Me and my brother was down close to the depot
When I heard the report of a pistol
I hollered, "I wonder what was that!"

He run out and come back and he said
"That was a report of a pistol"

And I thought I was gonna faint when he said it
"Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low"

Lord, I knew the President was supposed to be down the depot that day
But I just wouldn't let myself believe that he'd been shot

Me and my bother run out there and everybody was all confused
And hollering' and running' round
And I stepped up to this one lady and I said that

"Ma'am what was it really that happened Ma'am?", and she said that
"Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low"

Well, it looked like everybody felt just about as bad as I did
Everybody started drift off to home
Me and my brother did too

Then a few weeks later, I heard that the President was still alive
So I told my brother, I said, "Hey let's get on a train
And go to that Big House up there and see how the President is"

"Let's go up there to where he's laid up hurt and sick we'd see him"
So we went on up there and that big White House
And there was a soldier boy standin' round upside, outside

And, I sidled up to him and I said to that soldier boy
I said "Who was it that did it?
Who was it that shot the President?"
And he said that, "It was Charlie Guiteau that shot Mr. Garfield"

And I said, "Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man, good man
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man low
Charlie Guiteau done shot down a good man, good man"

That soldier boy said that
Miss Lucretia Garfield was always at his bedside
In the heat of the day fannin' him when he was hot

And he said just that mornin' that he had been at the window
And he'd overheard Miss Lucretia and Mr. Garfield talkin'
And Mr Garfield said, "Crete, honey", he called her Crete

He said, "Crete, honey, if somethin' worse would happens to me"
He said, "You get yourself a good man"
And she said, "Now James", she called him James

She said, "James, I won't hear to that now
'Cause I love you too much"

And he said that "You'll make some good man a good wife, good wife
You'll make some man a good wife gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life, good gal
Don't pull in single harness all your life"

That's what he said, "Don't pull in single harness all your life"

Well a little while later, we come back around there
And things have changed
The flag was hangin' halfway up the flagpole

And everybody was cryin' and standin' 'round sad
And I walked back up to this soldier boy and I said
"Soldier boy, is he, is Mr Garfield?" and he said, "Yeah, he's gone"

Gonna lay him by that cold lonesome branch down low
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low
Oh, Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low

Have you heard the news?
Mr. Garfield's been shot down, shot down, shot down
Mr. Garfield's been shot down low, Lord