The Assassin’s Effigy: The Curious Case of Bridgeport’s “Execution” of Guiteau

On June 30th, 1882, Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President James A. Garfield, was hanged in Washington DC for the murder. Guiteau had been suffering from severe mental illness, and shot Garfield in retribution for what was perceived to be a failure to reward him for supporting the president’s election campaign. It took Garfield 80 days to die of his wounds  Apparently some residents in Bridgeport were so incensed by Guiteau’s crime they decided to stage a hanging of their own, the curious event being reported in the Bridgeport Standard on the same day:

Jaime Pettit

Jaime Pettit serves as an Assistant Archivist at the Bridgeport History Center at the Bridgeport, Connecticut Public Library. She received a Masters' in Information Science at the University of Michigan and a Certification in Museum Studies at Harvard University. She has previously worked with the University of Michigan and Arizona State University's departments of archeology. Pettit's current projects combine her love for both history and writing to highlight interesting and lesser-known stories from Bridgeport and Connecticut.