And on June 3d:
“With reference to your kind invitation to visit you at Irvington on the Hudson about the 29th of June, I beg to say for myself that it is doubtful as to whether I shall be able to accompany the President upon his proposed visit to Williams College. Should I do so, however, it would give me the very greatest pleasure to accept of your hospitality. I have taken the liberty to transmit your letter to the President, and presume that he will write you directly with reference to his ability to become your guest.”
This entry was made in his diary on June 6th:
“I have invited President Garfield to come to Irvington for a visit and then go to Williamstown for Commencement on July 6th.”
To quote again from his private papers:
“Mr. and Mrs. Garfield, with several members of the Cabinet and their wives, were to come to us at Irvington, pass Sunday with us, and on Monday leave for Williamstown. It was as Mr. Garfield was leaving Washington, that he was shot in the Pennsylvania depot.”
In a letter he writes:
“When the first excitement had in a measure subsided, I wrote to a friend in Washington and asked if in case of Mr. Garfield’s death his family would be left in comfortable circumstances.”
It was on July 6th that he sent this message by cable and telegraph to friends in Europe and America:
“If President Garfield should die from the wounds received on 2d instant he would leave for his wife and five children about $20,000. I shall to-morrow, Thursday, morning exert myself to the utmost to raise a sum of money to be presented to him at once, as I feel confident it would help his recovery if he knew that in the event of his death his family would be provided for. I shall cheerfully subscribe $5000 towards the sum to be raised. If you or any of your friends would like to join, please telegraph to me early to-morrow, Thursday, for what amount I may put your name, and oblige.”