The other day, for some reason I can't quite explain, I was looking into the 1881 death of one of our most overlooked presidents: James A. Garfield, Republican of Ohio. 

You've got to feel for Garfield, considering he only lasted 200 days as prez and spent the last 80 of them dying slowly and painfully. (Only poor William Henry Harrison's 32-day term was shorter.) In fact, dying in a fairly exciting fashion might be Garfield's...

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