Guiteau.)
3 Absorbed in his own thoughts: Ibid.
4 As the Stonington recoiled: Harper’s Weekly, July 3, 1880.
5 On board the Narragansett: New York Times, June 13, 1880; Harper’s Weekly, July 3, 1880; Manitoba Daily Free Press, June 26, 1880.
6 As the passengers of the Stonington watched in horror: Daily Evening Bulletin, June 12, 1880.
7 In just minutes, the fire grew in intensity: Indiana Statesman, June 17, 1880.
8 As the tragedy unfolded before him: United States v. Guiteau, 583–84.
9 The frightened and ill-prepared crew: Indiana Statesman, June 17, 1880.
10 When the Stonington finally staggered: New York Times, June 13, 1880.
11 The ship’s bow had been smashed in: Notes from the Stonington Historical Society.
12 Guiteau, however, believed that luck: United States v. Guiteau, 598.
Chapter 1: The Scientific Spirit
1 Even severed as it was: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 125; Hilton, The Way It Was, 190–91.
2 Across the lake from the statue: Garfield, Diary, May 10, 1876, 3:290.
3 Although he was a congressman: Ibid.
4 With fourteen acres of exhibits: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 67–82.
5 In fact, so detailed was his interest in mathematics: Dunham, The Mathematical Universe, 95–101.
6 “The scientific spirit has cast out the Demons”: Garfield, Speech to the U.S. House of Representatives, December 16, 1867.
7 After his first day at the exposition: Shaw, Lucretia, 68.
8 With characteristic seriousness of purpose: Garfield, Diary, May 11, 1876, 3:291.
9 As fairgoers stared in amazement: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 73. Edison would invent the electric light just three years later.
10 So incomplete and uncertain: Hilton, The Way It Was, 86.
11 Is freedom “the bare privilege of not being chained?”: Quoted in Peskin, Garfield, 253.
12 “instruments for the curing”: “Scenes in the Grand Hall,” New York Times, May 14, 1876.
13 His first child: Garfield, Diary, 1:xxxvii.
14 With his quick, crisp stride: Gross and Snyder, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 22.
15 In many ways, Garfield had less in common: Hilton, The Way It Was, 189.
16 Next door to Machinery Hall: Gross, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 26–29.
17 Inside, at the far east end of the building: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 193–95; Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 119; Post, 1876, 63; Gross, Philadelphia’s 1876 Centennial Exhibition, 30.
18 Bell’s school would administer: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 119.
19 From the moment Bell had stepped: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 120.
20 To his horror, when he examined: Grosvenor and Wesson, Alexander Graham Bell, 71.
21 When Bell had finally reached: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 119; Post, 1876, 63.
22 Fearing that he would be forgotten: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 121.
23 “How do you do, Mr. Bell?”: Ibid., 122; Grosvenor and Wesson, Alexander Graham Bell, 72.
24 With the judges waiting anxiously nearby: Bell to his parents, June 27, 1876; Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 122.
25 After the group had crossed the vast hall: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 195.
26 As the judges gathered around him: Ibid., 196.
27 Leaning into a transmitter: Mackenzie, Alexander Graham Bell, 123.
28 Sitting at the table, with the iron box receiver: Bruce, Alexander Graham Bell and the Conquest of Solitude, 197.
29 Although the results were dramatic: Noble, The Courage of Dr. Lister, 134.
30 Even Dr. Samuel Gross: Gross had personally invited Lister to Philadelphia to talk about antisepsis, but apparently only as an opportunity to discredit it.
31 “Little, if any faith”: Clarke et al., A Century of American Medicine, 1776–1876, 213.
32 There was a much-admired exhibit: Post, 1876, 153.
33 “American surgeons are renowned”: Ashhurst, Transactions of the International Medical Congress of Philadelphia, 1876, 517.
34 For three hours, Lister did all he could: Ibid., 535.
35 “It is worth some trouble”: “Exsection” is a nineteenth-century term for excision.
36 “glad to have you convince us”: Ashhurst, Transactions of the International Medical Congress of Philadelphia, 1876, 532.
37 A few weeks after Lister tried in vain: Garfield, Diary, September 3, 1876, 3:344.
38 At his home in Washington, he watched helplessly: Ibid., October 25, 1876, 3:370.
39 “I am trying to see through it”: Ibid., October 27, 1876, 3:371.
40 “The children were not pleased”: Ibid., November 21, 1875, 3:186.
Chapter 2: Providence
1 James Garfield’s father, Abram: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 9.
2 It consisted of one room: Alger, From Canal Boy to President, 3.
3 Like his ancestors, who had sailed: Theodore Clarke Smith, The Life and Letters of James Abram Garfield, 2.
4 In 1819, he and his half brother: Ibid., 3; Conwell, The Life, Speeches, and Public Services of James A. Garfield, 34.
5 Although land was