Morris tribune., 1882-02-02

slender, very tender letters" He wantec
to thank the ladies Of Americs
for their mark of sympathy
and hearty appreciation. Hepaused a momenI
and then went on to warn Porter that he and
his counsel would interrupt him whenever he
made misstatement of The law or a misrepre.
sentations Of the facts. Judge Porter, though
almost too sick to STAND, proceeded with his
sp sech to the jury.
After sketsh,ng the circumstances leading up
to the crime, and painting with fervid language
the damning Wickedness of its execution, Judge
Porter turned his attention to the prisoner, and
proceeded to depict his character in the follow
Ing terms. A be gar, q hypocrite, a robber
and q swindler. A lawyer who never
won case; no court, no jury failed
o see in him rogue aud such men can
not win causes. He has left his trail of in
fanny in huudred directions. The man who
is lawyer had such notions of morality that
when he had taken debts to collect and COL
le ited them by daggling the debtor he held
Them. A man who was capable OF blast
lug the name of the woman with whom he
elepE for years and still recognized as his
wife. A man. who, when he was tired of this
woman, pretending to be Christian and be-
lever Of the B be, looked into the book and
read "rhou shalt not commit adultery" and
then walk out Immediately and committed adul
terry with street walker. man who
pushed himself into the fellowship of Chris
tian associations as follower Of the Savior
when fresh from years of foul fornication in
the leida community"
Gui'eau-"That lie ought to choke you"
AS Judge Porter proceeded with resistless
torrent OF denunciations, the prisoner OCCASION
ally called out, ''Thats lie; that's absolutely
false or that amt 3d."
''It was night" said the speaker, ssdark ae
the night when the, devil first whispered this
crime in the assassins ear. He lay in hiding in
the alley: Why? With inspiration and the
command of God upon him to kill the president,
and with pressure that would make him do
June l. Why did he not kill him. Because
he thought he would do it some other
time. Because this politician thought he
would become identical with the stalwarts in
the republican party. Becsuse he thought he
hsd SO carefully laid the foundation for his de-
fense against crime and for his protection
against mob violence that he might safely ccm-
NIT the act in the .ht of day. This careful
man, careful for his own safety, made every
provision. even to his conveyance to the iail.
and when he had seen his victim fall turned
and ran. Ran where? Where could he run
Passing in review the principal events of
prisoners life, Judge Porter showed up in all
Its hideous deformity the infamous bent of his
nature. Ailuding to his dispute with his
brother, John W. Guiteau, in Boston, when he
struck the latter IN the face, Judge Porter said
this was the first and last time this coward ever
struck any blow in the face. His coward hand
always struck from behind.
ssThat he did not shoot the president on the
first OCCASION" said Judge Porter, twas due to
his coward heart Had he done it on that occa-
sion he would have been torn TO pieces and ne
knew It. On this occasion the president was
surrounded by his cabinet and his friends. His
son, not yet strong, but who would have Oeen
strength, to defend his father, was also
by his side, and the asssssin's craven
heart failed him, and he said:
Not yet; at some other time"
With faithful picturipg, Judge Porter related
Il Q dosging of the presidents footsteps 10 the
little church, and the incidents or accidents On
each occasion which baffi I'd him. President
Garheld's visit to Secretary Blaine's house,
dogged by the assassin, was viviuly portrayed.
'The evidence and papers presented here by
Gen. Reynolds" said Judge Porter, ''and
among them the prisoners address to the Am
erlcan people are sufficient to stamp him as
cool, calculating, cold blooded murderer.
either in the district attornev's or attornev gen.
eraPs omces, aId Isisher OF the
counsel for the government saw
them until day or two before
Gen. Reynolds took hand, but thank Ged
the papers we're found and they are in evidence
shall be able to show you that not one OF you
could upon this evidence acquit him, unless
you perjure your souls and assume your share
Of responsibility for the murder of the lament
cd president.
Mr.. Porter grewso i'll that the court ad
iourned
TUESDAY, JAN "a.
There was an immense crowd to-day to heal
Judge Porter against Guiteau. The prisoner
came In very quietly in his own shuffl ing, cow
ardly manner, stumbling over the feet Of the
jury past whom he is conducted 80 closely tha,
ne cannot avoid touching them.
Judge Porter, who seemed himself again,
came in and, bowling to the jury, took of his
hat and coat, and rose to resume his argument.
assembling of the court, opened his mouth.
The burden OF his little speech was that he had
heard of the arrest this forenoon of two cranks
who had been hanging around the court house,
probably waiting to do him harm. He wanted
them and all their tribe to understand that he
was under the protection of the law, and that
the man who attempted to harm him would be
shot dead.
Porter began his argument, saying in caustic
tones: "The prisoner having as usual opened
the court, presume I may resume" His
sueech was simple review Of the testimony
pravity Of the 'smurderous liar'' without
parallel for the past 5000 years who sat in
the dock. But simple as it was, it compre-
hended terrible arraignment and denuncia ion
OF the assassin and his counsel which bit in like
vltrol. Porter has splendid mastery of Ian
guage He knows how TO suit the word to the
action as well as the action to the word
He exercised all his powers to the utmost as
lie brought out in the high relief before the
jury the separate facts in the wicked life of the
murderer, and pressed home upon them, after
q careful review of the evidence on that point,
the conclusion that he was sane when he capped
his vie career with the murder of the president
Perhaps the most striking feature of his
mornings speech was his reply to
Reeds somewhat indelicate description Of Mrs.
Garfeld's prayer for the acquittal of her hus-
bands murderer After scouting the very idea
as absurd, Porter converted by vivid word
painting the dingy, commonplace court room
He described the unburied corpse of the mur-
dered Garfield wrapped in pure white sheet,
lying during the week after his death on q
pier in the center of the court room. He
thrilled the jury and the audience as he pict-
ured the weeping wife and the sad-eyed mother
overwhelmed with grief, kneeling beside the
dead body of their loved one, from
which the cowardly wretch who had
done this foul deed shrank
tack affrighted, as he dragged toward it in or
der to try whether the blood would flow from
the fresh wounds of the loved body before the
people, proving as it stained with its lndelible
dye the white sheet that the true murderer COW.
red before the murdered.
Referring to Guiteau's cold blooded sugges
ton that the manner Of Garield's taking of was
immaterial, that he might have been kllled as
easily with an orange peel as bullet he said:
eyes, or by the venomous fangs of rattle-
snake. Both were combined in the case This
villain has been slippery through life and ho
has the venom and fanRs Of ratnesnake with
out, however, the warning rattle which always
accomp mics nis brother reptile. He struck
in the back without q sound"
He was frequently interrupted by Guiteau's
counsel and by Guiteau himself. Here is a
specimen Of one Of the scenes:
In the course of the argument, Porter re-
ferred to the prisoners divorced wife as
woman VIII loved him.
The prisonsr-L did not love her. II was
one sided affair.
Porter-The woman who married him
The prlsoner-That was swindle
Porter-The woman who slept with him
The prisoner-Some times she did, and some-
times she did not
Porter-The woman who borrowed for him.
and who gave the earnings of her industry to
furnish him money, which he spent on street
prostitutes
The prisoner -That'sa lie, and q big one.
Porier-The. woman whose divorce was &C.
cured by his procurement by all sorts Of de-
ceit, meanness and ignomy.
The prisoner-I had no business to marry