July 28, 1881
Garfield:
A few years ago on this date
the doctor’s examination showed
the incision was healed,
the muscle nearly so,
and
the ulceration reduced considerably
I am hoping for similar results
from today’s examination
Guiteau:
A few years ago I was unknown,
through no fault of my own;
I had not yet discovered
God’s purpose for me
[Michael
has composed "Eighty Days," dramatic monologues for each day from
July 2, 1881 through September 19, 1881 (from the day president James Garfield
was shot until the day he died).]
"Charlie" is housed in a slender jar in a solution of 70% alcohol and 30% water in the main exhibit hall of the Mütter Museum of the College of Physicians of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. An hour and 1/2 after his execution Guiteau was autopsied by 20 physicians from the Army Medical Museum in an attempt to discover the source of his insanity. The dura matter surrounding his brain was thicker than normal, possibly indicating neurosyphilis. One of the doctors was Daniel S. Lamb, who had also performed the autopsy on Garfield. During the operation Ernest F. Schafhirt, a preparer of specimens, injected embalming fluid into the killer's face and later separated it from the skull and, like a taxidermist, stuffed it for display. Eventually he sold it to showman E. M. Worth, who exhibited it at Worth’s Museum and Congress of Living and Inanimate Curiosities in New York, enclosed in a square glass case set in a water-filled round case (the square case neutralized the magnifying effects of the round one), which was placed on a pedestal which was sized so the top of the head stood at the same height as the living Guiteau. In 1907 Worth relocated his dime museum to Springport, Indiana, but it was consumed by a fire in 1916. His corpse was buried in a secret graveside in the sub-cellar of the army jail, but was then clandestinely exhumed, boiled in a chemical solution, reduced to a skeleton, boxed up, and reburied. They are in the possession of the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland.
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