(PRESIDENTS 1881) Original news account of Charles Guiteaus

Sale 2368 - Lot 260

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(PRESIDENTS--1881.) Original news account of Charles Guiteau's final day, recorded on telegraph slips. 51 manuscript pages, most 5 1/2 x 8 inches, numbered in manuscript as pages 1 through 49, with pages 9, 10, 14, and 41 apparently missing; also 6 manuscript bulletins written out on plain unnumbered paper; minor wear, with one of the plain sheets torn. (TFC) Baltimore, MD, 30 June 1882

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This long and detailed account of Guiteau's final hours was sent by telegraph from the jail in Washington, and then transcribed by telegraph offices across the nation for newspaper publication, with the opening words "Guiteau was very restless during most of the latter part of the night." The final paragraph begins "When the drop fell, a yell was sent up by some persons inside the jail." This copy was transcribed on the blanks of the Baltimore office of the Northern Central Railway Company. While this long account takes the form of a polished news story, possibly sent in one or two transmissions, the six reports written on blank sheets seem to have greater immediacy: "12:35 pm. The death procession has just started for the gallows"; "12:35 Guiteau is now reading his farewell address"; "The drop fell at 12:40 pm."