The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1882-01-20
THE GUETEAU TRIAL.

delivered himself Of the following speech
ana with pompo1s effort ct oratoriesl ef-
Iecs. Inc decision Of the New York
court OF appeals comes with So nuch
force At the present moment that I desire
70 GAIL attention 10 il. Il comes with
great grace from tse Empire, from that
grand old state of tbs republic. the state
mat sends forth the brains, the money
ana the commercs Of the nation. It is =
great sep forward of the Law OF insanity.
hitherto the law has been that the bur-
den OF the proof WAS on the defendant,
but the court of appeals with sarnd mag
nsnimlty says that the burden Of proof
Is on the prosecution TO prove that the
man not only committed the act, bat also
that he was sane ct the tine he eommi-
ted 1t. In the name of justice and in the
| name OF the American people. sad in
the name of the American judiciary I
desire to thank those gentlemen Of the
court Of appeals Of the state of New
York.
Scovllle resumed his argument. read
ing from the evidence of several wit
neesss who were st the depot and saw
the shooting and the subsequent arrest of
euitean, his obJect being 10 shcw the
prisoner VISA perfectly calm and cool and
IN condition of nerves and intellect at
variance with the hypothesis of sanity
under such circum stances.
Scoville sgain Complained that the
prosecution had failed TO cali Detective
| AeElf-esh to the stand, whose evidence
would have been Of service to the pris-
oner.
Guiteau-"They came to my cell and
tried 10 draw me out. I talked with
them little and told them about the
Deity and my Inspiration, and now they
suppress all that evidence. That shows
the iniquity oftheir prosecution, and God
Almighty will curse every one IN this
prosecution in my opinion" After a
short pause the prisoner added: That
reminds me TO say that Judge Porter has
been pretending 10 be sick for two days.
1 hope it will be proyidential to keep him
sick. L hope the Lord will take him
down below quick, and then send for
Corkhill."
AS Scoyille proceeded Corkhiil made
| frequent, and as the speaker ev identity
thought, sighting comments, until
finally, becoming irritated, he turned
upon the prosecuting attorney and de-
| nounced in scsthing terms his unfair
ness in the matter Of producing the evil
| dence of mutilated letter written by the
prisoner and Intercepted by Corkhill.
Guiteau-'1t was friendly alusion
to President Arthur that he cut out, the
mean, dirty whelp."
ScoVille had a running fire with the
prosecution as his speech progressed.
His motive was not to shield toe Guiteau
family, but to save the American nation
and judiciary from the disgrace of hGrE-
| ing an insane man. He denounced Cork
hill for gratuitously insulting DR.. North
by asking if he was ever arrested for
crime.
Corkhill stated that he hius If had
tried North in this court.
Recess.
After recess Scoviile continued his re-
view at the evidence, and claimed that
the prisoner had been free. frank and
outspoken in all tAings; that he had con-
vereed at the Jail with everyone the pro-
seeution sent there, and always without
| reserve; and had he been sane and play
iHg part he would not have done so.
Commenting upoR, as he claims, absence
Of motive on Guitesu's part, Scovills said
you cannot find an instance in history;
you cannot suppose q case where q man
30 years of age. who has lever before
committed . crime, whs hss Aavsr fer an
hour associated with criminals or bad
people; who, on the contrary, has EclH-
ally sought society, aot only Of The bet or
class Of people. bat Christian people
You cannot conceive of such 8 mans
committing such crime without mo-
live; nothing tut the theery Of insanity
can possibly account for such al act IS
Guiteau's. Scoville then discussed the
mpiion that Guitsau might have
bees Aetustsd by q desire for revenge,
and argued the improbability Of such an
assumption from the lack Of any ground
for il-will existing on Guiteau's part; it
was against Secretary Blaine: and nc
csrding to inexplicable laws Of mind it
would have been executed against him.
There cannot possibly be shown. said
Scoville, any ill-will on his part toward
President Garfield.
Colonel Co.khill-Tc seem to forget
be killed hin.
Without noticing this comment, SEQ
vile next took up the hypothesis that
crime was committed from an over
towering desire for notoriety, and
claimed that history did not point out
case where such q crime was Gem united
purely and simply from such 3 motive;
and that il was incompatible with reason
and impossible for the human mind to
conceive such Q motive % sufficient 70
induce any sane man to commit such s
crime. That he 4 i1ked the President as
a disappointed Office seeker, is more than
improbable, said Sooville, for had he
brooded over some wrong of this kind,
something Of his disappointment would
have leaked out He would have said
something in his intercourse with other
people indicating his disappointment or
bad temper on the subject. Nothing
would have been more natural in the in
terval before he made up his mind to kill
the President.
Guiteau-Oh. that is all 51sh about
nay being a disappointed Office seeker:
After the first of June my whole mind
was on the political situation, and l
would not have taken cabinet position
had it been offered me. Looking up
from bis paper . few minutes later,
Guiteau called cut with satisfied air:
Porter ia sick, 1 guess the LORD is attend
ing to him.
Scovills alluded to the tsunt of the
prost cution exparts that the defense had
gon, back on them, and said in explana-
ion when he reached Washington he
lid OF koow the name Of single ex.
pert; he knew Guiteau was crazy, but
how to show it 10 the country. and to