Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1881-12-08
Guiteau's Adventures,
AS Related by Himself on the Wit
mes Stand.
His Experience as TheOlOgian, a
Lawyer and Tramp.

Ting called to the stand in his own be
Ehalf, Mr.. Scoville began to question him
tGuiteau responded promptly intelligent
fly and with perfect ceOlness for SOM
minutes, apparently enjoying the situa
ttion and his freedom to talk. Alludinl
Ito his fathers second marriage, he said
ismilingly: He went off one day, with
tout consulting me at all, and got mar
Tried. thought that was a funny way
tof doing business, and l got very MAD
lover it."
/ Whenever allusion was made to th,
lOneida Community, Guiteau became
livery much excited and denounced the
Community and his fathers course in
Epersuading him to go there.
iasked Scoville.
Because if he had been out of the
way i never should have gone under the
influence of that miserable fanaticism
There never was such spiritual fanati.
cism in the world The amount of il
was. to speak plainly, Noyes' sole idea
was to get control of the Young girls
Nobody else could, though. All the time
[ was there was practically a Shaker.
I'm glad the miserable, sinking COM
munity is broken up, and | hope the
United States Government will break
| up that miserable Mormon community
in Utah."
Guiteau gave his views on his fathers
religious belief, and he was asked if he
This father had any peculiar views on
healing diseases. He replied, ''Oh, yes,
father was an awful crank on that sub
ject"
Scoville-What do you mean by a
crankp
Guiteau-Well, that is a short way of
putting it when you want to say man
is pretty badly crazed.
Guiteau, in reply to the question, said
he did not believe in any religion until
his conversion. That's the word they
use, you know" which was in 1858, when
he came under influence of Beecher and
The Young Mems Christian Association.
Beecher up to that time, said Guiteau,
was supposed to be virtuous man.
Recess.
GUITEAU's JOURNALISTIC SCHEMES.
After recess, Guiteau resumed the
stand and told the story OF his connec-
tion with the Oneida community, his
attempts to start u paper in New York,
his legal experience i'll Chicago, etc.
"When you get down." said Guiteau,
"every one is ready to give you kick.
l was thirty days in the tombs. Have
been in Jail several times, but never for
crime; never was indicted before this
time in my life
Guiteau then related his efforts to Sc
cure the Chicago Inter-Ocean.
Question-What was your idea in bay
ing the Inter0cean?
AEswer-I paoposed to make it a
great newspaper, the organ of the West.
l proposed to put into it the advertising
patronage of the Chicago Tribune, the
Republicanism of Horace Greeley and
the enterprise and snap of Jas. Gordon
Bennett. l suggested it to some first
class newspaper men, and they said it
was brilliant idea, and they thought
it feasible. If had got hold of the
money it would have been feasible. l
consulted several parties about it, and
they all thought it a grand scheme, but
would not put money into it, and so it
fell through. Among others applied
to Mr. Adams, President of the Second
National Bank of Freeport, supposed to
be worth $5OO,OOO. told him l would
make him Governor of Illinois, and he
said he did not want to be Governor.
He had beon State Senator and Was
man of reputation and character, but he
did not pan out very well after my in
II
any political aspirations. l wanied to
get hold of those fellows who had both
aspiration and money. They were the
kind of fellows to help me. Adams did
not seem to care anything about being
Governor. He was man about sixty
years old and he preferred his old simple
way of living. and did not care to go in
to politics. / also consulted my old
friend Charlie Reed, ON the matter. l |
believe he put twenty-five dollars into it,
which he has not got back yet. went
to theology after that, and that was
worse than the newspaper business. The
idea of publishing the New York Her
aid simultaneously in Chicago was part
of the Inter- Ocean scheme. 1 looked |
about the building and presses. con-
suited, also, the manager of the Atlantic |
and Pacific Telegraph Company. The |
Atlantic and Pacific was just starting, |
at that time, and its manager was an |
active young fellow who wanted to get |
into business. 1 said l proposed to du- |
pllcate the n. Y. Herald dispatches, and |
he thought it an immense thing, and so |
it was. l wrote Mr.. Bennett about the
dispatches; think l told him if he would |
m, q ont II, tho atfor ,u0ul1 oau
slider the Herald suit at an end.
Question-After you gave up the
enterprise in Chicago, what |
did you next do?
THE THEOLOGY BUSINESS.
Answer-That brought me down to
the winter and spring of 1876. tried
to pick up the law business again, which
l had neglected, but law business was
scarce and l found it hard to get any.
Then l went out to your place in Wis
consin. worked around the house and
studied theology and the New Tssta-
ment, read papers, soaped trees and all
that kind of thing. In October, 1876,
was in Chicago. During the Moody and
Sanky meetings I attended prayer meet
ings and services regularly day and
ulSub uuiinS Iuo buLCo ulOuIuS mOOuy
was there from October to January. Du-
ring all that time was with Moody and
bore an active part. was usher and
helped around in general way. Spoke
at prayer meetings frequently. Some
time in November during the Moody
work heard DR.. Kittridge of Chicago,
pastor of the Third Presbyterian church,
say in reference to the text, IF l will
he (meaning john tarry till l came,
what is that to thee, brethrenP" l have
to confess as man of God that do not
know what that means. At that time
there was much expectation in the pub
lie mind that the Savior might soon ap-
pear, and that idea has pervaded the
peoples minds ever since. That set my
brain whirling. and began to investi-
gate it. l went to work in the Chicago
puhlic library and I dino ont NV laotura