The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1882-01-19
THE NEWS
Judge Cox's DecIsiOE-Ha Rules Against thu
Prayers of the Defense in the GuIteau
casa

points which with any plausibiliI
could be adduced by the defence.
t Of Scoyille's argument, he SAID,
o could only have been delivered by or
of the family of Gu:teau, who as he hu
himself boaste1, had learned his law i
J. police courts and acquired his manner
; among hooting owls in the woods
western Ohio.
Porter reviewed the arguments ,
8 Davidge, pointing out his strong point
4 Malice, Mr.. fDavidge had rightly salt
was the presumption of laws questio
for the judge, not the jury Should th
judge decide, as the defense desired
that malice was question of fact 70
the jury, he would Overturn the law. Fl
would create a precedent in this famou
: case which would Inevitably be COZ
, demned through all time to come. MI
Scoville had OBJECTED that decisions Il
support of the prosecufioD's postulat
: were as antiquated as his (Portef,s
. etyle OF oratory.
81 never said Perter, initiated an,
man ana aerer c6hnented on any one
. oratory"
az never,n said Porter, s'sat at the fee
Of that Gamaliel as Guueau did
Whether my manners and morals wouIS
have been improved is for others TO say
Judging from the disciple who is befor
You he would scarcely seem to be q
: appropriate instructor for youth"
Proceeding 10 expound the law on tlat
subject of malice, reading from thu
1880 edition of Archbald's crfmina
practice, Porter dweit upon the premsdI
tation of Guiteau ss - sia.f
Referring to his lying 10 wait and hi
logging the footsteps of the President
he said: "Was this worthless vagebont
1 the m N to ha aalaafAd nd fVav h
Coda cheat, swind.er, a creature OF
the vilest habits-he then is the Junior
OF the firm of Jesus Christ 6 Co. This
murderer, tracking his victim at night
at church, at railroad stations, every
where, till the deed is dones But gran
this hidious preteDsicn and allow him
the inspiration of Paul, which he i'm.
piously quotes, that does not protect as
it did not protect Paul from stripes and
death"
Mr.. Porter went ON to say, that, al
though the president had died, the gov.
eminent still lived, and his successor
was prosecuting his assassin.
yes" said Guiteau, land Arthur en-
ployed you under misrepresentation. -
Yes" said Judge Porter, "under q
misapprehension that the law was strong
er than Guiteau. Guiteau seems to
think that he is stronger than the law"
81 do not claim to be stronger than the
law, but God Almighty is stronger than
the law" said Guiteau, sullenly
"He will come before God Almighty
presently" said Porter solemniy; "until
then he would do well to refer but little
to him. He will feel soon what he has
never felt before, the divine pressure in
the form of hangman's moose. The
prisoner had sworn on the stand that he
j \
He had forgotten to say that he was also
predestined to be hung for it.''
Speaking again OF his interruptions
and of the ppomptings of his family,
Porter said he had a supreme contempt
for all Guiteaus, not the respectable
ones, but those who sympathized with
the assassin.
| Porter then took up the authorities
cited by the defense, pronouncing them
either unsupported or bad law from OBJ
scure benches. He sneered at the as
sertion of Scoville that the antiqusted
arguments of the prosecution could not
stand in the light of those of the defense
which purported to be the outgrowth of
an enlightened age of -Guiteau's, when
| 9 hungry politician killg a president
from pi1ue.
"a politician, /" continued Porter, "who
has such a belief in the depravity of
mankind. that he supposed he was doing
| men like General Grant, Dir. Conkling.
the greatest parliamentarian and one of
| the foremost statesmen of his time, and
even President Arthur q service. for
which he would receive a reward.
Why, had General Grant, MIR. Conkling
or President Arthur been standing at
| the door of the Baltimore and Potomac
railroad depot on the morning of the
l ahnntinD-haH than TIM aco0l0in
creeping upon his victim, revolver in
hand aiming at his back, an iron hand
| would have descended which would
have paralyzed the assassin and saved
| the president.
The audience carried away by Porter's
| eloGuence, applauded vigorously, de-
spite the cries of order and silence.
Even Guiteau was affected, but he
managed to say, ~
.F6a stalWarts aye coming to my
side every day. You ought to see some
of the letters get. They are all com
| ing to think with me, and so are all
decent people," &C., -iEa1
Porter ran over the decisions Of the
state courts collected in the st. Louis
Law Journal introduced yesterday by
| the defense, and showed that the courts
of eighteen states held the Ylewa Of the
\ prosecution, that the insanity of the 9s-
sassin must be proved by a preponder-
I ance of evidence. The federal courts
unanimously adhered to the same view,
while the courts of eight states held
| feebly that the ACCUSED was entitled to
the benefit of the doubt
| Judge Cox at II Al began the reading
of his decision, which begins with q
lengthy review Of the subject OF juris-
diction.
Judge Cox occupied fifty-five minutes
in reading that portion of his decision
touching upon the question of jurisdic-
ton. He reviewed the progress of the
opinion and cited ali the important rul-
| ines from the early days of common law
in England, and decided against the
| prayer Of the defense. He summed up
The question: "That the jurisdiction is
complete in the place where the wound
inflicted; consequently this court has
full cognizance of the otfense,"
Judge Cox next took up the question
of the legal test of insanity, and decided
that knowledge and appreciation OF
the difference between right and wrong
must be taken as The correct test.
Judge Cox concluded his decision al
1l95 O'Clock. having consumed one hour
and forty minutes with rapid speaking
upon every material point. HIS rulings
were directly agsinst the prayers of the
defense.
The only grain of comfort for the
prisoner was offered when Judge Cox
reached the qestion of reasonable doubt
Upon this SUBJECT he said:
81 shall not charge the jury to acquit
if they find q reasonable doubt as to any
one element, but I shall take into con
sideration and charge them relative to
the elements, and, that if, from all the
| oaroErn,Sto0aaa and ouiHanoo fhau havk
q reasonable doubt of the commission
by the defendant of the crime as charged
then they shall acquit
As Judge Cox finished speaking Gui
teau called out: az am perfectly salts
fed with that exposition of law"
After q consultation between the coun
gel the court adjourned until Thursday
morning when Davidge will make thu
opening argument to the jury for thu
prosecution.
Tr0nble on the Texas Pacific Railway:
ST.. LOUIS, Jan. 1S.-The story comei
up from Texas that the section handi
and other laborers on the Texas Pacific
railroad are greatly excited over the re
cent reduction in their wages TO a dollal
and fifteen cents per day, and that a few
days ago large party of them stopped
the pay car at a point called WilC
Horse, under the impression tina
it was General Manager Hoxie'l
car, and that he was ABOARD
: of il. They side-tracked the car and de
manded the delivery of MIR. HOxie tina
they might lynch him. When told tina
: Mr.. H0xie was not in the car the mol
. would not believe it and piled up WooC
around the car to fire it, as they said, 4
roast him out. The paymaster flnall,
: made the excited crowd UNDERSTAND tia
} HnXie was not present but the
kept the car on side-track two days be
fore they allowed il to 60 eaet. Grea
dissatisfaction exists at other point
along the line. a considerable numbe
J Of mechanics have been discharged fron
the shops at Marshall, and Is is aIss
stated that there is general feductio
! Of the wages Of train men. If this
carried out the men say there will b