The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1882-01-27
THE GUITEAU TRIAL.
roRrY-sEyENrH DAY.

dc Ollcu FuDWu LII Iu6 dCLS O1 lUBdU6 criminals,
ccoyllle said there was nothing IN this act to
compare with some of these acts of insane
criminals " and, gentlemen of the jury"
he said, in my opinion, if there were not
reasons, and powerful ones, at the back of
this prosecution, this prisoner never would
have been brought to trial But I tell
you, gentlemen Of the jury, back of this tJrose-
cution Is an influence which have felt and
which you may. feel gentlemen, before this
trial IL concluded. There are politicians who
seek to hide their own shame behind the dis
grace OF this poor prisoner and make him
scapegoat for their crime. did not intetid
gentlemen Of the jury, to take up this feature
OF the case, but when / find the power and ill
nuence OF this GOV eminent used against me in
denying the small pittance that I have asked
Tor far and impartial trial, and the small IA
clltes needed for proper defense, |
do not propose to keep quiet. | say
that such men as Grant and Conklng and
Arthur are morally and Intellectually response
! bic for this crime. Mr.. Conklng shall not
escape, shall not shirk the responsibility of
| the state of things that led to this act, and he
Shall not escape the condemnation of the
American people, if can help it, for his share
In this dlsgraceful scramble for Office that led
to conflict with the chosen ruler of this great
nation, and led this poor insane man to COM
! pass-what they would have hailed with salts.
faction, as would, probably, hundreds of other
politicians, If it could have occurred other thsn
| who stood in the way of their unrighteous end
dlSgraceful struggle for Office Neither shall
/ Grant escape that condemnation to which he is
| 30 ustly.subjected, when, coming from Mexico
and coming with undue haste to throw his owl
name into this petty quarrel about a small
Office IN the Republican party, he sought to
foment differences that had sprung up, I
am not going to see the misdeeds of these
men, high in power, visited upon the head of
! this poor insane man If can help it. This
clamor for his blood is not for the purpose of
ayenglng Garfield or of satisfying justice. Their
theory is that: If it can be shown that this
was the act of a sane man, then these poiti-
clans in high places will say, 'Of course we
are not responsible for tine act of a sane man,
10 be sure, we had sorae differences but then !
it could never have led sane man to such an
act but, on the contrary, gentlemen of the
jury, what is the effect of your verdict if you
acqult him as an insane man. WHY; pnctlc |
viii say, Some one is ct fault t',ay will Say.
I'VE will fx the bls1is upon the heads aud
hearts of those men who Raged the war ubon
our poor dead President until it drove this poor
insane man, from reading daily in the papers |
what Grant says, what Conkling SAYS. |
and from constantly thinking Upon it.
to his insane act OF killing the President ard |
there are men In high places, the really cuba
be ones, who will go down to posterity with /
the stigma upon their names and the detesta- |
ton OF their countrymen fastened upon their
memories"
scovilles denunciation of Conkling and
others created profound sensation in the |
courtroom.
The prisoner, who had been looking over the |
New York papers, called out: 81 see the New |
York Court OF Appeals has Just decided in IA |
yor of our theory on the insanity question. | |
thank you, Messrs. Judges"
Seoylile discussed the conduct and actions of
Galteau at the time and immediately after the |
shooting, and commended that they we're entire |
~ IN Keeping with the theory of insanity-that |
ms cooiness his Quietly going to bed and peace |
fully sleeping the night after the murder were
characteristic incidents of crime such as would I
be expected from an insane man end insane /
FoRTY-EIGHTH DAY.
Gulteau opened proceedings by thanking the
New York Court of Appeals for it's timely de-
cision on the law of insanity. "Hitherto,"
said the assassin, the law has been that the
burden of proof was on the defendant, but the
Court of Appeals, with grand magnanmty, says I
that the burden of proof is on this prosecution,
to prove that the man not only committed the |
act, but also that he was sane at the time
he committed it, After the prisoner had
delivered himself of this little speech, |
Scoville Resumed his argument, reading from |
the evidence of several witnesses who were a |
the depot and saw the shooting and subsequent |
arrest Of Guiteau, his object being to show |
that the prisoner was perfectly calm and cool,
and in q condition of nerves and intellect at |
variance with tho hypothesis of sanity unle
such circumstances
AS Scoville proceeded, Corkhill made fire.
quent and as the speaker evidently thought
sighting comments, until, finally becoming ir- |
ritated, he turned to the District Attorney and
! denounced in scathing terms his unfair conduct,
and instanced his presentation as evidence in
this case of letter written by the prisoner, and
which he (CorkhilD had Intercepted and mu-
tilated by cutting off the signature and such |
portion as he thought might benefit the pris- |
oner, I" thing,' said Scoville. (which was |
never before permitted iii court of justice,
not even upon the trial of q civil suit"
Corkhill (sneeringly y" That's your opinion
merely, Mr. Scoyille It amounts to nothing as
fact"
| ScoviIle--" Well, let it be my opinion. l
presume l am entitled to one, and so is the
! jury
Guiteau with energy)-"I It was a friendly
allusion to President Arthur that he cut out
| the mean, dirty whelp.'
! AS Scoville conunued, counsel for the prose-
cution frequently interrupted him, and run
/ ming fire was kept up between counsel for some
| time. The speaker disoaiIned as his main mo-
| tive the desire to shield the prisoner for the
honor of the Guitean family. His greatest de-
sire was to save the American people and the
American judiciary from the disgrace of hur-
| rying to the gibbet an insane man.
Commenting upon, as he claims, the absence
of motive on Guiteaus part, Scovllle read
"You cannot find a case in history-you cannot
suppose ELSEWHERE man 40 years of age
who has nevercommitted crime, who has never
! for an hour associated with criminals or bad
people; who, on the contrary, has always
sought the society, not only of the better class
of people, but of Christian people you cannot
conceive of such mans committing such a
crime without motive. Nothing but the
theory of insanity can possibly account for such
an act as Guiteau's."
Sco0ille then discussed the assumption that
| Guiteau might have been actuated by desire for
revenge, and argued the improbability Of such
assumption, from the fact if any ground for
i'll will existed on Guiteau's part it was against
| Secretary Blaine, and according to the inexor-
able laws of mind it would have been executed
against him. There cannot possibly be shown,
said Scoville any il-wilI on his part toward
President Garfield.
Scoyille next took up the hypothesis that the
crime was committed from ali overpowering
desire for notoriety, and claimed history failed
| to point out case where such a crime was
committed purely and simply from such mo-
tive, and that it was incompatible with reason
and impossible for the human mind to conceive
such motive as sufficient to induce any sane
man to commit such crime.
FoRTY-NINTH DAY.
Scoville resumed his argument, and produced
diagram showing section of the prisoners
head. Taking up the diagram of the assas-
SINS head, offered in evidence by DR.. Hamilton,
Scovllle said: 81 propose to show you that
DR.. Kempster lied when he told you that this
diagram was a correct representation of the
shape of Guiteau's head. He attempted to con-
vince you that Guiteau had an unusually ssmet-
rcal head, and propose to show you that his
evidence IN this respect was absolutely false"
Scoville contended that Dr. Gray's tables of
homicides BY insane persons were prepared for
this case and do not correspond with tables for
the same years in Gray's official reports. In
reading the account of one case of homicide
Scoville said Had the District Attorney been
there he would nave said, probably, put him on
trial for murder and hang him. This is a case
of devilsh depra vitv-"
Guiteau shouted exuiungIy "Corkhiu is an
authority on the devil. Dr. Gray is a man with
big mouth. That's the way mark him.
Scoviile discussed at some length the demon
aizing influence of the scaffold, and expressed
the opinion that crime would be diminished by
the abolition of capital punishment. He then
porceeded to anticipate the argument of Judge
Porter, and to point out to the jury the 'fallacy
of the arguments which he predicted Judge
Porter would advance TO support the theory of