Famous Last Meals / Illustrated food history

Charles Guiteau: Dinner at Eleven

A newspaper menu at the end of the Garfield assassination case

Evidence: Final dinner reported in contemporary coverage of the 30 June 1882 execution

The food arrives partway down a crowded newspaper page. In the Yorkville Enquirer’s account of Charles Guiteau’s execution, the prisoner has already eaten breakfast and passed through a morning of visits and arrangements. At eleven, he asks for dinner. The report names steak, potatoes, toast and coffee, then continues toward the execution. A short meal paragraph sits inside a much larger public story that began with the shooting of President James A. Garfield. The contemporary newspaper page, published 6 July 1882.

An imagined late-nineteenth-century meal tray with steak, fried potatoes, four pieces of toast and a coffee vessel. It illustrates the newspaper’s reported dinner, not a recovered prison photograph or an exact reconstruction of its crockery.
An imagined late-nineteenth-century meal tray with steak, fried potatoes, four pieces of toast and a coffee vessel. It illustrates the newspaper’s reported dinner, not a recovered prison photograph or an exact reconstruction of its crockery.

The man who did not receive an office

On 2 July 1881, Garfield entered Washington’s Baltimore and Potomac railway station to begin a trip to his college reunion. His sons James and Harry were traveling with him. Guiteau approached from behind and shot him. Garfield survived the immediate attack but died on 19 September.

Guiteau had been pressing for a diplomatic appointment. His surviving letters, described and illustrated by the National Archives, pursued posts in Vienna and Paris and claimed a reward for his election work. The letters show repeated demands sent toward Secretary of State James G. Blaine. These were Guiteau’s claims about his own services, not proof that the administration owed him a position. The Archives’ account and reproduced letters.

A verdict, then appeals

After Garfield’s death came a murder trial. The defense and prosecution presented conflicting arguments and expert testimony about Guiteau’s sanity. He repeatedly interrupted proceedings and offered his own religious justification for the shooting. The jury found him guilty on 25 January 1882. Appeals did not prevent the execution scheduled for 30 June. The Garfield National Historic Site’s trial account; the National Archives.

The Yorkville paper’s long report followed the last efforts to obtain a reprieve from President Chester A. Arthur. It described petitions and approaches by counsel and relatives, including Guiteau’s brother John and sister, Mrs. Scoville. Their efforts did not change the outcome. The newspaper treated those attempts as part of a continuing national event, with officials, relatives and reporters all appearing before it reached the food. Contemporary coverage.

Two meals, two times

According to the report, Guiteau rose shortly after five on Friday and ate breakfast at half past six. He told the cook to have dinner ready at eleven. Reverend Dr. Hicks visited him, and Guiteau sorted books and letters and discussed the sequence he wanted at the execution.

At eleven, the paper says, he called for that dinner. It lists a pound of broiled steak, fried potatoes, four slices of toast and a quart of coffee, reporting that little remained afterward. The same paragraph mentions woodcock as something unavailable in the market. That unserved possibility should not be added to the plate.

The early hour can make this sound like a breakfast story in a modern retelling. The source is explicit: breakfast had already happened, and it calls the eleven-o’clock meal dinner. The newspaper’s “Last Night” and meal sections.

The crowd outside the meal paragraph

The coverage also described people gathering around the jail and sellers offering fruit, lemonade and cigars. Inside, Warden Crocker and Hicks appeared in the preparations. Guiteau was executed that day, almost a year after he shot Garfield.

Reading the food paragraph on its original page changes its scale. It is surrounded by petitions, family visits, religious assertions and the mechanics of a publicized punishment. The newspaper’s extravagant headings and judgments belong to nineteenth-century reporting; they need not become the present narrator’s voice. The useful food evidence is more restrained: two times, a named dinner, a list of items and a reported amount left.

The modern recipe takes the steak, potato and toast connection into a smaller home supper. It leaves the historical quantities where they belong, in an attributed newspaper account. The original page.

The modern companion recipe

Peppery Steak Toasts with Oven Potato Coins

Ingredients and complete method →

Cook the recipe

An original modern home recipe, with its historical connection and adaptations explained below.

Famous Last Meals / Modern companion recipe

Peppery Steak Toasts with Oven Potato Coins

Roast thin potato coins while cooking two small steaks, then use the skillet to toast the bread during the meat’s rest. Slice across the grain so each toast is easy to eat with a knife and fork. The portions, oven route and seasoning are new home choices, not a reproduction of the newspaper’s large reported dinner.

2 modest steak-toast supper plates, each one sliced steak, one 50 g bread slice and half the potatoes; coffee is not part of this recipeActive 15 minCooking 40 minTotal 55 min

Read Charles Guiteau: Dinner at Eleven →

Print recipe · PDF
One of two modern plates: one thick plain toasted bread slice topped with a single 150 g cooked sirloin steak sliced across the grain, its juices soaking lightly into the toast; half the golden 7 mm oven potato coins alongside. Fully cooked steak without exaggerated red raw center.
Original modern recipe illustration: Peppery Steak Toasts with Oven Potato Coins. See the measured recipe for portions and cooking instructions.

A coin has an even center

Cut the potatoes to the same thickness rather than chasing perfectly round shapes. A broad usable tray base lets 250 g lie in one layer, so the coins roast rather than steam in a heap. Turn them once, then test a center with a fork. Dark edges on a slice that is still hard in the middle call for more cooking, with lower heat if the outside is getting ahead.

Two small steaks need a real resting plate

Set out a clean plate before the raw steaks enter the pan. The board and plate that carried raw beef must not receive the finished slices. Check the thickest point with a thermometer and give the meat its three-minute rest. That small interval is enough for the bread step in a suitable pan; it is not spare time to eliminate.

Bread catches the juices

Keep each bread portion thick enough to support sliced meat. A brief dry toast in the just-used skillet gives the surface structure without another spoonful of fat. Share the resting juices between both plates, then serve with the potatoes alongside. The modern dish is intentionally smaller than the newspaper’s quantities and does not require a large coffee serving to complete it.

Ingredients

  • 2 boneless whole-cut beef sirloin steaks, about 5⅓ oz/150 g each and ¾ in/2 cm thick (300 g raw edible meat total; each roughly 4 × 2¾ in/10 × 7 cm across)
  • 8¾ oz potatoes after peeling or scrubbing (250 g prepared), cut into even ¼ in/7 mm coins
  • 2 thick slices plain bread, 1¾ oz/50 g each (100 g total)
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil (15 ml), divided into 2 teaspoons/10 ml for potatoes and 1 teaspoon/5 ml for steaks
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt (1.5 g), divided equally between potatoes and steaks
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper (about 1 g), divided equally between potatoes and steaks
Set out

Oven and stovetop, Rimmed metal roasting tray with a usable internal base at least 12 × 9 in/30 × 23 cm, Skillet with a usable flat base at least 8½ in/22 cm, Knife and separate boards for produce/bread and raw beef, Scale and measuring spoons, Bowl, Tongs and broad spatula, Food thermometer, Clean resting plate and two serving plates, Shallow containers and refrigerator for planned leftovers

Allergens

Wheat/gluten. Ordinary bread contains wheat/gluten and may contain milk, egg, soy or sesame. Check its actual label and intended dietary requirements. The optional mustard variation adds mustard, which is an allergen in some labeling systems, and may add other labeled ingredients.

Make it

  1. Heat the oven to 400°F/200°C conventional or 375°F/190°C fan. Prepare the potato coins and bread before handling raw beef. Pat steaks dry with disposable paper, then wash hands and clean raw-meat utensils. Keep cooked food and bread clear of raw juices.
  2. Toss the potatoes with 10 ml oil and half the salt and pepper. Spread in one uncrowded layer on the usable tray base. Roast for 25–30 minutes, turning after about 15 minutes, until a fork enters the centers easily and the edges are golden. Extend the time if needed for actual thickness; do not use color as a substitute for tender centers.
  3. During the last 12–15 minutes of potato roasting, season the steaks with the remaining salt and pepper. Heat the skillet over medium-high heat and add the remaining 5 ml oil. Cook the two steaks side by side without touching, about 3–4 minutes per side for this thickness, checking early. Their centers must reach at least 145°F/63°C; extend cooking as necessary. Transfer with clean tongs to a clean plate and rest for at least 3 minutes before slicing. The specified usable pan base fits the two modest steaks; use one at a time in a smaller pan and allow an additional cooking interval.
  4. Lower the skillet to medium. During the steaks’ rest, toast the two bread slices in the hot pan for about 1 minute per side, pressing lightly with a spatula and watching that residual juices brown without burning. Do not add unmeasured oil. If both slices cannot lie flat, toast one after the other and extend the short finishing sequence.
  5. Once the steaks have had their full 3-minute rest, slice across the grain. Put one steak’s slices and half the resting juices on each piece of toast. Divide all the roasted potatoes between the two plates and serve promptly. No coffee, butter, sauce, salad or garnish is included in the listed yield.

A useful detail

The 55-minute total allows 15 minutes for preparation and about 40 minutes for oven heating/roasting plus the overlapping steak-and-toast finish. Use the stated steak thickness and usable tray/pan bases; thicker steaks or smaller equipment extend the clock. Every measured oil portion is allocated. Steak rests a full 3 minutes after reaching 145°F/63°C; slicing early to hurry the toast is not the route.

Keep it well

Chill planned leftovers promptly in shallow containers at 40°F/4°C or below within 2 hours, or 1 hour above 90°F/32°C. Keep bread separately so it does not soak. Use cooked beef and potatoes within 3 days, or promptly freeze at 0°F/−18°C for up to 2 months for quality. Thaw in the refrigerator and reheat the portion needed to 165°F/74°C throughout. Toast fresh bread for reheated meat; the complete assembled toast is best served immediately.

How this recipe relates to the story

The steak, potato and toast connection comes from the contemporary newspaper report. Whole-cut sirloin portions, potato coins, roasting, seasoning and this serving method are original modern choices. The recipe does not reproduce the historical amount eaten or include the reported coffee.

Another way

  • Use the same weight of whole-grain bread instead of plain white bread. Check the slice size and labels; two thin supermarket slices may be needed to make each 50 g portion. Toast in the same allotted pan sequence.
  • Add 2 teaspoons prepared mustard (10 g), divided between the two finished toasts, if wanted. This is an optional modern addition, changes the finished ingredient list and requires checking the mustard label for allergens; it is not part of the source menu.

Cooking and storage references

Sources for this story

  1. Guiteau: contemporary execution report, Yorkville Enquirer, 6 July 1882, page 2 · University of South Carolina Libraries, Historical Newspapers of South Carolina; National Digital Newspaper Program
  2. A Stalwart of Stalwarts · National Archives Prologue, Fall 2016; reproduced State Department letters in Record Group 59
  3. The Trial of the Assassin Guiteau · James A. Garfield National Historic Site, National Park Service