Roscoe Arbuckle a feature film. Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was born on March 24, 1887, in Smith Center, Kansas, one of nine children of Mary E. "Mollie" Gordon (d. February 19, 1898) and William Goodrich Arbuckle. He weighed in excess of at birth and, as both parents had slim builds, his father believed the child was not his. Consequently, he named the baby after a politician (and notorious philanderer) whom he despised, Republican senator Roscoe Conkling of New York. The birth was traumatic for Mollie and resulted in chronic health problems that contributed to her death 12 years later. When Arbuckle was nearly
Roscoe Conkling belonged in the Senate. The control over patronage led to a bitter conflict between Conkling and President Rutherford B. Hayes. Conkling also opposed Hayes's appointment of William M. Evarts as Secretary of State. Conkling publicly led opposition to Hayes's attempt to impose Civil Service Reform on the New York Customs House. In 1880, Conkling supported Grant for President; however, James A. Garfield was nominated and elected President. Conkling's conflict with Garfield over New York Customs House patronage led to his resignation from the Senate in May 1881. Upon Garfield's assassination in 1881, Vice President Chester A. Arthur became President. When