Richard Lawrence
|
|
Richard Lawrence (1800? - 1861) was the first known person to attempt to assassinate an American President.
Lawrence was born in England in 1800 (or perhaps 1801). By the time he was an adult he was clearly mentally ill. Lawrence worked as a painter and there is speculation that exposure to the chemicals in his paints may have contributed to his derangements. By the 1830s he was unemployed and had succumbed to the delusion that he was King Richard III of England. Lawrence was also convinced that the American government owed him a large sum of money but that President Andrew Jackson was keeping him from receiving it, which prevented Lawrence from taking his rightful place as King of England. According to his later testimony, Lawrence also blamed Jackson for killing his father in 1832, despite the fact that Lawrence's father had actually died in 1823 and had never been in the United States.
Lawrence decided he should kill Jackson. He purchased two pistols and began observing Jackson's movements. On January 30, 1835, Jackson was attending the funeral of South Carolina congressman Warren Davis. Lawrence originally planned on shooting Jackson as he entered the service but was unable to get close enough to the President. But when Jackson left the service, Lawrence had found a space near a pillar where Jackson would pass. As Jackson walked by him, Lawrence stepped out and fired his first pistol at Jackson's back. However the pistol misfired. Lawrence quickly made another attempt with his second pistol but that also misfired. It was later determined that the weapons he had chosen were noted for being vulnerable to moisture and the weather on that date was extremely humid. A firearms expert estimated that the probability of a pistol misfiring twice was about one in 125,000.
Lawrence's unsuccessful attempts had drawn the attention of the crowd and he was quickly wrestled into submission by those present (including Congressman Davy Crockett). It is reported that Jackson assisted in subduing his attempted assassin and struck him several blows with his cane.
Lawrence was brought to trial on April 11, 1835. The prosecuting attorney was Francis Scott Key. After only five minutes of deliberation, the jury found Lawrence not guilty by reason of insanity and Lawrence was committed to the Government Hospital for the Insane until his death in 1861. (This institution would later be renamed St Elizabeth's Hospital and was the place where John Hinckley, Jr. would be committed after his unsuccessful assassination attempt on President Ronald Reagan in 1981.)
As with later assassinations, there would be speculation that Lawrence was part of a conspiracy. While nobody denied Lawrence's involvement, many people, including Jackson, believed that he may have been supported by Jackson's political enemies. However, all subsequent evidence indicates that Lawrence acted alone.