Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1882-02-06
GUITEAU SENTENCED
TO BE HUNG JUNE 80.

The exceptions taken by Scoville
in the Guiteau case were considered |
by Judge Cox on Friday last and
overruled. The court met on Satur- |
day morning and Judge Cox render
ed his decision. After it was given
there was some talk between the law |
yers and some balderdash by Guiteau,
when the prisoner was asked to stand |
up and say why sentence should not
be pronounced upon him.
The prisoner then arose, pale, but |
with lips compressed and desperate
determination stamped upon his fea-
lures. In low and deliberate tone
he began, but soon his manner be-
came wild and violent, and pounding
upon the table he delivered himself
of the following harangue, 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 Government, 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 depised Gallilean into the
grave. For the time they triumphed
but at the destruction of Jerusalem
forty years afterwards the Almighty
got even with them. | am not afraid
of death | 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, addressing the prisoner as
follows:
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 eXecrations
of your countrymen. The excite
ment produced by such an offence
made it no easy task to secure for
you fair and impartial trial, but
you have had the power of the Unit
| ed States Treasury and of the gov
eminent 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 assembled in
court of justice. You have been
defended by counsel with zeal and
devotion that merits the highest enco-
MUM, and | certainly have done my
best to secure fair presentation of
your defence. Notwithstanding 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 irresponsible man.
|
1t would have left the people the salts
flying belief that the crime Of political
assassination was something entirely
foreign to the institutions and civil
lization of our country, but the re-
suit has denied them that comfort.
The country will accept it as a fact
that crime can be committed, and the
court will have to deal with it, with
the highest penalty known to the
criminal code, to serve as an exam
pie to others. Your career has been
so extraordinary that people might
well at times have douted your sanity
but one cannot but believe that when
the crime was committed you thor
oughly understood the nature of the
crime and its consequences, and that
you had moral sense and conscience
enough to recognize the moral iniqui-
ty of such an act. Your own testi-
mony shows that you. recoiled with
horror from the idea. You say that
you prayed against it. You say that
you thought it might be prevented.
This shows that your conscience
warned you against it, but by the
wretched 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 a matter of con-
lecture. Probably men will think
that some fanaticism, or some NOR
bid desire for self-exaltation was the
real inspiration for the act. You
own testimony seems to controvert
the theories of your counsel. They
have maintained and thought, honest
ly, believe, that you were driver
against your will by an insane inn
pulse to commit the act, but your ties
timony showed that you deliberately
resolved to do it, and that deliber
ate and misguided will was the SOLE
f impulse. This may seem insanity tt
e some persons, but the law looks up
: on it as a wilful crime. You will
f have due opportunity of having any
r errors l may have committed during
the course of the trial passed upor