Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1882-03-02

sanity" could say without shamefacedness:
my heart bleeds for you and the sainted
dead tesf--se -r---ss..s.ts - Ge
My poor brother was not his own master
when he fired that shot. Forgive him; look
with compassion upon him and me.
have counted the hours fer the time when
could boldly say to you. as have said from
the moment when the terrible news was
brought me on that dark day in July: He was
braln-sick. deluded, crazy; forgive him, even
as Christ shall forgive us ALL"
Both our martyred President and his family,
having shown. such an example of Christian
fortitude and trust in the Most High as the
world may well revere, led me to hope that the
sense of wrong suffered would. when the truth
was shown, be tempered with that mericiful
forgiveness which is indeed Christ-lke.
All these dreadful weeks Of the Presidents
suffering prayed that the Father above us all
would spare his life. Day and night my be-
seeching cry went up: "God save the Pres1-
dent" thought he could not die. ,
When the people of the whole world called
| said: "Sureiy He will show forth His
glory" But, alas! the tenderest care OF wife,
family and 1 the , OF fhe pe%pe
countermand the DEGREES Of His all-wise and
mysterious Providence :aconid not keep IN ms
soul.
Despite the vigils, the tears and the prayers
M %id d1s sh y were s aasshf cry
we s1ss the rored saints Sf the
and we said: us there no God2'
and He alone, can judge where lies the moral
responsibility. This people are in HIS hands.
They walk on holy ground; L. ben ISL mem lem
unclean shoes of their worldly walking, being
shod with the sandals of righteousness, thar
they tread carefully, tenderly. to the end that
justice, and truth, and mercy, shall prevail:
In July when it was reported that the suffer
letter to You stating the facts in my brothers
life and every theory of this case, thinking thar
both yourself and the President would be glad
deed, instead Of the hardened wretch he was
painted. At the time it was reported the Presi-
terrible affair that he even said one day: g!
wonder what that poor fellow would think II
he knew that had forgiven himy' OH that
true. My heart, be still
In Heaven we know, as we are known; tho
sainted Garfield knows now that he =" had to do
it," and feel sure if he could speak he would
say: Forgive that deluded man, even as
forgive him; safely cyl, keep him from doing any
never sent the letter; The report came al.
most Immediately that the President was
worse, and knew you would not wish to be
troubled with anything from Guiteau's sister.
/ had hoped by waiting to come before you
sanity is an excUse FOR crme but my heart
burns within me, and, Notwithstanding that
unjust verdict and barbarous sentence, must
speak. My Orvbrother shut away from the
world for months in tomb-lke cell; not a ray
of sunshine, not blade of grass, not flower,
who is there to speak in his behalf, if not his
heart-broken sister? Did not speak, the very
His sainted mother the purest and noblest
of women, that mother who gave her life for
his, who suffered torture for seven long years
free: that father, tender and kind, but mis-
taken in his direction of the boy, would, if pos,
the grave. Even, as 1 verify believe, would
the glorious Garfield cry out in horror at that
verdict. What of that verdict? Was it &C
cording to truth, justice and mercy2 Verify,
had hoped to be able to cast myself at the
breath, to look up to him as the grand, the no.
BILE, the just Judge, who could stand as firm as
the rocks t for the weak and de-
my idol
And that jury! God only knows how I had
hld watched their faces day by day, had seen
their eager, absorbed, solemn interest when
my brother was reading his lastaddress When
he came to the recitation of those few lines Of
the story: John Browns body lies molder-
ing in the grave, but his soul goes marching
along" commencing in a low, sad melody Of
the song, breaking up and ending in the weird,
hysterical laugh, the awful laugh OF the in
sane, one could feel the silence. L Thought,
surely it is enough; no power on earth can
prevail upon those men to say that poor luna
tic, without revenge, without motive except
mitted a wllful murder.
But they did. They must have reasoned, as
man, as an example to other Crazy men.
know that my brother has been in some es-
br Sf ta he an
counterpart of his father, who was, in some
things, insane; that there is a strong heredita-
is now not himself This sudden, Supernatural
development of intellect in some directions Is
of itself q symptom of insanity.
knowing him. Understanding him claim
better than any one else, assert and can prove
that my brother has always intended to do right
those Of an unbalanced, distracted brain, rath-
or than a bad heart. His heart has ever been
has been most unfortunate; he was neither
born right reared right, nor married right.
instead of ing forced into the Oneida "S Com:
munity, been allowed to obtain a good educa-
ton, entered upon some pract cal business,
ries; and, most important Of all, had he, when
married, found in his wife helpful, hon
az f1 and
to its Close as I'D lis father. spe But.
alas! his mother , died; father married
Charles, the only one needing a home with
them, was almost turn ID away from his faith
e ,m,sd house, tender in weak IN body and
him {but myself, did what could, it was but
littleh the boy dlifted out into tn cruel world.
with sorrow unspeakabIe, j look upon the
wreck of what might have been.
Shall the true story Of Charles Guiteau's life
ever be told, the world will see that he has
Deen more sinned against than SHINING. ne.
has has never smoked, or drank, or gambied, or
lied, or been profane, or been in any way
vicious. Detectives securing the country for
months have found. what2 That he did not al
ways pay his board, that he borrowed 500
from minister which he never returned that
ne Pawned watch for SIS, thst he sinnsd
against himself. and only hims If, t. give an
unworthy woman legal divorce. Little did
think the time would ever come when she the
woman who could not say he had ever
wronged her. would travel acr, IS ths CONT
Eent to swear his life away. When he dis
missed the woman he had once loved, with his
blessing, was moved to tears. If ever my
cor brother proved that the blood of a gem
u u9 flows in his veins he pr1v,d it then.
wreck though he is, was pre- u of him.
cannot close this letter without one word of
explanation or excuse for the strange test mo-
ny OF my brother, J. w. Guteau. very much
rear, although HnfntenttOnaI, that, through his
a9eterminaton to protect the family name
I from the ta,nt of insanity, he has sacrificed
ms own brother. In this he has been ably Sec
onaed by the stepmother and her family. YER