The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-02-07

and impartial a jury as ever assem-
bled IN a court of justice. You have
been defended by counsel with zeal
and devotion that merits the highest
enconium of ALL. l certainly have done
my best to secure a fair presentation
of your defense. Notwithstanding all
this, you have been found guilty. 1t
would have been comforting to many
persons if the verdict had established
the fact that your act was that of an
irresponsible being. 1t would have
left the people satisfied in the belief
that the crime of a political assassin
was something entirely foreign to the
institutions and civilization of our
country; but the result has denied
them that comfort. The country will
accept it as fact that it can be COM
mitted and the court will have to deal
with him the best by inhicting the
severest penalty known to the criminal
code, to serve as an example to
others. Your career has been SO ex-
traordinary that people might we'll at
times have doubted your sanity, but one
can't but believe that when the crime
was committed you understood the ma
ture of the crime and its conse-
quences."
Guiteau; II was acting as Gods
man."
"And that you had the moral sense
and conscience enough to recognize
the moral iuiquity of the act
The prisoner-"That's a matter of
opinion
"Your own testimony shows that you
recoiled with horror from the idea. You
say that you prayed against it. You
say you thought it might be prevented.
This shows your conscience warned
you against it; but by the wretched So
phistry of your own mind, you worked
yourself up against the protest of con-
science. What motive could have in
duced you to do this act must be a
matter of conjecture; probably men
will think that some political fanati-
cism, or morbid desire for self exalta-
ton, was the. real inspiration for the
act. Your own testimony seemed to
controvert the theory Of your counsel
and thought. Honestly, l believe that
you were drawn against your will, by
an insane impulse, to commit this act;
but your testimony showed that you
deliberately resolved to do it, and that
a deliberate and misguided will was
the sole impulse. This may seem in
sanity to some persons, but the law
looks upon it as wilful crime. You
will have due opportunity of having
any errors l may have committed dur
ing the trial passed upon by the court
en- banc, but meanwhile it is necessary
for me to pass the sentence of law:
That you be taken hence to the COM
mon jail of the district from whence
you came, and there be kept in con-
inement, and on Friday, the goth day
of June, 1882, you be taken to the
place of execution, within the walls Of
said jail, and there, between the hours
of IL m. and p. m. yoA be hanged by
the neck until you are dead, and may
God have mercy on your soul"
During the reading, Guiteau stood
apparently unmoved and with his gaze
rivited on the judge, but when the
final words were spoken, he struck the
table violently and shouted: "And
may the Lord have mercy on your
soul! I'd rather stand where l do than
where that jury does and where your
honor does. Pm not afraid to die. l
stand here as Gods man, and God
will curse who has had part in
prosecuting this verdict. Nothing but
good has come from Garfield's re-
moval; that will be the verdict of pos
terity. l don't care a snap for the
verdict of this corrupt generation. l
would rather be in my position than in
that of those who have bounded me to
death. l shall have glorious flight
to glory, but that miserable scoundrel,
Corkhill, will have a permanent abode
below. where the devil is preparing for
him.:
After apparently talking himself out,
the prisoner turned to his brother and
for some moments before
being taken from the courtroom.