Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-10-26
Prest. Garfield's Assassin.
AS He Appeared to a Brooklyn Man,Who Had Business
Dealings With Him.


ing his patent Then he would settle
the false claim for whatever he could
get--the amount Of the victims pile
! from 81 to S25. OF course, | did not
| Know this when he was in our Office.
About this time one OF HIS escapades
was In the matter OF Winston against
| English, English was the editor of an
| Insurance paper. and Winston was the
| president OF the Mutual Life Insurance
! company. English made an attack on
the Mutual Life and Winston, and the
latter sued him for criminal libel. Eng.
lish went 10 Ludlow street jail. and
Guiteau procured $500 from him TO bail
him out.
He secured the bail but 1t turned
out afterward 10 be a straw bond, and
English sued him for the $500. Gull
teau defended on the ground that, when
he agreed To procure bail, he did not
agree TO furnish sureties who were
sound. or course, he was beaten.
There was another proceeding
against Guiteau, while he was in my
sight, II was brought by a man who
had formerly been his client. Guteau
had agreed to collect claim. he TO re-
ceive half.
He collected some money, but gave
none to his client, who sued, and he
defended on the ground that what he
had collected was his share, and his
client could have no Interest In IL. The
court naturally took another view Ui
the matter.
He terminated his stay In our Office
by reason OF a row that he had with me
that, ] think, admirably illustrated the
egotism OF the man. ! was alone with
him In the office one afternoon when
observed him In Mr. Halves room lock-
Ing the door of the safe.
u went In and getting between him
and the door demanded the safe key,
which he refused 10 give me on the
ground that he had papers in the safe,
and did not care TO intrust the key TO
any other person. | told him I would
take the key from him by force. He
would not give II up, and so we had
scuiiie, and | took the key from his
pocket, tearing the pocket little In
the operation.
He complained about me In the
morning, but told my side of the story,
and Mr.. Halves concluded that he had
better lose a bad tenant than a good
clerk. SO Guiteau went.
Ellis papers that were in the safe
were Of no consequence, and he had
begged permission of Mr., Halves TO de-
post them there yet he made them an
excuse for claiming TO own the whole
concern.
"Guiteau was an active. Jealous man,
very busy about the smallest things,
hustling for living. What ] had
against him were apparently triflas and
when went to Washington to tell what
| knew about him on his trial | heard
200 witnesses whose knowledge was like
my own. They accused him OF innumer-
able trifiing frauds,
Taken In detail these affairs seemed
almost too small 10 consider but they
made up an aggregate that justified the
declaration Of so many that he was the
wlckedest man they ever met and that
he seemed to study to find out what
was the wckedest and meanest thing
he could do and then go and do It,.
zone very respectable witness swore
that seven years before the shooting Of
Garfield he had heard Guteau say that
II he could not win fame any other way
he would attract the attention Of the
whole world to himself by killing some
great man.
ness most violently and threatened TO
indct him for perjury and met him
at q Washington hotel on the night af-
ter he had given his testimony and
found him feeling very unhappy. He
said that he knew his story sounded
unlikely, but nevertheless It was true
Gulteau had really made the declara-
ton he attributed TO him.
No h.ltaNa1 tho ttftnaGQ a the
time. but in few days man who had
formerly been associated with him
wrote to say that he was present and
remembered perfectly when Gulteau
made the declaration. This man was
brought on to Washington and made
his declaration so that there were two
responsible witnesses who swore that
seven years before Guiteau assassin
ated Garfield he had made up his mind
to kill some great man II he could not
other manner.
81 have always Insisted that Guiteau
was not crazy, but morbid and abnor-
mally bad man. He had a sort OF NAL
formation OF the mind an intensely
evil disposition. He hated everything
good, despIsed everything high and re-
sented the lifting Of any man above
him. But he was sane according 20
the legal definition. He knew perfectly
the nature and quality OF his act and
the difference between right and wrong,
at the time that Guiteau shot Gar
field he had not a sou In the world He
had lost his little place in the secretary
OF states office and could not get back.
"He was n vagabond.
'The hour had struck for him TO carry
out his idea OF killing some great man.
80 he shot Garfield and having
failed OF winning the applause for which
he was hungry, gained instead the uni
versal execration which suited him as
well and in which he reveled for
months. "-Sydney Reid In Brooklyn
Citizen.