I am Going to the Lordy I am Going to the Lordy "I am Going to the Lordy" is a poem written by Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of U.S. President James A. Garfield. He wrote it on June 30, 1882, the morning of his execution. He read it at the gallows. "I am Going to the Lordy" was used as a base for the song "The Ballad of Guiteau" in the Stephen Sondheim musical "Assassins", where Guiteau sings a version of the song while cakewalking up and down the scaffold. On 30 June 1882, the day of the execution of Guiteau for the assassination of
Charles J. Hendley Charles J. Hendley Charles J. Hendley (1881-1962) was a teacher, education reformer, union activist, and president of the New York City Teachers Union (TU) from 1935 to 1945 (just after a minority split off to form the New York City Teachers Guild). Charles James Hendley was born on June 4, 1881, in North Carolina. His father was Alvis Francis Hendley, section foreman on the Southern Railway. In 1905, he graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Later, he earned an MA from Columbia University. Initially, Hendley taught in North Carolina. In 1915, he moved north. In 1919,