New-York tribune., 1881-12-13
A WITNESS DEFENDING pREcoNCErvED
OPINIONS.
[BY TELEGRAPH TO THE TRrB

| WASHINGTON, Dec 12.-One witness occupied tho
whole day in the Guiteau trial to-day. Dr. E. G.
| SpitZla of New York. His testimony. expected,
was strongly in favor of the defence but circum-
stances disclosed during the cross-examination
which detracted good deal from It's force.
| DR.. Sptzka stated that be had visited Guiteau ss
| the Jail yesterday and remained with him an hour
aud half. announcing himself as Professor Brown.
plrenologist, who desired to examine his head
He pronounced the assassin unquestionaby insane.
He confirmed the statements of the other experts as
detailed in these dispatches last night, in finding
Guiteau's eyes and pulse natural and healthy.
But there he diverged from them. He
| found the look of insanity in Gui-
teams eyes, where the other experts had not
been able to detect it. He said he knew he had an
insane man to deal with before Guiteau had opened
his mouth. To use Dr. Spitzkas own expression, thu
eyes most conclusive evidence" The con-
| verSaton with the prisoner and observation Of his
! appearance convinced him that marked feature of
| the case a tendency to the formation Of delu-
| sive opinions and morbid projects. There also
| marked element of imbeclity Of judgment, and
Judging from his face he was a moral imbecile.
or rather q moral monstrosity. THIS brief state
ment was in fact the gist of the whole days testi.
| mony
| DR.. Spitzka is. of course, believer in what ID
called moral insanity. what he preferred 10 call
moral imbecility 1t goes without saying that it is
easy for person holding this theory TO believe that
Guteau is insane as it is difficult for those whd
hold that there is no insanity except that of tbd
intellect to reach that conclusion. Mr.. ScOvils
rad to DR.. Spitz1a new hypothetical question
including some of the postuates Of the old one, but
noticeably omitting the word strong" from this
claim of hereditary tant and following the lead Of
| DR. Spitzkas definition Of Guteau's insanity,
cnlarging upon his morbid and fantastical projectA
| DR.. Spitzka declined to answer o hypothetical
! question with regard to a patient he lad
| examined, unless the results of his obser.
vations were Included. This being conceded,
he renewed his declaration that the assassin n-
sane. and combined with It statement that he had
probably been in moro or less morbid mental stats
! all his life.
| The examination in chief was comparatively
brief. The cross-examination occupied the rs-
maiuder Of the day, and was not concluded whom
the Court adjourned. Dr. spitzka showed himself
| fny the equal of Dlr. Davidge in fencing with
words and if ability TO make crowd laugh is the
test came off best in the encounter His wit was
| by no means of the highest order, but
wit of the highest order would hardly
be appreciated by crowd which resorts
TO murder trials for amusement Early in tho
cross-exa1nination it was brought out that Or.
Spitzka had formed what he described a.
fixed opinion" upon the sanity of Guitesu
long before seeing him. basing it upon four
eements-the appearance of the ASSASSIN
an given In portrait his insane productions such
as letters speeches. etc. the history Of his family.
and the almost unanimous opinion of the "laty"
who had come into contact with him.
As the specific evidence under each head was de-
tailed it became clear that DR.. Spitzka had formed
= or;Dion in \ unscicntifc wav. The
trait alluded to appeared In an illustrated
papor. The history of the family, so called.
was the floating talk Of gossiping persons
in the newspapers, much OF which has been utterly
dlsproved on this trial. and is dIscredted by men,
bcrs of the Guiteau family ITSELF such rs the assas
sins own brother The unanimous opinion of tbs
lalty was the opinion of men who knew nothing OF
insanity and little of the assassin. DR.. SpitIka
mentioned General Logan as one Of these lay Wit
nrsses, and indeed, the Illinois Senator has appa-
rently made deeper impression on Dr. Spitzk9a
mind in that direction than any other ono person.
Yet every one who is familiar with the history Of
the case knows that General Logan's opinion Of
Gutaau, as expressed before the trial and related
npon the witness-stand, was formed only upon an
interview or two of the briefest and most
casual kind. Guiteau was an lmportunate fellow,
and General Logan got rid of him soon as pos
sbe. and told some one that he thought he was
"crazy" This seemed strange foundation for tho
opinion of a professional expert upon the insanity
of a man he had never seen and the more thought
full portion of the spectators received this and tR
evidence associated with it with some surprise.
The most effective point made by the prosecution
in showing that DR.. Spitzka had apparently pro-
indred the case on insufficient evidence was brought
forward by District-Attorney Corkhill. This
consisted of an article written by
tbe witness in medical journal soma
time before the trial began. This article de-
cared Guiteau insane asserted that it would be dis
graceful if he should be hanged and criticised Dis
Attorney Corkhill severely, This necessarily
mt Dr. Spitzka in the position of man. who, hsv-
ing committed himself upon case without any
definite personal knowledge of it, would naturally
enter into personal investigation with desire to
snsaiu himself in the position he had already taken.
At this point for obvious reasons. DIR. Spltzka
abo,yed some ;Il-temper and his impertinence to
counsel was more marked than ever. When Colonel
Corl<hill read him the paragraph critlcising the
rro.a,utirg officer and asked whom it re-
fcrrnd 10 he was doubtless prepared TO have
Dr Snitzka saw YOU" with great yehenence and
20 have the crowd laugh. But the purpose of the
,rosecution was gained when they showed that the
examination made by DR.. Spitzka wasthat of q man
,bo could not by any stretch of lIDerality be re-
Qarded as an unbiased witness.
During the cross-exanination hn gave descrip>
ton of the structure oi Guiteau's head and the
nbysicl signs indicating TO his mind coDgenital
,oalformation of the brain; and. during tho whole
dav his great readiness and the skill with which he
avoided the traps laid for him by the counsel forthe
uroaecut,on. made the examination very interesting
80, hah dnrinp the daV tl0