Morris tribune., 1882-01-19
THE ASSASSIN'S TRIAL
The Teatim"ny all in--The law In the Case :.
Arguments Of Counsel,
MONDAY, JAN. 8.

ihulcaIe anxiety. When he lad taken seat In
the dock he glanced around stealthiy over tho
audience anu Immediately began harangue
evidently intended for the jury He sad:
ireceived some 800 letters, d great ma jor-
ity OF them from ladies' When ] get tIma /
shall attend to them. | want to send my greet
ings 10 the tsdies Of america and thank
them Tor their sympathy. They don't want me
10 be hanged. Public opinion is fast changing.
received, Saturday, chec1 for 81 900 from
stalwarts OF Brooklyn and another for $500
from stalwa,te OF New York want this Jury
to understand how public opinion is on this
case.
A Dailir tried to silence him, who turned
npon him IN moet yicioua manner and snarled
ont. lyon keep qniet and mind your business.
Don't interfere WIGn me when am talking. II
you had any sense yon would understand your
place.
Mr. Scoville then proceeded with his argu-
ments on the points presented on Saturday.
His remarks were listened to with marked at
isntiou. He laid stress upon the proposir ion
that insane men If they know the difference be-
tween right and wrong, for that reason conceal
their pians; but tho benefit OF 8 doubt shonld
attach to the plea of insanity when raised with
the same force rs when urged in connection
with the commission of crime
Mr.. Da"idge for the prosecution followed In
!. discussion of the points of the defence, point
ing out their sophistries and inconsistencies
lie said:
The object Of the prosecution is To obtain
from your honor plain. clear and direct
ruling upon four dlstinct propositions Inc
apparent object OF the defense il to befog all
that may be clear in this case in the vain hope
that they may get to the jury with some
uncertainty in some way to the case upon
which TO build up d plea for acIuittal. Hhy
your honor, in the course of thirty years prac-
tice have never seen such q prayer aa this one
otrersd by the defense. 1t has no justification.
yUr II,
this matter We want light We don't mean
to lot this prisoner escape in cloud but we want
from your honor clear and perspicuous ruling,
80 that the twelve average men sitting upon the
jury cannot possibly 60 astray
Davidge severely handled the eleventh and
twelfth prayers of the defense. END character
ICED them as mean attempts to cast aspers ions
upon the experts who had testified for the
prosecution and upon counsel for the prosecu-
ton themselves. The prisoner followed ths
argument with the closest attention, and in.
dulged in frequent and noisy comments.
TUESDAY, JAN. 10.
Judge Porter addressed this court on the law
points, but it was evident that 1t was also in
tended for the jury AZ judge Porter reviewed
the conduit Of ths prisoner and the conduct on
the part Of his cot!nsel Of his cause in this
court, the crime in all its hideous ugliDes- VS.
held up to the detestation Of his hearera. The
silence became oppressive and the presence Of
syenging justice III tho near future was suS
gested with force Of conviction that swept
from the court room every Vestige or that leyity
which has so long danced attendance upon
every uttersnce Of the prisoner, and like 7eii
ObSeufeu from the consclousness OF the spscta
tors the horrors of the crime and what shoulG
be the solemnity Of the Judicial at0nement
For once, the insufferable impudenca of the
prisoner WAS completely Overawed. Neither
the noise nor his abnse could interrupt or al,
lenoe the avalanche Of condemnation that swept
from the lips of rhe eloquent counsel The
prisoner is mistaken, your honor, said Judge
Porter, il he believes by his unseemly
brawling he can prevent my voice being heard
by the jury. The puppet cannot be moved in
such good time as when he sat with his counsel,
and by his outbursts now he is fast tightening
the hangman's nooge about his neck With q
nervous twitehing Of the mouth Guiteau NUT
tered; "We'll see about that The heretofore
seemed Ill at ease and at a loss to Understand
why his would he-sallies of Wit or impudence
wholly failed with the audience. while the more
severe became the denuneiaticn of
we're the demonstrations of approval. Finally,
like wild beast brought to bay, Guftean
yelled out: III staked my life on the issue and
I'm willing to go to the gallows tomorrow if
tie the Lords will. I'm sick OF this bosh
Judge 1E geo Porter I wish yo9 would get your
cluded his mastery argument at 11:4O By
reading the now famous letter of President
Garfield to Judge Payne, in which he compli-
mented and thanked him for brushing away
the net work Of sophistries with which 1t has
Of late years been customary to envelope the
plea of insanity when set up in excuse for
crimes.
The argument Of Judge Porter was
characterized by his usual depth of
thought, breadth Of learning and grace Of
style. He reviewed the main facts in the story
Of the assassination in a very telling manner,
and his rebukes OF Seoville and Guitean were
simply whitening. He spoke as ustial from
terribless forefinger was used In emphasis while
his fxed'.gaze through his gilt trimmed specta-
cles at the insoient wretch in the dock
threw Mrs. Scoville into bit Of passion which
threatened to bring about scene. Fortunate
iy Sooville Was enabled to restrain her. Gle
is glaring right into my eyes," was her passion
ate exclamation as Judge Porter calmly sur
veyed the miserable wretch exasperated by his
cutting sentences, who sat behind her, and
that she would have stopped the 'glaring"
forclbly if she had not been pre-
vented there seems to be but little doubt
Judge Cox delivered an exhaustive, able and
voluminous decision on the legal questions in
volved, wherein everything in the tsxt books,
in the decisione and in the statutes bearing on
the question of Jurisdiction, or on tho legal as
poets of the defense Of insanity, WAS reviewed
He decided, basing bis decision on the general
principles Of the common law, that the Grimm
al court OF the distric. had Jurisdiction over
the present case; basing his decision on the
decision of the English and the best American
courts, that the proper test OF the sanity OF any
man was his ability to distinguish between
right and wrong He added certain qualifica-
tons in granting substantially the prayers of
the prosecution deemed favorable to the de-
fense. One was that the ability
OF tho accused to distinguish must be as to the
right or wrong involved in the act for whose
commission he was indicted; another, that if
on the whole body of facts presented met simp-
ly on these In regard to the insanity of the ac-
cused, the Jury should have well founded,
reasonable doubt Of the prisoners guilt, they
must acquit
As Judge Cox finished speaking Guiteau
called out, 81 am perfectly satisfied with that
exposition of law" After consultation between
counsel the court adjourned until Thursday
morning. when Dayidge will make the opening
argument to the jury for the prosecution.
THURSDAY, JAN. IL.
Counsellor Dayidge for the prosecution be-
gan his argument against Guiteau DSyidges
speech was o mssteriy presentation of the
principal facts in regard to the crime The
victim and the assassin, together with par
tial review of the testimony All that he said
was said forcibly and well and was listened to
Wltl M&TkSu Att6UtlOu.
He brought out all the salient points in the
case, tending to show that Guiteau was re-
sponsible being. His argument on this point,
which was based on the Instructions granted by
the court respecting the test Of responsibility,
was logical and conclusive His burning SCR
tences we're 80 many tortnres to the "devil in
the box, !" and he fairly writhed under them
As Davidge traced the process of reasoning
by which the prisoner gradu ally reached the
conviction that butone life interposed between
himself and possible great benetita Guiteau
became restless and for the first time since
the opening Of tho court indicated by his
nervous twisting about the usual preliminaries
to Interruptions, which in this instance quickly
followed. mot often" said Davidge, "in the
record OF heinous crime do we have such PLAIN,
pointed evidence at to the first conception Of
the crime. In this case the suggestion came to
the wretch in the night Gs he was lying in his
bed" 'sIt came TO me when the Lord got ready
TO have It, snarled the prisoner. Davidge con-
tinued; .'This thought or suggestion came to
him on the 18th of May. Still thinking that he
might obtain office he sought to keep his hands
clean He made another effort on the 2Sth OF
May to induce the president
Guiteau called out from the dock: II would
not have taken foreign mission after the first
Of June IL it had been offered to men
Davidge, apparently not needing him-"O1
<t,a Optb