Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1882-01-20
THE END NOT YET.
SeOyille's Argument COntinued-COrk-
hill, as Usual, Makes an ASS OF
Himself and Receives
Scathing Rebuke-The Case Will Prob
ably Get TO the Jury by Next
Wednesday.

teau reached his seat he delivered himself OF
the following speech, with a pomPous effort
at oratorical effect: The decision OF the
New York Court of Appeals comes with so
much force at the present moment that l de-
sire to call attention TO 1t. 1t comes with
great grace from the Empire State; from
that grand old State of the republic-the
State that sends forth the brains the money
and commerce of the nation. II is a great
step forward of the law of insanity. Hitherto
the law has been that the burden of proof
was on the defendant, but the Court Of APP
peals, with grand magnanimity, says that
the burden of proof is ON the prosecution to
prove that man not only committed the
act, but also that he was sane at the time he
committed it. In the name oil justice, and
in the name of the American people, and in
the name of the American judiciary, desire
to thank those gentlemen of the Court of
Appeals of the State OF New York"
Scoville Immediately resumed his argu-
ment reading from the evidence of several
witnesses who were at the depot and saw the
shooting, and the subsequent arrest OF Gui-
teau, his object being to show that the pris-
oner was perfectly calm and cool, and in
condition, nervous and intellectual, at vari-
ance with the hypothesis of sanity under
such circumstances.
Scoville again complained that the prose-
cution 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 little,
and told them shout nv inspiration, and
now they suppress all tn evidence. That
shows the inequality OF prosecution, and
God Almighty will Gu e everyone in this
prosecution, in my opinion.
Alter short pause, the prisoner added:
"That reminds me to say that Judge Porter
has been pretending TO be sick for two days.
Il bona ha emit al tn kan aim
sick. l hope the Lord will take him down
below quick, and then send for Corkhill"
As Scoville proceeded Corkhill made
frequent and, as the speaker evidently
thought, sighting comments, until, finally,
becoming irritated, he turned upon the dis
trict attorney and denounced in scathing
terms his unfair conduct, and instanced his
| production as evidence in this case of a let
| ter written by the prisoner, and which he
| (Corkhill) had intercepted and mutilated by
cutting off the signature and such portion as
he thought might benefit the prisoner, "a
thing" said Scoville, (which was never
before permitted in court of justice, not
even upon the trial OF civil suit"
Colonel Corkhill ;sneeringlyl-That's your
opinion, Mr.. Scoville; it amounts to nothing
as fact.
ScoYille-Well, let it be my opinion; pre-
sumo / am entitled to one, and so is the jury.
Guiteau-It was a friendly allusion to
President Arthur that he cut out, the mean,
dirty whelp.
| AS Scoville continued counsel for the pros
ecution frequently interrupted him, and
running fire was kept up between counsel
for some time. The speaker disclaimed as
his main motive the desire to shield the
prisoner for the honor of the Guiteau family.
| His greatest desire was to save the American
nation and the American judiciary from the
disgrace of hurrying to the gibbet an insane
man. Abiding to the evidence of DIR. North,
| the speaker charged, This was another
instance of the unfairness of the district at
/ torney. Without the slightest evidence or
reason for so DOING, he had asked the witness
Were you ever indicted for crimeT and the
witness had responded quickly and frankly,
| NO, sir, and l never expect to be-"
Colonel Corkhill-1 happened to know the
man well.
Scoyille-All the more reason why you
should not thus gratuitously insult him.
CorkhIll-Well, / tried him in this court.
| L remember his pose when he took the stand,
and / found afterward that he was here on
an appeal from the police court.
As the audience laughed at this point
scored by the district attorney, Mrs. Scoville
became very angry, and complained in audi
| bic tones of the district attorneys "mean-
ness" as she termed it.
The hour of recess having arrived, Scoville
| conferred moment with Judge Cox as to
how long the recess should be ordered. The
! audience began to arise, and Guiteau inn
patiently called out: "Your Honor, we're
waiting on you. Amt you going to an
| nounce a recess"
At this crier raised laugh by calling
out: well, come along; we'll have a recess"
Evening Session.
Scoville continued his resume of the evil
dence, and claimed that the prisoner had
been fair, frank and outspoken in all things;
| that he had conversed at the Jail with every
| one whom the prosecution had sent there,
| and always without reserve; that had he
| been playing a part he would not have done
so. Commenting upon, as he claims, the alb
sence of motive on Guiteau's part, Scoville
said: "You cannot find an instance in his
| tory, you cannot suppose case, where man
| forty years of age, who has never before COM
mitted crime, who has never in forty years
associated with criminals or bad people, who,
| on the contrary has always sought the society
| not only of the better class of people
but of Christian people; you Cam
not conceive of such a man committing
such a crime without some motive. Nothing
but the theory of insanity can possibly ac-
| count for such an act as Guiteau's." Scoville
then discussed the assumption that Guiteau
might have been actuated by desire for
revenge, and argued the improbability OF
such an assumption from the fact that if any
ground for ill-will existed on GHiteau's part
It was against Secretary Blaine, and, accord
ing to the memorable laws of mind, it would
have been executed against him. "There
cannot possibly be shown" said Scoville
"any ill-will on his part toward President
Garfield"
Colonel Corkhill-You seem to forget that
he killed him.
Without noticing this comment, Scoville
next took the hypothesis that the crime was
tod L. e.
notoriety, and claimed that history failed to
point out a case where such crime was
committed purely and simply from that mo-
tive, and that il was incompatible with rea-
son and impossible for the human mind to
conceive of such motive sufficient to induce
any sane man to commit such crime. THAT
he killed the president as a disappointed
office-seeker is more than improbable" said
Scoville, "for had he brooded over some
wrong of this kind, something of his disap-
pointment would have cropped out; he
would have said something in his intercourse
with other people indicating his disappoint-
ment or bad temper on the subject. Moth
ing would be natural in the interval before
he had made up his mind to kill the presi-
dent"
Guiteau-Oh, that's all bosh about my
being disappointed Office seeker. After the
LIST of June my whole mind was on the polit-
ical situation. and L wouldn't have taken a
cabinet position II 1t had been offered TO me.
Looking up from his papers a moment
later, Guiteau called out with a satisfied
air: "Porter is sick; / guess the Lord Is
attending to him."
Scoville alluded to the taunt of the prose-
cution that the experts for the defense had
gone back on them, and said. in explanation
when he reached Washington he did not
know the name of a single expert. He
knew Guiteau was crazy, but how to show it
to the country, and to convince Jury of his
countrymep, was what pressed him. Then
came letter from DIR. Worcester-that lit
tie man from the great State of Massachu-
sets; the State that holds the Athens of
America. He wrote: aft half of what was
said OF Guiteau was true, he was
crazy" He (Worcester) had great expe-
rience in treating insanity, and had written
book which was accepted authority as a
textbook, the first work, he said, by an
American author upon insanity. He said
further that he wanted to do all he could to
save the nation from the disgrace Of hanging
an insane man, even If his victim happened
to be the President of the United States 81
felt" said Scoville, "a great weight lifted
from my heart. / thought here Is a great
and good man who cannot be bought Well,
gentlemen, this very little man from the
great State of Massachusetts, came"
Guiteau-He wanted free ride TO Wash
ington. He got here, and Corkhill bought