Returning to his laboratory once again, Bell began to wonder if something might be interfering with his detector. Learning that the President’s bed itself was supported by metal wires, Bell tested a similar bed and heard the same dull static that he had heard while searching Garfield’s body. Bell was convinced that the metal in the bed was the problem and wanted to arrange one more try. But on September 6th, Garfield was moved out of Washington to the Jersey shore. His doctors hoped that a break from the Washington heat would help improve his now drastic condition.
Over the summer, Garfield’s health had seriously declined. Eventually, he was unable to keep down solid food and had to be given nutrient enemas. His weight dropped significantly. To make matters worse, the doctors’ repeated probing had punctured his liver and introduced a bacterial infection into his bloodstream. As the bacteria coursed through his veins, the president began to hallucinate, and yellow pus leaked from abscesses across his body. The infection next spread to his lungs, causing pneumonia. His veins grew weaker and on the night of September 19, James A. Garfield died when an artery in his spleen burst.
Many historians- though not all- have argued that Garfield was ultimately killed by his doctors, rather than the assassin’s bullet. For what it’s worth, the man who fired that bullet certainly agreed. During his trial, Charles Guiteau told the judge, “The doctors killed Garfield, I just shot him.” In a way, he may have had a point. A number of modern physicians have agreed that had Garfield’s doctors used sterile instruments, he would likely have recovered. And by insisting that Bell only look for the bullet on the President’s right side, Bliss prevented any chance of finding it. An autopsy later uncovered the projectile on the opposite side of the President’s torso.
After the President’s death, the authorities changed Guiteau’s charge from attempted murder to murder. He went on trial a few months later and plead “not guilty.” While his lawyers argued that Guiteau was insane, the prosecution disagreed. One of the prosecutors told the press before the trial that Guiteau was, “no more insane than I am… He wanted excitement of some other kind and notoriety… and he got it.” Guiteau himself seems to have agreed and argued during the trial that he was perfectly sane.
However, his behavior during the trial was certainly bizarre. He frequently ignored his lawyers and instead asked observers in the courtroom for legal advice passed along in notes. He delivered his own testimony in long verse poetry and wrote to President Arthur for a pardon, arguing once again that he was- technically- responsible for putting the new President in office. Guiteau’s own plan to run for office after his trial was cut short when he was found guilty. He was finally hanged on June 30, 1882. Doctors removed his brain shortly after his death to dissect in search of the source of his madness but found nothing significant. Portions of it remain today in a Philadelphia museum.