Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1882-02-02
The Closing Scenes Of the THAI,

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Hardly anything could have been
more tragic and deeply impressive
than the concurrence of circumstan-
ces which marked the close of the
now famous Guiteau trial. The last
scenes in the life of j. Wilkes Booth
contained large element of the
the passionate and the. horrible; but
these events took place out Of doors,
and amidst the uproar of a military
skirmsh, the shouts and shots of
soldiers, and the cracking flames of
burning building. But Guiteau's
public career ended in sheltered
court room, and under the protec-
ton of the law. The Judge was in
his official seat, the officers Of the
court were standing at their posts,
the lawyers were leaning on the
table devoted to their use, the steno-
graphers were busy at their desks,
and an orderly and attentive assem-
blage were quietly sitting around
the room. The tall, towering form
of the advocate who was addressing
the jury, alone arose above the level
of an expectant, deeply hushed and
quickly breathing mass.
The day was nearly done, fierce
storm was raging without and the
gathering gloom of night closed in
upon the scene, just as the orator
was pronouncing, in solemn and
weighty tones, the closing sentence
of his argument. AS his last words
die upon the ears Of his attentive
auditory, Stiffness as impressive as
that of the grave falls upon the room,
which is broken only by the voice of
the Judge as he slowly rises to read
his charge. The defense vainly tried
to arrest the proceedings of the
court at this critical juncture by
moving an adjournment; but the
jury and counsel and audience are
now too deeply excited to go home
without seeing the end and knowing
the result.
A wierd and ghostly pail of gloom
had now settled on the place; and
the light of two feeble, Pickering
lamps, was all that broke into the
deepening shadows. The prisoners
insolence is for once stopped by the
impressiveness and fatefnl character
of his surroundings; and, pale, ncrv.
Gus and trembling, he listens to the
words of the Judge, which are slow
ly but surely sealing his doom.
Every eye and ear are bent for
ward to catch those judicial words
of the Judge. Did the prisoners
mind instinctively run forward then
and there to that higher tribunal
which was so shortly to sit in judg.
ment on the record and the deeds of
his life, above? Perhaps, and per-
haps not; but the resemblance at
least was vivid enough to suggest a
comparison. Every trial of any i'm
portance and character gathers in
terest and intensity as it proceeds;
and, even under ordinary circum-
stances, a courtroom becomes a
solemn place when the issues are all
made up and about to be finally
passed upon. How much more i'm
pressive, then, must have been the
closing scenes of trial which had
been so protracted, and which has
concentrated upon itself to such a
degree the attention and comment
of the world.
AT length the Judge concludes his
charge, and each jurylAan, feeling
as though mountains of responsible
ity were weighing him down, rises
in his seat and files slowly along to-
ward the room where the verdict is
to be made up and sealed. Is it any
wonder that the doomed man want
ed to get out of that close and stiff
ing atmosphere? Is it any wonder
that he asked permission to retire
into anoter room while the jury were
celebrating?
In short space of time, an an
nouncement is made that the jury
are ready to return, and Guiteau is
once more brought back to his place.
More light only serve to show the
struggles of his craven heart, as he
realizes more clearly than ever the
danger of his position. While the
twelve take their places before the
Judge, the hearts of the audience
have almost stopped beating in their
anxiety, the clear voice of the Clerk
rings through the room, calling for
the verdict; and then the three
words are spoken, Guilty, as indict.
ed" which sum up the result of
fifty-threc days of labor. 1t is not
strange that pent up human feeling
could remain silent no longer, or
that one wild, spontaneous outburst
of approval should have burst forth
from every spectator in the loom, or
that the enraged and foiled victim
Of his own hallucination should have
shrieked out his desperate and I'M
meaning gibberish of depreciation.
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