Julia Sand she once asked Arthur for permission to paint him in watercolors. Julia Sand wrote her first letter when she was thirty-one. Dated August 27, 1881, it reached Arthur when he was still U.S. Vice President. Arthur's predecessor, President James A. Garfield, had been shot by Charles Guiteau; it took nearly two months for Garfield to die, during which time Vice-President Arthur was in seclusion. Upon being caught, Guiteau had announced his hope that Arthur would be president and there was a brief investigation into whether Guiteau had been hired by Garfield's enemies. Though this was disproven, there were threats to
Assassination of James A. Garfield the station, but he collided with policeman Patrick Kearney who was entering the station after hearing the gunfire. Kearney apprehended Guiteau and was so excited at having arrested the man who had shot Garfield that he neglected to take his gun from him until after they arrived at the police station. Kearney demanded, "In God's name, what did you shoot the president for?" Guiteau did not respond. The rapidly gathering crowd screamed, "Lynch him", but Kearney and several other police officers took the assassin to the police station a few blocks away. As he surrendered to authorities, Guiteau uttered the