The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1881-10-18
The Trial Of Guiteau

If the line Of defence indicated at the ar
raignment of the assassin Gulteau is persis-
tently followed, the trial will be long and
desperately fought contest, with a termina-
tion that cannot be safely predicted. Mr.
Seoville, who appears to have come to the
defence Of GuiteaE out of consideration fol-
his wife as well as in obedience to the prin
ciple that the most forlorn criminal can in
woke in his own behalf legal assistance
equal to that of the Government, has mani
tested great professional zeal and means to
make the most of his opportunity for his
brother-in-law's neck. He finds himself
manager of celebrated case, and opens il
as il he meaEt the defence to be no mere
perfunctory duty. OF course the plea of in
sanity was looked for, and Mr.. Scoyille has
secured pretty good array Of witnesses in
support Of the plea. But the theory of med
icai malpractice is novel if not startling
to the average reader, with the long
technical and apparently unanswerable
surgeons report of the autopsy fresh in his
mind. Mr.. Scoville promises to summon
such experts as DR.. William A. Hammond
aud DR. Marion Simms of New York and
Drs. Andrews and Gunny of Chicago to
combat the conclusions of the report DR..
Hammond, who made himself somewhat
conspicuous during President Garheid's
illness by his criticisms of the treatment by
DR.. Bliss and his associates, is reported by
the newspapers as saying that the medical
treatment was bad, and that from medical
standpoint Guiteau is not guilty of killing
the President; therefore if the prisoner is
represented by able counsel YER
dict of wilful murder viii not be
rendered. A fight Of doctors ad libitum
over the body of the dead President in the
court room would prolong the trial indef-
nitely and bewilder the minds Of court, jury
and spectators until even the question of as
sault might be lost sight of.
another phase of the.matter is the modi-
fcation of the popular feeling toward Gui-
teau, as shown by the absence of any dem
onstration when he was taken from the jail
to the court room and back again. The
intense strain upon the popular mind during
the Presidents illness is over, and the reac-
+ tior has come. The assassin has been
handed over to the law and the people fee
as If they had no further power or response
bility in the matter. Public opinion is di-
yided on the question of his sanity. Just
here is where q skilled attorney seeks to ere
ate morbid popular sympathy to influence
the verdict. We are too far distant to be
affected by the popular ceiling at Washing
ton, but the history Of anumber of murder
trials in this State embraces a singular and
unaecountable sympathy for the most pro
nounced criminals, and the sympathy was
intense, though generally it was
confined to narrow limits. Should
Mr.. Scoville succeed in associatine
with himself some such a lawyer as Genera
Butler, it does not need telling that all tht
technicalities of the law, both in regard K
the question of jurisdiction and the evidence
will be resorted to by the defence. Il would
be pitiable if the law which was ordained a:
the minister OF justice, should, in the case
of Guiteau, become hindrance to justice