Post-Revolutionary War to Civil War
Scarce Collection of Six "Charles Guiteau" Collector Cards
(CHARLES GUITEAU) (1841-1882). Frustrated Office-Seeker Who Assassinated President James Garfield.
1. An unusual Set of Five gold-background Trade Cards, each measuring about 4" x 3" with various depictions of Guiteau. Including: "From Childhood to Hell" depicting a beardless Guiteau facing left; "His Childhood" with devils attacking him as a youth; "At Oneida", showing Guiteau clasping two reluctant young women; "In Court", depicting an angry Guiteau being goaded on by three devils; and "In Hell" showing Guiteau in the flames of hell being tormented by devils. Pencil notations and old mounting remnants on back, some folds and creases but otherwise collectible. (5)
2. Collector Card measuring 4.5" x 3", with a Cartoon depiction of a bearded Guiteau as a jester holding a pistol in his right hand and a scroll in his left that reads: "An Office or Your Life / Guiteau". He tramples another scroll that reads: "Law" and "Order." Very Fine, pencil notations and mounting remnants on back.
(6 items)
Charles Julius Guiteau (September 8, 1841 - June 30, 1882) was an American writer and lawyer who assassinated James A. Garfield, president of the United States, on July 2, 1881. Guiteau falsely believed he had played a major role in Garfield's election victory, for which he should have been rewarded with a consulship.
He was so offended by the Garfield administration's rejections of his applications to serve in Vienna or Paris that he decided to kill Garfield, and shot him at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad Station in Washington, D.C. Garfield died two 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.