 At the time of his death, he had begun to reform the American postal
system, but he didn't work for the post office.
A father of seven children, James was a former president of a
college in his home state of Ohio. I guess there were more than a
few people who called him "President James."
In their attempts to save his life, doctors had probed his body
with their fingers and medical instruments while searching for the
bullet. This probably caused more damage than the bullet did, as
sterilization was not a common practice at the time. One doctor even
punctured James' liver while searching for the bullet.
They brought in a man named Alex to help. Alex built an
"induction-balance electrical device," which was the world's first
metal detector, in an attempt to locate the bullet and save James'
life. The device consisted of two electromagnets connected to a
telephone receiver and made a noise when a metal object passed
between the magnets. Alex had some success with an earlier
invention, but this new metal detector, along with the doctors,
probably did more harm than good.
When Alex scanned James' body with his metal detector, he heard a
faint buzzing noise. Everyone assumed they had found the location of
the bullet and that it was much farther inside James' body than they
had originally thought.
As his condition continued to deteriorate, the doctors decided to
operate in order to find and remove the bullet. The infection grew
much worse as the doctors searched for the bullet, and he soon died.
They never did find the bullet.
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 They found that it wasn't the bullet that had caused the buzzing
noise, but rather the metal springs of his bed! Beds with metal
springs had just been invented, and he was one of the first people
to own this new type of bed.
During the autopsy, the bullet was found to be four inches from
the spine, in a place that would have allowed him to live, if only
the doctors had not tried to save him!
If you haven't figured out the identities of Alex and James at
this point, it's because there are a few details that I may have
left out earlier in this story. I have a habit of doing that. For
example, the invention that Alex had had some earlier success with
was the telephone, as "Alex" was Alexander Graham Bell.
But you knew that all along, didn't you?
What about James?
He was elected to the Senate in 1880, but he turned that job down
-- for a better one.
What job would cause him to turn down a job as a senator?
Only the job of president of the United States! James was James
Garfield, who became our nation's 20th president when he was elected
in 1880.
[Text from file received
from Paul Niemann]
Paul Niemann may be reached at
niemann7@aol.com.
Copyright Paul Niemann 2007
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columns)
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