Knoxville daily chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1882, 1882-01-31
KNOXVILLE TUESDAY MORNING.

victed assassin, to night whether he |
agreed with Scovills that the COM
demned man would become raving |
maniac before the day OF execution.
He replied, "No, I do not. I have
believed, as you know, ever since I
saw him here on my arrival from
Boston. that he is insane, but / don't
think you would observe any change
in his condition for very much
longer time than is likely to
elapse before he is executed. He
will be just as quick,
and just as bright six months
yes, six years-from now as he is
to day. 1 take no stock in Scoyille's
theory that he will become an imbe-
Gle. l took none, you know, in his
theory of the defense. It was all
wrong from beginning to end. He
worked hard. He reasoned well, but
from false premises. There was the
great mistake of the case. Scoville
started out on the theory that my
brother was an ordinary lunatic-a
man with diseased brain. knew
that that was false theory, and told
him so. I even tried, when the trial
was half over, to induce change.
I said, 'Scoville, you ought to drop
your theory, and adopt one which is
consistent with the facts. The pros
ecuton has changed front half
dozen times in the course OF the
trial There is no particular reason
why you should not change over, land
every reason why you should"
"But he wouldn't. If he had, he
might have saved him. Now, my
idea was to throw into the jury box
all the facts respecting this mans
wretched life. would have brought
out everything that the prosecu-
ton brought out about his bad rec-
ord and as much more. There was
plenty of it. l have heard things
since I came here about that man 8
life equal in depravity to anything
the prosecution proved-things L
had never heard before. OF course
I could not give them away to the
prosecution, but if had had my way,
they would have been given to the
jury. 1 would have piled up before
them such mass of facts as would
have convinced them that the man was
insane, simply because no sane man
could have been SO wicked. He is SO
depraved that heisinsane. Itwas SIM
ply absurd for Scoville to attempt to
prove him pure, innocent, high
minded man, unfortunate enough to
have disease of the brain, and I told
him so-absurd because he could not
prove it, inasmuch as it was not the
fact. How consistent he was to the
last on Wednesday; his last word in
the dock a denunciation Do you
know all his life long he has been
denouncing people? It's a curious
fact. I have files of his letters at
home in which he denounces
my father, John H. Noyes, and every
body else. Always denouncing,
criticising, condemning. His quiet
poise was also characteristic. He
will possess it to the last. He is a
physical coward, but morally brave,
and he will not funk. He will die
when he dies, game to the last. It's
in his blood, you see. The Huguenots
never were towards Their blood
polluted as it is, flows through his
veins. His wicked career, half OF
whose blackness you don't know, is
embroidered on the beautiful fabric
of noble family. It's not in him
to blubber on the scaffold. He Ger
tainly won't before. He will be
buoyed up to the last by the hope OF
pardon or escaping death in some
other way, and in his present condi
ton of mental exaltation will not
break down"
"Suicide2 Nonsense; no more
thought of suicide than you have"