The Bullet Didn't Kill Him — The Assassination of President Garfield (1881)
July 1881. President Garfield was shot. The bullet missed his spine. He should have survived. Instead, he died 79 days later — because his doctors kept probing the wound with unwashed fingers.
Four Months In
James Garfield. 20th President of the United States. Inaugurated March 1881.
July 2. Washington train station. Garfield was waiting for a train.
A man named Charles Guiteau approached and fired twice. One bullet grazed his arm. One lodged in his back.
The bullet in his back missed the spine. It was not a fatal wound.
The Doctors
The problem was the treatment.
American doctors in 1881 didn't believe in germ theory. They didn't wash their hands.
Twelve doctors took turns inserting unsterilized fingers into the wound, searching for the bullet.
They never found it. They only made things worse.
Alexander Graham Bell
The inventor Alexander Graham Bell built a metal detector to locate the bullet.
It gave a reading. But the location seemed wrong.
The reason, discovered later: the metal springs in Garfield's mattress were interfering with the signal.
The bullet was never found.
79 Days
Garfield lived 79 days after being shot.
The wound on day one: 3 inches. The wound at death: 20 inches.
Infection spread as doctors kept probing.
September 19, Garfield died. Official cause: blood poisoning.
Guiteau's Trial
At trial, assassin Charles Guiteau argued:
"I shot him. But the doctors killed him."
The court sentenced Guiteau to death.
The doctors faced no consequences.
Shot: July 2, 1881 | Died: September 19, 1881 | Survived: 79 days | Cause of death: sepsis from medical malpractice
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