Daily Republican., 1881-10-06
A rALK WITH ns. soovILkE.
The Plea Of Inssnisy and lss Proof
to 30 RAlse0.

/
A special despatch from Wasllingtt
says: George M. Scoville, the brothe
in.law Of Charles j. Guiteau, reache
this city yesterday, "wednesday.
Tines correspondent called upon hi
during the evening and had a long COZ
versation with him in regard to til
course to be pursued in the trial Of til
assassin.
: Mr.. Scoville talks about his brother
, in-law and the coming trial in a yer
, oispassionate and impartial way. &C
course" said he, mot yet having st
, cured an associate for the defence,
!, cannot speak anthoritatively about tn
J course which the defence will pursue
but if it should rest entirely with me
} should base the defence upon the pie;
of insanity"
"Tnen you would not plead lack 0
ljurisdiction?" asked the correspondent
"No, would not touch that plea, MOI
; would l rely at all upon any claim tina
the Presidents wound was not neces
sarily fatal and that his death wa
caused by improper treatment. 1t il
true that the treatment of the Presiden
by the surgeons has been severely crit
cised by the profession, and it might no
be difficult to secure medical men 0
goou standing whose testimony on tina
point would be sufficient to place the
lnry in coalition of doubt, but
would not pay attention to any suci
Possibility or use any such method.
would rest upon insanity alone. If Gui
team was insane, and is insane, then Ii,
ought not to be hanged but if he was
sane, then, in my opinion, he ought tt
suffer death for his crime, and / would
plead DO techuicalities TO save his Life u
''ls it true that there has been insan.
ity in the family?'
"ies, there have been several cases
on his father side. They can be easily
proved. There were none on his mother =
side, but she had severe attack of
brain fever just before he was
born, and that may have effected
the child. Guiteau's uncle, his
fathers brother--Dr. Wilson Guiteau
| was his name, think-died insane in
New York, or in that vicinity, years
ago. Guiteau's cousin, Augustus Par
ker, the son of one of his fathers sis
ters, died insane in an asylum in Cook
county, H., because no could not get
the agency to sell he Decker piano.
He was a musician, and he worked
some time to get that agency, and when
he failed he lost his mind and was
placed in an asylum. Another cousin,
Abby Maynard, the daughter of still
another sister OF Guiteau's father, lost
her mind when a girl, and her insanity
took a religious turn. She was placed
in an asylum, and think that she is
there now. She was the daughter of
William $. Maynard, Of Ann Arbor,
Michigan"
"Will it be necessary to postpone the
trial?'
"If the man is insane l want the
nesses are tar away and should be
brought here. We must have some
time in which to prepare the case, SO
that justice may be done. We shall
need at least d month, and think two
months. There are many inquiries to
be made For example, Guiteau was
with the Oneida Company for six years
beginning W hen he was IL years old.
all told that at one time they had him
in close confinement because his mind
was deranged. want to find out abou;
that. That was the time, when he
first went there, that he began to go oft
the track, and my wife has some letters
from him which will show what the
bent of his mind was then. His tenn
permanent was intensely religious al
ways, and when he was interested in
religious subjects no one could ever
!, IL, II ~
average mental ability. For that rea-
son he was continually behind in the
race of life. don't think that he de-
frauded boarding house keepers because
he wanted to or intended to, but he paid
as tar as he could, and always had some
project in view which he thought
would yield him some money soon.
Mr.. Scoville said that he did not
know when Guiteau would be arraign-
ed in court. but he had engaged to De
i'll coutt tomorrow morning tor the pur-
pose Of getting omission to the local
Bar. He presumed that the prisoner
would be arraigned in the ordinary
manner. II want to say" he continued,
"that Mr.. Emory Storrs did not, so far
as | know, refuse to defend him because
of the odious character of tie crime,
but did 50 because other legal engage
ments would occupy his time until De-
CEN Der, at least.
Mr.. Scovi,le spoke at length about
the treatment of Guiteau in Jail, but
without consuming any one. Especial
reference was made to the practice of
withholding letters sent to Guiteau by
his relatives, and failing to forward
letters written to them by the prisone
Mr.. Scoville did not complain of thi
He also described the manner in which
Gu;teau had been induced to write
many articles In defence of his conduct,
He asserted that q stenographer was
sent into the cell, and tina: Guiteau
was told that the stenographer was
reporter from New York paper. This
course, Mr.. Scoville said, was pursued
until very recently, when the prisoner
discovered that he had been deceived.
When read the account OF the strug-
gle between Guiteau and MoGill in the
j vi, said Mr.. Scoville, 81 made up my
riud tAat McGill had intended to kill
the prisoner, and l wrote to thaF effect
to Warden Croker, When visited
the jail to-day asked Guiteau 10 tell
ne the history of The encounter. He
said it was about o'clock in the morn
ing, and he was lying halt asleep upon
his lounge. The door opened almost
noiselessiy, and a man entered and ap-
preached the lounge. Guiseau heard
him and awoke. The man was crouch
lag and advancing stea!thily, with q !
revolver in his right hand, pointed to-
ward the prisoner. Guiteau leaped |
from the lounge and caught the hand
which held the revolver. In moment
he was behind the intrnt sr and WAS
holding his arms and screaming ''nur-
der. In the scufile the revolver was
After the struggle knife
like shoe.knife was found on the floor, |
but Guiteau says he had never before
seen it. He also told ms thlt the
clio, hes of the intruder had Dseo slashed
with knife, and he thinks this was
done before he came In. He believes 1t
was a plot to kill him, and that the
knife and slashes In the mans cloth