Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1882-07-16
A CASE.
Austrian Experts Would Have de.
ciared Guiteau

%
ciared Guiteau Insane.
There is an insane murderer in Vienna
whose case, in an important particular, re-
calls that of Guiteau. Most Of the experts
who testified for the prosecution in the trial
at Washington regarded Guiteau's wild be-
havior in Court as shamming, designed to
give the appearance of insanity, and they
looked upon this as of itself corroborative
evidence Of his intelligence and mental
%soundness. In taking this view they seem
to have considered it out of the question
that a mar might try to feign lunacy, and
at the same time be a lunatic in fact; yet
according to the most learned medical
experts of the Austrian Capital, this is
the very thing that has occurred there.
The victim of the murder was a woman
of the town, and a female companion, who
was living with her, was adjudged guilty
of her death upon circumstantial evidence.
The trial was in itself Of great interest,
both on account of the brilliant and novel
defense made by a distinguished Vienna
Advocate and because of the violent be-
havior of the prisoner, which, like Gui-
%teau's, contributed to the unfavorable
verdict. The woman was sentenced to
imprisonment with hard labor for seven
years.
Now, however, the real murderer has
come to light and confessed his guilt.
He seems to have been Indifferent at first
to the consequences of his crime, but to
rave become aware of his danger after a
while, and to have formed the idea that
his only hope of escaping punishment lay
in pretending that he was mentally derang-
ed. He thereupon attempted to play the
mailman; but his efforts were clumsy and
easily seen through. 1t was evident that
he believed himself to be sane. Neverthe-
less, while disregarding this conduct as
mere shamming, the Medical experts were
unqualified in the opinion that he was stark
mad in reality; that though he had self
control and discernment sufficient to know
the benefit of being considered
insane and to feign insanity, he was none
the less an outright lunatic. The manner
in which he had committed his crime, his
conduct afterward, and observations taken
of him in prison satisfied the experts that
such was the case; and a report in accord-
ance with this view has now been rendered
by a commission appointed to make a
official examination Of the prisoner. No
distinction appears to have been drawn
DetWeeu instantly III lacI ana INSANITY
sufficient to absolve from legal account
ability. He will be permanently confined
in an asylum.
On the same theory, the view that Gui-
teau was shamming all through the trial,
and that his talk about inspiration was a
mere pretense, to save his neck from the
gallows, but that he was nevertheless at
the same time insane in fact, both in the
commission of the crime and subsequently,,
would have been, according to these
Vienna experts, entirely accurate and
logical.
An interesting feature of the Vienna
case is the outburst of popular sympathy
that has been bestowed upon the woman
who had been so unjustly convicted, and
who, at the time of her trial, was the OBJ
ject of 80 much execration. She is also
said to nave received substantial p~ecuniary
aid. Her undeserved imprisonment,
however, is reported to have had the good
effect of subduing and reforming a violent
and reckless disposition; and it may be
the cause of her permanent rescue from a
depraved mode of life.