The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-01-25

as yenomous as the rattlesnake, and speaking
of the act of murder, said, 'sThis was rattle
snake without the rattles but not without the
fangs'
l might, said Judge Porter, detain you
week, but 1 am here for the purpose OF ascer-
tanning whether this man is guilty and there
are collateral issues. I will not delay. The
Junior counsel has told you that you are kings:
implying that you may override the law and
evidence in grasping an almost Intangible
doubt and ignoring the solid structure OF evil
dence of guilt You are not kings and the man
who told you SO is the jnnior counsel, the only
man in fifty millions who would or could rec
ommend Guiteau for office.
Recess.
ment and by a mastery portraiture pointed the
cunning, the duplicity and the acting of the
prisoner since thebeguning of the trial. You
are, gentlemen of the jury, no more kings in
respect of law than is the murderer in the dock
who sits uncrowned save with his own con-
ceit. Referring to repeated assertion that he
had sent Mr.. Garfield prepared to meet his
God and he (Guiteau) too was ready to die If
God iwilled it, Judge Porter with deliberate
emphasis said, 81 do not believe In all this as
semblage there is one soul that contemplates
with such abject terror the possibility of facing
his Maker as does this brazen murderer.
Guiteau whirled around with the ferocity of O
wild beast and fairly yelled that's miserable
lie and you know it, Porter, andyou are aninfer-
nal scoundrel. hope that God Almighty will
send for you soon-both of you and Corkhill.
Such miserable, shrinking whine as that is.
The law, said Judge Porter, as it bears upon
this case is supreme and you are but simply
God-made men under the obligation of a sol
emn oath to bring in your verdict under the
law and facts. Summing up the questions pre-
sented by the case upon which they were soon
to be called upon to pass, Judge Porter said,
"Tne first of these questions for you to con-
slider is was the prisoner insane on the I'd OF
July? If he was not the case is at an end and
your sworn duty is ended; second, if you reach
the conclusion that he was insane on that day
was he insane to that degree that on the I'd of
July he did not know that murder was morally
and legally wrong? If he was not insane to
that degree you are bound nnder your oaths to
convict him; third, if, in utter disregard Of
his confessions under oath, you shall find that
he actually and honestly believed that God
had commanded him to kill President Gar
field and that he was under delusion, unless
you find the further fact that such delusion
disabled him from knowing such an act was
morally and legally wrong you are bound
under your oaths to convict him; fourth, if
you find such delusion did not exist-that
God commanded him to do the act and that
such delusion was the sole product of insanity,
then and then only you can acquit him when
you find he was unable to control his own will,
and you must remember that under oath he
has sworn that he was able to control it for he
said, Had Mrs. Garfield been with him at the
depot on the I'd OF July would not have shot
him.; fifth if you find that even though he
was partially insane it resulted from his own
malignity and his own depravity yet still you
are bound under the instruction of the court
to convict him; sixth, if upon the whole case
you have no reasonable doubt whether he was
partially or wholly insane, if you believe that
he knew that his act was legally
and morally wrong you are under your
oaths bound to convict him. The
law, said Judge Porter, is founded upon rea-
son and it must not be said that an American
jury shall override the law and establish
principle which will let murder and rape and
arson run riot through the land.
Murder has been in the world since the first
born of woman slew the second-born; and
God, knowing mans nature, inscribed on tab
lets of stone '"Thou shalt not KILL" A human
life to Guiteau is of small value. "Life,'' said
he, in one of those letters of his, sis a tickle
dream, &C., "Whoso sheddeth mans blood
by man shall his blood be shed,' says the Cos
pei and against this we have had the gospel of
Guiteau. You are to judge whether the gos-
pei of our Maker or the gospel of this murderer
shall prevail Reviewing the claim of the de-
fence to hereditary insanity, Judge Porter said
Mrs. Scoville dared not say her father was in
sane. His family physician, who was with
him till death, would have known it and yet
not one dare kiss the holy book and make oath
to such a statement. This defense is false
hood, part of thelimposture and sham that
wraps about the whole case. The incident of
the axe Judge Porter turned against the de-
fence with telling effect: "And this raising of
murderous axe against his own sister which
she in her honesty of soul imagined an.indica-
ton of insanity but which in reality was but
in keeping with the cowardly attack from be-
hind upon his infirm father and with the dew
ilsh depravity which eliminated in his muir
dering the President-this raising of the axe
was the only evidence his sister could recall
through her forty years of knowledge of her
brother.
Guiteau twisted uneasily and with some
nervous hesitation of speech called out: 1.-THE
prosecution are making good deal out of
nothing. They are just using that evidence
altogether different from what Scoville intend
ed. He never ought to have said anything
about it. 1t just shows how little sense the
Scovilles have got.
Witness Amberling, who exhibited his bank
book to the jury to show them he had $4,000
on deposit at home, was very roughly handled
by the speaker as was Dr. North, and their
credibility shown to be more than dubious
AT 315 Judge Porter not having concluded
his argument, the court adjourned until to-
morrow.