Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1882-01-26
Guteau Addresses the Jury.

M S-oyIle c1uuse. for the as>As,.
Gu.,cau, closed his argument FRIDAY u.-L;.
and on Saturday morning Judge Cox de-
c.4ed 10 allow Gu.irau 10 address tie jury.
the counsel for Tie government having
Withdrawn their objection TO bis dong 50.
Upon entering the room Guiteau took
sea; in the w..nc>s box remarAiug as be
laid oli hi, paper: 81 sit down because
can speak better. not that am afraid Of
beng Shot. Tn, shooting bushes, j. get
tiux PLAYED out. \, an iu;ima,ion from
judy, Cox the prisoner carefully arranged
his glasses. ana with a flourish. began TO
read as follows: The prosecution pretend
that ! am a wicked man. Scoyll.e and
Reed think am a lunatic and presume
sou think am. ! certainly was a luua;lo
on JULY ~ when fired Oh the President.
and the American people. generally, and
presume YOU think ! WIS. Can YOU ImaG-
Inc ANYTHING more insane tGan my going
TO that depot and shooting the President Of
the United States You are here to say
whether / am sane or insane al the moment
] fred that shot You have nothing 10 Do
with NY condition since that shot was fired.
You must say BY Your verdict whether ! wa>
sane or insane a. the moment that shot WIS
fred. If YOU have any doubt Of my SANITY
at the moment YOU must give me the benefit
OF that doubt and aCqult; that i. 4 YOU
have any doubt whether ! fired that shot, or
if | was the agent Of DEITY. If | fred on
nv account was sane if / fired il ,upp0>-
ING myself the agent of the Deity | va, IN
sane and YOU must acquIt. Tins : the Law
as given in the recent decision Of the New
York Court of Appeals. II revo.ltionizes
the old rules and is grand step forward
in the law of insanity. Its worthy Of thi,
age of railroads, electricity and telephones
and il well comes from the State Of New
York have 10 hesitation in saving that
il is 8 special providence IN nv favor and
ask this court and jury 10 so consider it.
Some Of the best people Of America think
me the greatest man Of this age and this
feeling is growing. They believe in my in
SEPARATION and that providence and | have
really saved the nation another war. Nv
speech. setting forth in detail my defence
was telegraphed Sunday to all the leading
papers and published Monday morning and
nov am permitted by his honor to deliver
it 10 you. He then explained TO the jury
that his speech opened with a quotation
from his Christmas greeting to the Ameri-
can people. and in using it for the opening
OF his speech to the jury he had neglected TO
cut out the date Christmas, ISL After
thanking his counsel and paving a high
compliment to the zeal and ability which
Scoville had displayed. aud whom he pro-
posed soon TO reward with very liberal fees:
be extends his grateful acknowledgements
70 the Court, jury. officials aud balitfs and
last, but not leas! to the American Press
The latter was a power that generally
crushed man when they got down on him
They had been pretty heavy on the prisoner
at first but when they knew bis motives they
changed their views and now they were
treating him very fairly. With this intro
duction the prisoner took up a newspaper
and proceeded 10 read to the jury his pub
lished speech. His manner TO casual OBJ
server seemed as completely self possessed
as usual. but behind the ostentatious affec-
tation Of comp0sure there was an intensity Of
feeling which was only held in control by an
undoubted strength of will and nerve which
the prisoner has shown all the way through.
His excitement was betrayed By a slightly
hectic spot on each cheek Of his colOrless
face and by the unusual deliberations with
which he began and for some time continued
10 speak. Whether this excitement was
from the merely superficial effect upon bis
emotion naturally incident to the occasion
or whether il proceeded from deeper and
more overpowering influence, the true real
ization Of his position, as most convicted
murderer pleading for his iife-it were diff
fcult to divine. Whatever the origin or
character of this feeling it finally gained the
,aseendeney over his powers of control and
A. h. raaehad that mint in the snaach al
have always served the Lord and whether
live or die" he broke down completely stop
ped. tried to choke down the rising lump