Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-06-30

Where Guiteau Got the Word ERE.
mOVRl.>,
HIS LOVE FOR IGNoMINIoUs NoToRIETY-HIs STUDY
OF POPULAR LITERATURE-A PERTINENT QUoTA-
TION FROM "oUIDA.n

VI POPULAR LfTERATURE-A PERTINENT QUOTA.
TON FROM ''oUIDAn
Where Guiteau got his idea OF removing the
President, the motive and conception OF the crime
are matters not entirely of speculation. Out OF
The mass OF testimony the public has concerning
his life comes one fact firmly established. That
Is. that he had love OF notoriety strong enough
10 have induced man, unreStrained OF moral con-
viction, to have committed the murder, even II
there had been no other motive. He wanted to be
conspicuous. In 1872. according to the testimony
OF b. McLane Shaw, lawyer OF New York. Gui-
teau declared that he was bound to be notorious
before he died, ana that lie would Initiate Wilkes
bootn. His notion OF a removal" instead of an
aSs ass idea of smoothing over murder
ana giving it softer name-was, it is believed.
borrowed from ShakSpeare's Othello, OF which, In
the fourth act. the following lines occur in dia-
logue between Rodergo and 1ago.
Rod.-IS that true? Why, then, OtheIlo and
DeSdemOna return to Venice.
Iago.-oh, no; he goes into Mauritania, and
takes away with him the fair Desdemona, unless
MS abode be fingered here by some accident,
wherein none can SO dcterminate as the ren.oring
RO1-HOw do you mean rennorino OF him?
iago-Why, by making him incapable OF Othel-
los place-Anocking out his brains.
THE MOTTO OF HIS LIFE
Gulteau took, according to Mr.. Porter, from
Ouida's "Chandos" In speaking Of the crime
and its conception, Mr.. Porter-and the only
that that gentleman made a most exhaustive
study OF Guiteau, and expressed the result in a
very clear way-used the following words, which
are taken from the verbatim report OF the trial:
"Gentlemen,thi his man has told you of the prepar-
atlons ne made for the murder He had been MAX
Ing them for years. 1t was contingency he had
in view, While he was In New York practicing law
IN n desperate circumstances, as jail vagabond
dent He read the popular literature OF the time,
He unused in himself that strange
LOVE OF IGNoNINIoUS NoToRIETY
which he admired SO much in Wilkes Booth.
Though warned by his landlord, Mr. Shaw, that
this was the kind OF a nOtOriety which was asso-
ciated with danger and infamy, he does not seem
to have profted by the admonition. Now, when
he is in peril OF the penalty OF DEATH he deliber-
ately contemplates the well-contrtved pretense of
inspiration or insanity, as one Of the many bril-
liant conceptions, or morbid projects, as Dr.
Spitzka would have called them, which opened
Indefinitely before him. OF course, he did NOT
believe that 1t Illustrates the popularity OF the
mans mind, his wickedneSS, his reckleSSneSs his
depraVify, that he should even think OF such
wild and puerile absurdities have had nv at
which was published in 1865 in the cty Of PSia
delphia, by the celebrated and brilliant authoress
Ouida, which illustrates Just the topics am deal
ing with. In the course Of dialogue between
two of her characters we get graphic illustration
OF this order Of man A reference had been made
to a remark OF Wilkes the celebrated English
man, who said that he was
TUE uGLIEsT MAN IN ENGLAND.
but only fifteen minutes behind the handsomest
man, as we learn from another authority In ref
erence to this casual remark OF the characters
In the book I have cited, which has been since
1856, on every book-stall where popular novels are
sold, says:
Let me be the highest man in Europe rather than
remain in mediocrity among tie medium plain faces
There Is IS not hairs difference betlceen nOtoriy and
Jane. Be celebrated for something and il You can't
jump into pit, like Curtius. pop yourself into vol.
cano hike Empedocles the Jeoery intnortazed Just
nell heroisn the so0rld alks W vou that Is al
you icaat.'
The Prisoner.-I don't want any one to talk
about me- They talk about me too much.
MT Porter, continuing TO read.l-The prisoner
evidently anticipates the next sentence.
II could not be Alexander, I'd be DioQenes. il
weren't great hero. I'd be the ingenious murder
err
This morbid and thirsty love OF notorfety has
possessed this man from the beginning. You will
see that it has steadily pursued him through life
ana IN the end has brought him to the dock; and
II has really made him think that his name Simply
because he had murdered an tilustrious man, had
become illustrious, and that he can send resound-
ing down through the ages whatever silly mes
sageS he pleaSes that he blackeh at his pleas
ure the memory OF the judge, or blast even the
memory OF the President he murdered. All this is
the outcome OF spirit which We md cropping out
as early as 1861, when he was mental In the
ONEIDA Community, and In his twentieth year,