Lot 289
![[Garfield, James, President of the U.S.A.]--Stanley-Brown, Joseph](https://media.app.artisio.co/media/104cbde6-0d38-43cb-9e0f-bb721ef57bcf/inventory/23b73296-840d-4b8f-a98d-cc55968871a4/2425bad4-9ecf-4165-a4f2-96ffff857385/0001_JeGoWE_original.jpg)
[Garfield, James, President of the U.S.A.]--Stanley-Brown, Joseph
Auction: 16 May 2008 at 12:00 BST
Description
Autograph Letter Signed to Mrs. Riddle, discussing the condition of President Garfield following his shooting and the admirable behaviour of Mrs Garfield, 8 pages, 4to, Executive Mansion, Washington D.C., 3 August 1881, approximately 35mm at the left margin bleached and rendered brittle by sun exposure, with some resultant loss of text
Footnote
Note: "...storm clouds, thick and black, have once more gathered over our President..."
Stanley-Brown was Garfield's private secretary, and later married his daughter Mollie. He was an eyewitness to the 80 painful days that elapsed between the assassination attempt and Garfield's death. He here writes optimistically that the President, who had been shot on 2 July, "is again slowly climbing up the hill toward recovery", despite a recent setback which brought back the "sickening sensation of the first few days". Stanley-Brown writes warmly of the "calm heroism" of Garfield's wife: he extols her optimism and good cheer, despite the tremendous pressure of having rushed back to Washington on hearing that her husband had been shot, and "reaching home to be surrounded by friends whose faces and voices but too plainly betrayed the doubts and fears which crowded their minds".