In Memoriam: President Garfield's Funeral March Station in Washington, D.C., President of the United States James Garfield was shot at close range by Charles J. Guiteau who, upon being apprehended by police, yelled, "Arthur is now President"! Garfield, then the third youngest president in American history, died 79 days later in Elberon, New Jersey where he had been taken to recover. The announcement of Garfield's death came as a surprise to the public as news accounts prior to that point had reported he had been recovering satisfactorily. Both John Philip Sousa and Garfield were members of the same Masonic lodge. While reclining in bed, Sousa heard
Charles J. Guiteau insane manner" he had so often observed in asylums, adding that Guiteau was a "morbid egotist" with "a tendency to misinterpret the real affairs of life". He thought the condition to be the result of "a congenital malformation of the brain". George Corkhill, who was the District of Columbia's district attorney and on the prosecuting team, summed up the prosecution's opinion of Guiteau's insanity defense in a pre-trial press statement that also mirrored public opinion on the issue. Guiteau became something of a media sensation during his entire trial for his bizarre behavior, which included his frequently cursing and insulting