St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1881-12-02

ter testified to his past life, especially
the early part of it, as strange one,
and recounted incidents which induced
her to believe he was not all right in
his mind.
On Monday there was the usual
crowd at the trial, and medical experts
were prominent. About twenty of
them have been called to give evidence
concerning insanity, and it is said that
the judges leniency towards Guiteau's
pranks is intended to give these ex-
perts a chance to decide whether his
insanity is feigned, or to what extent
it is real. In addition to further testi
mony by Guiteau's sister, his brother
was also called to the stand. His evil
dence, it seems to us, was not of par
ticular value to the defence, since he
confessed that he had not considered
his brother insane until he had heard
the evidence brought ont of this trial
he had regarded the prisoner as NOR
ally responsible to God, and had
thought his case one of demOnism; he
had never thought insanity hereditary
in the family.
On Tuesday the assassin of President
Garfield was called to the stand to give
evidence of his legal innocence on the
plea of insanity. A larger crowd than
usual was present, drawn by the ex-
pectation of hearing Guiteau tell the
story of his life. He is a voluntary
witness. He at first wished to be eX-
cused, on the plea of not feeling well,
but finally consented to testify. He
was pale and agitated, but very soon
recovered his volubility and ratified on
at great rate. He gave an account
of his connection with the Oneida COM
munity, and said he only staid with
them because he was afraid he would
be damned if he left. He then related
the story of his subsequent life, his
wanderings between law and theology,
and other phases of his cratic exist
ence.
Judge Cox has been severely CRITICS.
ed by certain papers people because
he permits Guiteau to annoy and inter
rupt the court by his frequent out
bursts. The Judge is very much per
picked about this matter, but does not
really know how to prevent Guiteau's
performances. He has no right to re-
move the prisoner from the court room,
and if he should gag him it would be
likely to create sympathy for him
among the jury. So Judge Cox feels
almost powerless i'll the premises, and
although he threatens this and that
upon Guiteau, he makes no attempt to
carry out his threats, for the reason
above stated. 1t is an unpleasant
thing to think that the man who struck
down our beloved President is allowed
to act the clown and entertain IA crowd
ed court room with his ill-timed and
coarse iests but he is on trial for his
| life and has the same rights which are
accorded to IA less notorious criminal,
and if he chooses to continue his per-
formances, there is no prospect of his
being prevented. But Judge Cox
might insist on the maintenance of or
der in the court room, so that the pris-
Oner may not be encouraged in his
clownish propensities by undue mani
festations of appreciation by the crowd
present.
On Wednesday Guiteau continued
his recital, and after relating more
about his wanderings, he entered on
the last dark chapter in his autObi-
ography by stating emphatically that
his getting, or not getting, Office had
nothing to do with his attempt to re-
move President Garfield. "That was a
political necessity to which he was
urged by Divine pressure. He then
recOunted his efforts to gain the ear OF
public men. They failed, and then
came his inspiration, suddenly. On
the Wednesday evening after Conk-
ling's resignation he thought that il
Garfield was out of the way all would
go well. He tried to shake it off, but
it grew. In fOrtnight's time it had
become a fixed resolve. He never has
doubted since that time-abOut the
first of June-that he was inspired
He prayed and prayed, asking God, il
he were not to be thus removed, to get
rid of Garfield in some other way
The removal was necessary to save the
nation from ruin