The evening light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1881-1883, 1882-01-17

| Jul lSOICllOll W ny tiIo StaSC. uAS punt
will be pressed, If Unnecessary, in arrest
Of judgement, but l expect you, gen.
tlemen of the jury, to justify the act.
You are here to vindicate my inspira-
ton; you are here to say that l never
would have shot the president on my
own personal account. This is literal
truth, and now propose to
call your attention to other acts
of the Deity confirming my
inspiration. / went to the Baltimore
and Potomac depot on the and of July,
and shot the president twice, only one
shot taking effect. would not do it
again for one million dollars. 1t was
the most insane, foolhardy act imagin-
able. No one but a mailman could
have done it; but I would have done
it any time after June if had known
I was to be shot dead the next mo-
ment. had no power to prevent it
my free agency was destroyed. was
under duress, aid in law anyone under
duress is not responsible for his acts.
On this ground I ask you to acquit me.
,"How do we know you were under
duress! 2" My word for it. No one
else could know this but the Deity and
me. I know 1.-THE Deity knows it;
and He has taken special pains thus
far to protect me. If it be true, abso-
lutely, that l, by the will of Providence,
saved the nation, why should not be
a hero, and the equal of Washington
and General Grant! Many people are
beginning to see that l have saved the
nation. This trial has developed my mo-
tive and inspiration, and to-day the peo-
pie consider me patriot and great man.
The prosecution have made a great
flourish with their insane experts. The
only insanity in this case is what these ex-
perts call transitory mania. e., the
Abraham style. There are thirty-eight
cases ofAbrahamic insanity in the bible,
| i. e., of illegal killing, resulting from the
possession of transitory mania by
divine authority. If a single man on
this jury has any doubts as to whether
I fired the shot on my personal account
or as the agent of the Deity, he is
bound, under the law, to give me the
benefit of the doubt and acquit me.
The prosecution have attempted to
show by their paid experts that I was
not suffering from transitory mania at
the time l fired on the president, but
what do they know about its Abso-
lutely nothing. If l had plenty money
I could get fifty reputable experts to
swear was insane, absolutely, at the
time. I take no stock in the shape of
head and hang of the tongue or in the
opinion of experts. On the other side
of the case, leave my justification to
God and the American people, and to-
day, six months after the shot was fired,
the Deity has repeatedly confirmed the
act, as indicated in my experience and
set forth in this speech; and the Amer
lean people are satisfied to let this
prosecution 60 by default; and that's
the way you will probably let it 60.
Guiteau tn. n quotes, and in extenua-
ton, number of letters which he claims
to have been received from the Amerl-
can people, approving his act and gives
extracts from the prayers of a number
of prominent clergymen, after Gar.
fields death, to show that in their
opinion it was Gods will that he should
die. The address closes with an
eulogy on Justice Cox, as follows.
l am satisfied with your honor's pro-
posed instructions, but l would humbly
suggest that the jury be charged that
if they believe it was right for me to
remove the president, because l had
special divine authority for so doing,
they will acquit on the ground that I
was suffering from transitory mania.
Your honor has suggested that mania,
in your exposition of law of jurisdiction
in this base; it may be very different
from what some of the leading Wash
ington lawyers say it is. N
Should it be necessary to have your
honor pass finally on this issue, l ex-
pect we shall find plenty of authority
to show that your honor has no juris-
diction. l am also of the opinion that
the court in banc will so decide if nec-
essary, but now, gentlemen, 1 must
close. Two months ago you left your
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