The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-01-27
TIE VERDICT.

Inc ClYll1Z60 WO1Iu u6dIG1ly DIP
proves the verdict in the Guiteau
case. We question if any intelli-
gent person entertained any serious
doubt as to what the verdict would
be. All knew that the accused was
guilty as charged. The only thing
to be considered in arriving at aver
dict was his mental condition at
the time he fred the fatal shot. No
body will claim that Guiteau was
wholly sane when he shot President
Garfield, Had he been sane the
assassination would never have
occurred, for men in their right
mind do not murder upon such
slight provocation. But his in
sanity was of responsible charac-
ter, and he should therefore, to sat
isfy the law, be punished, as he is
likely to be. He knew he was do
ing wrong, that he was violating
law of God and man, and that he
ran great risk in the act. He
planned and executed the deed
with a shrewdness and thought
full care for his own pre-
servation that a reckless mad
man could not have brought to bear
in the case; and during the trial he
has displayed greater cunning and
a keener appreciation of things than
ordinary lawyers possess. Shrewd
as have been his counsel, Scoville
and Reed, they were not equal to
Guiteau in smartness and peTcep-
ton. The able attorneys for gov
eminent were not more adept III
the tricks and possibilities of the
law than the prisoner, who
fathom d their very thoughts, and
discovered every point sought to be
made against him, even before the
trained gen erals in the law had ex-
posed their hand. To say that such
a man is not responsible for his
crimes would be carrying the theory
of the law protecting fools danger
ously far. Guiteau did more to
convict himself than the prosecu-
ton, for he made it clear to the
court, the jury and the country,
that ne was sane enough to hang.
But had the fellow kept his mouth
sent after the arrest and during the
trial, or manifested the evidences Of
imbecility or insanity. his convic-
ton would almost as certainly have
followed as it has done. 1t would
have been a brave juryman, or a
fool, who would dare say Guiteau
was not guilty. Under such cir
cumstances the prisoner might al
most have changed places with the
juryman, and found greater safety.
The country demanded the hanging
of some one, and the individual WHO
might interfere to prevent the salts
fying of that demand, would be es-
teemed as little better than the as
sassin himself. Fortunately the
proof of Guiteau's guilt. as
well as his mental, moral and
physical responsibility, has been
so clear and ineontroYertable
that no suspicion can attach
to the court or jury of having been
unduly influenced by popular
cIamor. The trial has been one of
the fairest on record, the prisoner
having been granted every facility
for establishing his theory Of tenn
porary insanity, and given wider
latitude and liberty in court than a
murderer y IS ever accorded in an
American court. Ali this, while it
has in fact strengthened the case
on the part of the prosecution, has
taken it out Of the power Of the
miserable wretch and his unfortun-
ate friends, to charge unfairnesS or
the undue exercise of EpOwer to
force q conviction. When Guiteau
goes to the scaffold no one can say
he was dragged there unfairly.