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GLC06319, Charles J. Guiteau, My Case, a poem, 01 June 1882.
Earn For Yourselves The Lasting Love of Your Country

Introduction

Rarely has poetry been used in a courtroom defense, but that was Charles Julius Guiteau’s strategy for pleading his innocence while on trial for assassinating President James Garfield. Guiteau’s odd behavior in court made him a media darling to the Gilded Age press and they eagerly published his irrational verse, which he often included in his testimony, and encouraged him to compose more. While this poem (GLC 6319) was never printed, Guiteau prepared it for publication in the Washington Star. Guiteau was obviously worried about his historical legacy (he purchased a pearl handled pistol to kill Garfield because he thought it would look better in a museum) and this poem illustrates his obsession with fame. The poem is a unique look into the mind of one of American history’s more eccentric characters. It is thought that Guiteau suffered from paranoid schizophrenia, which might explain why he felt he was owed a government job for the few speeches he made in support of Garfield during the 1880 campaign. After repeated attempts to obtain an ambassadorship, he was told by Secretary of State James Blaine never to return. This sent Guiteau into angry spasms of revenge that would eventually lead to Garfield’s death. Guiteau recapitulates his rejected overtures and laces with extreme religious imagery and emotional politics in an attempt to satisfy his martyred ego and to vindicate his actions to posterity. Guiteau compares his plight to Moses while condemning Blaine, Garfield, and President Chester A. Arthur. Was this poem the ranting of a paranoid schizophrenic with a warped view of reality or the outcry of a disgruntled office seeker attempting to justify his actions? Was Guiteau trying to appeal to the moral and religious sentiments of the American public? Either way, thirty days after this poem was written, Guiteau walked to the gallows.

David Gary,
Gilder Lehrman Collection


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Transcription

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Charles J. Guiteau
Washington, D.C., 1 June 1882.
Autograph manuscript signed, 6 pages.


For Saturday Star.
My Case.
Today, before [struck: I] my God
I stand,
A patriot and a Christian man;
Condemned, by men to die;
For Obeying,
God’s Command.

“Ye murdered Garfield,
And ye must die”.
‘Twas God’s will,
Not mine,
That he should die.
Thirty eight cases,
In the Bible
Can be found,
Where the Almighty
Has directed
[struck: The] The Removal
Of Rulers, who were going wrong.
I executed,
The Divine Command
And Garfield did remove,
To save my party,
And my country
From the bitter fate of War. –
(A war with Chile and [struck: Perrue] Peru;
[2] If nothing worse,
Concocted by the scheming brain of Blaine.)
For this;
Say fools and devils,
“On the gallows, ye must die!”

Had ye Garfield,
Were living,
And die in War?, or,
Garfield, dead, to [struck: die,] live,
In peace?
Garfield, dead,
Is worth more than
[struck: Than] Garfield living;
Because, Garfield, under
Blaine’s vindictive spirit,
Proved a traitor,
To the men that made him,
And imperilled the Republic
Hang Blaine!
If some one ye [struck: will] must hang;
For his vindictive spirit,
Caused poor Garfield’s death.

Garfield’s exit in New Jersey,
Was an act of God.
But the Washington Court,
In bane.
[3] Are cowards,
And cranks,
And failed [struck: to]
To execute the law.
(For six and twenty states
Have passed laws,
To remedy the defects.
Of the common law,
Which they followed
To get their law!)
These gentlemen
In bane,
Would have me go,
Whether or no,
I appeal, therefore,
To higher officials,
For justice and freedom.

My inspiration made
General Arthur President.
He made Supreme Court Judges.
To their courts,
I Appeal,
To test the legality,
Of my conviction.
I judge the United States
Supreme Court Judges
Have backbone and brains.
[4] To administer the law,
As they find it,
And they will say: go.

Arthur, and his officials, Know,
I saved our party and our land.
They fatten at the public crib,
While I, in prison, languish;
Condemned to die!
Is this right? I say no.
It is the basest ingratitude,
And nothing but a sickly sentiment, –
Makes it so. –
That I should pi[struck: m][inserted: n]e, and die
While they fatten at the crib.
Because, I made them;
And saved my county, [struck: and]
And theirs, from overthrow.
A[struck: nd][inserted: s] men of honor,
They are bound,
To stand by me, now.
And woe, [struck: be]
Be unto them,
If they do not!

Moses killed a man.
This made Pharaoh mad.
And Moses he would slay.
[5] God kept Moses.
He will me.
I fear no man!

Fools and devils,
Crucified Our Lord.
“Father, forgive them”.
But the Almighty,
Does not,
Do business,
That way!
The [struck: answer] [inserted: retribution] came,
[struck: q][inserted:Q]uick and sharp,
In fire and [struck: flood] [inserted: blood,]
In shot and shell,
In endless pain [struck: !]

[struck: illegible phrases
Rename, ye Americans,
And ye men of power,
What ye do;]
[inserted: When Jerusalem went out!
(See my book on this.)
So it will be, –
With my enemies.
For I am God’s Man,
And don’t forget it!]

Lest the almighty
Follow you,
As he did
The Jews!

[6] This [inserted: is] fact; not blasphemy.
Corkhill his wife did loose.
And Gray was shot.
And thus, did God relatiate [sic]!

Some think me a devil.
Some a lunatic.
Some an inspired patriot.
The last is right;
And I stick to it!
I Command,
All men, every where,
To believe it,
Under penalty,
Of God’s wrath.
Charles Guiteau

United States Jail
Washington D.C
[struck: m] June 1, 1882.


Notes: On page 5 of Guiteau’s poem, several lines of the second stanza were pasted over with a smaller sheet of paper. This made the first three lines illegible due to the adhesive. As the remaining three lines are legible they have been indicated in the transcript. All the text is in Guiteau’s hand and the additional text appears to be a revised stanza.

Suggested Reading

Ackerman, Kenneth D. Dark Horse: The Surprise Election and Political Murder of James A. Garfield. New York: Carroll & Graf Publishers, 2003.

Leech, Margaret and Brown, Harry J. Brown. The Garfield Orbit. New York: Harper & Row, 1978.

Peskin, Allan. Garfield: A Biography. Kent, Ohio : Kent State University Press, 1978.

Rosenberg, Charles E. The Trial and the Assassin Guiteau: Psychiatry and the Law in the Gilded Age. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.

Rutkow, Ira. James A. Garfield. New York: Henry Holt & Company, 2006.

Official three volume transcript of the trial: Report of the Proceedings in the Case of the United States vs. Charles Guiteau. 1882

For a journalistic account, which includes an “Autobiography” by Guiteau, see: A Complete History of the Trial of Guiteau. 1882.

The assassination of James Garfield is the topic of the song, "Mister Garfield (Has Been Shot Down)" written by J. Elliot, recorded by Johnny Cash in 1965 and released by Columbia Records.








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