The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1881-12-08

prisoner, with flushed checks and the al
ot tiger at bay, hurled his replies n
Judge Porter for two hours, continual,
interrupting, however, the course of til,
question and reply, to insist upon hi
position in relation to the Deity benJ
thoroughly understood. His shrewdncs.
IN detecting and anticipating any poin
which might be made against him was q
marked feature of tho investigation
Judge Porter pressed him very closely t.
ilx the day when he received his alleged
inspiration TO remove the President ant
Guiteau finally shriekcd out "To remove
all this loose tax want you to know
that | would have removed the President
at any time between the middle of June
and the Cd Of July if had found an
| opportunity. l would have done 1t for
the good cf the American people"
| AT IL O'Clock Il recess was taken for
one hour.
After the recess, when the prisoner was
brought into the box he carried bundle
of newspapers which he laid on the rail
ing Of the box before him. Judge Porter
was several minutes late, and before his
arrival quiet reigned in the court room,
not word being spoken. The prisoner
sat with his hands clasped before him,
watching the faces of the spectators with
considerable interest. When Porter ar.
rived he sat down immediately, and
without any preliminarics, asked
did you mean 10 .lppurt Blaine for
the next President ?"
81 had no thought on that subject, sir"
answered the prisoner. He admitted
writing to President Garfield on the 9th
OF April, expressing sympathy with him
on account Of the pressure. 81 sympa-
thize," he said, with any President that
has this enormous horde of Office seekers
at his throat"
Mr.. Porter pursued his inquiries about
these letters. when the prisoner said.
angrily: Understand this. Judge.
want you to make broad distinction be.
tween my position before the lst Of May
and after lst of May"
Judge Porter persisted in tho samo in-
quries, when the prisoner said: "You
don't want to twist these letters against
me that were written at n time when
had no conception of removing the Pres.
ident. You are trying to do it, but YOU
won't do it," After being questioned
about his feelings against Blaine, the
prisoner suddenly caught an idea, and
said: 81 want TO say this just here: your
idea is that this ofiiceseeking business ia
ut the bottom of it, If that theory was
correct, Blunc was tho man for me to
shoot, and not the President. That
shows how absurd your theory is"
Were you ever inspired with tho idea
that President Garfield ought to be re.
elected ?"
IL never claimed any such inspiration.
That was an idea of my own"
The prisoner accused the counsel of
unfairness in trying to twist his letters
written prior to tho disruption" of the
Republican party against him now. at
isn't fair or manly" lie said. Prcsiden,
Garfield, he said, was SO bound up in
Blaine that he hadn't sense enough to
appreciate the suggestions in his (the
p:isoner's) letters. The prisoner being
pressed again on the same subject, re.
peated+two or three times: II do not
care to discuss the question any more"
He declaimed, mt length, on what ap.
pearcd to him rs President Garfield's
folly.
"Dn yon think he committed suicide 2"
asked Mr.. Porter.
Political suicide" replied the pris-
oner.
personal suicide ?"
"No, sir. Emphatically, political sui.
"Do you not think he caused his own
death 2"
II decline to discuss that matter any
further" said the prisoner, in pcrcmp.
tory tone. Speaking Of the feeling
against him the prisoner said, "thc Deity
seems to be on my side, though every
one else is against me. There is great
deal better feeling in respect to me now
than formerly. There has been n won
derful toning down in the feeling, espe.
cially in these cranky newspapers.
want to say this to the jury, because they
| don't see the papers now a. days"
Judge Porter wanted to know what he
meant by cranky" in this connection.
What these newspapers want" said
the prisoner, "is change Of heart. They
want conversion before they will get over
this horrible thirst for blood. II / was
shot or hanged they would not be salts
fed" The prisoner declaimed at some
length like stump orator, saying he
shot the president rs n soldier i'm the war
shot down rebel.
"Did you ever shoot n rebel" asked
Judge Porter.
"No. sir was not engaged in shoot
ing during the war"
"Where were you?"
II was in the Oneida community"
Coming back to the question of inspi-
ration, the prisoner declared: II suppose
there were n thousand men in the repub.
lican party who would have done it if
they had had chance and inspiration.
was the only man who had the inspi-
ration and nerve and brain to do it,"
"You were the only man the Deity
could trust to do it?"
HE did trust me-" replied the prison.
er.
Questioned further the prisoner de-.
clined to answer, saying: ~ am unwill-
ing to crafty your extraordinary impu.
dence. That's what think of you,
Judge Porter"
The prisoner having declined t. an
swer questions several times, Judge Por.
ter referred to the court, and the court
always ruled against the prisoner. Re.
ferring to tine prisoners statement that
he had not shot the President on the
18th Of June on account of Mrs. Gar
fields presence, the prisoner said if he
had shot then the shock might have
killed Mrs. Garfield. He had no author
ity to remove any other but the Pres-
dent.
The court then adjourned.