GUITEAU'S TKIAL. 



383 



ment. The doctors who first examined the 

 wound and attended the President throughout 

 his illness gave their testimony, and Dr. Bliss 

 was closely cross-examined in regard to the 

 mode of treatment. The joint of the vertebral 

 column which was perforated by the bullet 

 was exhibited in court, and the character of 

 the wound was fully explained, as well as the 

 details of its treatment by the physicians. The 

 part of the cross-examination intended to show 

 maltreatment was strenuously objected to by 

 the prosecution, and by agreement the doctors' 

 record was submitted to the counsel for the 

 defense. Dr. Bliss's last answer on the wit- 

 ness-stand was that the wound itself was nec- 

 essarily mortal. On the 18th of November 

 there was a somewhat exciting episode in an 

 attempt to shoot the prisoner while on his way 

 from the court to the jail in a van. A man on 

 horseback followed the vehicle for some dis- 

 tance, and then riding rapidly past fired a pistol 

 into it. The bullet grazed the prisoner's wrist, 

 but did no serious injury. The assailant es- 

 caped at the time, but a man named William 

 Jones was subsequently arrested, indicted for 

 the assault, and released on bail. 



The second week of the trial opened on the 

 21st, with a completion of the medical testimony 

 in regard to the injuries of the deceased, and 

 this concluded the presentation of the case on 

 behalf of the prosecution. The same day Mr. 

 Robinson withdrew from the case, in conse- 

 quence of discord between himself and the 

 other counsel, and the opening for the defense 

 was begun. An opportunity was first given 

 the prisoner to speak in his own behalf, but he 

 merely made a few remarks, saying that he 

 thought the true way for him was " to inter- 

 ject statements as the case proceeds." Mr. 

 Scoville's address, which was begun Novem- 

 ber 21st, and occupied the whole of the next 

 day and part of that which followed, was de- 

 voted to setting forth the defense of insanity, 

 on which alone he relied. He gave an ac- 

 count of the Guiteau family, with a view of 

 showing an hereditary taint, and detailed the 

 career of the prisoner, his early training, pe- 

 culiar religious views, experience as a member 

 of the Oneida Community, efforts as a prac- 

 ti^ing lawyer and a lecturer on theological sub- 

 jects, his projects for establishing newspapers, 

 and his extravagant political aspirations. He 

 claimed that all this tended to show insanity, 

 and would be duly proved. On the 23d of 

 November testimony for the defense began. 

 The proceedings were constantly interrupted 

 by the prisoner, who contradicted the wit- 

 nesses and criticised the course of counsel. 

 Intimations of gagging and of removal from 

 the court-room failed to repress him. On the 

 second day of the examination of witnesses 

 for the defense he read a statement in which 

 he said : 



I propose to have all the facts bearing on this ease 

 to go to the court and the jury, and to do this I have 

 been forced to interrupt counsel and witnesses who 



were mistaken as to supposed facts. I meant no dis- 

 courtesy to them or to any one. Any fact in my 

 career bearing on the question who fired that shot, the 

 Deity or myself, is of vital importance in this case, 

 and I propose that it go to the jury. Hence my per- 

 sonal, political, and theological record may be devel- 

 oped. I am glad that your Honor and the opposing 

 counsel ore disposed to give an historical review of my 

 life, and I ask the press and the public to do likewise. 

 All 1 want is absolute justice, and 1 shall not permit 

 any crooked work. I have 110 idea my counsel want 

 crooked work. They are often mistaken in supposed 

 facts, and I shall have to correct them. Last spring 

 certain newspapers in New York and Washington 

 were bitterly denouncing the President for breaking 

 up the Republican party by improper appointments. 

 I would like those newspapers to reprint those edi- 

 torials nowj and see how they would look and sound. 

 In attempting to remove the President, I only did 

 what the papers said ought to be done. Since July 

 2d they nave been deifying the President, and de- 

 nouncing me for doing the very thing they said ought 

 to be done. I want the newspapers and the doctors, 

 who actually killed the President, to share with me 

 the odium of his death. I never would have shot 

 him of my own volition, notwithstanding those news- 

 papers, ii I had not been commissioned by the Deity 

 to do the deed. But this fact does not relieve the 

 newspapers from the supposed disgrace of the Presi- 

 dent's removal. If he had been properly treated, he 

 would have been alive to-day. It has been published 

 that I am in fear of death. It is false. I have always 

 been a religious man and an active worker for God. 

 Some people think that I am a murderer, but the Lord 

 does not. for he inspired the act, as in the case of Abra- 

 ham and a score of other cases in the Bible. 



Several days were occupied with testimony 

 relating to the family and personal history of 

 the accused, which was intended to sustain the 

 theory of an hereditary tendency to insanity 

 and the progressive development of mental 

 aberration in the prisoner himself. He was 

 placed on the witness-stand to testify in his 

 own behalf on the 29th of November, and ex- 

 amined for four days. Before he began his 

 testimony, several of his letters to different 

 members of his family were read and put in 

 evidence. The prisoner, in response to ques- 

 tions of his counsel, gave a detailed account of 

 his own recollection of incidents in his past- 

 life, his early training, religious views, expe- 

 rience as a member of the Oneida Community, 

 which he was induced to join by his father, 

 and his subsequent efforts as a lecturer, a law- 

 yer, and a politician. He also gave an account 

 of bis conception of the idea of removing the 

 President in order to heal the breach in the 

 Eepublican party and save the nation from 

 peril, claiming to have acted under inspiration 

 and divine "pressure." He was subjected to 

 a severe cross-examination, under which he 

 was sometimes rather violent in his language 

 and gesticulations, but generally very skillful 

 in adhering to his theory of the crime, and in 

 meeting the advances of the questioning coun- 

 sel. The purpose of the prosecution was to 

 show that his "conception," as he called it, 

 followed closely upon his final disappointment 

 in his quest for office, and was accompanied by 

 indications of a desire for revenge ; also that a 

 desire for notoriety entered into his motives. 

 The testimony of the accused was concluded 



