Evening star., 1932-01-31
Fifty Years Ago
In The Star

An extra edition Of The Star of Jan
uary 25, 1882. announced that the Jury
Guilty as m Te.urned In9 GosaT 3ePdlet Gd5s "SG o
Indicted" Tga guilty +ria1 as baaon indicted, d.
Monday, November IA, and lasted two
days more than ten weeks. A further
edition of The Star of that date thus
describes the final scene:
AT 5:35 the prisoner was brought
back to the courtroom and it was whis
pered that the jury had agreed. A minute
later Judge Cox appeared and the
court was called to order. Almost
simultaneously the jury filed in and
the roll of jurors was called by the
clerk. When this ceremony was over
the clerk asked the usual question:
Gentlemen of the jury, have you agreed
upon verdict?'
We have saio Foreman Hamlin.
Guilty as indicted?' asked the
clerk
Guilty as indicted
"If the court please said Mr.
Scoville. but he was interrupted by
the clerk, who proceeded, saying:
Gentlemen of the jury, hear the
verdict as rendered. Your foreman
sdyo CIIaG yOu 44Ild tlle ueleIIudIlI,
Charles J. Guiteau, guilty as indicted
So say you alp
$50 say We ALL replied the jury
"'If the court please said Mr. SEQ
Vile I desire to have the jury polled
The clerk then polIed the jury, in the
usual form. The prisoner then Shout
ed from the dock, My blood will be on
the head of that iury'
Mr.. Scoville. rising said he de-
sired to file motion for new trial
Judge Cox said he had four days in
which to file such a motion.
God will avenge this outrage,
shouted the prisoner"
The following day, January &c, 1882,
The Star thus editorially summarized
n, u,. the Guiteau case:
The VerdlCt The trial of the
Approved. assassin. Guiteau has
common sense judgment of the people
anticipated, in a verdict of Guilty as
indicted and it is safe to say that a
verdict never met with more general
approval. AS a matter of course the
end of the legal proceedings has not
yet been reached but the worst is
probably over. The defense will un-
doubtedly exhaust every means to save
the assassin from the galloWs, but it is
not likely that their efforts will &C
compliSh more than that delay which
will be necessary to fair hearing OF
the points they raise. Nobody be-
lieves that new trial will be granted.
Indeed. there is substantially nothing
The court went to the extreme Of
leniency with the prisoner, apparently
with the purpose of avoiding even a
reasonable preteXt for the setting aside
of the trial.
THE verdict of the Jury has had
the effect of satisfying doubling minds
as to Guiteou's sanity, and the defense
rested their case, upon this one point.
The -blooded murder of the PreSi-
dent was admitted. That the act was
premeditated and coolly planned was
admitted, and the entire defense was
based upon the alleged unsoundnesS
of the assaSsin's mind. The jury had no
side issues or legal technicalities and
constructions to embarraSS them. Their
minds had but to be fixed from the first
upon this one single issue. The assassin
was before them daily, giving them op-
portunity to study his character, pecull-
arities or eccentricities, If he possessed
any, and above all his mental condi-
ton in the light of the evidence and
the record of his past life. The de-
fense and the prisoner acknowledged
ON numerous occasions the intelligence,
capacity and attention of the jury.
1.-THE judges charge to the jury was
clear, comprehensive and eminently
fair to the prisoner. He declared that
the Jury must find the prisoner guilty
of murder or acquit him. as an IRE
sponsibly insane man could not COM
nit murder AS insanity is the ex-
| ception to the rule, every man is pre-
sumed to be sane and responsible for
his acts until the contrary was shown
! and the burden of overthrowing this
presumption devolved upon the defense
THE case thus went to the jury as
| it had been made by the defense
cleared of everything that could en-
barrass or confuse, and the verdict
was entirely in accordance with that
already rendered by the American
public. Aside from the feelings of con-
sideration for the distinguished victim
and of indignation at his cowardlJ
| murder, there was feeling that 6
failure to convict would establish 6
most dangerous precedent for the In
sanity plea" -