tgbcvr Wrote:
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> I had read somewhere that the monument was
> originally erected to commemorate people who had
> died in a wreck, but it was embarrassing for the
> railroad so they changed it to be about Garfield.
> Or was it Lathrop where I read that?
>
I'd have to check my copy of Lathrop's book to be certain but I don't recall it saying that. Or anything else I've read for that matter. I've always heard the story as being that a tour group was passing over that section of the line when the word came through about the President's death (this was several weeks after he was shot) and took up a collection for the monument.
President Garfield probably shouldn't have died, btw. His wife insisted on a doctor they had known for years to be the only one to treat him and the guy was, even by 1880 standards, out of date at best. He was a flat out incompetent according to some sources. Even in 1881, Garfield's wound was one that, with proper care, should have been survivable. One of the big what-ifs of American History as Garfield was a reformer while his veep was corrupt as all get out, part of the NYstate Republican machine, IIRC.
Hank