The weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1878-1881, 1881-11-08
GUITEAU'S PLEA,
The Statement Which the Court
Declined to Hear, ana Which
Goes Far to Establish
His Sanity.

J
ed IN fac-simile the statement which the
Court of Washington on Friday last refused
to hear Guiteau read. 1t was presented by
him on his arraignment and is of impor
tance IS going far to establish the absolute
sanity Of the assassin. We preserve in
brackets the interlineations and corrections
made by the assassin himself in the draft of
this plea: .ss. .... ...-...
"lf the Court please, wish to say have
been terribly villiaed by the press, and it has
made some persons bitter and impulsive
against me. On October 9th the New York
Herald published seven columns from my
autobiography which expected to issue soon
in book. Aside from the impertnent
statement that am a creature of the great
est vanity, and that 'crave notoriety,' which
are absolutely false, and similar unkind
statements, / am indebted to the reporter
and to the He' aid for giving me so fair
hearing. lit is a fair hearing, because they
have published mostly my own words, and
have not twisted my words against me. 1t
is the first fair hearing l have had in the
case.
plead not guilty to the Indictment and
my defense is threefold:
l. Insanity; in that it was Gods act and
not mine. The Divine pressure on me to re-
move the President was so enormous that it
destroyed my free agency, and therefore
am net legally responsible for my act.s
2. The President died from malpractice.
About three months after he was shot his
physicians [held] after careful examination
and decided that he would recover. Two
months after this official announcement he
died. Therefore, say he was not fatally
shot. If lie had hesn well treated he would
have recovered.
3. The President died in New Jersey, and
therefore beyond the Jurisdiction of this
court. This malpractice and the Presidents
death in New Jersey are special proceedings
that am bound to avail myself of these on
my trial flor the Lord's] in justice to the
Lord and myself. | undertake to say that
the Lord is managing my case with consul
mate ability, and that he had a special OBJ
ject in allowing the President to die in New
Jersey. His management Of this case lis
worthy of him as the Deity, and l have en-
ire confidence in His disposition to protect
ME and ssnd NE forth to the world free and
vindcated man. ale uttered his voice.
says the Psalmist, 'and the earth melted"
This is the God | served when l sought to
remove the President, and He is bound to
take care of me. ["He uttered His voice
and the earth melted.' He, my God.] The
Lord and the people do not seem to agree in
thls case. The people consi'ier the Presi-
dents removal an unbearable outrage and
me dastardly assassin, and they prayed the
Lord to spare the President, and for nearly
three [hath He] months the [haster1 Lord
kept the President at the point of death and
then allowed him to depart, thereby confirm
ing my act.
The mere facs of the Presidents death is
nothing. All men have died, and all men
will die. General Burnside died suddenly
about the time the President died. The
President and General Burnside were both
splendid men and no one regrets their depart.
ure more than 1. The President died frenl
malpractice General Burnside from apo
plexy. Both were special Providences and
the pc eople ought to quietly submit TO the
Lord in the matter. The President would
not have died had the Lord not wished him
10 90. | always think Of the Presidents de-
psrture as a remov.. l have he conception
of it as a s.murder'' or as an 'asSasslnAtion'' y
| had no feeling Of wrongdons when l
sought to remove him because it was Gods
act, and not mine, foi the good of TIE Aneri-
can people. plead not guilty to the indict-
ment.