The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-02-09
Judge Cox Sentences Gu1teau.

/ vi Cdbul hlOI III thO COuiV iOOAA a.
| Washington, after the motion for new trial
had been overruled, Guiteau, who had been
| permitted to resume his seat at the counsels
table, called out, IF your Honor please, I de-
| sire to ask if there is any motion that l ought
| to make to secure my rights"
| Scoville tried to prevent his speaking, but
| he retorted, well don't want any advant-
| age taken of me. want to know how much
| time shall have to prepare my appeal to the
| court in banc."
| Mr. Scoville: Please keep quiet; we haven't
| reached that yet.
| Guiteau with much excitement): won't
| keep quiet; | am here and propose to do my
| own talking.
Judge Cox then informed Mr.. Scoville OF
the rules of practice applicable to the filing OF
his exceptions, and after this matter had been
arranged Col Corkhill renewed his motion,
saying: ut is now my duty to ask for the SEN
| tence of the Court"
Judge Cox Ito prisoner Stand up. Have
| you anything to say why sentence should not
now be passed upon you?
Guiteau (still sitting: Il ask your Honor to
postpone sentence as long as possible"
Judge Cox: Stand up. HaYe you anything
| to say why sentence should not now be pro-
nounced upon you?
The prisoner then arose. pale, but with lips
compressed and desperate determination
stamped upon his features.
| In low and deliberate tone he began, but
soon his manner became wild and violent and,
| pounding upon the table, he delivered himself
| of the following harangue:
| [ am not guilty of the charge set forth in
the Indictment. 1t is Gods act, not mine, and
God will take care of it, and don't let the
| American people forget it. He will take care
of it, and every officer of this Government,
| from the Executive down to that marshall,
taking in every man on that jury, and every
member Of this bench, will pay for it, and the
American nation will roll in blood if my body
goes into the ground and I am hung The
Jews put the despised Gallilean into the grave,
| and for time they triumphed, but at the de-
struction of Jerusalem, forty years afterwards,
the Almighty got even with them. am not
afraid Of death. [ am here as Gods man.
Kill me tomorrow, if you want to. | am
Gods man, and l have been from the start"
Judge Cox then proceeded to pass the SEN
tence, addressing the prisoner as follows:
you have been convicted of crime so
horrible in its circumstances and so far-reach-
ing that it has drawn upon you the horror Of
the whole world and the execrations of your
countrymen. The excitement produced by
such an offence made it no easy task to secure
for you fair and impartial trial. but you
have had the power of the United States
Treasury and Government in your service to
protect your person from violence and to pro-
cure evidence from all parts of the country.
You have had as fair and impartial jury as
ever assembled in court of justice You
have been defended by counsel with zeal and
devotion that merits the highest encomium,
and certainly have done my best to secure
fair presentation of your defence. Notwth-
standing all This you have been found guilty.
1t would have been a comfort to many people
if the verdict of the jury had established the
fact that your act was that of an irresponsi-
BILE man. 1t would have left the people sat
isfying belief that the crime of political assas-
sination was something entirely foreign to the
institutions and civilization of our country,
but the result has denied them that comfort
"Ihe country will accept it as a fact that
crime can be committed and the court will
have to deal with it with the highest penalty
known to the criminal code to serve as an ex-
ample to Others Your career has been so ex-
traord1nary that people might well at times
have doubted your sanity but one cannot but
believe that when the crime was committed
you thoroughly understood the nature of the
crime and its consequences"
(Guiteau 81 was acting as Gods many
''And that you had moral sense and con-
science enough to recognize the moral iniquity
of such an act"
(The Prisoner: "That a matter of opinion"
our own testimony SHOWS tnat you re-
coled with horror from the idea. You say
that you prayed against it. You say that you
thought it might be prevented. This shows
that your conscience warned you against it,
but by the wretched sophistry of your own
mind you worked yourself up against the pro-
test of your own conscience. What motive
could have induced you to do this act must be
matter of conjecture. Probably men will
think that some political fanaticism or morbid
desire for self-exaltation was the real inspira-
ton for the act Your own testimony seems
to controvert the theories of your counsel.
They have maintained and thought honestly,
l believe, that you were driven against your
will by an insane impulse to commit the act
but your testimony showed that you delber-
ately resolved to do it, and that deliberate and
misguided will was the sole impulse. This may
seem insanity to some persons, but the law
looks upon it as wilful crime. You will have
due opportunity of having any errors may
have committed during the course of your
trial passed upon by the court In banc, but in
the meanwhile it is necessary for me to pro-
nounce the sentence OF the law, that you be
taken hence to the common Jail of this Dis