That such a man should have fallen a victim to the blow of an assassin defies explanation, as did the murders of Lincoln and Garfield, like McKinley, amiable, kindly men giving never cause of personal offense.
II The murderer is past finding out.

In one way and another I fancy that I am well acquainted with the assassins of history.

Of those who slew Caesar I learned in my schooldays, and between Ravaillac, who did the business for Henry of Navarre, and Booth and Guiteau, my familiar knowledge seems almost at first hand.

One night at Chamberlin's, in Washington, George Corkhill, the district attorney who was prosecuting the murderer of Garfield, said to me: "You will never fully understand this case until you have sat by me through one day's proceedings in court." Next day I did this.
Never have I passed five hours in a theater so filled with thrills.

I occupied a seat betwixt Corkhill and Scoville, Guiteau's brother-in-law and voluntary attorney.