Roscoe Conkling House A. Garfield. The fact that Chester Arthur then accepted the nomination for vice-president infuriated Conkling. In May, 1881, Conkling and the other U.S. Senator from New York resigned from the Senate in protest of Garfield's political appointments. They expected to be immediately re-elected to the Senate by the New York State legislature, but this did not happen. Instead, they returned to New York to campaign for re-election. In the highly charged atmosphere while the New York legislature was deadlocked on this issue, crazed "Stalwart" supporter Charles J. Guiteau assassinated President Garfield. The resulting public outcry effectively ended Conkling's political career.
Charles J. Guiteau months later from infections related to the wounds. In January 1882, Guiteau was sentenced to death for the crime, and was hanged five months later. Guiteau was born in Freeport, Illinois, the fourth of six children of Jane August (née Howe) and Luther Wilson Guiteau, whose family was of French Huguenot ancestry. He moved with his family to Ulao, Wisconsin (near current-day Grafton), in 1850 and lived there until 1855, when his mother died. Soon after, Guiteau and his father moved back to Freeport. He inherited $1,000 ($ today) from his grandfather as a young man and went to Ann