Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1882-02-11
GUITEAU SENTENCED.

! the General Term in March.
When asked whether he had any
thing to say why sentence should
not be pronounced, he said:
81 am not guilty Of the charge set
forth in the Indictment. 1t was Gods
act, not mine; and God will take
care of it, and don't let the American
people forget it. He will take care
of it; and every officer of this gov
eminent, from the Executive down
to that marshal, taking in every
man on that jury and every member
of this bench, will pay for it; and the
American nation will roll in blood
if my body goes into the ground and
| am hung. The Jews put the de-
spised Galilean into the grave.
For the time they triumphed; but at
the destruction of Jerusalem, forty
years afterwards, the Almighty got
even with them. / am net afraid of
death. l am here as Gods man.
Kill me tomorrow, if you want. l
am Gods man, and have been from
/ the START
Judge Cox then proceeded to pass
sentence and said: ''You have been
convicted of a crime SO terrible in its
circumstances and so far-reaching in
its results that it has drawn upon
you the horror of the whole world
and the excavations of your country
men. The excitement produced by
such an offense made it no easy task
to secure for you fair and impartial
trial, but you have had the power of
the United States treasury and of
the government in your service to
protect your person from violence,
and to procure evidence from all parts
of the country. You have had as
fair and impartial jury as ever as
sembled in a court of justice. You
have been defended by counsel with
zeal and devotion that merit the
highest encomium, and I certainly
have done my best to secure a fair
presentation of your defence. Not
withstanding all this you have been
found guilty. 1t would have been a
comfort to many people if the verdict
Of the jury had established the fact
that your act was that Of an ire
sponsible man. It would have left
the people the satisfying belief that
the crime of political assassination
was something entirely foreign to
the institutions and civilization of
your country, but the result has de-
MED them that comfort. The coun-
try will accept it as a fact that crime
could be committed, and the courts
will punish it with the highest pen
atty known to the criminal code, to
serve AS an example to others. Your
career has been so extraordinary
that people might well at times have
doubted your sanity. But one can.
not but believe that when the crime
was committed you Thoroughly I'M
derstood the nature of the crime and
it's consequences. Guiteau.-"I was
acting as Gods MANI And that
you had moral sense and conscience
enough to recognize the moral iniqui-
ty ofsuch an act. Guiteau.-"That's
a matter of opinion."] Your own
testimony shows that you recoiled
with horror from the idea. You say
that you prayed against it, but by
the wretcEed sophistry of your own
mind you worked yourself up against
the protest of your own conscience.
What motive could have induced you
to this act must be matter Of con-
lecture. Probably men will think
that some political fanaticism or
morbid desire for self exaltation was
the real inspiration for the act. Your
own testimony seems to controvert
the theories of your counsel. They
have maintained and thought hon
estly, l believe, that you were against
your will by an insane impulse to
commit the act; but your testimony
showed that you deliberately resolved
to do it, and that a deliberate and
misguided will was the sole impulse.
This may seem insanity to some per-
son, but the law looks upon it as a
willful crime. You will have due op-
portunity of having any errors may
have committed during the course of
the trial passed upon by the court in
banc, but meanwhile it is necessary
for me to pronounce rhe sentence of
the law, that you be taken hence to
the common jail of the District, from
whence you came, and there be kept
in confinement, and on Friday, the
30th day of June, 1882, you be taken
to the place prepared for the execu-
ton within the walls of said jail, and
there, between the hours of II NJ.
and 2 P. NJ, you be hanged by the
neck until you are dead, and may
the Lord have mercy on your SOUL"
.~
Ex-Speaker Randall says nothing
will be done with the tariff at this
session.
Senator Davis was a guest at din
ner given last week by Senator Fair,
of Nevada, at the Arlington-the
Washington home en- passamt of our
two Senators.-Free Press.
Roscoe Conkling, in declining an
invitation to the Albany Grant Clubs
banquet, says: Il am industriously
at work at my profession, and the
neglect of past years constrains me
to be assiduous now"
At the Webster dinner of the
Dartmouth alumni in Boston, last
week, Marshall r. Wilder exhibited
the veritable straw hat worn by
Webster when working OH his Marsh
field farm.
Farming implements of American
manufactures are rapidly finding
their way to the agricultural districts
of Europe. In New York few days
ago a large British steamer MAS