The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1882-01-23
The Assassin's Maudlin Plea in
His Own Defence.
IT FAILS TO PRODUCE THE ANTICI
PATED EFFECT.
Judge Porter to Begin His Closing Ar.
gument for the Prosecution To-day.

dressed men and women, representatives OF
every circle of Washington life, senators, mem
bers, guards, judges and their wives and
daughters, and the leaders of the untitled
throng who occupied every inch of space in
the dark and damp court room this stormy
morning, never saw before, nor will see again,
the parallel to the scene then before them. The
murderer of the President, surrounded by his
body guard, harangued, for two hours, the ju-
ry which has listened for so many weeks to
testimony adduced to prove his insanity. The
"imbecile" of Scoyille, the ''moral monstrosi-
ty" of Spitzka, the "moral lunatic'' of his
brother and sister, had free course to say what
he chose about his terrible Decd his victim
and himself. In the ranting, melo-dramatic
tones of the crushed tragediaE, the assassin
read the rehash of his remarks during the tri-
al, which he calls his speech, enlivening what
would otherwise have been a very monotonous
performance by some absurdly grotesque act
ing, at which it was impossible not to laugh,
despite the solemnity of the occasion. His af-
fectations were exquisitely ridiculous and his
tears were not wet, his "feeling tones" lacked
feeling" his laughter was mournful rather
than mirthful, and his "eloquence'' recalled
burlesque efforts of some famous minstrel ora
tors. 1t was strange scene, so strange that it
seemed like part of troubled dream, 1t
would have been to man entirely unacquaint-
ed with the circumstances a sane bedlam, and
he might have found it difficult to distinguish
the sane from the insane. To those who sat in
would have been surprised if a curtain had
fallen at the close of the principal actors per-
formance, while, the gas being turned out and
the light Of day admitted, an orchestra played
a lively finale. AS the men and women who
had witnessed the fantastic performance stood
in the rain on the steps of the east wing
awaiting the 'van," which was to convey the
inspired to his lodgings at the JAIL" more
than one said: "We would have seen nothing
more interesting, had we gone to Lawrence
Drrr 80 &..Asw
generally believed, had the effect desired by
the defence.
Itcertainly increases the doubt existing in
the minds of many who have been constant
attendants at the trial, as to the mans sanity,
and the same effect is believed to have been
agreed that nothing that they could have said
in years talk would have been as effective
with the jury as the speech of their client was
to-day. Corkhill and Davidge do not agree
with their opponents They maintain that
the Alterations, the artifciallties, the STACEY
effects of the assassin were SO palpably trans
parent, that the jury. as well as everybody
else, looked through them with ease at the
shrewd rogue behind it all. Judge Porter,
whose physician forbade his appearance in
court to-day, but who will be at the bar bright
and early Monday morning, said tonight:
"The venomous viper was simply acting out
the part he assumed when the case came on
for trial. The rascal's mock heroics must
have been SO transparent to every man of COM
mon sense as to require little reference from
me. However, shall advert to them.'' He
will advert to them in mastery passage in
speech such as is rarely delivered in these later
days in criminal courts. Judge Porter's speech
will, of course, close the case. 1t may occupy
two, perhaps even three, days. No time will
be, however, unnecessarily employed, and
every blow will tell. Despite his ill-health,
the white-haired jurist has been at work on
which Il m ha Of arnia pf
his career, ever since he last appeared in court.
He will have larger audiences than have yet
been seen in the court room.
At 10 O'clock Judge Cox and Guiteau came
in, amid the bowling of crowd outside, who
could not get in. Gulteau, in the witness
stand, sat down, saying, 81 am going to sit
down because l can talk better. am not
afraid of being shot; The shooting business is
on the decline" being seated, with his
guards behind him, he opened up his manu-
script and began to read his preface. By this
time the crowd outside had been cleared
away by the police, and unmolested, the as
sassin, in professional tone, read what he had
written as preface to his speech. His man
ner was that of a ranting, second-ra6e actor,
at times, and at others was that of everyday
life: He began: "The prosecution asks you
to hang me as a murderer. My counsel
think i should be acquitted as lunatic, and
/ presume you think SO too / certainly was a
lunatic on July I'd, when 1 fred on the Presi-
dent. The American people, generally, think
was; presume you think was, Can you
imagine anything more insane than my going
to that depot and shooting the President? You
are here to say whether was sane or insane at
the moment the shot was fred. You have
nothing to do with my condition before or
since that shot was fired. You must say by
your verdict, sane or insane at the moment
my sanity at the moment, you must
give me the benefit of the doubt
and acquit. That is, if you have any doubt
whether I fred that shot of my own accord or
as the agent of the Deity. If fred it on my
own accord, was sane; if fred it supposing
myself the agent of the Deity, was insane
and your duty is to acquit. This is the law as
governs the recent decision of the New York
Court of Appeals. 1t revolutionizes the old
rule, and is a grand step forward for the law
of insanity. 1t is worthy of this age of rail-
roads, electricity and telephones, and it well
comes from the progressive State Of New York.
have no hesitation in saying that it is spe-
cial providence in my favor. wish this
court and jury to SO consider it. Some of the
best people of the nation think me the
greatest man of this age, and this
feeling is growing. They believe in my in
spiration, and that Providence and / really
saved the nation another war. My speech, set
ting forth in detail the defence was telegraph
ed Sunday to all the leading papers. and pub
ished Monday morning, and now am allowed
W HIS uonor 10 dellVer IL 10 YOU. with
thanks to the press, "the great engine which
always brings down its work. to his counsel
and relatives, commencing Scoville to the
Northwest as great and good lawyer; to the
court and to the jury; to the marshal and his
associates, and to the warden and his associates
he proceeded to read from the New York Her
aid of Monday his speech, which he exhibited
to the jury, pointing particularly to the fact
that it covered page and was telegraphed in
full. Then he resumed his seat and began, in
theatrical tones, to read the curious production
which the reading world has pondered over for
a week. He soon asked for lamp and was
given that of the stenographers. He stopped
again in few moments to say that he found
difficulty iu reading his speech. Wilson Gui-
teau handed up pair of spectacles, which he
put on and then off, saying that he could read
better without them. He stuck pretty closely
to the original tone of his speech. By way of
emphasis he repeated the statements he con-
sidered most important. leaving his paper to
look the jury in the face and speaking very
earnestly. Sometimes he added sentence or
two by way of addition. Once he broke down
quite unexpectedly, He was speaking of his
possible death and. his tongue failing, he
buried his face in his hands, in which was
cambria handkerchief, and apparently burst
into tears. This, the first exhibition of natural
feeling seen in him since he first came into
court, seemed to be clever piece of stage eff
feet. He raised his eyes from dry handker-
Cilol diulOoo inniOuidtoly duu odiu pIOuulys
"But expect to be President yet" There
was another ultra dramatic scene when he
arose and described to the jury the attempt of
Jones to "shoot me to the heart" He showed
them the bullet-hple in his coat sleeve and de-
scribed his sensation when the bullet whizzed
through tho van. He laid great emphasis on
every other sentence in the preliminary part OF
his speech. Referring 10 Eorkhill's inyestiga-
ton into his past life, lie SAID that he owed
about $1,000 in all. He understood thai Cork
hill owed ten times as much. This elected the
first iangh of the morning from his audience.
who watched the little head just visible above
the witness stand, on whose broad bar stood
the burning lamp. He dwelt with special
JUNCTION on every reference to the Deity
and TO himself. He said, very proudly, that
as the Lords partner he might walk to-day all
over New York and Washington without dan
ger. why" be said, n esgld walk right
out of that door now without harna.N At this
there was an incredulous SMILE A moment
before he had all but trembled as Judge Wylie
and ex-Judge Advocate General Dunn and
wife passed through the crowd of policemen
and congressman behind him. Perhaps the
most interesting passage ip the speech was the
paraphrase of Brutus' speech to the Roman
populace, which he delivered with effect. The
impression parts he repeated in a low but dis
tnct tone. which he endeayored to render
In the most natural manner imag-
Unable Guiteau explained that the reason he
did not take Garfield away two weeks before
he did was because he had no authority to re-