The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-01-11
TELEGRAPHIC NEWS
THE Law ARGUuENTs.
Everything Ruled Against
Guiteau.
The Audience tIectrIfird by
Judge Porter.

into court, az be passed his brother nt
whispered to him: Come over t. tnt
dock, want to see you about something
Of great importance" Taking his seal
the prisoner laid down large bundle ei
papers, and spreading out the manuscript
busted himself In looRiDg it over.
Judge Porter began bis argument
shortly after 10 o'clock, and st once fixed
the attention of everyone in the room.
Guiteau pretended To be eDgrvtsed in his
manuscript, but room laid it aside and
listened with W apt attention.
Judge Porter began his address with
reference to the disorder which had
characterized the proceeding. of the de-
Tense and then spoke of Reeds argument
as lswyerlike snd baeed on the only law
points which, with any plausibility,
could be sdduced by the defnnse. or
ScovIl e's argument ne said it could only
| have be-a delivered IN defense OF Quit
eau, who, H. he had Limselt boaeieo.
had lesrned his law in 20 ice courts, and
acquired his MAJ ners among hooting
owls in the wooGe of sstern Ohio. Pur
ter reviewed tue argument of
Davidge, pointing out its strong
points- Malice, Mr.. Davidge, has
rightly SAID, WAS the presumption Of
Jaw question for the judge, not for the
jury. Should e judge decide ss the
defense desired, that malice was Ques-
ton of fact for the jury, he would over
turn the Law, he would create q prece-
dent in this famous case which would in
Eevitably be condemned through all time
TO come. Mr.. Scoville had objected
that the decision IN support of the prose-
cution postuate were as Anticipated as
his tkorter's) style of Oratory. | never,
said Porter, initiated any man, nor COM
mented on anyOne's OrStOry. never,
said Porter, sat al the feet OF that gam
aliel as Guitesu did. Whether my man
mars and morals would have been i'm
proved is for others to say. Judging
from the diciple who is before you he
would scarcely seem to be the appropri-
ate instructor for youth. Proceeding TO
of malice, reading from the 1880
Porter dwelt upon the premedtation of
and 20 his logging the footsteps of the
vage bond the man TO be selected and in
spired by God? A cheat, q swindler. a
creature Of the vilest habits, q heather. |
is junior in the firm of Jesus Christ S |
Co. This murderer, tracking lis victim |
at night, st church, at the railroad sta
ton, everywhere, till the deed is done. |
Porter went on to gay that although the
President had died government IT'LL |
lived, and his successor was prosecuting
his assassin.
Yes, said Guiteau, aud Arthur en-
ployed you under misapprehensio1s.
Yes, said Judge Porter, under the mis-
apprehension that the law vas stronger
than Guiteau. Gutesu seems to think
that he Is stronger than the law.
l do not claim to be stronger than the
law, but God Almighty is stronger than
the law, said GuiteAu suddenly.
You will come before God Almighty
presently, said Porter solemnly. Until
then he would do we'll to refer but little
to him. He will feel soon what be has
never felt before, the divine pressure in
form of the hangman's moose. The
prisoner mad sworn on the stand
that he WAS predestined to remove the
President. be had forgotten to say that
he was also predestined to be hung for
it. Speaking again of his Interruptions
aid OF the promptings OF his family,
Porter said ne had supreme contempt for
all Guitesus; not the respectable ones,
but those who sympsthized with the as
sassin. Porter then took up the authori-
ties cited by the defense, pronouncing
them either msrepresented or bad law
from obscure benches. He Eneered at
the assertion of Scoville that the anti
qua,ed arguments of the prosecution
could not stand in the light of those of
the defense, which purported to De the
outgroWth of the enlightened age.
an sge CT Guiteau, when, q hungry
politician kills 8 President from pique
A p liticisn, continued Porter, who had
suct belief in the gullibility and de-
prSvit7 of mankind, that he supposed he
was doing men like General Grant, Mr..
Conkling, the greatest psrlismentarian,
and one of the foremost statesmen oil
his time, and even President Arthur, SER
vice, for which he would receive a
reward. Why, had General Grant, Mr..
Conkling or President Arthur been
standing at the door of the Baltimore and
Potomac Railroad, on the morning Of the
shooting, had they teen the assassin
creeping upon his victim, revolver in
hand, aiming at his back, an iron hand
would have descended which would have
paralyzed the assassin and saved the
President. The audience, carried out ofl
themselves by Porter's eloquence, ap-
plsuded vigorously, despite the cries of
order and silence. Even Guiteau wst
affected, but he managed TO say: Stall
warts are coming to my side every day.
7 GU ought to see some of the letters l
get. They are all coming to think with
me, and SO are all decent people.
Porter ran over the decisions Of the
tates courts. collected in the 81. LOUIS
LdiO Journal, introduced by the defense
and showed that the courts I'll
eighteen ststes held the view OF the pro-
,ecution, thst the insanity of the assassin
aust be proved by prepondrrnnce of
evidence. The federal courts unsni-
nously adhered to the same view,
while the couits of eight states
held feebly that the accused wss
entitled to the benefit Of Goubt.
Nothing like 1t: has been seen or heard
during the past nine weeks 10 the
Guitesu trial. AS Judge Porter reviewed
the conduct Of the prisoner and the con-
duct on the part of his counsel of his
cause in this court, the crime in all its
hideous ugliness WAS held up TO the de-
teststion of his hearers. The silence be-
came oppressive, and the presence of
svenging justice in the near future was
suggested with the force of conVictionj
that swept from the court room every
vestge Of that le7ity which hiss so long
danced attendance up0n every utterance
of the prisoner, and, Ike veil. ODscured