The examiner., 1882-01-28


 have the final close on this case, and that if h
 attempts to mislead that jury about the law O
 about the facts my counsel and myself vii
 stop him. He came into this case last Octo
 Der at the instance of General Arthur under
 misapprehension, and Judge Porter doesn'
 represent the American people or tn,
 government of the United States. II
 this case he represents himself" Judge Por.
 ter then began the closing address to the jur! | in presence of audience that crowded thu
 courtroom to suffocation. In voice that wal
 rather weak-for he. had been sick several days Mir. Porter said: "I deal only with the evi
 dence and the facts and the law.'' During
 most of MT. Porter's address Guiteau either
 read newspaper or wrote autographs. Mr. l Porter said he would say, in justice to the prisoner, that, of the three arguments which
 had been made for the defense, the one most | free from objection was that delivered by the | prisoner himself. Aside from the impiousness
 of his statements, it was free from the deliber-
 ate misstatements and perversions of testi- | mony that ran through the arguments Of his
 associate counsel, especially of MT. Scoville. | Describing Guiteau's characteristics MT. Porter 1 said: "This man showed his idea of mercy to
 others when on one occasion he turned to you
 and said that that God, whose name he has l 80 often blasphemed, would interfere to strike
 down one of your number before you should be
 able to convict him. This is the man who in- 1 vokes the tender and merciful confederation of | his case-a man brutal in his instincts, in 1 ordinate in his love of notoriety, eaten up by 8
 thirst for money which has gnawed at his soul like cancer, beggar, hypocrie, caliter, a swindler, lawyer, who with many years prac- tice never won a case. Would you know why No court no jury failed to see that he was a dis honest rogue, and such men cannot win cases-a man who has left his trail in various States man who has lived on other peoples funds and appropriated them to his own use in breach of every trust; man who is capable of aping the manners of a gentleman; 8 man who as 8 lawyer had this notion of morality, that when he had taken debts to collect and collected them by dunning the debtor held them against his client and chuckled over the success of his scheme: a man who sold oroide watches or pawned them to get money through falsehood and misrepresentation" (The pris- oner-" That lie seems to stick in your throat, Porter.'0 MT. Porter continued his denuncia- tion of Guiteau, calling him coward and fend. Then he highly eulogiZed President the case, the purchase of the pistol, the pris- oner's practicing by the river side. and the va- rious occasions when he was deterred from the murder. In regard to the incident of the prac ticing at the river side, he said: "Who was it that was practicing-the Deity or the prisoner at the bar? Who fired at these osiers? Who sent them swerving down as Garfield swerved Who hit them? Who fired twenty times in order to accustom himself to the noise of the it should not ' stun him when it mur- r- dered the President? ?" As to his being restrained from the murder by the pres- ence of Mrs. Garfield on one occasion and that of the two boys on another occasion, MT. Porter remarked that there no diabolism com plete this side of the internal regions that it has not some remaining twinges of conscience; and yet he firmly believed that this statement of the prisoner was as false as anything else he had said. He had been restrained by no thing but coWardice on all such occasions. MT. Por- ter also referred to the vanity which made the prisoner choose white-handled pistol rather than a black one, that it might bear his name
 
 more conspicuous in the patent office. He ac- cused MT. Scoville of making deliberate misstatements and perverting the testimony. MT. Scoville interrupted him at one point, say ing he desired to correct the speaker on the evidence. MT. Davidge objected to interrup- tions, and MT. Scoville retorted that he had been interrupted 147 times. When MT. Porter touched upon the question of public opinion concerning Guiteau, Mir. Scoville objected, and took an exception to statements of the speaker denying what Guiteau himself had asserted to the tone of the press and the public. There was lively tilt, in which Guiteau took part, and Juuge Cox said MT. Porter could deny what Guiteau had said, but could not make positive statements to what is contained in newspapers or private letters. Mir. Porter was not well and was obliged to suspend his speech early in the afternoon.
 As Mr. Porter rose to resume his argument on the fifty-third day Guiteau shouted from the dock: " Some crank signed my name to a letter in one of the papers this morning. re- pudiate that kind of business. I also under stand that two cranks were arrested this morn ing, and that two of them have been lying around since Saturday. l give notice that 1 am in charge of officers of the court, and if anybody attempts any violence against me he will be shot dead. Let the people understand that" Judge Porter then continued his address to the jury. He asserted that the defense was founded on shams and on brazen falsehood, which was to acquire force and strength by per oSv~Ia (f In school of Guiteau," he said, "have great confidence in a maxim of Aaron Burr, that falsehoods are to be verified by persistency and reiteration." He said that Guiteau was a the beginning; that he had grown worse every year that he had lived; that he was diso- bedient child, lawless and ungrateful to his father, and an unkind brother; that he stung every man who was benefactor to his youth; that he had inordinate desire for unholy noto- riety, and that he grew worse and worse until his career eliminated in cold-blooded assassin ation. He became, not by disease, but by cul ture, 8 moral monstrosity-the most cold blooded and savage murderer of the last six thousand years. Guiteau interrupted this tor rent of denunciation, remarking that it was all bosh, and that Porter knew it. He continued his interruptions all day, sometimes declaring that the speaker ca ~ was telling g:5,oa1is- false him. His assertion that MT. Porter was wine bibber reminded the speaker of verse, which he repeated for the jury Another interruption led MT. Porter to say he was afraid the prisoner had not the latest intelligence from heaven. Referring to Guitean's assertion that he made Arthur Pres ident, MT. Porter said General Arthur was made President by the voice of his country men. the same voice that made Garfield President, and that Willard Fillmore was just as truly elected by the people as the President whom he succeeded. Guiteau declared that this was false, for Arthur and Fillmore were
  have been nominated for President at the time. Speaking of the statement made by Guiteau to the district attorneys stenographer soon after the assassination, and which the de- fense claimed was destroyed because it con- tained the prisoners claim to inspiration MT. Porter said he had read that statement and it contained no such thing. MT. Scoville at once objected, saying that Mir. Porter trying to get indirect and unsworn evidence before the jury. MT. Porter defended his course on the ground that he was only contradicting what the prisoner had said. Judge Cox said the statement was objectionable, as the prisoner was under oath as 8 witness and MT. Por- ter was not MT. Porter, nevertheless attempted to go on with what he wished to say, but MT. Scoville stopped him again, and Judge Cox said he could not allow any thing more to be said by MT. Porter on the contents of that paper. MT. Porter declared that he had practiced law longer than Judge from him. Judge Cox listened to this un- moved, but Colonel Reed declared that Mir. Porter ought to be punished for contempt. Once when Judge Porter saying that all though the prisoner had sworn that he prayed to Cod there was no person in the assembly