The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1882-07-01

The assassin OF Garfield yesterday cxpi-
atcd his crime on tho gallows. 1t was n
poor retributon that such q creature could
make, even in giving his life, but."a lie for
HE" IL all TINT The law, sacred or secular,
can exact for murder.
This miserable creature presented n pitt.
J able spectacle up TO the last. lie expressed
no contrition, no remorsc, no manifesto.
ton OF M awakened conscience. but full Of
i his egotism, vanity and bIasphemy was the
SINE hearlless wretch at tho close that he
had been all the way through life.
II is well that the world is now quit Of
i him. Too long he fingered as an olEense
( to the patriotic and moral sense OF the
country. And yet it is credi.ablc to the
civilization and humanity OF our agc and
country, that with every mans hand
ainst him, and without friend among
fifty millions OF people, he was given the
most indulgent and protrac.ed trial ever
accorded to murderer in the land, and
after conviction was accorded several
months in which to prepare for death.
4 The exact status OF this man MS crimi-
nal is hard to understand. That he had n
keen but miserably warped intellect, and
was out OF balance, is undeniable. DR..
Hammond expressed it all when he said
! that Guiteau was responsibility insane"
lie was known to all with whom he had
dealings as an eccentric and unprincipled
mau-as u toungey dead.beat-as bypc-
critic who protested piety and Joined re-
lsious associations for selfish and sinister
purposes. This was the role that he played
from the time he entered the Oneida Com
munity until he came to Washington 10
beg for an Office. lie was u professional
fraud.
Even admitting that this man was out
4 Of joint mentally and morally, yet he was
too intelligent, too rational, and too capa.
bic Of getting the better Of average people,
( to be adjudged insane, and therefore never
was at all likely to get into m insane
asylum. He'd he never committed the
crime he would have kept aloat in the
SINE reckless, unprincipled and dead beat
way, and ended up at last MS the debtor OF
everybody and the creditor OF nobody.
There was but one thing 10 do with ouch
u. murderer, despite all hair-drawn dis
tinctions, and that was TO hang him.
Society demanded his death as warm
ing and IN example. The high office
which he so wantonly and cruelty vacated
demanded this protection. All the bust
ness interests Of the country, thrown into
! confusion by, such m awful occurrence,
demanded this protection. The good name,
safety, and civilization itself OF the Nation
demanded it. Society has rights and inter
esS higher than those OF M cratic and
wicked individual. They must be con.
served and protected from maleiactors
: though they be cranks.
IS This whole subject has been thoroughly
discussed in this country and in Europe,
anu II has been The concurrent judgment
OF almost all sound thinking critics that
all the high and sacred interests in
2volved demanded the death OF his man.
4 lie has not been executed in q
spirit OF vengeance, but under sense Of
solemn duty. No hasty and hot public
opinion has cut him of prematurely.
There will be no reaction as in the case OF
Mrs. Surratt. There was no error
or doubt rs to his agency. All
was clear us regards the deed aud
its whole train OF antccedenls. There is
therefore no room for reflections, and there
ought not now to be any maudlin sentiment
wasted on the criminal. lie lived a use
less, injurious and dissraceiul life, and met
his just deserts. The world is well rid OF
such a dcpraved character.