American Journal of Insanity

Dr. John Gray (see last post) was an influential, well-known alienist, long-time editor of the American Journal of Insanity, and superintendent of the State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, NY. He was also the chief medical expert who had testified for the prosecution at the trial of Charles J. Guiteau, the assassin of President James Garfield in 1882. While sitting in his office one evening of that same year, Gray was shot through the upper jaw by Henry Remshaw in the presence of three other people (including his son, John Gray, Jr.).

Assassination of James Garfield, courtesy Smithsonian Magazine

Remshaw’s deed was thought to have been provoked by some aspect of the Guiteau’s trial, and he had apparently made several threats against Dr. Gray previous to the actual shooting. Remshaw ran outside the asylum to avoid capture, fired at his pursuers, and finally reached his home. There, he told a woman living on the lower floor that he had killed Gray, then “danced about, showed her four revolvers, a dirk, and piles of cartridges” and then told her he would give himself up.*

Inmates in Lockstep at Auburn Prison

When Remshaw did give himself up at the Mohawk Street jail, he turned over his four loaded weapons and cartridges, plus a bottle of acetic acid and opium. Remshaw raved that he was an ambassador sent from heaven to kill Gray, but observers seemed to consider him a “crank and a fraud” more than someone who was insane. A court commission did find him insane, though, and recommended he be sent to an asylum. Remshaw was sent to the Insane Department of the State Prison at Auburn.

Gray died November 29, 1886 from causes attributed to his decline in health following the shooting.

*Quoted from an article from the Journal of Psychological Medicine and Mental Pathology.