing this old-timey linen and cloth and... Also, you know, the system kept. it a dry 77 degrees. Yeah.

When famous inventor Alexander Graham Bell read about the methods that the doctors were using to try to locate the bullet in the president's body, he was struck by how awful it sounded. So in a race against time, he went to Washington, D.C. He opened a lab, and he invented what he called the induction balance, but what we might call the very first metal detector. Ah. So he's going to look for the bullet? Yeah. Okay. did allow Alexander Graham Bell to use the device on the president. But in that first test, the doctor insisted that he used the device on the right side of the president's body. Because that was where he was sure it would be found.

They didn't find the bullet that day. But Dr. Bliss told the media that Alexander Graham Bell's groundbreaking invention had confirmed that the bullet was in the right side of the president's body. So he lied? Yes. Okay. Great. Later, when Alexander Graham Bell was permitted to do a second test, that one also failed to locate the bullet, but only because the president had been on a box spring mattress. And Alexander didn't know that that was a thing. It was kind of a new thing at the time.

Okay. And he hadn't even considered that that might be at play. So it like threw off the detector or something? Well, yeah, because it's a metal detector and the guy's laying on springs. He did find a silver dollar in his belly button. It didn't matter for James Garfield. In truth, the bullet no longer posed a risk to him. His body had healed from that bullet wound.

It was an infection, a deadly infection that now raged in his body. Every day since the shooting, doctors had touched or probed his bullet wound with unsanitary tools. And by late July, the president's body showed the effects of these examinations. His body was riddled with pus. Ugh. In August, Dr. Bliss had other doctors come to drain the pus from the president's body. The doctor made an incision along the route that they were so certain the bullet had taken. They inserted drainage tubes and pus flowed out of them.

Ugh. Dr. Bliss came from the school of thought that pus was a good sign. It was good, healthy pus. Healthy pus. By late August, the president's face swelled. with pus. It paralyzed his face. And when that abscess ruptured, he nearly drowned in it. All the while, Dr. Bliss continued to lie to the media. But his lies caught up with him one day when he accidentally cut himself. And some of the president's pus got in that cut. Because of that, the doctor's

hand swelled. It swelled so badly and became so obviously infected that he had to put his arm in a sling. People weren't stupid. They knew what that meant. The president was suffering. He was not on the road to recovery. Dr. Bliss could deny it all he wanted, but people were starting to catch on. I had no idea how gruesome and awful Garfield's death was. It was absolute torture. Yeah, I didn't realize. I knew it took him a while to die. Yeah. But like, I didn't realize how. just, yeah, torturous it was for him. Well, and it's another interesting thing that he talked about because of what he saw in the Civil War. He had seen people die in battle, and he'd seen a lot of people die from disease.

That's how most people die in the Civil War. Yes. And he always said, it would be so much better to just die in battle because that's quick. Yeah. No, the way he died is just plain torture. He had these channels of pus in his body. And of course, the doctors thought that they were the paths that the bullet had traveled. In reality, they were the paths that their own instruments had created.

James Garfield was no longer able to eat. In two months since the shooting, he'd gone from 210 pounds to just 130. Oh, my gosh. So that's, what, 80 pounds? In two months, that is horrible. Lucretia clung to hope they'd given him a one in one hundred chance of survival on the day of the shooting. And now, two months later, he was still alive. Maybe he could still make it.

Privately, though, James wondered aloud to her if this was all really worth the effort. By early September, dying from infection, starvation, and dehydration. James Garfield made his wishes known. He wanted to go back home. back to Ohio, but he was told he couldn't make that kind of journey. He would kill him. So he asked if he could at least see the ocean one last time before he died. Dr. Bliss told him that it was dangerous to move him in his current condition.

But James Garfield knew what he wanted. And although people talked around him about the healing powers of the sea, it seems that he knew that this was more about spending his final days in some semblance of comfort. With the president's actual conditions so much more plain to see, the threat of a Chester Arthur presidency became all too real. For a while, people tried to deny that it was even possible. One group started a rumor that Chester Arthur hadn't been born in America. Hey! He'd been born in Canada.

Whoa! This Ted Cruz all over again. Show us your birth certificate, bro! Are you serious? I'm serious. Wow. Isn't that interesting? That is.

Hey, history. doesn't repeat itself, but it often rhymes. And I know what that means now. I'm not confused at all. Okay. Chester Arthur knew that he wasn't qualified for the job. He knew now what people thought of him. He knew that at best everyone, including his friends, thought he'd be a horrible president. And at worst, they thought he'd wanted James Garfield to die. But he'd never wanted that. In the months since the shooting, he'd grieved. He'd reflected. He'd, he'd, he'd, he'd, he'd, isolated himself from Roscoe Conkling. He wondered what the hell he was going to do in the very likely event that James Garfield died. And it was around that time when everything felt so bleak

that he received a letter, a letter from a woman he'd never met. Her name was Julia Sand, and she was brilliant. But she was 31 years old in 1881, and she wasn't married. She was bedridden. She was deaf. She had severe spinal trouble. And for the last five years,

she'd felt like she'd been dead and buried. But there had been something about the shooting, the shooting and people's utter lack of faith in the vice president that awoke in her a desire to ensure that he didn't feel dead and buried, that he might rise to the occasion because history demanded it. Over time, Julia Sand wrote many letters to Chester Arthur. And he kept all of them. He needed to.

They meant something to him. As this monumental task lay ahead of him. I'd like to read her first letter in full. She wrote, The hours of Garfield's life are numbered. Before this meets your eye, you may be president. The people are bowed in grief. But do you realize it?

Not so much because he is dying, as because you are his success. What president ever entered office under circumstances so sad? The day Garfield was shot, the thought rose in a thousand minds that you might be the instigator of the foul act. Is not that a humiliation which cuts deeper than any bullet can pierce? Your kindest opponents say, Arthur will try to do right, adding gloomily, he won't succeed, though, making a man president cannot change him. But making a man president can change him. Great emergencies awaken generous traits, which have lain dormant half a life.

If there is a spark of true nobility in you, now is the occasion to let it shine. Faith in your better nature forces me to write to you, but not to beg you to resign. Do what is more difficult and more brave. Reform. It is not proof of highest goodness never to have done wrong, but it is a good enough. proof of it, sometimes in one's career, to pause and ponder, to recognize the evil, to turn resolutely against it. Once in a while, there comes a crisis which renders miracles feasible. The great tidal wave of sorrow which has rolled over the country has swept you loose from your old moorings and set you on a

mountaintop alone. Disappoint our fears. Force the nation to have faith in you. You cannot slink back into obscurity, if you would. A hundred years hence, schoolboys will recite your name in the list of presidents and tell of your administration. And what shall posterity say? It is for you to choose, Julia Sand. Wow. I love that line, disappoint our fears. Yeah. That's a good line. What are your thoughts on that idea that being thrust into a situation can make a person great? Making a man president cannot change him. That's what everybody's saying. Oh, so, well, it's, it's that thing of like rising to the occasion, you know? Yeah. Yeah, I think that's a totally valid thing. And yeah, I think some people do thrive in that. Yeah, I do too. It's so interesting because I think this, this situation,

and by situation, I mean, the president being shot. Just a little situation we have right now. Yeah, it really called on Roscoe Conkling and Chester Arthur to take a good, hard look in the mirror. And Chester Arthur did. And Roscoe Conkling didn't. Checks out. But, you know, it's funny, though, because it's disappointing. And it still kind of shocks me. You know, Roscoe Conkling was angry, that people were angry with him.

He did not express his condolences. He did not reach out. At one point he dropped his card by the White House, but that was it. So like a get well soon card? No, like, hey, just letting you know that I dropped by, you know, condolences, whatever. In these situations where you really do need to say something, he just didn't. Yeah. He didn't do the hard reflecting.

Yeah, well, that shows his character. It does. In early September, people pulled together for James Garfield's final wish. They carried him out of the White House. Through his weakened state, he tried to lift his hand to wave goodbye to the White House staff. They placed him in a train car that had been revamped to ease his journey from Washington to New Jersey. The journey was uncharacteristically silent. Each train station shut down as the president passed through it.

It was quiet, but he wasn't alone. All along the tracks, for the entirety of the journey, thousands of Americans gathered in silence to see him off. They took off their hats. They cried. They bowed their heads. He was headed toward a home that had been loaned out to him by a wealthy New Yorker. In an effort to get as close to that borrowed home as possible,

2,000 volunteers had worked tirelessly into the night up until the very last minute to lay down additional train tracks that would take the president's train straight to that home. Wow. But that night, the train stopped. The house was on a hill, and the train's engine wasn't quite powerful enough to take it up there. So, the people who'd gathered along the tracks to pay their respects

wordlessly stepped in. 200 people pushed the four train cars that carried the president and those closest to him. In steady silence, with bare hands, they pushed the train forward up the hill to the entrance of the home. They pushed the train? Yeah. Okay.

I automatically assumed they would carry Garfield up the hill, but they took the whole damn train up the hill. Yeah. Wow. That's impressive. He was grateful for those final days by the ocean, where he could hear the waves hit the shore, where he could see the natural beauty of the world. He knew he'd reached the end. In those days, on that bed overlooking the shore,

he wondered about his legacy. He wondered if he'd be forgotten. And then, two weeks later, on the night of September 19th, Dr. Bliss asked him, Are you comfortable? And James Garfield replied, No, not at all. And he fell asleep anyway.

That night, General David Swam sat near his bed as he slept. And at about 10 o'clock, he woke up. He was in pain, a sudden pain that broke through the pain that he'd already suffered through for months. He clutched his chest. He spoke. What a pain I have right here! General Swam got Dr. Bliss.

The president kept clutching his chest, bearing that sharp, sudden pain. Words spread throughout the home. Everyone needed to wake up. The cabinet members, the wives, the medical staff, the president's 14-year-old daughter, Molly. And of course, Lucretia. Her husband was dying now.

Lucretia came to his side. She'd been so strong throughout his prolonged illness, but it had worn on her. She was so thin. Her hair had fallen out in clumps. She touched her husband. He was still breathing, but he was suffering. His hands and feet shook.

She kissed his forehead, and even though the room was full, James never took his eyes off Lucretia. She put one hand on his forehead and the other on his chest. For 20 minutes, minutes, they all stayed like that, silent as his breath became less frequent. Finally, his breathing stopped. Dr. Bliss was the first to speak.

It's over, he said. For a while, they all stood still, the medical staff, the friends, Lucretia, Molly. But one by one, they left the room until it was just Lucretia. She stayed there, alone in the dark, with her husband's body, for more than an hour. Until finally, two of the men came in and begged her to try to get some sleep. She said she would. She went to her room, but Dr. Bliss had the one right next to her, and he hurt her pacing for hours into the night.

In next week's episode, an autopsy reveals what really killed James Garfield, and Charles Guteau goes on trial. Oof. It's amazing that people would expect her to sleep after that. You know, I don't know that they really expected her to sleep, but to try. Yeah, I wouldn't be able to sleep after something like that. Man. Terrible way to go.

Yeah. Long, painful, torturous. Absolutely awful. And horrible for his family to go through. Yeah. Especially like Lucretia, yeah, just seeing him in pain all the time. And skeletal near the end. Yeah.

Boy, I can't wait to hear about Charles Gatot's trial. Oh, my gosh. Well, if he has a trial, because William Sherman's on his way to bust his ass out of that jail. Okay, so I did make a choice. I mean, I really made this episode the sad one, obviously. I will say some of Charles Gattot's antics in jail would have provided some comic relief. Sure. When he, just a little spoiler for next week.

when that man was taken to jail. They, of course, searched him, did the works. They took his shoes momentarily. And after shooting the president, literally trying to kill a man, he stood there on the cold pavement with no shoes on, and he said, I'm going to catch a cold. Oh, no. Well, you know, he's a hero.

You don't want your hero getting sick. Right, right. He was also very concerned that the photographer get a good picture of him. He famously has many good photos of himself. You know. For those on the video version, you've seen many photos of Charles Gatot. He has one expression in those photos. Yep.

Great episode, Kristen, very emotional. And we want justice. for James Garfield. See, I think that's what's so infuriating about this. It's like, what kind of justice do you get when, and I guess it all depends on do you believe that Charles Gatot was insane? Do you, you know, what are you willing to believe about him? And we'll get into more of that next week.

But, you know, if someone is truly not in their right mind, I don't know. I don't know what to do with that. Yeah. It just feels like there can't be. real justice because none of it makes any sense. Well, and it was just like a lot of that stuff was not understood. We still don't fully understand it even today. So, yeah, you have to wonder what is justice in this situation.

Yeah. Well, should we wrap up this emotional episode of an old-timey podcast? I think we shall. Kristen, you know what they say about history hoes? We always cite our sources. That's right. For this episode, I got my understanding. information from the book, Destiny of the Republic, a tale of madness, medicine, and the murder of a

president by Candace Mallard. The book, Dark Horse, the surprise election and political murder of President James A. Garfield by Kenneth D. Ackerman. Plus reporting from PBS and the New York Times. Check the show notes for a full list of our sources. That's all for this episode. Thank you for listening to an old-timey podcast. Please give us a five-star review wherever you listen to podcasts. And while you're at it, subscribe. Support us on. on Patreon at patreon.com slash old-timey podcast. Join the Reddit community,

R-slash old-timey podcast. Follow us on Facebook and YouTube and Instagram at Old Timey Podcast. You can also follow us individually on Instagram. I'm at Kristen Pitts-Karuso and he's at Gaming Historian. And until next time,

Tooteloo, Tata, and Shurio. I'm bringing back the Soundword just for this. Bring him back. Bye. Yeah. Bye. Bye.