The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-01-27


dress. but, gentlemen, THANK God that there
was tune when my English ancestors stood
up against wrong and injustice, and wrested
from despot the right of trial by Jury. and ]
have never yet seen the time when 1 would
wish to see that right abolished. feel
more secure and more safe in this mode
! OF administering justice than in anv other. So
long as Juries are honest it does not require
that you should have read Kent or Blackstone.
! 1t requires that you should have honest hearts
and clear heads, and, above all that YOU should
| be fearless to find for the right, regardless of
/ what may come, regardless of whether your fell
low-nen may approve it or not. This Is what I
/ shall expect of you, gentlemen, and I believe
/ you will do it. l leave the case with you. gen
! llenen It banking you for your kind attention. .
! AS Guiteau was being taken out of the court
/ room he stopped to speak to Scoville, when
BAilif Tall attempted to move him along.
Guiteau turned angrly, and said to Tall
| I" Behave yourself"
! Come come, said Tall, impatiently, trying
! TO push the prisoner.
/ Let me alone p shouted Guiteau. "Mind
/! your own business"
I Tall having applied some PRESSURE to Gui-
/ teau, the latter, with his manacled hands,
struck the officer in the breast, when he was at
once aeized by the officers and turned out of
| The courtroom.
FIFTETH DAY.
The assassin was given the fiftieth day Of his
trial to address the jury. He said
"The prosecution pretend that I am a wicked
man Mr. sceyllle and the rest think | am a
mnatci and 1 pfestme yeu think am. /
certainly was d luratic. July 2, when fred on
the President and the American people general
lg, and presume you think Twas Can Won imap-
| Inc anything more insane than my going to that
depot and shooting the President OF the United
States You are here to say whether I was
sane or insane at the moment fired that shot
You have nothing to do with my condition be-
Tore or since that shot was fired. Youmust saw
| by your verdict sane or insane at the moment
The shot was fired. If you have any doubt of
my sanity at the moment you must give ne the
benefit OF the doubt and acquit-that is, if Won
have any doubt whether fred that shot asthe
agent OF the Deity. If fired it on my own
account was sane ; if fred it, supposing nv
self to be the agent of the Deity, was insane.
and you must acquit."
With this Introduction the prisoner took mn
newspaper and proceeded to read to the jury
his published speech. His manner to the casual
observer seemed completely self-possessed as
usual, but behint the ostentatious affectation
OF compo3ure W ) intense feeling, which was
only held in troll through his undoubted
strength Of will. His excitement was BETRAYED
by a slight hectic spot, high upon
COIOrl6SB
and by the unusual elaboration with
which he began and for some time continued
to speak. Whether this excitement was from
merely superficial effect upon his emotions,
naturally incident to the occasion, or whether
II proceeded from deeper and more overpewer-
ng influence, the true realization of his posi-
lion, an almost-convicted murderer pleading for
his life, ii were difficult to divine. Whatever the
original character of feeling, it finally gained
bn
as he reached that point III his speeeh-"I have
always served the Lord, and whether / live or
Ole he brooks down completely, stopped,
tired to choke down the rising lump in his
throat, but found it impossible to keep back
a genuine Sob Taking out his handkerchief.
he buried his face in it for a few seconds.
wiped his eyes, and with determined effort
started ON again. He seemed to recover his
composure so quickly that some believed the
whole effort was manufactured. His sister.
Mrs. Scovlte, however, apparently thought 9TH
\ erwlse. She was deeply affected, and wept and
fatAihed ettAtEeSX fog Salna 1,ipptes this
ally adding brief comments upon the text AS
he proceeded with his reading all appearance
of nervousness gradually wore off, and, with
the utmost composure and an JUNCTION that bor-
dered upon tho lndlcrous, the prisoner read on
with an attempt at every conceivable form of
oratoncal and dramatic effect. His description
with striking effect. At this time he closed his
eyes Or turned them heavenward, waved his
body back and forth, sank his voice to q Whis-
per or raised it to high treble. At times the
intensity of his utterances seemed TO react
upon himself, but the effect was but transitory,
and with the exception of one instance there
was no indication Of breaking down.
emphasize some sentence or senti-
ment by repeating it or commenting
upon it. At one time, pausing, he leaned
toward the jury and, emphasizing with his
head and hands, said, with an attempt at great
solemnity of utterance:
81 tell you, gentlemen, just as sure as there
is God in heaven, If you harm hair of my
head this nation will go down in blood. You
can put my body in the grave, but there will
be day of reckoning"
"The jury may put my body In the ground,
but my soul will go marchitg on. The slave
holders put John Browns body in the ground,
but his soul goes marching on"
Here he chanted most weirdly one stanza of
"John Browns Body" closing with "Glory,
Glory, Hallelujah !"
FTFTY-FTRST DAY.
The assassin began proceedings by announc-
ing the receipt of several hundred letters,
many of them tender missives from ladies. He
then informed the audience that he did not
think it proper that he should accept Cabinet
| Office from President Arthur, and that he
would stop Judge Porter should he attempt to
miSlead the jury.
Judge Porter then commenced the closing
| argument to the jury for the prosecution. He
| opened with the remark that thus far the trial
| had practically been conducted by the prisoner
and Mr.. Scoville, and every one had been de-
nounced at their will. He proceeded to sketch
| fhnn Of @t1a ocoi1, horr hr1f
critic and scoundrel, and to depict the horrors
of his crime.
As Judge Porter proceeded with resistless
| torrent of denunciation and 1nvective, the
| prisoner occasionally called out "Thats 8
lie y That's absolutely false;" or, "That amt
/ So" Passing in review the principal events of
! the prisoners life, Judge Porter showed up in
all its hldeous deformty the infamous bent OF
his nature. Abiding to his dispute with his
brother, John W. Guiteau, in Boston, where he
struck the latter in the face, Judge Porter
| said this was the first and last time this
| coward ever struck any one blow in the face.
His coward hand always struck from behind.
After showing whr and what was the murderer,
| Judge Porter next described his. victim, paying
a glowing tribute to the character and services
OF the lamented President, and pronounclng a
most touching eulogy, as it were, on his men,
| DRY. Tue claims of the prisoner to be pray
ing man were considered, and the hollow mock
| cry of the claim shown. Guiteau angrlly
| shouted
IL pray every night and morning and before
every meal If you did the same you would be
better man. You wouldn't be here looking
| for blood-money."
The prisoner says he prayed for Fix weeks.
| Why, If he had made up his mind unalterably
to murder. the President on the Isl of June, y
said Judge Porter, did he still continue to
pray down to the very act of murder?"
Guiteau-"I prayed to see if the Lord
wouldn't let me off from killing him.
What Fas he praying for?" continued
Judge Porter "The man who claimed to have
received divine inspiration himself prepares his
defense in advance for an act to do which he
| was dIvinely inspired. The believer in inspira-
| ton, he would himself alter the inspired book
and substitute for it book of his own. That
he did not shoot the President on the
first OCCASION" said Judge Porter, "was
due to his coward heart Had he
done it on that occasion he would have been
torn to pieces, and he knew it. On this occa-
| sion the President was surrounded by his Cab
met and his friends His son, not yet strong,
but who would have been urged at such time
with God-given strength 10 defend his faith
err was also by his side, and the assassin's era
| ven heart failed him and he said Not yet al
some other time.
With graphic picturing Judge Porter related
the dogging of the Presidents footsteps to the
little churdh the incidents or accidents on each
occasion which batfied him. President Gar