The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-01-09
MIR. Davidge Urges the Good Old Right
and Wrong Test

WASHINGTON, Jan. 9.-Davidge opened the
arguments for the prosecution to-day, reading
aud then celebrating the prayers of the govern
ment. which ask the judge to instruct the
jury that, if the prisoner knew, at the time OF
the shooting the difference between right and
wrong, he was all that time sane and response
BILE. Davidge, with the prayers in his hand
in low but distinct tones and measured lam
guage, said that they conss. ed: First, OF the
above definition of sanity; second. OF a declaTa-
ton that, if the prisoner possessed the ability
to SO distinguish between right and wrong
no belief, no irresistible passion or impulse, no
uncomfortable desire, no moral depravity,
would excuse his act; third, declaration that
the standard of insanity must be that Of the
law; fourth, that no delusion, the ability to
distinguish between right and wrong being
present, would excuse the prisoner. Davidge
spoke very simply, but very logically and
ably.
Davidge thought the prayers Of the defence
bearing on the points contained IN the prayers
of the prosecution ought not to be entertained
for moment He said that the law drew the
line OF responsibility for crime so low here that
it had been lily defined until the judges OF Eng
land in 1913, at the request OF the House OF
Lords laid down the legal rule defining respon-
sibity. This rule was the good old right and
wrong test, the rule of common sense. The
only possible test of sanity of the degree of
intelligence which renders man responsible
for crime was the ability of the subject to dis
tinguish between right and wrong.
Here Guiteau broke in, for the trst time, to
say: "Ididn't know the difference between
right and wrong / had no choice; II l had
wouldn't have done it.
Commenting on the answers of the English
Judges TO the House of Lords, Davidge said
that man might, under an alleged insane
delirium, commit crime for the public good
or in obedience TO the supposed command OF
God. He might be eccentric-he might be
even partially insane-and yet If he possessed
the power to distinguish between right and
wrong he was responsible. Guiteau listened
intently to the remarks of Davidge. Again
and again, when the legal test of insanity was
referred to- he interrupted to say, "Well,
didn't know the difference between right and
wrong" Having read the answers OF the
Judges and called attention to the conformity
of the prosecutions prayers, Dsvidge threw
the book containing the answers on the coun-
sci table and said: "For AZ years that rule has
obtained sin England and America, having
been affirmed and reafiirmed by the learned
Judges that England could and can boast, and
adhered to by our own courts without notable
exceptions. A man may be eccentric and
peculiar, and partially insane, but If he knows
the difference between right and wrong, he is
legally responsible for the commission of
crime" Davidge read American cases, sus-
tanning his status. He read, at great length,
the case ct Flanagan against the people, recent
ly decided by the court of appeals of New
York. La the course of his remarks, he made
a terse statement, presenting the main
feature of the case very well. He said: 1.-The
defence first attempted 10 prove this man as
imbecle His own testimony broke down at
once that theory and his whole defence" He
dwelt upon distinction to be drawn between
moral insanity and insanity, the disease
of the brain affecting the mind,
claiming that the former had no place
in the law. Having read case or two Da-
yidge permitted Judge Porter to relieve him,
and the latter read with great impressiveness,
his most tragical manner, Judge Daviss
charge TO the jury in the Coleman case, deliv-
cred during the period of this trial. Its appli-
cation to the Guiteau case, remarked upon
when it was delivered, was brought ont by
Judge Porters careful reading. The jury lis
tened with marked attention to Judge Por-
ter, as, in measured language and tragical
tones, he reviewed the utterances on the legal
question involved in this case from the Amer
lean bench Scoyille protested against Por--
ter's delivering speeches under the guise OF
reading authority. The charge OF Judge Davis
was not authority, and he was tired of inter-
lection by Porter of theatrical speeches IN the
consideration OF legal questions involved.
Judge Porter retorted, holding that he had
had enough of the farcical interruptions OF
Scovlle and his client, and that be proposed
to stand them no longer. 1t the court did not
rebuke Scoville, he would. The opinion rem
dered by Judge Davis, who had no superior on
the bench of America, was authority. It APP
peared but yesterday in the law organ OF the
supreme court of New York. 1t was authority,
it was law, and the counsel for the prosecution
had a right to read it. Scoville had no right to
say. as he had done, that Dayidge did not
need to be relieved, and that he porter had
needessly interiected speech into the pro-
ceedings. Guiteau, who always grows violent
under Porter's remarks, promptly broke out
and talked violently for five or ten minutes.
He told the jury that the charge of Judge
Davis had no effect upon the jury TO whom it
was addressed; that, having heard it, they
promptly acquitted Mrs. Coleman. Davidge
called attention to the fact that this was the
man claimed to be insane, and, in the first
weeks of the trial, even jmbecile. He thought
the man ON trial was not only sane but law
yer with as keen perception and as plain appre-
citation of legal postulates as any man in the
court room. Guiteau made then what was
practically a ''little speech, in which he said
that he was not, and never had claimed to be,
insane. All that he claimed was that
he had done the deed during transitory
mania under pressure from on high. He was
not az inbecile, he was not a fool. The Lord
never employed fools to do his work. Scoville
was fool when he sought to establish his inn
becility. 81 repudiate," he said, "his whole
theory. He showed he's fool. Take no stock
in the idea that I am insane; l am not, and
never have been, save when i was under pres
sure. 1 am no more insane than you are, Mr..
Davidge. I've got as good head as you have
or as Porter has. The question is, was my free
agency destroyed? 1t was, and the Deity who
destroyed it will protect me. He has fixed the
laws. The Deity is down on you men of the
prosecution. He'll stick to you all your life
long,..in this world and the next"
Davidge read one American case after an
other, sustaining his position. One was that OF
a skipper who killed sailor and who advanc-
ed periodical mania as a defence when tried.
Judge Shepley of Maine delivered the charge
in this case, which was similar to that OF Judge
Davis This charge demolished the irresistible
impulse theory. "There's plenty of law on the