The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-12-29
WHAT A WOMAN HAS TO SAY
OF THE GUITEAU TRIAL.

OF all that has been said and written
regarding the trial of the assassin of
James A. Garfield, nothing has impress
ed US as being more pertinent than the
following criticism by Mrs. Admiral
Dahlgren, recently published in the
Washington Star:
This trial, owing to the manner In.
which IL is being conducted, is likely TO
become, in some sense as to the conse-
quences, a greater calamity TO the ma
ton than has resulted from the perpe-
tration of the hideous crime itself. The
universal sympathy for the tragic fate
of our beloved and lamented president,
the common homage paid To his forti-
tude in all the masterful struggle for
life, united all the sections of the coun-
try, and Garfield dead and entomped lies
encircled by the aureola of vicarious
sacrifice. While the vile crime, through
merciful protection of Providence
over the nation, reaped no whirlwind of
discord, unclaimed no new forces of dis
traction TO their wild work, but was
recognized by all in its marked truth as
the demoniac act of one depraved will,
and one alone.
In all this dereliction God was merci-
full to US as q nation. Then this great
country, submerged into the depths of
sorrow, rose equal to the sublime height
of selfmastery, and while recognizing
the magnitude of the crime yet calmly
protected the criminal under the agis of
law. He is protected that he may be
dealt with not according to the just fren-
zy of the outraged people, but by the
process of legal trial.
1t is of this trial, now in slow length
| of progress, we would speak. This trial,
now transpiring, because it was the head
of the nation who was murdered, is an
historic event. The various nations,
therefore, assist at it as spectators. This
nation, through the wretch Guiteau, is,
therefore, really under trial with the
world as the judge of the ultimate ap.
| peal, and history is to write the verdict.
1t is just one of those occasions in
which the exact quality of our boosted
civilization is being tested and so far as
we are weighed we are found crude,
very crude. How can any pen picture
present even q skeleton of the hateful
facts 50 far evolved? There sits a Judge,
conceded to be skilled in the law. and
DESTROYS to be fair minded. He seems
to be possessed of but one idea, to give
the murderer q fair trial and this one
aim, perverted beyond its utmost mean
ing, Is allowed TO obscure all other Is
sues. How powerless, how weak is
this judicial hand that would have even
balanced the scales Of justicel What
| an amazing exhibition of the harm to
be done by want of force of character
And 50 this great trial of transcendent
importance in its nature sinks TO the
level of q great farce, where Momus
gibes under the Infamous gibbet. But
1 we are told the assassin is his own
H. "a =
the assumed role Of advocate, to insult
the court, and Willy and traduce the
government and its witnesses, use the
Vilest language, and act in the most in
decent mannerg Is this slur to be cast
upon the noble army of advocates and
the profession of lawI The remedy
was simple. The very first act of con.
tempt of court should have been firmly
met as such. 1t is not too late to ex-
hibit the needed strength. We have all
had a surfeit of gentle means Lei
mercy be tempered with Justice
There is much that is corrupt
license of this trial. This assassin, In
conducting his own defense, really
makes but one point. With iucidity
a malice, an intensity characteristic Of
the demon that inspires him, he inces
sanity arraigns "the Deity" His IRE
sponsibility Of crime and the response
bility of God, is the one point this fienC
incarnate makes.
And whittier are we drifting as {
Christian nation, when an honorable
! court listens In silence to this sacrelig
ious arraignmentP
Oh, long suffering God of Nations
how long before the cup of our iniqui
ties shall again be filled, and we mus
. be punished as q nationl This blasphe
my should never have been permitted I
second time, and the churches nigh
well offer mp prayers asking God to par
don the desecration of His Holy name
Each time the impiety is repeated Il il
/ an intolerable affront put upon the grea
, Jehovah.
Again, one scene that was allowed Il
take place was Of such sickening hoF
. ror, that never before in the history O
} the world has it had its counterpart
: We refer TO the ghoulish act of the as
sassin handling the bones of his muir
dered victim. There existed not thI
slightest need to thus desecrate the grea
} dead. These remains should have beer
lheld intact and sacred, out OF respect q