Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1882-01-27
THE GUITEAU TRIAL ENDED,
A VERDICT OF GUILTY"
Judge POrter's Closing Argument---the
Charge Go the Jury---the Jury Ready
60 Report I'm 10 Minutes.

Judge POrter's Closing Argume nt---th,
Charge 60 the Jury---the Jury Read!
60 Report I'm 10 Minutes.
Mr.. Scovile concluded his five days speeol
to the jury last Friday, devoting the da,
chiefly to an attack on The experts who haC
testified for the prosecution. Permission wal
given Guiteau to deliver his speech to the ju
ry, the counsel for the government with
| drawing their objections in order that there
might be no possible ground for demanding
a new trial. On Saturday the courthouse
was packed with people eager to hear the as
sassin plead his own case. Upon entering the
room Guiteau took seat in the witness stand
remarking as be laid out his papers: 81 sill
down because l can speak better not that
am afraid of being shot. This shooting bust
ness is getting played out" At an intima-
ton from Judge Cox, he carefully arranged
his glasses, and, with a flourish, began to
read from manuscript as follows 1.-THE pros
ecution pretend that l am a wicked man.
Mr. Scoville and Reed think l am lunatic,
and presume you think / am. l certainly
was lunatic July 2, when l fired on the
President and the American people generally,
and presume you think was. Can you i'm
agine anything more insane than my going to
that depot and shooting the President Of the
United Statesp You are here to say wheth-
or was sane or insane at the moment fired
that shot. You have nothing to do with my
condition before or since that shot was fired.
You must say by your verdict, sane or insane,
at the moment the shot was fred. If you
have any doubt Of my insanity at the mo-
ment, you must give me the benefit of that
doubt and acquit. That is, if you have any
doubt whether l fred that shot or as the
agent of the Deity. If fred it on my own
account 1 was sane. If fired it supposing
myself the agent of the Deity, 1 was insane
and you must acquit. This is the law as Civ
en- in the recent decision of the New York
court of appeals. 1t revolutionizes the old
rules, and is grand step forward in the law
of insanity. l have no hesitation in saying
that it is a special providence in my favor,
and ask this court and jury to SO consider it.
After extending his grateful acknowledge
ments to the press, the court, the jury, and
his counsel, the prisoner took up newspa-
per and proceeded to read to the Jury his
published speech. In decamatory manner
he rolled forth his sentences, holding the pa
per in one hand and with the other gesticu-
lating and emphasizing his utterances. The
words 'Rally round the flag, boys" he re-
peated in sing-song tone, waving his arm
in the air above his head "And for this l
suffer in bonds as patriot he quoted in an
OAhbOIlNdi luhuutE, anu lueu repeating Inc
sentence, allowed his voice to tremble SO that
the words were nearly inaudible. The trem
bling in his voice continued till he spoke
about his mother aud declared that he had al
ways been clover of the Lord" when he
broke down completely, and applying his
handkerchief to his eyes wiped away the tears
which, naturally or forced for the purpose of
exciting sympathy coursed down his cheeks.
Reaching that portion of the speech where
an abstract from his address to the American
people is inserted, he folded up the paper,
took of his glasses and squaring himself in
his chair proceeded to repeat the extract from
memory. In doing this he assumed his most
oratorical style, modulatng the tones of his
voice and using both arms to aid him in en-
phasizing his dramatic utterances. When he
reached the quotation from John Browns
body, he threw back his head and sang
verse from that old song, much to the amuse-
ment OF the spectators. He read from his
speech, Put my body in the ground If you
will; that is all you can do but thereafter
comes a day of reckoning. The mills of the
gods grind slow, but they grind sure, and
they will grind to atoms every man that in
jures me. and supplemented it with the re-
mark: 'As sure as hair of my head is in
Jured this nation will go down in the dust,
and don't you forget it." Guiteau read and
HSeN0 Y.
grotesque and melodramatic manner. and to
many it seemed that he was acting careful
ly studied part. At 1910 he finished and the
court adjourned to Monday.
On Monday Judge Porter began the clos
ing address to the jury. The courtroom was
crowded and hundreds could not gain admis-
sion. Judge Porters denuncation of the as
sassin was very severe. He spoke of Guiteau
as man brutal in his instincts, inordinate in
his love of notoriety, eaten up by thirst for
money, beggar, hypocrite, q canter, a
sWlndler, lawyer who never won a case, and
man who has left his trail in many States.
He dendAnced the attempts of Guiteau's as
sociate counsel to pervert the testimony, and
said that their efforts were evidently directed
with view of inducing one or two Jurors TO
disagree with the others. He was frequent
ly interrupted by Guiteau and Mr., Scoyille.
Judge Porter described, with thrilling effect
Guiteau's cowardly logging of the Presidents
steps until he finally got his courage up to
the point of firing the fatal shot That he
did not shoot the President on the first occa-
sion was because he knew he would be torn
in pieces by the friends who surrounded the
President. The assassin's craven heart failed
him, and he said, Not yet, at some other
time" The plan to shoot the President in
the little church and his visit to Secretary
Blaine's house, logged by the assassin, were
wildly portrayed. 1t was night, said the
speaker, dark as that night when the devil
hrst whispered this crime in the assassin's
ear. He lay in hiding in the alley. Why?
With the inspired commandment resting up-
on him to kill the President, and with pres
sure that would have made him do it, If he
died the next minute, at any time after June
why did he not kill him then? Because,
he says, 1t was too hot and he thought he |
would do It some other time because this |
politician thought he could become the ideal
of the stalwarts and of the Republican party:
because he thought he had SO carefully laid |
the foundation for his defence against the |
crime and for his protection from mob VIC |
lenee that he might safely commit the act in |
the light of day. This careful man-careful |
OF his own safety-made every provision |
even to his conveyance to the Jail, and when |
he had seen his victim fall, he turned and |
ran.
Judge Porter continued his argument ON |
Tuesday. He asserted that the defense was |
founded on shams and impostures on brazen |
iaisehood, which was supposed to acquire |
force and strength by perpetual reiteratiop. |
He said that Guiteau was liar. a swindler |
and murderer in heart from the beginning; |
that he had grown worse every year that he |
had hYedi that he was a disobedient child |
lawless and ungrateful TO his father and an |
unkind brother that he stung every man |
who was benefactor to his youth; that he |
had inordinate desire for unholy notoriety. |
and that he grew worse and worse until his
career eliminated in cold blooded assassina- |
ton. He became, not by disease, but by Gull |
ture, moral monstrosity- most cold. |
FLOODED and savage murderer of the last six |
thousand years. Judge Porter devoted much |
attention to the argument for the defence. |
which he assailed with sarcasm and invectiye |
He also replied to Mr.. Seoville's structures
upon the stalwart leaders. Guiteau was rous-
ed to fury by Judge Porters denunciation of
him and replied with the grossest insults.
End Of the TriaI---Jadge COx's Charge.
Judge Porter occupied the time on Wednes-
day until o'clock with his closing speech to
the jury, the prisoner being even more VIC
lent and outrageous than usual in his inter