Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1881-11-28
GUITEAU'S TRIAL.

with great deal of emotion: The
scandals of the Guiteau trial almost
equal the horror of his crime 1t is
difficult to witness or to read the daily
proceedings of the trial without a shud-
der. There is vast audience there,
but it is like an audience that visits a
circus, in which Guiteau is distin-
guished clown. The Presidents assassin
is the central figure of a grinning as
sembly. He takes the people. court and
prosecution into his confidence, and
makes grim jests about his alliance
with the Deity. He has protested that
he intended to be the leading counsel
in his own case. He is more than that.
He usurps the function of the Judge;
he corrects and rebukes witnesses he
calls lawyers to order; he gives direc-
to the court officials; he patronizes the
Judge; he constantly interrupts the
proceedings to give his own views as to
the suficiency of testimony which is pre-
sented, with view to prove his own in
sanity he is permitted to make twenty
speeches day to the court and jury,
for the purpose of seeking to shield him
self from the consequences of his own
crime. Meanwhile the prosecution, of
the eminence of whose criminal lawyers
we have heard so much, sit there and
| frequently demonstrate, it is true, but
| the remonstrances are made in a nerve
less sort of way. The prosecution may
be learned and able, but it lacks energy.
Scenes are permitted at the trial of
the Presidents murderer which would
not be allowed in Justices court at
the trial of chicken thief. Judge Cox
is an able and just judge, but he
ought not to be powerless to enforce or
der, and ought not to acknowledge his
inability to compel the miserable crimi
nal in the dock to respect the dignity O.
the court.
Persons connected with the prosecu
ton are said to have expressed fear
that Scoville, by his ingenious story
and the biography, in which it is claim
ed he has suppressed essential facts ant
perverted others, has won the sympathy
of the jury, yet no impartial witness
unless he has diseased sympathy 70
the criminal. who has watched the trial
can say that he has ever seen Guitea
do an act that could not, under the Gil
> cumstances, be explained by reason, o
even made mistake in the technica
details of his case. He has caused hi
lawyers great deal of annoyance, bu
it is worthy of note that he has not don
one thing or said one word that ca
weaken the defense. Whether or N
Guiteau is playing a part, the fact r.
d mains that the apparently simple pie
: of Scoville if supplemented by the cul
It ming questions and comments and tt
y crafty suggestions and even the violel
e insolence of his client. Insane men a
l. said to be incapable of continuous re
re soning. yet Guiteau, within two week
!, has made written argument near
q two columns long, and never for m
+, ment during the long daily trials do
g. he forget the line of his defense.
'e does not deny that he had knowledge
N the diabolical nature and consequence
rs of his crime, but it appears from Il
trial to-day, as it has before, that
OF studiously endeavored to keep from Il
D. public the real motives by which he W
&c controlled. He blasphemes about
D. partnership with the Deity. and the a
e. dience laugh at him, but he is very a
Ell xIous that the extracts from the stalw;
III newspapers attacking President Carrie
ID on account of the Conkling-Roberts
~ incident shall be presented to the jul
K He planned his defense at the time
ne was practicing wit his bulldog at
cd foot of Seventeeth street, with mai
IN reeds for mark. He has been care
ne to collect the most venomous of the st
"a wart attacks upon Garfield. He arral
ct ed it so that those extracts should
~ discovered as soon as the murderous
er, was done.
at There was another illustration tod
of the soundness of his reasoning pow
In one of his casual utterances vest
day he had used the word Julius
'es connection with the negro race. Too
me remembering evidently that there Is
en- colored man upon the jury, and that
oss fact had not been overlooked that
m defense generally peremptorily ci
OF lenged all colored men, Guiteau sa
lin. yesterday | used the word julius
re- connection with the negro race.
lar meant no discredit to the race. 1t
and getting now so a coored man is a 9
Il. deal better than white man. W
'ual shrewder thing could the most skill
ed; criminal lawyer, pleading even for
CHI own life, have done than this? If
VS.. is madness it is madness with lem
lent able method. So it has been
Pea tbrouob the trial