Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1882-01-14
Ssuiseau and EEis Defense.

the prisoner, and as to his defense, which ought
not soon to be forgotten.
FIRSr,-As TO THE PRISONER.
Whatever the verdict of the jury may be. he
stands forth in the full view of the world as the
supreme scoundrel." By his own evidence. by
the known facts of his history, by the evidence
of the prosecution, and by his conduct, claims
and words during the trial he is seen to DE
A liar.
perurer.
thief
A blackmailer.
A swndier.
An aduteTer.
A murderer.
A blasphemer who charges his crime to
the inspiration OF God.
A disobedent man from his youth up, and
''to every good work reprobate."
Other crimes and forms of wickedneSs could
probably be found in his record. Not often in
human history has a man appeared in whose
record so many CONSPICUOUS forms OF Wickedness
have found expression. Yet the most intelli-
gent and scientific expert in insanity find him
sane. The verdict of intelligent observers.
among the common people, is that he is sane. IL
sane, how shall we account for his phenomenal
GepFaYty? Are we not face to face in his case
with the old Bible problem Of the origin of sin
and evil? The beloved apostle of Christ wrote
concerning the first murderer that he .'aras of
the wheat and the tares. recognized two kinds
or seeds OF men, one kind-the children of the
hin@dOm"-whose spiritual fatherfood was from
God; and another kind-''the children of the
wicked one"-whose spiritual fatherhood was
from the devil These two seeds may be called
respectively terms analogous to the
seed-held and the wheat and tares a the parable
-1he0plytes aid POneTOphytes, E., God
planted and Devil-planted from the Greek
words Theos-God, Po'aeros-the evil one. and
ltnd
says Christ. (which my Heavenly Father hath
not planted, shall be rooted up" referring plainly
to two seeds, two kinds of plants in the form of
men. Paul came in contact with one of these
POne1of1ftyteS in ''Elymas, the Sorcerer" and did
not hesitate to call him not only IAN enemy
OF all righteousness" but ''sofa of the deca"
May it not be a reasonable conclusion, and one
In harmony with the fundamental facts of his
career. that this last great murderer
whose deed shocked the hearts of all the
world. and who to-day stands forth in the view
OF ell the world as the most heaTtiess and de
PRAYED of criminalS-is also a Pona0pl{te, and
son of " that wicked one" who twas a MUIR
derer from the beginning?" Is he not type of
That class of lncorrigible ones who have mo ear
Tor the glad tidings OF God, into whose hearts
the truth and mercy and love of God find no
entrance; who throughout their whole career
are vessels of wrath" and destined to be
I" taken and desuOyed:" The Bible recognizes
such class. Human observation has recoc-
mad such class. There is among criminals
certain prOpOl ZION of incorrigible ones whom
no reforming influences can reach or change
there is also among the great masses of men q
certain proportion OF individuals whose hearts
the influences of the Holy Spirit, the truth and
love and righteousness of Christ, Nicer reach and
change They may have intellectual perceptions
OF these things ust as an incoITigibie criminal
may have an intellectual perception Of g. pure
and innocent lfe-but they have no henyf dis
position to yield themselves to them and take
hold OF them with their life. The proportion of.
lncorigible criminals is said not to be large
one; 1t is to be hoped that the proportion Of the
1ncouigibiy wicked class, in these late ages. is
not large one. In the early ares Of the world,
ana before the Eruption OF evil had been met
ana conquered by Christ, the proportion accord
ING TO tue Bible. was sometimes very large
whole natiOns-as the AInalekites-had become
repiobate, or Of the evil seed. With every adj
Vancing Christian year ana century, the proper
tl0n has. no doubt, grown less. Nevertheless
the seed still exists and from time to time its
representatives stand forth cOnSpicuously in all
11eir hideQusness and epravity. as the murderer
Oh Garneid stands to-day. Crime in some
or all It's forms is, perhaps, generally
leading expression of theirs life-not al
ways. Sometimes they pass through an
earth career Of q more subtitle and inconspicu-
Gus character, and are simply rteiiaans of the
spirit OF WlckedncSS They do not perform the
overt acts OF crime or evil themselves, but they
INSPIRE or lGcite others to do them. Wherever
they go they are sources and distributors of dis
cora or crime, or perhaps of disease and death
they are disOrganiZers In the murderer of
Garfield both characteristics seem to be COM
bined. In his career We see, on the one hand
an inOrdInate craving for supreme notOriety and
conSplcuousness, which after seeking its goal
through many channels, finally reaches it by the
murder OF the head of great nation. On the
other hand, very important feature of his
career is found in a great variety Of compara-
lively secret and incOnspicuous movements
lie is very quiet and cat-like in his personal
movements; he Is fond of travelling from place
TO place; fond of seeking, privately, the recog-
milton and acquaintance Of prominent men, He
docs not secure their friendship or confidence
thefe Is nothing in him to attract that-but he
follows them. seeks the places where they
congregate. and confriyes in some way to speak
to them. to touch them and circulate among
them. All the time be feels himsefto be greater
than any Of them-to be the supreme, central man
Digger than Grant, greater than Conkling
ard rs the man who made Garfield President
ignobie and incapable in the estimation of other
men. IN his own estimation he is the peer of the
greatest, the leader OF leaders Why does he
thus feel and think OF himself? It is not simply
because OF his natural mental endowment his
twisted head and his great bump of self-esteem
IL is primarily because he is a medium. He rep
resents. acts for and is a distributor of the
spiritual power and magnetism of Hin. ''that
OppOseth and eXalteth himself against all that is
called God, or that is worshipped; so that he
stitch in the temple Of God setting
himself forth as God" AS a medium of this
supreme egotist. he went about among the re-
publican leaders In New York in 1880. As his
medium he haunted the President at the White
House, Blaine in the State department, and
Washington generally, all last spring How
much his presence and occult mediumship Of
evil had to do with originating and intensifying
the fight Of factions in the republican party,
alter Garfield was elected, perhaps can never be
known till the day of Judgment. But to stu
dents OF the relation of outward events and
outward human movements to the spiritual
world and to spiritual causes. there are some
significant pointings to Guteau as an Internal
medium in that quarrel. Certainly he took adj
vantage of the existence of that quarrel to
achieve his lifelong purpose of worldwide
notorety in the killing of the President Such
an act demanded a foreground Of spiritual
preparation and cooperating spiritual manipu-
latlons. The circumstances out of which that
act was 10 leap like shaft Of internal fame had
TO be prepared. And with Guiteau as one of
the important enthusiastically obscure and
insignificant though he may have seemed-his
master was preparing those circumstances dur
ing many previous months to the I'd of July.
The public will do well to take the prisoner at
bis word and study the 'spiritology' Of his
case. In dealing with him the court and the
American people are dealing with more than a
mere human persOrality-they are dealing with
si4 u.tz i a.