Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1881-07-06
The ASSaSStn's Plans.

| II Guiteau is crazy, his insanity is appar.
entity only Of that kind which usually impel.
tad men TO commit desperate and prcmedi-
| tated crimes. He moved about Washington
without ANYBODY thinking him fit subject
| for lunatic asylum. To all appearances he
was only "a type OF numerous class of shift
less adventurers who make their way to the
National Capital at the beginning of every
| new Administration and urge ridiculous
| claims for office reward for trihing or
purely imaginary services To the successful
party Their claims are, of course, never
recognized, and they hang about the city
| month after month. impecunious. desperate
| and reyengetul. Guiteau seemed 10 those
who knew him to be man of this we'll
known class, no more insane or dangerous
| than his fellows. The only popularity that
distinguished him from the mob of disap-
pointed and worthless place hunters seems t.
have been the fact that his malice was not
| altogether personal His paramount idea, il
we may Judge by his exclamation when ar
rested, was to serve political faction hostile
to the President. In his morbid conceit he
| doubtless thought he would make himself
the hero of that faction, and he seems to
| have even imagined that il would protect
him from the consequences of his crime.
The theory OF ordinary insanity does not
| fit with the behavior OF the assassin He
knew Just what he wanted to do, and set
about doing il with GOODNESS that shows n
| normal action of the reasoning faculties.
He carefully informed himself of the day and
hour of the Presidents intended departure,
purchased a revolver, and coolly stationed
himself NJ "A place in the depot where his
victim must necessarily pass close to him.
He even made a plan for his own cscape-a
lame one, il is true, but still not the plan OF
a disordcrcd brain. lie designed to lump
| into carriage which he had previously en-
gagged, and drive as fast as possible to the
Congressional Cemetery, in the extreme
eastern suburbs of the city. II he had
reached that lonely spot his nxet move would
no doubt have been to cross the Eastern
| Branch to the sparscly settled country be-
yond-thc very region which Booth travcrsed
| after the murder of Lincoln. The man
would have been captured in any case. but
his scheme of escape was as good rs he could
have made. Even his letter to General
Sherman in which he announced his crime
AS already committed showed remarkable
| forethnught and care for his own safety. He
anticipated the possibility of his capture and
| asked the General to send troops to the Jail
to prevent him from being lvnched in the
first access Of popular fury. Under the cir
cumstances, there is little room to doubt that
he is morally responsible for his criminal act.
Had he confederatcs? Was he the tool of
| a conspiracy? These are questions which
the public cannot help asking, but to which
no answer can be given yet The preliminary
investigation of the affair must be conducted
with the greatest secrecy, lest the ends of
Justice should be thwarted by an untimely eX-
posure of threads of circumstantial evidence
leading to other persons, if any such threads
have been found We must be content with
| the knowledge that the work of investigation
| is in skillful and judicious hands. Attorney
General MacVeagh will probe the dastardly
| crime to the bottom. If Guitcau is the tool
and victim Of revengeful rascals, whose
schemes for plundering the Government
have been broken up, and over whose heads
| the penalties of the law are about to fall, the
fact cannot remain concealed. Thus far,
there is nothing Of public knowledge to war
rant the suspicion that the assassin had
| abettors or confidants, and we may reason
ably hope that when the whole truth il
known it will show that the responsibility
for the infamous and cruel deed rests with
| him alone.-N J.. Tribune.