The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1882-02-02
A New Trial Asked for auiteau

The four davs during which, under the law
the motion and reasons for Il new trial of the
assassin Guiteau must be filed, ended with
Saturday When the Criminal Court opened
Saturday morning, Mr.. Scovile sought in
vain AN extension of time for this purpose.
He then gave notice that he would later in the
afternoon file his motion and reasons. The
documents were accordingly brought into
court before sunset There are two motions
for new trial, one of which is addressed to
the court which tried the case and the other,
which is to be heard in the first instance in
the General Term upon appeal The rules of
the Supreme Court of the District provide
that new trial may be granted-for errors of
law by Justice presding because the evidence
is insufficient; for want of notice of trial; tor
misbehavior of the jury; for uncertainty of
the verdict for verdict gotten by surprise, and
for newly discovered evidence; The motion
submitted to the discretion Of Judge Cox, is
based upon the following allegations That
the verdict guilty as indicted" is uncertain
inasmuch as there are three counts in the in
dictment which are inconsistent with each
other; that the trial began in the June term
and extended into the December term; that
the court has no jurisdiction; that the court
erred in refusing the fourteen prayers offered
by the defense; that evidence was improperly
excluded, and other evidence improperly adj
improperly during the trial upon the conduct
of the defendant and in entering into an ar
rangement with the District attorney with
out the knowledge Of the counsel for the de-
fendant whereby the jury and expert wit
nesses tor the prosecution might observe GER
tain conduct OF the defendant to subserve the
purposes OF the prosecution without the re-
straining power OF the court being exercised
until those purposes were accomplished, to
to the great prejudice of the defendant; that
the jury read or heard newspaper accounts Of
the case; that the defendant has discovered
new evidence that the verdict is contrary to
the evidence and the law The everything of
this motion by Judge Cox will be final.
The second motion raises the same points SO
far as they are cognizabIe by the court in Gen
eral Term, and this motion will go up on ap-
peal to the General term. The charge of mis-
conduct on the part of the jury is founded en-
tirely upon statement made in al affidavit
| by f. III. Snyder, of N j :, who, being in Wash
retgton in connection with the Chrstiancy
| case, had rooms at the National Hotel near
the rooms occupied by the Guiteau jury. He
deposes that on the 18th OF December he
looked into room 80, one of the rooms occu-
| pied by the jurors the jury being then absent,
and saw newspaper lying on the table
therein. That he stepped into said
room and took SAID newspaper, which proved
| to be the Euenang Critic extra of November 10,
1881, the reading matter of which was COM
posed almost entirely OF reported proceedings
of the court in the trial of this case; Also an
account OF an attempt to shoot the prisoner by
| one Jones and also an editorial on the sub
ject of the conduct of the prisoner in court,
and well calculated to incite prejudice in the
minds of the jurors against him, and purport-
ing to state that public opinion was strongly
against the prisoner. X That all the writ
ing and marks appearing upon said newspaper
consisted of what purpOrts to be the signatures
of some of the jurors aforesaid and of one Of
the officers In charge OF them, with the initials
of other jurors"
This affidavit is followed by the affidavit of
John W. Guiteau who testifies that he knows
| the handwriting OF the jurors f. w. Braden-
burg Hiram j. Bright, Thomas Heinlein,
! Michael Sheahan, and that the names and parts
of names of said jurors written on the edge of
| the said Critic newspaper are in the hand
writing of, and, to the best OF his knowledge,
were each written by the person whose name
or part of whose name is on the paper, ex-
cept that the name j. j. Jackson ON said news
paper is in the handwriting of juryman Bright
| George Scoyille makes a similar affidavit as to
| the names of the Jurors, and he also swears
that he has newly discovered the testimony Of
| H. T. Bragdon and j. NJ Green, of Virginia,
who saw Guiteau acting like an insane man in
June, 1881, on Lafayette square.
G. j. Guiteau makes affidavit that beng re-
strained of his liberty he is unable to give at
tention to his case, and has been compelled to
leave the whole matter to his attorney, George
Scoville, Esq.
The papers having been filed, the motion
for a new trial is now before Judge Cox for a
hearing This week the District attorney will
file counteraffidavits as to the use of the news
paper by the jurors and there seems to be no
doubt that the first motion will be overruled
before next Saturday. The second motion
will go up to the General Term with the ex-
ceptions. These exceptions, which were noted
during the trial, will be prepared early in Feb
ruary. Until they are passed upon no appeal
can be made to the General Term.
The four jurymen whose signatures it is al
legged appear on the margin of the copy of the
extra Critic appended to the affidavits filed by
the defense ON Saturday, with their motion
tor a new trial, deny most positively that a
copy of that or any other paper was ever in
their apartments at the National Hotel. The
general impression with those who have ex-
amined the writing on the margin of the news
paper is that it is clever piece of forgery.