National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1882-01-23
GUITEAU'S APOLOGY
FOR KILLING PRESIDENT GARFIELD.
The Same Old Speech Read In Court which Has Al.
ready Appeared in Print-Double-HeSded
Editors - Tho Assassn's At
tempted Dramatic Efforts,


on Saturday. and probably will not again until
he mounts the scaiiold. The number that obtained
admission to the court. room was but fraction OF
the immense crowd that swarmed around the en-
frances. There was good deaf of disturbance,
and the officers had great difficulty In keeping
order. II seemed at one time that q number of
persons would be seriously injured In the struggle
for place. The courtroom was gloomy. The of.
fetal stenographers asked for a lamp and several
correspondents requested thatcandes procured.
There were many prominent persons present, in
Guiding Senators, members of Congress- and others.
Upon entering the room Guitcnu took seat In the
witness box, remarking as he laid out his papers
" l sit down because can speak better not that /
am afraid of being shot. This shooting business
Is getting played out"
AT an intmntion from Judge Cox the prisoner
carefully arranged his glasses and with flourish,
began to read from manuscript as follows:
OuITEAus SPEECH.
1.-THE prosecution pretends that lam wicked
man.. Mr.. Scoville aud Mr.. Reed think l am u
lunatic, and presume you thi Ink am, GER
tainly was lunatic on July 9 when fired on the
President and the American people generally, and
/ presume you think / was Can you imagine
anything more insane than my going TO that de-
pot and shooting the President of the United
Sates2 You are here to say whether was sane
or insane Mt the moment / fired that shot. You
have nothing TO do with my condition before or
since that shot was fired. You must say by your
verdict sane or insane ut the moment the shot was
hred. liyou have any doubt of my sanity ut the
moment you must give me the benefit of that
doubt aud acqut me. That is, If you have any
doubt whetherI fred that shot or as the agent Of
the Defy. IT fired IL on my own account | was
save II fred IL suprosimg myself the agent of
The Deity ! was insane and you must acquit
This Is the law rs given In the recent decision of
the New York Court Of Appeals. 1t rovolutlonizes
the old rules, and Is grand step for
ward in the law Of insanity 1t is worthy of
THIS age of railroads, electricity, and telephones
and II well comes from the progressive State Of
New York have no hesitation IN saying that II
is special Providence In my favor and ask this
pf N hngf
people Of America think me the greatest man of
This age, ana This feeling is growing. They believe
in my inspiration and that Providence and have
really saved the Nation another war. My speech
setting forth III detail my defense was telrgraphcd
sunday to oil the leading papers and published
llOdor TO deliver II to you. Only here desire TO
scNpress my Indebtedness to the American press for
The able and careful way they have reported this
case. The American press is a vast engine. They
generally bring down their man when they open
upon him. They opened upon me with all their
motive ard inspiration. Now that this trial has
developed my motive and inspiration their bitter
ness has gone
SOME EDITORS ARE DoUBLE.HEADED.
They curse you to. day and bless YOU tomorrow,
us they suppose that public opinion is for or
against you, which shows the low grade of their
humanity. | desire TO THINK my brother and
sister and my counsel SCoville aud Reed for their
valuable services. intend TO give my counsel
ample fees especially Scoville lie is Stuunch
man AMI a hero, aud commend him to the great
Northwest as y fine lawyer and Christian gen
teman. We have differed rs to this defense.
He has his theory and | have mine. | told
him to work his theory rs he thought best and
he has done 1t In splendid way, and | COM
mend him for It, Considering his slight ex-
perenee as an advocate he showed himself as q
man OF marked resources. In other words you
cannot tell what is in man until he has a chance.
some men never have Il chance and go down In
obscurlty: There are plenty of brains in this
world. Notevery man has chance to develop his
brain. 1t is brain and opportunity under pfOvi-
aehee that make great man; return thanks to
the Marshal and his aids, to the Superintendent OF
Police and his force 70 the warden of the Jail and
his keepers, and TO General AyrCs and his forces
for services rendered me. return thanks to this
honorable Court and bright jury for their long and
patient attention to this case. / am not here us
| wicked man or n lunatic. am here as patriot
ana my speesGh is as iollows-I read from the New
oUITEAu's ELoCUTIoN
The prisoner then proceeded to read his speech MS
| published in Mondays papers! In n decamatory
manner he rolled forth his sentence, holding the
papcr In one hand and with the other estculating
ana emphasizing his uttcranceS The words
ally round the flag, boys" he repeated in a
sihg-s song tone, waving his arm in the air above
his head. And forthis / suffer in bonds as u pa
triot' he quoted In an oratorical manner, and
then repeating the sentence he allowed his voice
TO tremDlo so that the words were nearly inuadi-
BILE. The trembling in his voice continued till he
| spoke about his mother and declared that he had
always been "a lover Of the Lord" when he broke
! down completely, and, applying his handkerchief
TO is eyes wiped away the tears which, naturally
or forced for the purpose Of exciting sympathy
coursed down his checks However, he immedi.
ately recovered himself and in his hsual tone OF
| voice proceeded with his address. When he came
To- his description of the attempts made upon his
life by Mason and Jones he stood up, for the pur-
lose of the more wildly pointing out to the Jury
| the narrow escapes which lie had had With some
| thing of pride he held UP his arm and showed the
| rent made in his coat
BY THE BULLET FIRED by JONES'
| and made his old declaration that 1t was proc
| that the Lord was watching over him. laugh
ran through the audience as the prisoner read and
| reTCad his declaration that II would be perfectly
| safe for him to walk the streets of Washington OF
| New York Coming down to the extracts from his
mail, he read them with extreme JUNCTION, partic.
ularly the rhyming ono dated Philadelphia, New
| Years Day, 1882 which he read in sing SONG
way, which caused laugh among the audience
He evidently enjoyed the structures upon the coun
sci Tor the prosecution, aud his pleased smile wa.
| too much for the District Attorney who Joined il
| the laugh which followed the reading of the cx.
tract. Reaching thar portion Of the speech where
! an abstract from his address TO the American peo
pie Is Inserted he folded up tho paper took of hi
glasses, and, squaring himself in his chair, pro
| eeeded to repeat the extract from memory III do
HIS MOST CATEGORICAL STYLE,
modulatlng tic tones OF his voice, using both arm
to aid him in emphasizing his dramatic utter
| ances, and as far as possible acting the extract
| Coming down to his quotation from John Brown,
Body" he threw back his head and sang verse
| of that old song, much TO the amusement of tn,
| spectators. lie read from his speech: "Put my
body in the ground If YOU will that is all You cal
mills of tie gods grind slow, but they grind sure
| rnd they VIII grind to atoms every man that in
| juIes me" and supplemented 1t with the remark
AS sure as n hair of my head is injured this Ma
ton will 30 down in the dust, and don't you forge
He then proceeded to read his speech TO n close
without any noteworthy incident and then Ia
l2:1O) the court adjourned until to-day, when III,
arguments will be closed by Mr.. Porter
FOR THE LADIES.
| "