Charles G. Francklyn Francklyns had a twenty room "cottage" in Elberon, New Jersey on Long Beach Island directly on the ocean, designed by Charles F. McKim of McKim, Mead & White. In 1881, when President James Garfield was shot by Charles J. Guiteau, the president was taken to Francklyn's cottage, along with his doctors, nurses, and family, to recover. The president died at the cottage shortly thereafter on September 19, 1881. The cottage was later sold in 1889, and eventually burned down in the 1920s. After they sold their New Jersey cottage, they built another summer home in Southampton, New York on Ox
Charles J. Guiteau had been legally insane at the time of the shooting (because God had taken away his free will), he was not really medically insane, which was one of the major causes of the rift between him and his defense lawyers. Edward Charles Spitzka, a leading alienist, testified as an expert witness. Spitzka had stated that it was clear "Guiteau is not only now insane, but that he was never anything else." While on the stand, Spitzka testified that he had "no doubt" that Guiteau was both insane and "a moral monstrosity". Spitzka came to the conclusion that Guiteau had "the