Answer. No one who has asked a favor of me objects to my religion, or, rather, to my lack of it. A great many people do come to me for assistance of one kind or another. But I have never yet asked a man or woman whether they were religious or not, to what church they belonged, or any questions upon the subject. I think I have done favors for persons of most denominations. It never occurs to me whether they are Christians or Infidels. I do not care. Of course, I do not expect that Christians will treat me the same as though I belonged to their church. I have never expected it. In some instances I have been disappointed. I have some excellent friends who disagree with me entirely upon the subject of religion. My real opinion is that secretly they like me because I am not a Christian, and those who do not like me envy the liberty I enjoy.
—New York correspondent, Chicago Times, May 29, 1881.
GUITEAU AND HIS CRIME.*
[* Our "Royal Bob" was found by The Gazette, in the
gloaming of a delicious evening, during the past week,
within the open portals of his friendly residence, dedicated
by the gracious presence within to a simple and cordial
hospitality, to the charms of friendship and the freedom of
an abounding comradeship. With intellectual and untrammeled
life, a generous, wise and genial host, whoever enters finds
a welcome, seasoned with kindly wit and Attic humor, a
poetic insight and a delicious frankness which renders an
evening there a veritable symposium. The wayfarer who
passes is charmed, and he who comes frequently, goes always
away with delighted memories.
What matters it that we differ? such as he and his make our
common life the sweeter. An hour or two spent in the
attractive parlors of the Ingersoll homestead, amid that
rare group, lends a newer meaning to the idea of home and a
more secure beauty to the fact of family life. During the
past exciting three weeks Colonel Ingersoll has been a busy
man. He holds no office. No position could lend him an
additional crown and even recognition is no longer
necessary. But it has been well that amid the first fierce
fury of anger and excitement, and the subsequent more bitter
if not as noble outpouring of faction's suspicions and
innuendoes, that so manly a man, so sagacious a counsellor,
has been enabled to hold so positive a balance. Cabinet
officers, legal functionaries, detectives, citizens—all
have felt the wise, humane instincts, and the capacious
brain of this marked man affecting and influencing for this
fair equipoise and calmer judgment.
Conversing freely on the evening of this visit, Colonel
Ingersoll, in the abundance of his pleasure at the White
House news, submitted to be interviewed, and with the
following result.]
Question. By-the-way, Colonel, you knew Guiteau slightly, we believe. Are you aware that it has been attempted to show that some money loaned or given him by yourself was really what he purchased the pistol with?
Answer. I knew Guiteau slightly; I saw him for the first time a few days after the inauguration. He wanted a consulate, and asked me to give him a letter to Secretary Blaine. I refused, on the ground that I didn't know him. Afterwards he wanted me to lend him twenty-five dollars, and I declined. I never loaned him a dollar in the world. If I had, I should not feel that I was guilty of trying to kill the President. On the principle that one would hold the man guilty who had innocently loaned the money with which he bought the pistol, you might convict the tailor who made his clothes. If he had had no clothes he would not have gone to the depot naked, and the crime would not have been committed. It is hard enough for the man who did lend him the money to lose that, without losing his reputation besides. Nothing can exceed the utter absurdity of what has been said upon this subject.
Question. How did Guiteau impress you and what have you remembered, Colonel, of his efforts to reply to your lectures?
Answer. I do not know that Guiteau impressed me in any way. He appeared like most other folks in search of a place or employment. I suppose he was in need. He talked about the same as other people, and claimed that I ought to help him because he was from Chicago. The second time he came to see me he said that he hoped I had no prejudice against him on account of what he had said about me. I told him that I never knew he had said anything against me. I suppose now that he referred to what he had said in his lectures. He went about the country replying to me. I have seen one or two of his lectures. He used about the same arguments that Mr. Black uses in his reply to my article in the North American Review, and denounced me in about the same terms. He is undoubtedly a man who firmly believes in the Old Testament, and has no doubt concerning the New. I understand that he puts in most of his time now reading the Bible and rebuking people who use profane language in his presence.