There have been quite a few assassination schemes and attempts against American Presidents--probably a lot more than we realize.
The first known such endeavor occurred on January 30, 1835. Richard Lawrence, a mentally ill housepainter, attempted to shoot 67-year-old Andrew Jackson with a pistol after Jackson left a funeral in the House Chamber of the Capitol. Inexplicably, the gun did not go off. Jackson became peeved and started beating Lawrence with his cane. Lawrence then pulled out another pistol, which also misfired. Lawrence was eventually subdued and disarmed by Davy Crockett and others in Jackson's party.
Lawrence was found by a jury to be not guilty by reason of insanity. He spent the rest of his life in a mental institution and died in 1861.
Jackson was convinced that Lawrence was hired by the Whigs to kill him, but there is no evidence to support this paranoia.
The two pistols were tested extensively by researchers at the Smithsonian Institute about a hundred years later, and they consistently functioned perfectly. Some learned guy calculated that the odds of both of them misfiring were one in 125,000. The day of the attempted assassination was damp and humid, and those conditions may have contributed to the end result.
The two pistols were tested extensively by researchers at the Smithsonian Institute about a hundred years later, and they consistently functioned perfectly. Some learned guy calculated that the odds of both of them misfiring were one in 125,000. The day of the attempted assassination was damp and humid, and those conditions may have contributed to the end result.
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