The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1882-01-19

| then no frenzy, no passion, wi
afford any excuse whatever, then no di
ease OF his moral nature viii constitute an
excuse whatever; then no belief, hOweye
profound, though the mans reason and rC
Election may reach the conclusion that th
act Is the suggestion of and commanded b.
Almighty God will afford any excuse what
ever for the preparation of the crime; hi
sole and exclusive excuse is dis
ease of mind, obliterating tn
sense between right and wrong ant
absolutely controlling the judgment AM
reason of the party. Thus you will Sc
that the sense and reason necessary to max
u man responsible is very limited indeed
thus you will see that man may be her
who has been styled crank" ''otf hi
nut, and even partially insane, and yet h,
may be absolutely responsible for the crime
that is committed here-murder, murder
Murder by lying i'll wait-what is com
monty called assassination"
AS Davidge touched the process of rea
soning by which the prisoner gradually
reached the conviction that but one little liz
interpOsed between him and possibly grea
benefits, Guiteau became restless, and fol
the first time since the opening of court, in
Dictated by his nervous twisting about tho
usual preliminaries to u series of intCrcep
tons which in this instance quickly
followed each other. Not often,
said Mr.. Dayidge, lin the record o.
pointed proof as to the first conception o
crime as in this case. The suggestion Of
the crime came to the wretch in the night
as he was lying in his bed"
at came to me when the Lord got ready
to send it, snarled the prisoner.
Dayidge continued-"This thought OF
suggestion came to him on the 18th
OF May. Still thinking that
he might obtain office he sought
and kept his hand clean. He made an.
other effort on the 10Th of May to induce
the President"
Guiteau called out from the dock-"I
alter the LIST Of June if it had been offered to
me-"
Davidge apparently not needing him.
"On the 10Th of May
Guitcau Ualking the LIST OF
June"
Davidge pausing moment)-"Just listen
him"
Griteau (sneerngly)-"They would listen
to you, bat your talk is so weak it is hardly
worth listening to-"
For several minutes Guiteau continued to
interject his comments with the evident in
tention of annoying Davidge, but finding
he could not effect this, he gradually sub
sided into complete silence.
How great degree of Intelligence, ''COn-
tinued Mr.. Davidge. "does it take to inform
a man that he is wrong? What degree OF
intelligence was necessary to make law
yer believe that it was in violation of the
law of the land to kill? What degree of in
telligence was necessary 10 make a religious
man know that the everlasting ediCt had
gone forth from Almighty God, Thou
shalt commit p1nrlprpi' Ihnrp
is no hardship in holding man to respon-
sibility when he has sense enough to
know what he was doing and that it is
wrong. If | conceived it possible that by
your verdict you were to assert that the
degree of intelligence required by these
Instructions do not exist here, would de-
plore that result more deeply than have
language to express. | would regard re-
suit of that sort as an invitation to every
crack-brained, Unbalanced man, with
or without memory, to re-
sort TO the knife or pistol
and Stay man for party purposes, or, it
may be, without any purpose whatever"
After recess, when the court assembled,
the attendance was even greater than in the
and for one that left the court
room half-dozen new applicants pressed
for admission.
Davidge resumed his argument at fiv,
MINUTES puSb 1 u ClDCh. IOuCnlllp lllc CNl-
denCe presented of the existence of
insanity in the Guiteau family as bearing
upon the probability of the prisoners in
sanity, Davidge summed up the force of thiH
evidence with the remark: But the unan-
swerable testimony of experts settles the
question as to how much effect this collat-
cral insanity could have upon the mental
condition of the prisoner. 1t is but the
mereSt mOckery to discuss the question, in
view of the undoubted ability of this man
to distinguish between right and wrong"
Guiteau interrupted and shouted out
Il have always been Christian man, and
for six years have been strictly virtuOus
don't forget that, don't-dOn't forget to get
that right"
Davidge then passed to a review of the
evidence offered by the defense as to the
habits of life and history OF the prisoner
from his birth up, saying: at will be for
you, gentlemen OF the jury, to determine
whether there is a single jot or title to
show that this prisoner was not perfectly
responsible for his act on the ~
day of July. You will find that
they have carefully picked and held up to
your view every thing in the entire case OF
this man which may be considered odd and
peculiar, and it is for you to consider how
much value can be attached to this evidence,
when you come to consider whether this
man did not know, on the I'd OF
July, that it was wrong for him to
kill the Chief Magistrate of the nation"
DavilgC then took up the Oneida Com
and spoke of uitcau as wallo wing
there for six years.
Guiteau angrily shoutcd-"And ! say il
is false. | didn't wallow. I'm Just ~ pure
as you are, Dayidge, ard good d' al purer.
went there to save my soul, not from lust :
put that down, Dayidge, and don't YOU for
get IT.
WASHINGTON, January Brain and
slush had no terrors to-day for those who
had secured tickets to the trial At an
c lrly hour the courtroom was crowded.
At ten o'clock possibly 200 persons were
patiently waiting upon the outside, just be-
fore the opening Of the court. Upon III"
opening Of the court Guiteau said q" n
Justice to myselfand Davidge, / desire TO
say that received letter yesterday So
verely denouncing ravidge and my
remarks against him were based upon
that. | have found out, however,
that was mistaken, and that Dayidgc is a
Christian z, ntleman and sound
lawyer. | desire therefore to withd -aw
anything said against him. still enter
tain an opinion Of Colonel COrkhill, how
ever ] am satisfied / was wrong about
Davidge, but right on Corkhill.'
Davidge resumed his argument and re-
view Of the evidence. He showed up by
the evidence OF J. W. Guitoau and Other
witnesses for defense the ia.lacy and alb
surdity Of ScOyillc's pet theory that the
prisoner was an imbcciie.
After his opening speech Guiteau re-
manned quiet and listened for an hour TO
Davidge. That gentleman having used
some pretty strong language IN abiding 70
Gniteau. such as This unspeakable liar,
the prisoner retOrtcd: "lOu are making all
hat fine tal. fs- Funrfr.' following mp
with frequent comments. That nh, 't'ens 90
be false, That is not true" and -ini-.ar
expressions.
Davidge passed 10 an examination " the
prisoner himself bis appearance
upon the stand what be had
said and what capacity Of intellect be bad
shown. proving c0uclusively that what had
gone before had al been shameless and
hollow fraud. and ScrTille had dilatel upon
bis morality and bad asserted that lack oi
intellect was bis falling. On the contrary,
he had shown ufuun the stand .