National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1881-12-28
GRINNING AGAIN.
THE ASSASSIN COMES UP SMILING.
After BEING stuffed with Turkey aud Other Fixln's,
lie Comes Into Court with Ills Usual Inso.
lcpce-0nly One Witness on the
Stand-An Expert.


and a long cross examination, conducted by /
Mcssrs Scovile and Reed, did not shake him in |
that belief The cross examination wasrather tedi-
and unsatisfactory, rs indeed nearly oil expert
cstmony is. The prisoner behaved himself very |
dcCenty, although there was no cause TO excite |
his anger OF wound his pride When he came into |
the court in the morning he said; 81 had nice |
Christmas. hope everybody else did. had |
nice Christmas dinner. fruits flowers candies, &c, |
| aud plenty lady visitors aud gentlemen"
The only occasion when he made any inter.
ruption was when District Attorney Corkhill read
the Hypothetical question, and the prisoner, while
| pretending to be busily engaged In writing and
without raising his eyes from the paper Kept up
constant fire of running comments, such as fol-
| lows: 81 never said so, "That is lie" 81 was
strictly viruous for seven years" TELL us about
| Abraham" and Tint is absolutely lnse" The lat
ter comment was the most frequent. No attention
was paid to him. and even the audience seemed to
| be obliyious Of these interruptions. The audience
was composed principally of Government en-.
| ployees who had taken advantage of the holiday
season to visit the trial. There were no prominent
persons present and but one or two co. ored men.
| The ladies were not out in large numbers,
| and those present were mainly middle aged.
Here and there could be seen fash;
face, and The contrast made the rather ordinary
| appearance of the assembTagc the more striking.
| Tic proceedings, moreover, although duh, were
listened to with great attention, and only now aud
then the quiet was broken by murmur of laugh;
ter at some sharp passage between the counsel
among the audience. As n large number are
compelled to stand, perfect quiet is rather difficult
TO maintain. When the court opened after recess
Mr.. scovie escorted four ladies In and gave them
seats at the table on the left of the prisoner One
was pretty, young girl, aud when the prisoner
came in and took his seat near her she moved nm.
easily, aud seemed to be afraid 10 look Mt him.
The contrast between this bright, young iace ana
the unwholcsome countenancc OF the prisoner was
very observable, and the scene was one OF me
dramatic incidents Of the great trial When the
court adjourned Guiteau called out: -" Don't forget
Abraham to morrow morning, Doctor"
a New York Expert on the stand.
ORA. Il. Mcdonald, medical supcrntcndentofth
the stand by Mr.. Corkhill. III reply to the ques
tions of the District Attorney Dr. Mcdonald gave
Somewhat over 5000 insane persons, he said, had
come under his care. He had been In attendance
ON the trial with the exception of three and half
days, ever since It's opening. Insanity in n medi-
cal sense, meant II disease of the brain, which
manifested itself in some feeling thought, or &C
ton not normal. He defined the meanings OF the
terms "deluson." "illusion," aud "hallucina;
ton" lie said that insane persons who claimed
inspiration, so fur as his experience went, claimed
to have received instructions by seeing letters on
the wall or hearing the voice Of God, or IN some
IKE n that dhs P pa seon AS sM Sey felt t.
Such persons never expressed fear; they believed
they were above all ordinary danger. Inspiration
such as he had spoken of came upon persons al
ready having some form of insanity. Irresistible
impulse was characteristic of several forms of in
sanity. He had never seen case where the i'm.
pulse formed the only characteristic Of the insan.
| ity though lie had read them. These impulses, as
a rule are very sudden in their inception and exc
cuton. An impulse which was successfully re-
sisted for two or three weeks was not, properly
sseEpg in his GP1hORR bn 5f IN %Bass
insanity; there might be some constituttonal de-
feet or weakness inherited, but he did not believe
that the disease OF insanity was In itself transmits
sible. The children ofnsane people, as rule, were
. not insane If they were, the whole world would
i be insane by this time.
Guitcau's Kind OF Insanity.
| The prisoner looking up, said: "There are two
kinds of insanity-crank insanity ana me ApTa-
ham style ofnsanity. belong to the Abraham
The witness said he did not believe in moral in
sanity The term was another name for wicked
!, ness or depravity 1twas used first IN the French
: Revolution to excuse the saughtertha took place
J. He did not believe there was any insanity conhned
| TO the moral nature. He had never seen case of
so.called emotional insanity. Partial insanity, he
nGyg paf Eds eSdenees He did not bseve in such
| insanity or in monomania. Transitory mania was
4 a name given to that form Of insanity which de-
yelOped itself In one act wherein the patient was
sane before the act and afterwerd.
! "Thats my case" broke in the prisoner.
"The proportion of the insane to the sane" the
witness said differed In different localities. In
this country according to the last census y was
one in every, 1000 Asa rule the acts Of violence
of sane people were never without n motive; as a
rule, the acts Of the insane were quickly executed,
and they were not so apt to plan an act as sane
You are talking about cranks," interrupted the
prisoner 81 am no crank. l want your opinion
| on Abraham, Doctor"
Guitcau Looking Up tile Law ON Insanity.
The witness said he had made an examination
ofthe prisoner at me ls lie had ques rpnd MN
the conception before the execution OF the act. Tic
spoke oft always as conception, lie sala after
| conceiying the idea he had waited for some time
hoping the Almighty would interfere. The wit
ness gave long account of his interview with the
prisoner in the jail, agreeing substantially witt
Guiteau's published statements Guiteau had tolt
him that the Almighty did not make all the ar
rangements for such acts, He left some OF the de
| toll tn ba whom
TO do the acts. The witness said the prisoner tolC
him that he expected to Deaegnitted on The gT9nnS
looking up the law OF insanity. ,,.
!. ~ asked him" said the witness, "if he had ez
peced to spend the rest OF his days in an insane
asylum. No, he said, i have been looking vi
the law on that, too. l find that after beipl
W Examine mi me- OF course Tie commission vii
say am not insane and VIII be discharged.
Guitcnu sane and Playing u Fart.
The witness said he hud discovered no evidence
of insanity in the prisoners physical condition
The witness said from all his observations OF TIT
prisoner lie believed him to be u sane man.
the district Attorney, 1.-THE man has been playinl
part all the time in court" He based this opin
ion on the contrast between the prisoners conduc
in Jail and in court. In Jail he was quiet ant
courteous. ,,,,,-
The witness said If the prisoner was insane hi
interruptions in court would be impulsye an III
| sane man would be frank " II an insane man
| for Instance" said the witness, "had taken thu
letter of DR.. Spitzka and blurted out its content
he would have blurted out the whole OF It, instea'
| Of only part"
| did not have chance 10 do mat was GU
| off," said the prisoner. " .
During the trial the witness said he had noticed
| that the prisoner had had access to newspapers
that he had not always been reading them whel
he pretended 10 be, and showed keen interest II
| the proceedings that was not compatible with In
sanity. He had noticed that the Interruptions ha'
| been most frequent and violent when the weigh
| OF testimony was against him.
You are making great ado ABOUT nothing
Doctor" said the prisoner, q great ado abou
nothing. don't pretend TO be insane now"
The witness having further described the action
| of the prisoner which led him TO believe he wa
sane the prisoner called OUT Tell us what yo
think about Abraham. Then get your money am
go home" only interrupted when wanted
get the truth" he said later. The doctor continu
ing 10 give evidence of the same kind, the prsone
again exclaimed, impatiently: TEL us what yo
think about Abraham. Doctor, and then quit"
more Proofs OF ihe PrisOner's SANITY.
The witness instanced the prisoners conduct To
ward his divorced wife. He had made threats a
to what he would do when she had come int
| witness noticed also that when the trial inst be
| gan his abuse was directed against only one {
the Government counsel now II extended to a
three
set" interrupted the prisoner,
Mr. Corkhi rose t. read his hypothetical ques
Il on when Mr. Scoville said there was no nccessit
~ I'VE e ali know it Ny heart, cOrkhll," said til
MIR. Corkhlll said he could save time by readin
Il, so the next twenty minutes was taken up !
the reading Of the hypothetical case
When the hypothetical statement was read NJ
ScOyille made an objection to certain postulat
in the question, assuming that Mrs, scoville sal
| that he raised an axe upon her ana the prisone
| denied IT, The Court sustained Mr., SCOyille
| euggestinu and the prosecution modified the eV