George E. Goodfellow On July 2, 1881, President James Garfield was shot by assassin Charles J. Guiteau. One bullet was thought later to have possibly lodged near his liver but could not be found. Standard medical practice at the time called for physicians to insert their unsterilized fingers into the wound to probe and locate the path of the bullet. Neither the germ theory nor Dr. Joseph Lister's technique for "antisepsis surgery" using dilute carbolic acid, which had been first demonstrated in 1865, much less surgically opening abdominal cavities to repair gunshot wounds, had not yet been accepted as standard practice by prevailing
Joe Howard Jr. York Sun", he became a political writer for the "New York Herald" and received national attention for his accurate predictions during the Blaine campaign in 1880. He officially retired from journalism that same year but continued to send editorials and letters from time to time, popularly known as "Howard's Column", which appeared in newspapers throughout the Northeastern United States including the "New York Press", the "New York Recorder" and the "Boston Globe". Among the social and political events he reported included the trial and execution of presidential assassin Charles J. Guiteau, the Red River Rebellion led by Louis Riel, the