The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-12-08
ANDERSON. S. G.. THURSDAY MORNING. DECEMBER s. 1881

Judge Porter-the question is. VIII,
bought the pistol?
A-The Deity furnished the none,
with which l bought the pistol. l wa
the agent
Judge porter-I thought it va.
somebody else who furnished the money
Prisoner-It was the Deity who fur
nished the money with which | bought
the pistol.
Judge Porter-He furnished YOU al
the money you ever had on earth, die
he?
Prisoner-I think Sc.
Q.-From whose hand was it tha,
you were furnished the money with
which you bought the murderous
weapon?
Att is of no consequence (some.
what hurried and excited.) Mr.. Nav.
nard swore lie loaned me fifteen dol.
lars.
Q.-Did he?
A.-Yes, he loaned me money.
Q.-What did you do with this
money?
Al used it for several purposes.
Q.-What were they?
Al have no objection to stating to
you frankly, that l got $l5 from Nav.
nard and that used $40 Of it to buy
that pistol with.
Odd you deny when he was on
tne stand that that was the money with
which you bought the pistol?
A.-No, SIR denied it because that
is the truth, but it is of no consequence
whether l got the money from Maynard
or | pawned my coat for it.
Q:--Were you insrired to buy that
British bulldog?
Al do not pretend that was in.
spired to do that specified act, but
claim that the Deity inspired me to re.
move the President and had to resort
to my own means to accomplish the Del.
ty's will.
Q.-The only inspiration you had was
to use the pistol.on the President?
A.-The inspiration consisted in try
ing to remove the President for the good
of the American people, and Impatient
ly) all those details are nothing to the
case.
Q-Were you inspired to remove him
by murder?
A! was inspired to execute tho Di
vine will by murder, so so-called.
Q-You did not succeed in executing
the OiVlne Willy
work. Wv
Q-The Deity and you tried, and YOU
both failed, but the doctors succeeded.
A-The Deity confirmed my net by
letting the President down so gently as
he did.
Q--Do you think it was letting him
down gently to let him suffer that tor
ture over which you professcd to feel
SO much solicitude during those long
months
A-The whole matter was in the
hands of the Deity and (impatieni'y)
do not want to discuss it any farther. I
appreciate the fact of the Presidents
long sickness as much as any person in
the world, but that is very narrow view
to take of the matter.
When questioned as to when and how
the inspiration came to him to remove
Mr.. Garfield, the prisoner s.id: "I do
not recollect the facts in the matter lex.
citedly.) If had shot the President OF
the United States on my own personal
account, no punishment would he ton
severe or too quick for me, but acting rs
the agent Of the Deity, that puts an en-
tirely different construction on the act,
and that is what l want to say to the
court and the jury and to opposing
counsel. say the removal of the Presi.
dent was an act of necessity from the sit.
uation, and for the good of the American
people. That is the idea that want YOU
to entertain, and not to settle down on
the cold. .blooded idea of murder, because
! never had the first conception of mur-
der in the matter.
Judge Porter then began a rapid fire
of interrogatories, elciting from the
prisoner that he was physically coward
and always kept away from personal
danger. Morally, he was brave as Il
lion, when ne thought the Deity was
back Of min. The Deity Influenced him
to remove the President. In his opinion,
the doctors killed the President, not he
<Guiteau).. The acts Of Jones and Ma.
son in attempting to kill him wero wrong,
and they ought to be punished, unless
they can show that they were inspired
by the Deity.
The witness soon showed signs of i'm
patience and excitability, and striking
his open hand upon the desk emphasized
every sentence uttered. When pressed
for answers he finally became obstinate
and shouted to Judge Porter:
II know you we'll, and 1 know bigger
men than you are. I've seen you shake
your finger at witnesses in New York,
but you can't scare me-"
And shortly after when asked if he
believed in the ten commandments, to
which he responded in the affirmative
and if he believed that the command.
ment, "Thou shalt not kill" ought to
read in his case, "Thou shalt kill" lie
became exceedingly violent and refused
to discuss that matter at all. There was
no murder in his case and no killing. It
was for the jury to determine whether
or not his act in removing the President
was inspired by the Deity or not. It
was all nonsense to split hairs any lon
ger over that word. 1t must be distinct
ly understood that the removal of the
President was the act of the Deity. The
witness proved decidedly obstinate, and
after fatty c0ntradicting the testimony
cf General Logan, Colonel Reed and
other witnesses positively refused to an
swer several questions, mis- invariably re-
sponse being, " decline to discuss that
with YOU"
The witness seemed greatly annoyed
at Judge Porter's habit of pointing his
finger Mt him, by way of emphasizing his
interrogatories, and again broke out an
gThy: You need not point your bony
finger mt me, Judge Porter; have Geen
you do that before but YOU can't scare
me-"
The witness was closely questioned
with regard to the different boarding
hauppa qt which ha 1ivad apd kooor, :.