The Portland daily press., 1882-01-16

find one that has the eye that he has. Nature
never gave the prisoner that look when child;
il never gave it to any human being. Such an
appearance of the eye can only come from dis
ease, disease that is creeping over him and has
crept over him until it has perverted his vision
If he had not shot anybody, If he had not COM
mitted any crime, and he were brought before
you, and you were asked what you thought of
tunate crazy man." Any man would say that.
If you would say it under such circumstances,
then say it now, because it is your duty to say
it. 1t needs no expert to prove that he is IN
sane to-day; brain gone, gone, gone, reason
leaving him never to return l predict that, II
he IS put in an insane asylum, within "A
months he will be miserable dwelling idiot.
"a laugh from the prisoner 1t cannot be
otherwise. They tell you that he is smart,
keen, cunning. The impression has gone
abroad that he is one of the keenest men on
the face of the earth, marvel of keenness and
intelligence. tell you that he is total intel
lectual mental wreck on every other subject ex-
cept this. All the faculties of reason that are
left to him are centred in the one idea that he
is the agent of God; and whenever anything
touches his case it is like applying match to
a powder magazine, he goes off, he explodes
like rocket He cannot talk commercially If
you turn him from that one subject (that he is
the agent of the Almighty He is failure
and wreck. If Mr.. Porter had ex-
amined him on any other subject he would
cility. No man but an insane man could
dwell for two days on this subject as he did
under the cross-examlnatlon OF Mr.. Porter.
No sane man can talk like them, act like them
or appear like them. Did DR.. Gray talk with
him on any other subject? No. Fairness ought
TO have induced him, when he had the man
under his hand for the purpose OF tapping him
and letting out his life blood, drop by drop, to
talk with him on some other theme than that.
If he had he would have seen than he was a
ruin. Mr.. Reed went on to argue that, after
all, the matter of the prisoners sanity was
only guess or an opinion of the doctors.
"These experts" said the speaker, "do not
swear to a fact, for no one but the nscrutable
Deity can know what there is in the brain OF
man. They swear only to an opinion, and you
have notable instance how far from the facts
the opinions of the most learned doctors may
lead in the sad case of the late President We
had bulletins every day, giving his condition;
we had the announcement that the probe, or
whatever it may be, had been inserted twelve
inches into the wound, and yet the wound
really led in exactly an opposite direction. I
say it would be shame to send a man to the
gallows upon the opinions of doctors" Mr..
Reed quoted from the letter of the prisoners
father, written in 1876 to Mrs. Scoville, in
which he says, speaking OF the prisoner: To
my mind he is fit subject for lunatic asy-
lum," and he asked whether this father did
not know his own son. Mr.. Reed then pro-
ceeded to review the testimony of the witness
es who had considered the prisoner insane.
Taking the testimony OF John A. Logan
and Charles B. Farwell, in connection with
the appearance of the prisoner, could the jury,
under their oaths, say they had no fair, rea-
sonable doubt of his sanity at the time he shot
the President? 1t seemed to be incredible and
impossible. Mr.. Reed then proceeded to COM
ment upon the fact that Detective McElfresh
had been summoned by the prosecution, but
not examined, and that Bailey (the District
Attorneys stenographer), who had taken down
the utterances of the prisoner, had destroyed
his notes. These facts gave grounds for grave
suspicion that Mr.. McElfresh's testimony and
Bailey's notes would have spoken in thunder
tones in behalf of this man. Mr.. Davidge
said Continued Mr.. Reed) that the prisoners
family ought to have deserted him as q wretch,
that they should have cast him aside as a rot
ten branch. That expression does no credit to
your heart addressing himself to Mr.. Da-
vidge). Here is Mrs. Scoville, who told DR..
Rice five years ago that her brother was in
sane. If she had not sat by her brother,
broken as he is, she would be unworthy the
name of sister. Shame on such proclama-
ton. You (tbe jury) would despise her, hui
man nature would revolt at such feeling
A sister desert brother, whom she believed,
years before, to be weary, wandering boy.
desert him and let him go to the gallows?
Neverl uShame on you (alluding to and point
ing at Davidge) for such statement! | say
that not only in this life bnt in the life to
come, God will bless her for her sisterly love
and fidelity. Desert him? Would you, would
any man of you, desert the brother or sister
who was in trouble, whom you believe to be
insane? The proposition is simply monstrous
and inhuman. Mr.. Davidge, the day before
yesterday, praised the sentiments OF mob.
He said that the mob generally represented
the best of human passion and sentiment. L
deny it. The most illustrious incident in
history is one with which you are all familiar,
when the meek and lowly Jesus was on trial
I~1fS <f,n ,Jofn
find no fault in the man. l wash my hands OF
this innocent mans blood but the mob cried:
Away with him! away with him! cruelty
him! cruelty himi" That is Mr.. Davidge's
best human sentiment. That was mob, and
a mob sent Him to the cross. Referring to the
use made by the prosecution of the word ICON
ceived,' when the prisoner said he had con-
ceived the idea himself, Mr.. Reed explained
to mean that, in response to the suggestion
that there were other persons concerned in the
murder of the President, the prisoner, simply
intended to say that no other person had sug-
gested it. He also explained the use OF the
word 'remorse,'' which the prisoner admit
ted having felt, and argued that that was
only in keeping with his unwillingness for
weeks to commit the act. Neither word was
any proof of sanity. A sane man would have
reasoned that, if he killed President Garfield,
his successor would certainly not give him any
office What motive could he have
had? No man committed crime with
out motive. Did the prisoner have
any motive that could make sane
man think of such thing? IT he did not
have a motive why did he kill the President?
And why did he shoot him in public place?
Would sane man suppose that he could shoot
down the President in a crowded railroad sta
hack and drive away? Why had he not shot
him the night before, when he followed him to
Mr.. Blaine's? If he had done so the probabili-
ties were that no man would know who had
done it. If he had hated the President, and if
that were the motive of the murder, he would
have shot him the night before. If he had a
motive he would have done so: and If he had
no motive then he was insane. If he wanted
to shoot anybody for not getting an office, why
had he not shot Mr.. Blaine? No one could
answer that question. He incidentally alluded
to the difficulty which Mr.. Scovlle had expert
enced in procuring witnesses, stating that they
would rather see the man hanged than to tell
what they know and save an undoubted luna
tic from the gallows and America from dis
grace. The government wanted him convict
ed
The prisoner The government does. rot
want me convicted. Gen. Arthur does not
want me convicted, and l amt going to be,
Mr.. Reed then referred to the evidence given
by special agent Brooks, which had been dis
to save the jury and the American people from
perpetrating judicial atrocity. Mr.. Brooks
stated that when he visited the prisoner on
the morning after the shooting, the prisoner
declared that he had enjoyed the best nights |
rest he had had for weeks. Was that the dec |
laration of sane man? Would the jury say, |
by verdict of guilty. that that was consistent |
in any way, shape or form with sanity? The |
poor weary soul who had been struggling be- |
tween reason and insanity up to the commits |
sion of an act, had committediit and then been |
1t rest. Referring to the testimony of Mr.. Rey- |
holds, who had visited the prisoner in his cell |
On the 14th of July, he spoke of his insinuat-
ng himself there in the character Of sneak |
Ind spy, as Judas, coming and kissing him as
friend, and he asked whether any sane man |
would say that he expected Senator Conkling,
Gen. Grant and General Logan would inter-
ere and save him from the gallows, especially |
Tor the murder of President? Was not this |
The very strongest evidence of serious mental
arrangement? And when he was told that
hose men condemned the act he was astound-
ID at it, and said it was because they did not
Know his reasons. And he wrote a paper
which he said would let the people know his
easons, and then they would justify him, and
his paper Reynolds told him he would have
published. Reynolds lied to the poor creature,
ook the paper and (still in the capacity of
neak) gave it to the district-atto. ney, and it
lever saw daylight until it was produced on
he stand. Mr.. Reed then referred to the incl
lent of the prisoner jumping off fast train
lear Newark simply to avoid arrest for riding