Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/256

 212 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS the president, condemning the appointment, and asking that the nomination be withdrawn. When the two senators hastily resigned and made their unsuccessful contest for a re-election by the legis lature of New York, then in session at Albany, he exerted himself actively in their behalf during May and June. President Garfield was shot July 2, 1881, and died September 19. His cabinet announced his death to the vice-president, then in New York, and, at their suggestion, he took the oath as president on the 20th, at his residence, 123 Lexington avenue, before Judge John R. Brady, of the New York supreme court. On the 22d the oath was formally administered again in the vice-president s room in the capitol at Washington by Chief- Justice Waite, and President Arthur delivered the following inaugural address : &quot;For the fourth time in the his tory of the republic its chief magistrate has been removed by death. All hearts are filled with grief and horror at the hideous crime which has darkened our land; and the memory of the murdered presi dent, his protracted sufferings, his unyielding for titude, the example and achievements of his life, and the pathos of his death, will forever illumine the pages of our history. For the fourth time the officer elected by the people and ordained by the constitution to fill a vacancy so created is called to assume the executive chair. The wisdom of our