Gold Hill daily news. [volume] (Gold Hill, N.T. [Nev.]) 1863-1882, 1882-01-20
rae AssAssIs's TRIAL.
scovIlle Continues His Argument
sharp Words Between the Law.
yers-Guiteau to Make Another
Appeal to the Court.

yers-Gulteau 10 Make An0ther
Appeal to the Court.
WASHINGTON, January 1S.-In Gui.
teau's usual morning. speech he POM
pously thanked tho New York Court Of
Appeals for the recent ruling on the In.
sanity question.
Scovills read from the testimony Of
several witnesses who saw the shooting,
his object being to show that the pris.
Q was perfectly cool and calm and In
o condition Of nerves aud intellect at
variance with the hypothesis OF sanity
under such circumstances. He again
complained that the prosecution had
failed to call Detective McElfresh TO the
stand, whose evidence would have been
OF service to the prisoner.
Guiteau-They came to my cell and
tried to draw me out. / talked With
them q little and told them about the
Deity and nv inspiration, and now they
suppress oil that evidence. That shows
the iuiquity OF this prosecution. and
God Almighty will curse every ono In
this prosecution In my opinion.
After o short pause, the prisoner ad-
ded: "That reminds me to say that
Judge Porter has been pretending to be
sick for two days. !. hope that II will
bs providential to keep him sick. I
hope the Lord will take him down be-
low quick, aud then send for Corkhill."
As Scovills proceeded. Corkhill made
frequent. and as the speaker evidently
thought. sighting comments. until.
finally becoming irritated, he turned
upon the District Attorney, and de-
nounced 10 scathing terms his unfair
ness in the matter Of producing as evil
dence u mutilated letter written by the
prisoner and intercepted by Corkhill.
Guiteau-It was o friendly allusion to
President Arthur that be cut out-the
mean, dirty whslp.
Scovills had q running fire with the
prosecution al bis speech progressed.
His motive was not to shield the Guiteau
family, but to q ' the American nation
and the judiciary from the disgrace Of
hanging an insane man. He denounced
Corkhill for gratuitously insulting Dr..
North by asking II be was ever arrested
for crime.
Corkbill stated that he himself had
tried North In this court.
Recess.
After recess Scovills continued his re-
view Of the evidence, and claimed that
the prisoner had been free. frank and
out.spoksn in all things that be eonsid-
cred. He oonvsrsed at the Jail with
every one the prosecution sent there.
and always without reserve, and had he
been saus and playing q part, hs would
not have done 80. Commenting upon.
rs he claims, the absence OF motive on
G~uiteau's part, Scovills said: "You
cannot find an instance in history; you
cannot suppose q case where q man forty
years Of age. who has never before COM
mitted q crime; who has never for an
hour associated with criminals or bad
people, who. on the contrary. has actu-
ally sought the society, n only OF q
better class OF people, but Christian pso-
pie; you cannot conceive OF such O man
committing such o crime without q mo-
tive. Nothing but the theory ofiusan.
lily can possibly account for such an act
as Guiteau's.
Scoville then discussed the assump.
tion that Guiteau might have been actu.
ated by q desire for revenge, and argued
the improbsbility Of such an assump.
ton. from the fact that II any ground
for i'll will existed on G~uitsau's part II
wal against Secretary Blaine. and, ao'
oording to the intxorablo laws oil tho
mind, IL would have been executed
against him. There can't possibly be
shown" said Scoville. ''any i'll will on
his part toward President Garfield"
Colonel Corkhill-You seem to forget
that he killed him.
Without noticing this comment, SEQ.
vile next took up the hypothesis that
the crime was committed from an over
powering desire for notoriety, and
claimed that history failed to point out
O case where such o crime was commit.
ted purely and simply from such a mo-
tive, and that II was incompatible with
reason aud impossible for q human be.
ing to conceive such o motive az sufi.
cient to Induce any sane man to commit
such O crime. That he killed the Presi.
dent ss q disappointed ofics.seeker Is
more than improbable, said Scoville, for
had he brooded over some wrong Of the
kind something OF his disappointment
would have leaked out. He would have
said something In his intercourse with
other people indicating his disappoint-
ment, or bad temper. on the subject.
Nothing would have been more natural
In the interval before he made up his
mind to kill the President.
Guiteau-0b, that's all bosh about my
being q disappointed ofice.sseker. After
the first OF June my whole mind was on
the political situation. and I wouldn't
have taken q Cabinet position IL II had
been offered me.
Looking up from his paper . few
minutes later, Guiteau called out, With o
satisfied air, "Portsr Ia sick. guess
the Lord il attending to him."
Scoville, alludirg to the talent OF the
prosecution. said the experts for the de-
tense had gone back on them, and said.
in explanation. that when be reached
Washington no did not know the name
OF q single expert. He knew 6uitsau
was crazy. but how to show 1t to the
country and TO convince the jury and his
couutrymsn was the burden that pressed
him. Then came Q letter from DR..
Worcester. that little man from tho State
OF Massachusetts,. the State that holds
the Athens of America. He wrote that
II half Of what was said OF Guiteau was
true, ho was crazy. DR.. Worcester had
had great experience In treating insanity,
and had written q book which was an
accepted authority as q text book. the
first work. he said, by an American au.
thor on insanity. He said further. that
he wanted to do oil he could to save the
natisp from the disgrace OF hanging an
insane man. even II bis victim happened