The President Shot, 1881

On July 2, 1881—125 years ago this weekend—President James A. Garfield was shot at the Baltimore & Potomac station in Washington by a failed lawyer named Charles Guiteau. The President took two months to die, and the trial of his assassin raised issues of criminal responsibility and the insanity defense that American jurisprudence struggles with to this day.

So begins a solid summary of the event and its legal aftermath by David Rapp at AmericanHeritage.com. Be the first kid on your block to know any details of the second presidential assassination in American history.