The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1882-01-27


A ssovins proceeded, Oorkhil made fro
slighting comments, until, finally becoming ir.
ritsted, be turned TO the District Attorney and
| denounced In soathing terms his unfair conduct,
| and ingtanced his presentation as evidence In
this case Of letter written by the prisoner, and
which he (CorkhilD had intercepted and mu-
portion a. he thought might benefit the prs-
oner . thing" said Bcovlle, (which was
never before permitted In . court of justice,
not even upon the trial Of civil suit"
Corkhill (sneeringly)- =" That's your opinion
merely, Mr.. Scovilie. 1t amounts to nothing -
. fact"
scoviIle-" Well, let it be my opinion. /
presume I sm entitled to one, and 80 Is the
jury"
Guiteau with snergy)-"It was friendly
allusion to President Arthur that he cut out
the mean, dirty whelp."
| As Scoville continued counsel for the prose-
cution frequently interrupted him. and run
ming fire was kept up between counsel for some
| time. The speaker disclaimed as his main mo-
| tive the desire to shield the prisoner for the
honor of the Guiteau family. His greatest de-
sire was to save the American people and the
American Judiciary from the disgrace OF bur
| rying to the gibbet an insane man
Commenting upon, Is he claims, tho absence
"You cannot find q case in history-you cannot
| suppose case where man 40 years OF age,
| who has never committed crime, who has never
| for an hour associated with criminals or bad
people; who, on the contrary. has always
sought the society, not emily 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."
! Scovile then discussed the assumption that
| Guiteau might have been actuated by desire for
revenge, and argued the improbability of such
| assumption, from the fact II any ground for
i'll will existed on Guiteau's part 1t 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 illwill on his part toward
| President Garfield.
| Scoville next took up the hypothesis that the
| crime was committed from an overpowering
| desire for notoriety and claimed history failed
| to point out case where such q crime was
| committed purely and simply from such mo-
| tive and that ii 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.
roRTY-NINTH DAY.
Scoville resumed his argument, and produced
a diagram showing q section Of the prisoners
head. Taking up the diagram Of the assas-
sins head, offered in evidence by DR.. Hamilton.
Scoville said: 81 propose TO- show you that
| DR.. Kempster lied when he told you that this
diagram was correct representation OF the
| shape Of Guiteau's head. He attempted to con-
| vince you that Guiteau had an unusually symet-
| rical head, and propose to show you that his
| evidence in this respect was absolutely false"
Scovile contended that DIR. Gray's tables OF
homcidos by insane persons were prepared for
this case and do not correspond with tables for
| the same years in Gray's official reports. In
| Scoville said "Had the District Attorney been
there he would have said, probably, put him on
trial for murder and hang him. Thus is case
OF devilish depravity."
Guiteau shouted exultingly: "Corkhill is an
| authority on the devil. DR.. Gray is man with
big mouth. That's the way mark him."
| Scoviile discussed at some length the demon
| alZing influence of the scaffold, and expressed
the opinion that crime would be diminished by
the abolition Of capital punishment He then
| proceeded 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
| the prosecution and to secure the hanging Of
Guiteau. In conclusion he said:
at has often been said that our jury trials
are farce, and have in my practice frequent
| ly heard it said that the jury system ought to
| be abolished, because jures make mistake
| because they are influenced by the eloquence
Of advocates, because they are influenced, not
| by justice not by evidence, but by the last ad-
dress. But gentlemen, thank God that there
was a time when my English ancestors stood
| up against wrong and injustice, and wrested
| from dcspot the right of trial by Jury and
have never yet seen the time when I would
| wish to see that right abolished. / feel
| moro secure and more safe in this mode
/ NJ 1t,ain fha,, CO
long as juries are honest it does not require
| that you should have read Kent or Blackstone.
| 1t requires that you should have honest hearts
| and clear heads, and, above all, that you should
be fearless to lind for the right, regardless of
| what may come, regardless of whether your fell
| low-men may approve it or not. This is what /
shall expect of you, gentlemen, and L believe
| you will do it. / leave the case with you. gen.
| temen t banking you for your kind attention
AS Guiteau was being taken out of the court
room he stopped to speak to scoville, when
| Bailif Tall attempted to move him along.
Guiteau turned angrily, and said to Tall
[" Behave yourself"
| Come, come" said Tall, impatienty, trying
| to push the prisoner
''Let me alone p shouted Guiteau. "Mind
| your ow n business"
| Tall having applied some "pressure" to Gui-
| teau, the latter, with his manacled hands
| struck the officer in the breast, when he was al
| once aeized by the officers and turned out OF
| The courtroom.
| FTFTIETH DAY.
The assassin was given the fiftieth day of his
trial to address the jury. He said
"The prosecution pretend that am wicked
man, Mr.. Scoville and the rest think am a
.,unatc; and l presume you think am.
certainly was a lunatic July q, when fired on
the President and the American people general
| ly, and presume you think was Can you mag
inc anything more insane than my going TO that
| depot and shooting the President OF the United
| States? You are here to say whether l was
| sane or insane at the moment fired that shot.
| You have nothing to do with my condition be-
fore or since that shot was fired. You must say
| by your verdict sane or insane at the moment
| the shot was fired. III you have any doubt of
my sanity at the moment you must give me the
benefit of the doubt and acquit-that Is, if you
have any doubt whether 1 bred that shot as the
| agent of the Deity. IL i fired it on my own
account was sane if l fired it, supposing my
self to be the agent OF the Deity, 1 was insane,
and you must acquit."
| With this introduction the prisoner took up q
newspaper and proceeded TO read to the jury
his published speech. His manner to the casual
observer seemed completely self-possessed as