Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-01-28
NO "a.

were necessary would be luStifiable; that the
death of the President by violence was only
proper and necessary means of accomplish
ing it, and it was therefore justiiable; and
that being justifiable as a political necessity,
it was not murder. That appeared to be the
substance of the idea which the prisoner had
put forth to the world. and if this was the
whole of his position, it presented one Of
those vagaries of opinion, even ii it were
sincere, for which the Law had no accommo-
dation. and which furnished no excuse what
ever for crime. There was undoubtedly
form of insane delusion consisting of a be-
! lief BY person that he is inspired by the
Almighty to do something,-to kill another,
for exampe-and this delusion might be so
strong as to impel TO the commission of
crime. The defendant in the case claimed
that he labored under such delusion at the
time of the assassination. His unsworn dec
larations in his own favor were not, of course,
evidence, and were not TO be considered by
the jury. A mans language when sincere
might be evidence of his condition of mind,
but not evidence in his favor Of the facts de-
clared by him. He could never manufacture
evidence in that way in his own examination.
The law allowed a prisoner TO testify in his
own behalf, and therefore made his sworn
testimony of the witness stand legal evidence,
TO he received and considered and given such
weight as it deserved. No verdict, how
ever, could be safely rendered on the sole
evidence of an accused party under such
circumstances otherwise, man on trial for
his life could secure his acquittal by simply
testifying that he had committed the crime
under a delnsion, or inspiration, or irrcsisti-
bic impulse. That would be to proclaim
universal amnesty to criminals in the past,
and unbounded license in the future, and
courts of justice might as well be closed. He
nvll an nrl al.
that form of delusion. The idea of being inspir-
ed to an act might be either sane belief or an
insane delusion A great many Christian peo-
pie believed, not only that events were provi-
dentially ordered, but that they themselves re-
ceived special Providental guidance and H.
Elimination in respect to their inward
thoughts and their outward actions. But this
was mere belief. On the other hand, if a
man sincerely believed that, like st. Paul on
his way TO Damascus, he had been smitten to
the earth, and had seen great light and had
heard voice from heaven warning and COM
manding him to do certain act, that would
be case of imaginary inspiration amounting
to an insane delusion. The question was
whether the case of the defendant presented
anything analogous to that. The theory of
the government was that the defendant COM
mitted this homicide in full possession of his
faculties and from perfectly sane motives;
that he did the act from revenge or from a
morbid desire for notoriety; that he calcu-
lated deliberately on being protected by those
Ja.,h oc ,,,o pra.;lan,, ~, H. - Wv
,aroa ~ ;,s,,;r.,;ar =, ,,,a -, - ~ -
;nat;op nor nn,;I no had d;scnvor.5 ,ha, IL.
expectations from the so.called staIwart wing
of the republican party were delusive, and
then, for the first time he broached this theory
of inspiration and irresistible pressure to the
comm;ss;on NJ tho act wbo,h.r ,i,;s ,v.s
trpe or not Tho ;nr, nm, 5a,or,,;no e., a.,
ev;donce T, ,.as ,r,,a ,,., ,,o ,ar,, ..,,.; Wv
tion' aid NOT annear in The naners ers, rr;,-
ten by the defendant. nor in that delivered to
Mr.. REYNOLDS. except Mt the close Of the one
dated July 10. in which no said that the In
spration was worked ont ~ him .Itho,gh
What tho, moar, was M, o,oor al i, ,.s.
,ruo aIso ,bo, ,h., ,..s af,or ha 900. ;,e'..,a5
,ha, ho 80 -, ,a1,n.. - ~ .a .,' ,.
In this connection InJ,,a o. rofarrod 80 .,..,
testimony of DIR. Noble youpg DR. M.cnons
aid and Dr. GRAY. This, he said was about
the substance of what appeared in the case
on the subject of inspiration.
The prisouer-AlIov mo to sav ,ba, tbo
statement bv Dr Gray was ;ncon,nia,a
Judge Coy won, ,o sav that ,hp a,a.,,,,
for The ;urv was wbe,her an Tho ora d' hand
the idea of killing the pre.iden, ,rst nresan,'
ed itself to the defendant in the shane of a
command or inspiration of the Deity in the
manner in which insane delusions of that
sort arose; or whether. on the other hand,
il was n concen,,nn of b;s ow, ard ,vha,ha.
the Thought of insp;ra,ion was not .;r,niv a
speculation ar Theoretical conc,ns;on nc III.
own mind II il were tho latter !, ,v.. ro,h'
ing more than one of the vagaries Of reason.
ing which had been already cbaracterizeJ a.
furnishing no excuse for crime, Ue had
dwelt upop the oues,;on NJ ;nsano dalu.;a,
sjmply because the evidence RELATING to that
was evidence touching tho defendant. no,ver
or want of p,wer from mental disease ~ a.
tineuisb between r,vbt and wrong no ,o ,ha
act done by him. Tbi. was the oue.,;on for
the iury to determine and was What wa. ,s-
lied upon by the defence.
1t had been argued with force on the mart
of the defence that there were n great many
things in the defendant,s copduc, sh;ch cnuid
not be exnec,ed ~ a s.ns mar and ,.b;,,.
were only ernla;nabIa an he ,Iaor. - ;n...
itv. Tbere were strange ,,;na. 4, Il. ,a.aa.
and whether ,bex were reaiiy ;nd;..,;an. =,
insanity or could be accounted for nv hi. 10.
norance of men. by hi. exaggerated ;uot;.m
or by his bIuntness of moral seuse. h might
be difficult to determine. The only safe rule.
however, was for the iury to direct its atten,