THE 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 * F 
 
Prvm a r/totoyraptt l>y C. if. BM, Washington, V. C Cupyrighted. 
 
COMPLETE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 LIFE-^TRIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES JULIUS GUITEAU, 
 
 ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 A GRAPHIC SKETCH OF HIS ERRATIC CAREER AS DETAILED (EX 
 PRESSLY FOR THIS WORK) BY HIS FORMER WIFE, MRS. 
 DUNMIRE; ALSO, AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY, AS DIC 
 TATED BY HIMSELF SINCE THE SHOOTING. 
 
 AND 
 
 A CAREFULLY PREPARED HISTORY OF THE TRIAL, IN MANY RE 
 SPECTS THE MOST REMARKABLE OF THE PRESENT CENTURY, 
 GIVING ALL THE MOST IMPORTANT AND INTERESTING POR 
 TIONS OF THE TESTIMONY, THE STARTLING INTERRUP 
 TIONS BY THE PRISONER, INCIDENTS, ARGUMENTS OF 
 COUNSEL, CHARGE BY THE JUDGE, SENTENCE, 
 &c., &c.. AS REPORTED AND EDITED 
 
 BY H. G. AND C. J. HAYES, 
 
 Special Stenographic Reporters for the N. Y. Associated Press. 
 
 AMPLY ILLUSTRATED. 
 
 HUBBARD BROS., PUBLISHERS: 
 
 PHILADELPHIA, BOSTON, CHICAGO, CINCINNATI, ATLANTA, KANSAS CITY. 
 
 A. L. BANCROFT & Co., SAN FRANCISCO, JOHN BURNS, 
 
 ST. Louis, Mo. 
 
COPYRU^.HTEI), l882. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 SELDOM has the civilized world been so startled as by the 
 unparalleled crime committed by Charles Julius Guiteau, the 
 assassin of the late honored and beloved President of the 
 United States, Jair.es Abram Garfield. Seldom has a trial 
 been anticipated with such wide-spread interest; and when 
 jn progress, seldom has a trial had so many strange incidents, 
 so marvelously blending the farce with the tragedy, as this 
 trial of Garfield s murderer. 
 
 The history of Guiteau s wild and wicked career, his politi 
 cal and religious freaks, his various business ventures ; the 
 history of his last most startling crime ; the investigation of 
 experts as to his sanity or insanity; his unprecedented de 
 portment while on trial ; his comments, questions, answers, 
 repartees and denunciations of judge, jury, witnesses and 
 lawyers ; these and kindred matters stamp this trial as one of 
 the most remarkable in the history of the world. It is full 
 of absorbing interest, and every lover of our murdered Presi 
 dent must desire to read it. 
 
 Because of these facts, the Publishers of this volume have 
 gone to great expense to secure the services of Mrs. Annie J. 
 Dunmire, the divorced wife of the criminal, of Mr. Edmund 
 A. Bailey and the authorized stenographic reporters in order 
 to furnish the official and most complete record of the whole 
 matter that will be offered to an interested and expectant 
 public. 
 
 This is the only work for which Guiteau s former wife has 
 given a full account of this man as she knew him. It is also 
 the only one containing his autobiography as given in jail to 
 
 (v) 
 
 96fi94 
 
v | PREFACE. 
 
 the Government stenographer ; and the only account of the 
 trial which has been edited by the special stenographers of 
 the Associated Press, right from the records taken by them 
 on the spot as they occurred. 
 
 This trial is that of the assassin of President Garfield, and 
 it reveals the true character of the assassin, and the subtle mo 
 tives that actuated him in committing that horrible deed of 
 blood. This trial has cost the Government an immense sum, 
 possibly two hundred thousand dollars, and in many other 
 respects it is so remarkable that it will assume in history a 
 dignity infinitely above ordinary murder trials. 
 
 This trial developes the insanity question as it has never 
 before been opened. Insanity is one of the most intricate, 
 delicate and troublesome questions known to jurisprudence, 
 and is frequently and often successfully set up as a defense 
 to clear wicked men of great crime. There has been brought 
 out in this trial the ablest expert testimony in the land re 
 garding the nice shadings and obscure workings of insanity 
 and the peculiar plea of "Divine inspiration." 
 
 This trial teaches a great lesson. The striking contrast 
 between Guiteau and Garfield, the assassin and his victim; 
 the immense distance between the greatest earthly glory and 
 the degradation of the gallows. The value of right principles, 
 honesty and industry, in contrast with indolence, vanity and 
 deceit as the. main -springs of action ; are some of the great 
 lessons forcibly presented in this " Life, Autobiography and 
 Trial of Guiteau." 
 
 For these reasons, as well as to meet the popular demand, 
 this volume is confidently sent forth by 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PART FIRST. 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF GUITEAU, . . . 17 
 
 PACK 
 
 PART SECOND. 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF GUITEAU, . i, . . . ~v 67 
 
 PART THIRD. 
 
 TRIAL OF GUITEAU, . . . . ~ ^ 139 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Introductory, . . . . . . . % . 141 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Indictment and Pica, . . . . 149 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Impaneling a Jury, . . . . . . .158 
 
 (vii) 
 
Viii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 The Prosecution, 169 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 The Defense, . . . . . . . . . 220 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Rebutting Testimony, etc., . 3 22 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Arguments of Counsel, etc. ..... 386 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 Charge to the Jury, etc., . ... 497 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 The Finding of the Jury, 5 T 7 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Portrait of Guiteau, 
 The Assassin in His C;.-ll, 
 Guiteau in 1869, . 
 Guiteau s Wife in 1869, . 
 Portrait cf Garfield, 
 
 George M. Scoville, 
 Prison Van with Guiteau, 
 
 His Honor, Judge Cox, . 
 District-Attorney Corkhill, 
 Hon. James G. Blame, . 
 Assassination of President Garfield, 
 Dr. D. W. Bliss, . 
 Dr. D. Hayes Agnew, 
 
 FRONTISPIECE. 
 PAGE. 
 
 57 
 
 70 
 
 140 
 
 156 
 159 
 
 163 
 170 
 iSi 
 187 
 
 212 
 213 
 
x LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Dr. F. H. Hamilton, ... . PAGE 213 
 
 Dr. Robert Reyburn, . . .215 
 
 Dr. J. K. Barnes, ... .218 
 
 Dr. J. J. Woodward, ... . . 219 
 
 Scene in Court, . . . . . . .,227 
 
 Mrs. Scoville, ... .249 
 
 John Wilson Guiteau, . . . . 2 54 
 
 Hon. Robert T. Lincoln, . 3 2 3 
 
 Mr. Porter Arraigning the Prisoner, . 479 
 
 Leaving the Court-House after the Verdict, . 517 
 
 Guiteau s Outlook, 5 J 9 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES JULIUS GUITEAU, 
 
 ASSASSIN OF 
 
 PRESIDENT GARFIELD. - 
 
 REPORTED STENOGRAPHICALLY BY EDMUND A. BAILEY. 
 
 07) 
 
AUTOBIOGRAPHY 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES JULIUS GUITEAU 
 
 HISTORY OF THIS SKETCH. 
 
 THE assassin, Charles Guiteau, has narrated the 
 story of his life. To print it entire would demand 
 an immense amount of space. In a literary point 
 of view, the work is of no value whatever. As 
 the record of a man who will stand in all our his 
 tory as one of the greatest of our criminals, it 
 possesses a special interest and importance. Gui 
 teau, in a series of interviews, dictated the work 
 which follows, and the passages within quotation- 
 marks contain the exact language which he used, 
 as taken down by a shorthand writer. 
 
 His vanity is literally nauseating. Guiteau has 
 an idea that the civilized world is holding its 
 breath waiting to hear of the minutest details of 
 his career. He thinks the people have an espe 
 cially acute desire to be fully informed concerning 
 his conduct during confinement in jail, and he. has 
 frequently urged visiting correspondents to de 
 scribe his dress and demeanor. At the interviews 
 Guiteau usea a memorandum containing a list of 
 
 (19) 
 
2O AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 subjects about which he wished to talk. He spoke 
 with deliberation, occasionally emphasizing, some 
 what dramatically, with his voice or by gesture, a 
 remark which he deemed of transcendent import 
 ance, or chuckling at the mention of some inci 
 dent which he considered amusing. He observed 
 the utmost discrimination as to language, many 
 times balancing in his mind for some moments the 
 
 o 
 
 appropriateness of an expression or word, and 
 even directing the manner of paragraphing and 
 punctuation. He objected strenuously to the 
 "continuity of his thought" being disturbed by 
 interruption, and frequently stated so in a most 
 imperious way, intimating that the interruption 
 had placed in immediate jeopardy of destruction 
 some thought of vital interest and importance to 
 the community. 
 
 GUITEAU S VIEW OF THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 The assassin begins with a brief chapter, which 
 he calls "Introduction," in which he seeks to ex 
 plain his crime. "I have not," he says, "used the 
 words assassination or assassin in this work. 
 These words grate on the mind and produce a bad 
 feeling. I think of General Garfield s condition 
 as a removal and not as an assassination. My idea, 
 simply stated, was to remove as easily as possible 
 Mr. James A. Garfield, a quiet and good-natured 
 citizen of Ohio, who temporarily occupied the 
 position of President of the Uniteclfctates, and 
 substitute in his place Mr. Chester A. Arthur, of 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 2l 
 
 New York, a distinguished and highly estimable 
 gentleman. 
 
 "Mr. Garfield I intended to quietly remove to 
 Paradise (which is a great improvement on this 
 world), while Mr. Arthur saved the Republic." 
 He adds: " Not a soul in the universe knew of 
 my purpose to remove the President. If it has 
 failed I shall never attempt it again. My motive 
 was purely political and patriotic, and I acted un 
 der Divine pressure. It was the same kind of 
 pressure that led Abraham to sacrifice his son 
 Isaac. These hysterical utterances are followed 
 by what he calls an "Address to the American 
 People," in which he reiterates the declaration that 
 he alone is responsible. "The President s nomina 
 tion," he says, "was an act of God; his election 
 was an act of God; his removal is an act of God. 
 These three specific acts of the Deity may give 
 the clergy a text." 
 
 A CHAPTER IN GENEALOGY.. 
 
 Guiteau then goes on to tell about his family. 
 " My full name" he says, "is Charles Julius Guiteau. 
 I have dropped the Julius ; I prefer to be known 
 as Charles Guiteau. My surname is spelt G-u-i- 
 t-e-a-u ; it is pronounced Get -o. It is a French 
 name. My father s ancestor, two hundred years 
 or more back, was a physician connected with the 
 royal family of France. I do not know much 
 about my genealogy. There is a John M. Guiteau 
 in New York, who belongs to our family, and who 
 
2 2 A UTOBIO GRAPH Y OF 
 
 has its genealogy. He is a lawyer and a man of 
 considerable wealth, I believe. He has lived in 
 New York about twenty-five years, and formerly 
 practised law at Cincinnati, Ohio. 
 
 "There were two brothers named Guiteau, who 
 came to this country, as I understand it, from 
 France, a good many years ago my father s an 
 cestor and the ancestor of John M. Guiteau. These 
 are the only two branches of the Guiteau family 
 in America that I know of. My father s family 
 settled in Central New York ; John M. Guiteau s 
 ancestors went to Ohio. My paternal grand 
 father was a physician and a very prominent one, 
 at the beginning of the century, near Utica, N. Y. 
 My father was born at Whitesboro , near Utica, N. 
 Y., in 1 8 10. He died in August, 1880, at Free- 
 port, 111., having lived there for about forty years. 
 He originally was a merchant. He was Clerk of 
 the Circuit Court of Stevenson county one term. 
 After that, for about twelve years, he was cashier 
 of the Second National Bank at Freeport. He 
 was a very good man, a very pious man and an 
 intelligent man. 
 
 " About thirty years ago, he became interested 
 in the publications of John H. Noyes, who is the 
 founder of the Oneida Community, and was un 
 der his influence more or less during that entire 
 period. I used to hear him talk about the Com 
 munity a great deal in his family and I became in 
 terested in it, in that way, in my early boyhood. 
 
GUITEAUt THE ASSASSIN. 2 7 
 
 My mother died when I was seven years old. 
 I know very little about my mother. I un 
 derstood she was a woman of fine mind and a 
 lady in every respect. I have heard her very 
 highly spoken of. I have a brother named John 
 Wilson Guiteau ; he is eight years older than I 
 am. He was born at Ann Arbor, Michigan. He 
 lived at Freeport in his early days, and he went 
 to Davenport, Iowa, in 1854, and lived there some 
 fifteen years. He was a lawyer by profession 
 and practiced at Davenport. In 1869, he went to 
 New York city and entered the employ of the 
 United States Life Insurance Company. He was 
 with them two years, and was one of their princi 
 pal men. He has a great deal of insurance brain. 
 " I have a sister who is married to George Sco- 
 ville, Esq., an attorney at Chicago. They were 
 married in 1853 and have several children. My 
 mother died at Freeport when I was seven years 
 old, and my father was a widower for five years. 
 He then married a lady at Freeport, named Maria 
 Blood, in 1853. They have two children living 
 a daughter (my half-sister), about twenty-five 
 years old, and a son (my half-brother) about 
 twenty-three years old, and I think that she lost 
 one child in infancy." 
 
 EARLY LIFE AND HISTORY. 
 
 Guiteau next gives the story of his life: He was 
 born at Fi^eport, 111., Septembers, 1841. As a 
 boy, he says he knew Mr. E. B. Washburne and 
 
2j_ AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 General John M. Scofield, whom he remembers 
 as a cadet at West Point, He went to school to 
 Mr. Burchard, the present Director of the Mint. 
 Reading Guiteau s life, as written by himself, it is 
 easy to see that he is a creature of the most 
 intense vanity. "I was always," he tells us, 
 "ambitious to be somebody and was a great 
 reader." His father took the Tribune, and he had 
 a great reverence for Horace Greely and Henry 
 Ward Beecher, from whom he declares he got 
 most of his political and social views. His father 
 was a whig and a republican ; of moderate means ; 
 in religion a sort. of fanatic who believed in what 
 were called the new ideas of the time. Noyes, of 
 the Oneida Community, made a great impression 
 on him, and he endeavored to inculcate the doc 
 trines of that peculiar establishment on his family. 
 Guiteau traces all his misfortunes and failures in 
 life to his early training, and he is especially 
 severe on his father, to whom he attributes most 
 of his calamities and ill success. In 1859, he 
 desired to go to college. His father, he says, 
 opposed the idea, but finally consented, and he 
 went to Ann Arbor, in Michigan. Some 
 money about $1,000 had been left him by his 
 maternal grandfather, a Major John Howe, who 
 fondly declared that he " had more brains than all 
 the rest of the Guiteau family," and who took " a 
 great interest in him." Guiteau s intention was to 
 spend two years there fitting himself for the study 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 2 - 
 
 and practice of the law; but instead of going to 
 college he joined the Oneida Community. This 
 was in June, 1860. His father advised him, he 
 says, to take this step, and he has never ceased to 
 repent of it. He remained there five or six years, 
 during which he had scarcely anything to do with 
 his family. 
 
 ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 
 The picture he draws of it is a gloomy one. 
 Noyes was harsh, cold, cruel, and exacted the most 
 degrading service. He worked there as a common 
 laborer, did service in the kitchen and on the 
 farm. There was, however, a pretty good library 
 there and in it he spent all the time at his dis 
 posal. With the female portion of the society he 
 did not get along very well. They made fun of 
 him and wounded his self-esteem. He made up 
 his mind to leave in a short time, and turned his 
 eyes toward New York. This was in 1865. He 
 had about $1,000, and he conceived the idea of 
 starting a religious newspaper here, for which he 
 had hit upon the name of the New York Daily 
 Theocrat. The story of Horace Greeley and the 
 foundation of the Tribune were in his mind, and 
 he thought he could accomplish what Mr. Greeley 
 had accomplished. Nothing, he says, ever came 
 of it. His New York trip was not a success. He 
 made himself at home in the rooms of the Young 
 Men s Christian Association ; became acquainted 
 with the secretary, Mr. McBurney. He tried to 
 3 
 
2 5 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 find something to do ; lived in Hoboken in an 
 humble way from April to August, in 1865, and 
 in his distress again turned to Oneida. He wrote 
 to them and secured a position on trial in the New 
 York agency, where he remained until the follow 
 ing November, when he again joined the parent 
 establishment. His second visit lasted until No 
 vember, 1866, when he again left. The story that 
 he was expelled he indignantly denies. In No 
 vember, 1866, he was again in New York, hang 
 ing around the quarters of the Young Men s 
 Christian Association, boarding in Brooklyn and 
 attending Plymouth Church. 
 
 EXPLOITS IN THE WEST. 
 
 In 1867, ne turned his -eyes toward the West. 
 His family, with whom he appears to have had little 
 or no communication, had heard in some way that 
 the Oneida Community and he had parted com 
 pany, and Mr. Scoville, his brother-in-law, sent 
 him a letter enclosing $20 and inviting him to 
 that city. He went, but remained only a few 
 months, when he again came back to the metro 
 polis. This was in 1867. The spring of the fol 
 lowing year again found him in Chicago, studying 
 law. He was admitted to practice in a short time 
 by Charles H. Reed, who was then District- Attor 
 ney. Mr. Reed, it appears,, asked him a few sim 
 ple questions about law, and he obtained his cer 
 tificate. 
 
 He remained in Chicago until 1871 : "I did 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 2 ~ 
 
 well," he says ; " was industrious and had no bad 
 habits, and was active in getting business." About 
 this time, Guiteau was married to a lady whom he 
 had met at the Young Men s Christian Associa 
 tion establishment in Chicago. This part of his 
 career is narrated with a minuteness which, while 
 it may be creditable to his accuracy and fidelity as 
 a biographer, is not very well calculated to give a 
 favorable idea of his delicacy or sensitiveness as 
 a lover or a husband. He next brings us down 
 to 1871. In that year, he turned his thoughts to 
 ward. California. He went there and failed. His 
 domestic relations were not, it may be imagined, 
 of a very pleasant character, and a divorce fol 
 lowed at the end of about four years. 
 
 A LAW SUIT WITH THE HERALD. 
 
 Guiteau agained drifted back to New York and 
 set himself up in the law. He was doing well he 
 says, until unfortunately he and one of his cases 
 got into the Herald s law reports. It seems that he 
 was engaged by some parties as counsel in the 
 collection of a lot of claims which are generally 
 set down as "worthless." The one in question 
 was for $350. "I took it," he writes, " from a 
 friend of the firm that owned it. This party was not 
 willing to advance a single cent in defraying ex 
 penses and considered the claim totally worthless. 
 After a great deal of effort and time I succeeded 
 in collecting a portion of the claim and the balance 
 I directed my attorney, South, to prosecute. I 
 
2 g A UTOBIO GRAPH Y OF 
 
 kept the first instalment which I received for my 
 services and disbursements. I felt justified in do 
 ing this because the parties that gave me the 
 claim had not advanced me a cent on it and 
 considered it totally worthless at the time I took 
 it. They insisted, when they ascertained that a 
 part of the claim had been paid, that I ought to 
 pay it to them. I declined to do it. Therefore 
 they commenced proceedings against me in the 
 Supreme Court before Judge Donohue, at Cham 
 bers, to compel me to disburse. I resisted the 
 application successfully, the judge holding that I 
 was right in my course. 
 
 "The New York Herald s law reporter pretended 
 to give an account of the proceeding before Judge 
 Donohue to compel me to pay over the money; 
 he wrote up his article in a very sharp, witty style, 
 and headed it among other things, A Profitable 
 Collecting Lawyer. I do not remember the de 
 tails of the publication ; I only remembor that it 
 was very sharp and witty and that it did me a 
 great deal of harm. I therefore went to the 
 Herald office and requested a retraction. I saw 
 the law editor and he put me off. I tried to see the 
 managing editor, with the same effect, and finally 
 I commenced a suit against the Herald for a libel 
 for $100,000. I commenced the action in my own 
 name against the proprietor. I filed my complaint 
 setting forth the facts; Mr. Townshend, the 
 Herald s attorney, answered it. I made an appli- 
 
CVITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. O g 
 
 cation to strike out certain portions of the answer 
 as irrelevant, and asking for other relief. The 
 motion was heard before Judge Lawrence, in 
 Chambers, who denied my motion. The matter 
 has thus stood in court, without further proceed 
 ings, from that day to this. 
 
 " The Herald s libel appeared in April, 1874. In 
 December, 1874, I became very much reduced in 
 circumstances ; I was out of business and out of 
 money and out of friends. I had not been in New 
 York a sufficient length of time to get thoroughly 
 established in business. Prior to the Herald pub 
 lication I was doing well. I had clients and every 
 prospect of success. I had been in New York for 
 some two or three years. After the Herald pub 
 lication my clients got demoralized, and the news 
 papers talked about it a good deal at the time and 
 it demoralized me, and, to make it brief, I got all 
 run down and run out. I lived a precarious exist 
 ence there during the summer and fall. I tried to 
 
 o 
 
 get on to my feet again in the law business. I got 
 an office, but could not get enough business to 
 pay my office-rent. I could not pay my board-bill, 
 and I got thoroughly discouraged and demoralized, 
 and suffered a good deal on account of the Herald 
 publication. It was certainly a very unjust and 
 injurious publication, and something that no law 
 yer could possibly endure unless he was well 
 established." 
 
 Guiteau describes, at considerable length, the 
 
 3* 
 
^o AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 sea of troubles that came upon him as the result 
 of the publication. 
 
 DOWN ON THE BLACK LIST. 
 
 " I was," he writes, " in great distress. I could 
 not get money enough to pay my board during the 
 summer, and I owed several parties for board, and 
 they were pressing me for it, and finally I got my 
 name on the black list there as a boarding-house 
 beat, and it was circulated among boarding-house 
 keepers. That was in 1874, and one night in De 
 cember, 1874, I had not any money or any place 
 to go to. It was raining a cold, bitter night, I 
 remember and I went up to the St. Nicholas 
 Hotel desk like a man, registered my name and 
 told the clerk I would like a room. He gave me 
 a room and I was there a week, and during this 
 week I was pressing the Herald to settle my claim. 
 I needed the money. I was in great distress of 
 mind. I could not get anything to do and I had 
 not any money. I went around to the newspaper 
 offices during the fall, trying to get something to 
 do, and I tried law business. They were all full, 
 and I got an office myself once or twice and tried 
 to get business, but I could not get enough to pay 
 my office-rent, and I gave it up. I got all run 
 down and run out financially out of friends and 
 out of business and out of money. I had a terri 
 ble hard time there for several months. 
 
 " I stayed at the St. Nicholas one week. I did 
 not have any other place to go to. I used to live 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. ^ 
 
 around the Fifth Avenue Hotel and that part of 
 the city ; and when I was in practice I had money 
 and I paid my bills like any gentleman, and I had 
 plenty of bills to show for it. The first two or 
 three years that I was in New York I was doing 
 well. I had business and I had money and I had 
 friends, a nice office, and all that ; but after the 
 Heralds publication, in the course of six or seven 
 months, I got all run down and run out. I stayed 
 at the St. Nicholas Hotel for a week, at the end of 
 it they presented the bill. I did not have any 
 money, and I told them that I would see them 
 about it in a day or two, and I started to go. Just 
 at that moment their detective came out. He was 
 a burly fellow and he was very impudent. I had 
 a good suit of clothes on and he looked at my 
 coat and he says : * Well, that is a good coat ; sup 
 pose we take that ; suppose we put him out under 
 the hydrant and open the hydrant on him ; sup 
 pose we take him around to the other hotels and 
 exhibit him. The detective was abusing me in 
 that way, and finally I lost my temper and I told 
 him not to treat me in that way; that I was a gen 
 tleman and I would certainly pay them in a very 
 few days; that I was expecting some money. 
 Thereupon he got angry and he seized me by the 
 throat and marched me through the back way to 
 the Prince street station-house. He and Mr. 
 King, one of the junior proprietors, went with me 
 to the station-house, and they put me into a cell 
 
32 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 and locked me up all night. The next morning 
 the detective came there and came to my cell, and 
 says, How are you, Professor? Says I, I am 
 about so-so. I had never been arrested before 
 in my life and I felt terribly disgraced and very in 
 dignant at him for doing it. He was bluff and 
 hilarious in his style and laughed and talked to me 
 and wanted to know how much I had sued the 
 Herald for, and asked other impertinent ques 
 tions." 
 
 IN THE TOMBS. 
 
 The end of this distressing part of the biography 
 is that Guiteau finally got into the Tombs on the 
 charge of false pretences and that he was released 
 through the agency of his relative, Mr. Scoville, 
 who happened to be in the city at the time. The 
 Herald episode in his history is closed up with the 
 expression of the opinion that he would consider 
 it a handsome thing if the proprietor would send 
 him a check for $10,000 and call the thing 
 " square." 
 
 THE SECOND ADVENT. 
 
 In the fall of 1875, Guiteau conceived the curi 
 ous idea of becoming a great editor, and endeav 
 ored to purchase the Chicago Inter- Ocean. "I 
 intended," he says, " to make it the great paper 
 of the Northwest." He talked to his friends about 
 it; but it is needless to add the project fell 
 through. In the spring of 1876, he was again in 
 Chicago with a law office. Mr. Moody started his 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 3o 
 
 revival meetings in the fall of that year, and Gui- 
 teau was of course on hand. About this time his 
 thoughts turned toward theology. 
 
 "Along in November," he writes, "I began to 
 get some conceptions about the second coming of 
 Christ. I heard the Rev. A. Kitteridge, the well- 
 known Presbyterian minister of Chicago, say, at 
 Farwell Hall prayer-meeting one day, that, as a 
 man of God, he had no idea when Christ would 
 come. There seemed to be an impression in the 
 public mind at that time, and has been ever since, 
 that Christ might come very soon, and I studied 
 the Bible, and this passage came to me with great 
 force : If I will that he (John) tarry till I come, 
 what is that to thee ? This idea was the founda 
 tion of my subsequent discoveries in reference to 
 the second coming of Christ, as set forth in detail 
 in my book, The Truth/ I prepared the article 
 on the second coming of Christ, at the Public 
 Library in Chicago, during the month of Decem 
 ber, 1876. I went there and got the New Testa 
 ment and the Concordance and History, and I 
 studied it up. I did not think of anything else 
 scarcely during the entire month of December, 
 while my mind was running on that idea of the 
 second coming at the destruction of Jerusalem. 
 The more I examined the New Testament with 
 the help of the Concordance to find out just what 
 the Testament said on the subject of the second 
 coming, the more certain I was that I got at the 
 
34 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 truth about it, and that article, as it now appears 
 in my book, was the result of my discovery and 
 research and study." 
 
 A LECTURE. 
 
 " Soon after writing that article I wanted to go 
 out lecturing to enlighten the world in reference 
 to the discovery which I conceived I had made, 
 and I got the Methodist church there in Chicago 
 and I had my intention to deliver the lecture, 
 well announced in all the Chicago papers, about 
 the lothor I5th of January, 1877. It was a Satur 
 day night ; a cold, bitter night, one of the coldest 
 nights of the year, and after making some prepa 
 rations, and getting the hall, after considerable 
 delay and trouble, I went there to deliver my lec 
 ture on the Second Coming of Christ at the De 
 struction of Jerusalem. The announcement was 
 made something like this: Admission, twenty- 
 five cents ; free to all who cannot afford to pay 
 twenty-five cents. I went there about 8 o clock, 
 and found about twenty-five people, and I went on 
 to the stage and delivered my lecture on the 
 1 Second Coming of Christ at the Destruction of 
 Jerusalem, A. D. 70. " 
 
 "The next morning the Chicago Tribune gave 
 me about three-quarters of a column what they 
 called a report of the lecture, setting it forth in 
 rather unfavorable light, ridiculing me, etc., making 
 fun of the failure of it, and the publication did me 
 a great deal of harm. It brought me into con- 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. ~~ 
 
 tempt, and I went to see the city editor about it, 
 and he was on a high horse and would not make 
 any correction of it, and I went to see Mr. Sam. 
 Medill, the managing editor, and he referred the 
 matter to the city editor, and they would not either 
 of them give me any satisfaction. They claimed 
 it was a correct report of what happened, and 
 they thought it would have been a great deal 
 better if I had not attempted to deliver the lec 
 ture, and I certainly thought so when I saw their 
 report and the result of my attempt. I finally 
 persuaded the city editor to publish a little retrac 
 tion, which he did the next morning, which relieved 
 me considerably of the odium of the previous 
 publication." Guiteau next describes his expe 
 rience as a lecturer in different parts of the coun 
 try, chiefly in the West. It is a long record of 
 failure and disappointment. His failure as a theo 
 logian was as signal as his failure as a lawyer. 
 
 THE ASSASSIN AS A POLITICIAN. 
 
 Guiteau next gives his experience as a poli 
 tician: " I was," he says, " in New York, from July 
 i, 1880, until the 5th of March, 1881. During 
 this time, I was around the headquarters of the 
 National Committee, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. 
 I was in the habit of going to those places. 
 During this time, I made the personal acquaint 
 ance of the leading men of the republican party. 
 I had my speech, entitled " Garfield against 
 Hancock" printed on August 6 at the time the 
 
3 6 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Republican Conference was held at the Fifth 
 Avenue Hotel. I gave or sent this speech to all 
 the leading men at that conference. This was my 
 first introduction to them. Afterward, as I met 
 them, I introduced myself and called their attention 
 to that speech. They seemed to be highly 
 pleased with it, and that was the beginning of my 
 personal acquaintance with them. I sent it to 
 General Arthur and Senator Conkling, and 
 General Logan, and Senator Cameron, and all 
 that kind of men. I wanted to take the stump 
 for General Garfield in August, and I wrote Mr. 
 Elaine (in Maine) about it, and called Governor 
 Jewell s attention to my wish, but there was a 
 great pressure on Mr. Elaine from their quarters 
 for speakers. Not having a national reputation 
 he did not use me in Maine. Governor Jewell 
 was very kind to me personally. The disability I 
 labored under was this : I had ideas, but I did not 
 have a national reputation. The State Commit- 
 teemen wanted a man that would draw a lar^e 
 
 o 
 
 crowd. So, as a matter of fact, I only delivered 
 that speech once, and that w r as at a colored meet 
 ing, I think, on Twenty-fifth Street, one Saturday 
 evening. I was the first speaker and delivered a 
 portion of it and gave it to the reporters in print." 
 After the result was known in November Guiteau 
 wrote to General Garfield, as follows: "We have 
 cleaned them all out just as I expected. Thank 
 God ! Very respectfully, CHARLES_GUITEAU." 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 37 
 
 THE AUSTRIAN MISSION. 
 
 Immediately after the Indiana election Guiteau 
 began to think it was time to look around for some 
 thing. He wrote to the President-elect, suggest 
 ing that he might be a candidate for the Austrian 
 Mission. Early in March, he went to Washington, 
 he says, for the purpose of getting an office. He 
 had nothing to do in New York, except solicit for 
 some insurance companies. He says: "I ad 
 dressed a letter to President Garfield and to 
 Secretary Elaine, sometime in March, I should say, 
 calling their attention to my services during the 
 canvass and to my early suggestion to General 
 Garfield, at Mentor, in October, and also in Jan 
 uary, touching the Austrian Mission. I heard 
 nothing about the Austrian Mission until I noticed 
 in the paper that William Walter Phelps, of New 
 Jersey, had been given the mission, and of course 
 that ended it. 
 
 THE PARIS CONSULSHIP. 
 
 " I then sought the Paris consulship. I spoke to 
 General Logan about it, and he said that he would 
 speak to General Garfield and with Mr. Elaine. 
 He told me that he did speak to General Garfield, 
 and that General Garfield agreed to leave it with 
 Mr. Elaine. I saw Mr. Elaine about it several 
 times during the deadlock in the Senate, and Mr. 
 Elaine said that they had not got to that yet. He 
 was veryclever at that time. I stood well with 
 him and with General Garfield, and I had every 
 4 
 
2 8 ALTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 reason to expect that they intended , as soon as 
 they got to it, to give it to me. Mr. Walker, the 
 present consul, was from New York, and had been 
 appointed by Mr. Hayes two years ago, upon the 
 recommendation of ex-Secretary Evarts, and I did 
 not feel that Mr. Walker had any claim upon 
 General Garfield for the office, as the men who 
 did the business during the canvass ought to be 
 remembered. And I have an impression deci 
 dedly that at this time General Garfield and Mr. 
 Blaine felt as I did. 
 
 " Well, I called at the White House to see Gen 
 eral Garfield about it (after General Logan had 
 spoken to him and he had agreed to leave the 
 matter to Secretary Blaine), but I was unable to 
 see the President. I only called the President s 
 attention to the matter once, and that was within 
 two or three days after I reached Washington. I 
 gave the President my speech entitled, Garfield 
 against Hancock/ which I delivered in New York 
 in August, 1880. I marked at the head of the 
 speech these words: * Paris Consulship/ which 
 were written in pencil, and then drew a line down 
 to my name, connecting the words Paris consul 
 ship with my name, so that the President would 
 remember what I wanted. This was the only 
 time that I had any personal conversation with the 
 President on my having the Paris consulship. He 
 took the speech and ran his eye over it, and there 
 were other people pressing around him and I left 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 j y 
 
 him in the act of reading my speech* I went into 
 his room through the private secretary s room and 
 there I saw Mr. Morton, Minister to France, and 
 General Tyner and two or three other gentlemen 
 of that character. They knew me and I was 
 cleverly received, especially by Mr. Morton. He 
 asked me about my health, how I was getting 
 along, etc. This interview with the President oc 
 curred about the 7th or 8th of March. 
 
 LETTERS TO MR. ELAINE. 
 
 " I may say here that after Mr. Elaine was ap 
 pointed Secretary of State I had not much expec 
 tation that I was to get the Austrian Mission, be 
 cause I expected that it was to be given to one of 
 the Elaine men ; but I did think and I did feel that 
 I had a right to press my application for the Paris 
 consulship in view of my having surrendered any 
 supposed right that I might have had in reference 
 to the Austrian Mission, on account of my having 
 called General Garfield s attention to the Austrian 
 Mission in October and also in January. I aban 
 doned the idea of obtaining the Austrian Mission 
 as soon as I saw that Mr. Elaine was appointed 
 Secretary of State, but I did feel that I had a right 
 to press my application for the Paris consulship. 
 During the deadlock in the Senate I wrote Mr. 
 Elaine several notes. 
 
 " I called at the State Department several times, 
 but he was generally busy, so I said what I had to 
 by a brief note. I always addressed him famil- 
 
4Q AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 iarly as Secretary Elaine, or Mr. Elaine. After 
 the deadlock broke, I saw Mr. Elaine at the State 
 Department one day, and he said that he did not 
 think that the President would remove Mr. Walker. 
 This was the first intimation from either the 
 President or Mr. Elaine that they did not intend to 
 give me the Paris consulship. I was surprised, 
 and I said to Mr. Elaine : I am going to see the 
 President and try and induce him to remove Mr. 
 Walker and give me the Paris consulship, Well, 
 if you can, do so/ said Mr. Elaine. This is the last 
 conversation I have had with him. I have not 
 spoken to him on any subject since. A few days 
 after I saw Mr. Elaine, I called at the White 
 House to get the President s final answer in refer 
 ence to my getting the Paris consulship. I sent in 
 my card and the door-keeper came back in a mo 
 ment and said: Mr. Guiteau, the President says 
 it will be impossible for him to see you to-day. I 
 therefore sent him a little note and told him about 
 the Paris consulship. 
 
 " I never had a personal interview with the Presi 
 dent on the subject of the Paris consulship except 
 once, and that was when I handed him my speech 
 and told him that I would like the Paris consul 
 ship, which was about the yth or 8th of March. 
 He was inaugurated on Friday and it was about 
 the middle of the following week after his inaugu 
 ration. The time that I was pressing the Paris 
 consulship began about the first week in March 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. . l 
 
 and terminated, I should say, about the last of 
 April. During those weeks I was pressing it and 
 expected to get it. I have never had any final 
 answer either from the President or from Mr. 
 Blaine in reference to my having the Paris consul 
 ship. It did not have the slightest influence on 
 me one way or the other in reference to my re 
 moving the President. 
 
 CONCEPTION OF THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 " I conceived the idea of removing" the Presi- 
 
 o 
 
 dent," Guiteau declares, " pending the answer, and, 
 so far as the Paris consulship had any influence on 
 my mind at all, it would have deterred me from 
 the act, because I expected as a matter of fact 
 that I would get the Paris consulship. After I 
 conceived the idea of removing the President I did 
 not go near Mr. Blaine or near the President to 
 press my application. About two or three weeks 
 intervened from the time that I called at the Presi 
 dent s when the door-keeper said, Mr. Guiteau, 
 the President says it will be impossible for him to 
 see you to-day, to the time that I conceived the 
 idea of removing him, during which time I was 
 waiting patiently for my answer, which as a matter 
 of fact, I have never yet received. 
 
 " I had been pressing the President and Mr. 
 Blaine for an answer and I thought that it would 
 be better for me to keep away from them. They 
 had my address and I thought, if they concluded 
 to give me the Paris consulship, they would notify 
 4* 
 
42 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 me, or I should see an announcement of the ap 
 pointment in the paper, and, as I have stated, after I 
 conceived the idea of removing the President, I did 
 irot go near the President or Mr. Elaine, 
 
 " My conception of the idea of removing the 
 President was this: Mr. Conkling resigned on 
 Monday, May 16, 1881. On the following Wed 
 nesday I was in bed. I think I retired about 8 
 o clock. I felt depressed and perplexed on ac 
 count of the political situation, and I retired 
 much earlier than usual. I felt wearied in mind 
 and body, and I was in my bed about 9 o clock 
 and I was thinking over the political situation, 
 and the idea flashed through my brain that if the 
 President was out of the way every thing would go 
 better. At first this was a mere impression. It 
 startled me, but the next morning it came to me 
 with renewed force, and I began to read the papers 
 with my eye on the possibility that the Presi 
 dent would have to go, and the more I read, the 
 more I saw the complication of public affairs, the 
 more was I impressed with the necessity of remov 
 ing him. This thing continued for about two 
 weeks. I kept reading the papers and kept being 
 impressed, and the idea kept bearing and bearing 
 and bearing down upon me that the only way to 
 unite the two factions of the Republican party, and 
 save the Republic from going into the hands of the 
 rebels and Democrats, was to quietly remove the 
 President. 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. , ~ 
 
 PREPARING FOR THE CRIME. 
 
 " Two weeks after I conceived the idea, my mind 
 was thoroughly settled on the intention to remove 
 the President. I then prepared myself. I sent to 
 Boston for a copy of my book, The Truth/ and I 
 spent a week in preparing that. I cut out a para 
 graph, and a line, and a word, here and there, and 
 added one or two new chapters, put some new 
 ideas in it, and I greatly improved it. I knew that 
 it would probably have a large sale on account of 
 the notoriety that the act of removing the Presi 
 dent would give me, and I wished the book to go 
 out to the public in proper shape. That was one 
 preparation for it. 
 
 "Another preparation was to think the matter all 
 out in detail and to buy a revolver and to prepare 
 myself for executing the idea. This required 
 some two or three weeks, and I gave my entire 
 time and mind in preparing myself to execute the 
 conception of removing the President. I never 
 mentioned the conception to a living soul. I did 
 most of my thinking in the park and on the street, 
 and I used to go to the Arlington and the Riggs 
 House daily to read the papers. 
 
 WATCHING AN OPPORTUNITY. 
 
 " After I had made up my mind to remove him 
 the idea when I should remove him pressed me, 
 and I was somewhat confused on that. I knew 
 that it would not do to go to the White House and 
 attempt it, because there were too many of his 
 
44 
 
 A UTOBIO GRA PH Y OF 
 
 employes about, and I looked around for several 
 days to try and get a good chance at him ; and 
 one Sunday (the Sunday before he went to Long 
 Branch), I went to his church in the morning. It 
 is a small frame building, and I stood there at the 
 door a moment. I was a little late ; the services 
 had progressed about one-third. I noticed the 
 President sitting near an open window about 
 three feet from the ground, and I thought to 
 myself, That would be a good chance to get him. 
 I intended to shoot him through the back of the 
 
 o 
 
 head and let the ball pass through the ceiling, in 
 order that no one else should be injured. And 
 there could not possibly be a better place to remove 
 a man than at his devotions. I had my revolver 
 in my possession when I first went to the church, 
 having purchased it about ten days before the 
 President s going to Long Branch. This was the 
 Sunday prior to his leaving for Long Branch on 
 Saturday. During that whole week I read the 
 papers carefully. I thought it all over in detail. 
 I thought just what people would talk and thought 
 what a tremendous excitement it would create, and 
 I kept thinking about it all the week. 
 
 " I made up my mind that the next Sunday I 
 would certainly shoot him if he was in church and 
 I got a good chance at him. Thursday of the 
 same week, I noticed in the paper that he was 
 going to Long Branch, and on the following Satur 
 day he did go to the Branch for Mrs. Garfield s 
 
GL ITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. ** 
 
 health. I went to the depot all prepared to 
 remove him. I had the revolver with me. I had 
 all my papers nicely prepared. I spoke to a man 
 about a carriage to take me, as I told him, over 
 near the Congressional Cemetery. He said that 
 he would take me over for $2, and seemed to be 
 a very clever fellow and glad to get the job. I 
 got to the depot about 9 o clock and waited 
 there until the President s White House carnage 
 drove up. 
 
 " About twenty-five minutes after 9, the Presi 
 dent and his carriage and servants and friends 
 came up. He got out of his carriage. I stood in 
 the ladies room, about the middle of the room, 
 watching him. Mrs. Garfield got out and they 
 walked through the ladies room, and the presence 
 of Mrs. Garfield deterred me from firing on him. 
 I was all ready ; my mind was all made up ; I had 
 all my papers with me ; I had all the arrange 
 ments made to shoot him and to jump into a car 
 riage and drive over to the jail. Mrs. Garfield 
 looked so thin, and she clung so tenderly to the 
 President s arm, that I did not have the heart to 
 fire on him. He passed right through the ladies 
 reception-room, through the main entrance, and 
 took the cars. I waited a few moments. I went 
 outside the depot and walked up town toward the 
 Riggs House, the Arlington, and the park. I think 
 that I went to the park and sat there an hour or 
 two thinking about it, and I went to my lunch as 
 
4 6 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 usual, and after my lunch I went to the library of 
 the Treasury Department and read the papers as 
 usual, and I think I stayed there until 3 o clock 
 on Saturday, and then I went out. I do not 
 remember where I went particularly ; I think I 
 went to the Riggs, the Arlington, or the park. 
 That was after I left the library. 
 
 THE ASSASSIN IN AMBUSH. 
 
 " I noticed in the papers," Guiteau continues, 
 " that he would be back the first of the week. I 
 watched the papers very carefully to see when he 
 would return, but he did not come back that 
 week, but he did come back on the following Mon 
 day. The following Monday was a terribly hot, 
 sultry day. I remember I suffered greatly from 
 the heat, but notwithstanding that I prepared my 
 self again, and I went to the depot again on Mon 
 day with my revolver and my papers, but I did 
 not feel like firing on him. I simply went to the 
 depot. I sat in the ladies waiting-room. I got 
 there ten or fifteen minutes before the train time, 
 and I waited and thought it all over and made up 
 my mind that I would not fire on him that day. I 
 did not feel like it. The train came and he came, 
 and Mr. James, the Postmaster-General, was there, 
 and Mr. Hunt, the Secretary of the Navy, and 
 their lady friends. They all came through the 
 ladies room together, and the President s son and. 
 
 o 
 
 a thickset eentleman that came from the White 
 
 House to meet the President were there. They 
 
QUITE AU, THE ASSASSIN. *~ 
 
 
 
 went right to the gate and got the President, and 
 they all walked together to the President s car 
 riage and they all got in and drove off. I stood 
 at the entrance door of the ladies waiting-room, 
 and I noticed James and Hunt there with their 
 families, and the President and his friends drove 
 up in his White House carriage, and then James 
 and Hunt went, and then I went. I got into a 
 car and went up toward the Riggs House. 
 
 VIGIL OF A MURDERER. 
 
 " Well, I was watching for the President all that 
 week. I got up one morning at half-past five, 
 thinking that I might get the President when he 
 was out horseback riding, but he did not go out 
 that morning. I sat there in the park for two 
 hours watching for him, with my papers and revol 
 ver, thinking that I might get a chance at him, but 
 he did not go out that morning, so I went back to 
 my room, took breakfast, put up my papers and 
 my revolver and let the matter drop until night. 
 In the evening, after dinner, at five o clock, I went 
 up to my room and got my revolver out and car 
 ried it in my pocket. This was either Wednesday 
 or Thursday, I do not remember which, but I think 
 it was Thursday night. He went out riding that 
 night. I was in Lafayette Park opposite the White 
 House watching for him, and about half-past six 
 the White House carriage drove up to the White 
 House and waited a few moments, and the Presi 
 dent and some gentleman, and a young man 
 
48 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 eighteen or twenty years old, who I presume 
 was the President s son, got into the carriage. 
 The young man sat with his back to the driver and 
 the President and his gentleman friend (whoever 
 he was) sat on the back seat. They drove out 
 the entrance nearest the Treasury Building and 
 passed right along the east side of Lafayette 
 Square toward the Arlington. They drove down 
 by the Arlington and out on Vermont Avenue. I 
 walked out of the park pretty rapidly and I saw 
 them from the corner of the park. I went out on 
 the street on the east side of the square and I 
 looked and saw they were going down Vermont 
 Avenue. I hung around the park about half an 
 hour or so, and they did not return, and it was 
 very warm, and I concluded to let the matter drop 
 for that night, so that, after sitting in the park for 
 some time, I went as usual to my home and went 
 to bed. 
 
 I went to the Riggs House and took a room in 
 the afternoon of Thurs4ay, and the event men 
 tioned in this preceding talk happened, I am quite 
 certain, on Thursday night; it was either on 
 Wednesday or on Thursday, I am not positive 
 which, but my impression is that it happened on 
 Thursday night. On Friday night, after I got my 
 dinner at the Riggs House, I went up to my room 
 and I took out my revolver and I put it in my hip 
 pocket, and I had my papers with me, and I 
 thought I possibly might get a chance at him Fri- 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. , 
 
 day night. I went into Lafayette Square and sat 
 there, opposite the White House. 
 
 IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH. 
 
 " I had not been there a minute before I saw 
 the President walk out of the White House. 
 Now/ I thought to myself, * I have got a splendid 
 chance at him ; he is all alone ; there isn t any 
 one around him. He walked along the east side 
 of the square and down H Street. I followed him. 
 He went to Mr. Elaine s house on Fifteenth 
 Street. He walked along, and when he got on 
 the sidewalk opposite Mr. Elaine s house, he looked 
 up, as if he did not know the place exactly, and 
 then he saw the correct number and walked in. 
 I followed him along, and I was about half-way 
 between H Street and Mr. Elaine s house, on the 
 opposite side of the street, when he entered the 
 house. I went into the alley in the rear of Mr. 
 Morton s house and got out my revolver and 
 looked at it, and wiped it off and put it back into 
 my pocket. I went over to the H Street stoop, 
 at Wormley s, and I waited there half an hour, I 
 should say, for the President to come out. He 
 came out and Mr. Elaine with him, and I waited at 
 Wormley s until they passed by me on the oppo 
 site side. They walked down H Street and on 
 the east side of Lafayette Square and through the 
 gate nearest the Treasury Building and into the 
 White House. Mr. Elaine and the President 
 seemed to be talking with the greatest earnestness. 
 
 5 
 
50 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Mr. Blaine was on the left side of the President, 
 as they walked along the street. Elaine s right 
 arm was looped in the President s left arm, and 
 they were engaged in the most earnest conver 
 sation ; their heads were very close together. 
 Blaine was striking the air every few moments 
 and the President was drinking it all in ; and 
 occasionally the President would strike out his 
 hand, thereby giving assent to what Mr. Blaine 
 was saying. They seemed to be in a very hila 
 rious state of mind, and delightful fellowship, and 
 in perfect accord. This scene made a striking 
 impression on me ; it confirmed what I had read 
 in the papers, and what I had felt for a long time, 
 to wit, that the President was entirely under Mr. 
 Blaine s influence, and that they were in perfect 
 accord. I may have remained in the park per 
 haps half or three-quarters of an hour, and then 
 I went down to my room at the Riggs House. I 
 took a towel-bath in my room, and went to bed 
 and went to sleep. I woke up about 4 o clock 
 Saturday morning, and felt well in mind and body. 
 My mind was perfectly clear in regard to removing 
 the President ; I had not the slightest doubt about 
 my duty to the Lord and to the American people 
 in trying to remove the President, and I want to 
 say here, as emphatically as words can make it, 
 that from the moment when I fully decided to re 
 move the President, I have never had the slightest 
 shadow on my mind ; my purpose has been just 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. ci 
 
 as clear and just as determined as anything could 
 be. I believed that I was acting under a special 
 Divine authority to remove him, and this Divine 
 pressure was upon me from the time when I fully 
 resolved to remove him until I actually shot him. 
 It was only by nerving myself to the utmost that 
 I did it at all, and I never had the slightest doubt 
 as to the Divine inspiration of the act, and that it 
 was for the best interest of the American people. 
 
 NEARING THE END. 
 
 " Having heard on Friday from the papers, and 
 also by my inquiries of the doorkeeper at the White 
 House, Friday evening, that the President was going 
 to Long Branch Saturday morning, I resolved to 
 remove him at the depot. I took my breakfast at 
 the Rio^s House about 8 o clock. I ate well and 
 
 oo 
 
 felt well in body and mind. I went into Lafayette 
 Square and sat there some little time after break 
 fast, waiting for 9 o clock to come, and then I went 
 to the depot, and I got there about ten minutes 
 after 9. I rode there from the park in a bob- 
 tailed car. I left the car, walked up to a boot 
 black, got my boots blacked, and inquired for a 
 man named John Taylor, whom, two weeks before, 
 I had spoken to about taking me out toward the 
 Congressional Cemetery. They told me that 
 Taylor s carriage was not there, and there were 
 three or four hackmen there who were very 
 anxious to serve me, and finally I noticed a colored 
 man, and I said to him, What will you take me 
 
c 2 A UTOBIO GRAPH Y OF 
 
 out to the Congressional Cemetery for? He 
 says, Well, I will take you out there for $2. All 
 right/ said I, * if I want to use you I will let you 
 know. At that moment these other hackmen 
 were pressing me to get my business, and I said 
 to them, * Keep quiet ; you are too fast on this, 
 and I told this colored man, privately, that if I 
 wanted his services I would let him know in a few 
 minutes. I then went into the depot and took my 
 private papers which I intended for the press 
 (including a revised edition of my book, The 
 Truth, a companion to the Bible ), and stepped up 
 to the news-stand and asked the young man in 
 charge if I could leave those papers with him a 
 few moments, and he said, Certainly; and he 
 took them and placed them up against the wall 
 on top of some other papers. This was about 
 twenty minutes after 9, and I went into the ladies 
 waiting-room and I looked around, saw there were 
 quite a good many people there in the depot and 
 carriages outside, but I did not see the Presi 
 dent s carriage. 
 
 " I examined my revolver to see that it was all 
 right, and took off the paper that I had wrapped 
 around it to keep the moisture off. I waited five 
 or six minutes longer, sat down on a seat in the 
 ladies room, and very soon the President drove 
 up. He was in company with a gentleman who, 
 I understood, was Mr. Elaine, and I am satisfied 
 that he was Mr. Elaine, although I did not recog- 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. - ,, 
 
 nize him. This gentleman looked very old, and 
 he had a peculiar kind of headgear on, that I did 
 not recognize as that of Mr. Elaine. I am satis 
 fied that it was Mr. Elaine, now that my attention 
 has been specially called to it, because it was the 
 same gentleman that I saw with the President the 
 night before, and I know positively that that gen 
 tleman was Mr. Elaine. The President and this 
 gentleman drove up in a plain single-seated car 
 riage with one horse ; this gentleman, I think, was 
 driving. It was a single carriage a single-seated 
 top buggy. The President seemed to be in very 
 earnest and private conversation with this gentle 
 man, who evidently was Mr. Elaine, although at 
 the time I did not recognize him as Mr. Elaine. 
 
 o 
 
 They sat in the carriage I should say some two 
 minutes ; they had not completed their conversa- 
 when they reached the depot, and during the inter 
 view of two minutes they finished their conversa 
 tion. During this time they were engaged in very 
 earnest and private conversation, as I have said. 
 " The President got out on the pavement side 
 and Mr. Elaine on the other side. They entered 
 the ladies room ; I stood there watching the Presi 
 dent and they passed by me. Before they reached 
 the depot, I had been promenading up and down 
 the ladies room, between the ticket-office door and 
 the news-stand door, a space of some ten or twelve 
 feet. I walked up and down there I should say 
 two or three times, working myself up, as I knew 
 
 5* 
 
54 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 the hour was at hand. The President and Mr. 
 Blaine came into the ladies room and walked 
 right by me ; they did not notice me as there were 
 quite a number of ladies and children in the room. 
 
 HOW THE PRESIDENT FELL. 
 
 " There was quite a large crowd of ticket pur 
 chasers at the gentlemen s ticket-office in the ad 
 joining room ; the depot seemed to be quite full 
 of people. There was quite a crowd and commo 
 tion around, and the President was in the act of 
 passing from the ladies room to the main entrance 
 through the door. I should say he was about four 
 or five feet from the door nearest the ticket-office, 
 in the act of passing through the door to get 
 through the depot to the cars. He was about 
 three or four feet from the door. I stood five or 
 six feet behind him, right in the middle of the 
 room, and, as he was in the act of walking away 
 from me, I pulled out the revolver and fired. He 
 straightened up and threw his head back and 
 seemed to be perfectly bewildered. He did not 
 seem to know what struck him. I looked at him ; 
 he did not drop ; I thereupon pulled again. He 
 dropped his head, seemed to reel, and fell over. I 
 do not know where the first shot hit ; I aimed at 
 the hollow of his back ; I did not aim for any par 
 ticular place, but I knew if I got those two bullets 
 in his back he would certainly go. I was in a 
 diagonal direction from the President, to the north 
 west, and supposed both shots struck. 
 
GLITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. ~* 
 
 THE ARREST. 
 
 " I was in the act of putting my revolver back 
 into my pocket when the depot policemen seized 
 me and said, You shot the President of the 
 United States. He was terribly excited ; he 
 hardly knew his head from his feet, and I said, 
 Keep q-iiet, my friend ; keep quiet, my friend. I 
 want to go to jail. A moment after the police 
 man seized me by the left arm ; clinched me with 
 terrible force. Another gentleman an older 
 man, I should say, and less robust seized me by 
 the riorht arm. At this moment the ticket-aofent 
 
 o o 
 
 and a great crowd of people rushed around me, 
 and the ticket-agent said, * That s him ; that s him ; 
 and he pushed out his arm to seize me around the 
 neck, and I says, Keep quiet, my friends ; I want 
 to go to jail; and the officers, one on each side of 
 me, rushed me right off to the Police Headquar 
 ters, and the officer who first seized me by the 
 hand says, This man has just shot the President 
 of the United States, and he was terribly excited. 
 And I said, Keep quiet, my friends ; keep quiet ; 
 I have got some papers which will explain the 
 whole matter. 
 
 " They let go of me and they held my hands up 
 one policeman on one side and one on the other 
 and they went through me, took away my 
 revolver and what little change I had, my comb 
 and my toothpick, all my papers, and I gave them 
 my letter to the White House ; told them that I 
 
c5 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 wished they would send that letter to the White 
 House at once, and the officer began to read my 
 letter to the White House, and in this envelope 
 containing my letter to the White House was my 
 speech, Garfield against Hancock. He glanced 
 his eye over the letter and I was telling him about 
 sending it at once to the White House to explain 
 the matter and he said, We will put you into the 
 White House ! So I said nothing after that. 
 They took me around a little dark place and put 
 me into a cell ; they locked the door and went off, 
 and I did not see any one for ten minutes, and 
 then one or two parties came and took a look at 
 me ; they were policemen and detectives and said, 
 I don t know him ; I don t know that man ; never 
 saw him before. 
 
 " I waited a few moments longer and a gentle 
 man came a detective, who proved to be Mr. 
 McElfresh and he was very polite and attentive. 
 I told him in brief who I was and why I did it ; that 
 I had some papers at the news-stand ; that I wished 
 him to get those papers and take them up to 
 Byron Andrews and his co-journalists ; that the 
 papers would explain all about the matter. I also 
 told him that I wished to go to the jail at once, 
 and he came in and put the handcuffs on to me. 
 There were five or six policemen and detectives 
 with him when he came in to see me, and he went 
 away and came back in a few minutes and said 
 that they had decided to take me right to jail, and 
 
THE ASSASSIN IN HIS CELL. 
 
GUITEAU THE ASSASSIN. ~Q 
 
 I said, That is just what I want. And he and 
 his brother officers took me right out into the room 
 and down the stairs and into a carriage, and he 
 
 o 
 
 and three other policemen got in and drove me 
 rapidly to the jail. I met Mr. Russ, the deputy 
 warden. McElfresh told him that I had shot the 
 President of the United States, and he assigned 
 
 O 
 
 me to cell No. 2, and I have been there ever since, 
 except when I have been to the warden s room to 
 be interviewed by correspondents, or to consult 
 with counsel." 
 
 PURCHASE OF THE REVOLVER. 
 
 Guiteau bought the revolver before the Presi 
 dent went to Long Branch: " I called at O Meara s, 
 corner of Fifteenth and F streets, opposite the 
 Treasury, about two or three weeks before the 
 removal. I stepped up to the show-case and said, 
 Let me look at that/ I saw it was a large bore, 
 and he pulled it out. I saw it marked * British 
 Bull Dog, and saw that it was an unusual revolver, 
 and he said, That will kill a horse/ or something 
 to that effect. There were two just alike, except 
 that one had an ivory handle for $10, and the 
 other a plain wooden handle for $9 ; I got the 
 best one for $10. I was very timid in holding it. 
 I knew nothing about weapons at all; I looked at 
 it in an unsophisticated way, snapped it. And I 
 said, that will make a good noise/ and he said, 
 * oh, yes, that will- kill a horse / he said, I never 
 want a bullet like that in me/ I said, perhaps I 
 
6 O A UTOJ5IO GRA PH Y OF 
 
 may get that some of these days. Three or four 
 days afterwards, I stepped in there and selected 
 the revolver with the ivory handle and got a box 
 of cartridges and a little penknife, and he said he 
 would give me the entire purchase for $10. 
 
 " I did not have the money when I first went in ; 
 I got it from a gentleman in the interim. He 
 loaded the revolver and said, Put that right into 
 your pocket. Said I, Is there any law here 
 against carrying a revolver? He said, Yes, 
 there is, but they don t enforce it except against 
 drunken people. Where can I shoot this? says 
 I. He says, Well, you can go down to the foot 
 of Seventeenth Street and fire it off into the river. 
 In the course of two or three clays (I remember it 
 was the Saturday night after I bought it) I went 
 clown about 7 o clock in the evening and I 
 shot it off twice. That is I shot off ten cartridges. 
 At the first shot I was about ten feet from a sap 
 ling three inches in diameter, that was stuck into 
 the mud, and I pulled and struck the sapling and 
 it trembled like a leaf and it made a fearful hol 
 low; I was terribly excited at the noise and power 
 of the weapon ; thought I, that is a terrible weap 
 on; it made a hole like a little cannon ; it startled 
 me. I fired ten shots, and they went off with tre 
 mendous effect every time; it made a terrific 
 noise. One or two men came around, hearing 
 the reports, and on the way back I noticed a col 
 ored woman and several other people. Did you 
 
GUITEAU THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 61 
 
 hear that noise ? They said. Oh, yes ; it made 
 a terrible noise. 
 
 "I went down again the Saturday morning that 
 I intended to remove the President, when he went 
 to Long Branch and Mrs. Garfield deterred me. 
 I got up about half-past 4 that morning and I 
 went right down to the same place. I got down 
 there about 5 o clock. It was a bright, splendid 
 morning I remember, and I shot it off twice, using 
 ten cartridges. It made a terrible noise, as usual. 
 Those are the only times that I have practiced 
 with a revolver. I then took it to the house and 
 wiped it nicely and took the cartridges and rub 
 bed them off, and I loaded it and put it into my 
 drawer in my room, and it was in that condition 
 when I used it on the President. I took great 
 pains ; put it in my coat and wrapped it up nicely, 
 so that no moisture could get to the powder, in 
 order that it would be in a nice condition when I 
 wanted to use it. I took it out several times and 
 carried it in my hip pocket ; but it was not fired off 
 after that until I used it on the President on Satur 
 day morning, July 2. 
 
 VISITS TO THE WHITE HOUSE. 
 
 " During the time I was pressing my applica 
 tion for the Paris consulship I called at the White 
 House several times. I handed my card to the door 
 keeper and he would take it in to the President. 
 The reply came back on several occasions Mr. 
 Guiteau, the President says that it will be impossi- 
 6 
 
6 2 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 ble for him to see you to-day. I understood by 
 the President s statement that he could not see 
 me to-day and that was the statement that he 
 sent me through his doorkeeper several times 
 because he was trying gracefully to get rid of 
 Walker, the present Consul. In one of my notes 
 to the President I asked him directly, Can I have 
 the Paris consulship ? and the reply, as usual, 
 came back, Mr. Guiteau, the President is very 
 busy and cannot see you to-day. 
 
 " These interviews occurred several days apart 
 sometimes a week apart ; they all occurred 
 during the time that I was pressing my appli 
 cation for the Paris consulship. The case was 
 pending at the time I shot the President, and, as I 
 before stated I confidently expected a favorable 
 answer when they had got rid of Mr. Walker. I 
 understood, by the President s statement that 
 he could not see me, that he was trying in 
 some way to get rid of Walker gracefully, 
 and that as a matter of fact he intended that 
 I should have it. My getting or not getting 
 the Paris consulship had nothing whatever to do 
 with my shooting the President ; I shot him purely 
 as a political necessity, under Divine pressure ; 
 and it was only by nerving myself to the utmost 
 that I shot him any way. If he should recover 
 and I should meet him again I would not shoot 
 him ; and now I leave the result with the Almighty. 
 In case the President had said that I could not 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 6 ~ 
 
 have the Paris consulship, I intended to go to New 
 York or Chicago, and open a law office, and let 
 politics go. 
 
 LEGAL VIEW OF THE ASSASSINATION. 
 
 " I shot the President without malice or murder 
 ous intent. I deny any legal liability in this case. 
 In order to constitute the crime of murder two 
 elements must co-exist. First, an actual homi 
 cide ; second, malice malice in law or malice in 
 fact. The law presumes malice from the fact of 
 the homicide ; the degree of malice depends upon 
 the condition of the man s mind at the time of the 
 homicide. If two men quarrel and one shoots 
 the other in heat or passion, the law says that is 
 manslaughter. The remoteness of the shooting 
 from the moment of the conception fastens the 
 degree of the malice. The further you go from 
 the conception to the shooting the greater the 
 malice, because the law says that in shooting a 
 man a few hours or a few days after the concep 
 tion, the mind has a chance to cool, and, therefore, 
 the act is deliberate. Malice in fact depends upon 
 the circumstances attending the homicide. Malice 
 in law is liquidated in this case by the facts and 
 circumstances, as set forth in these pages, attend 
 ing the removal of the President. I had none but 
 the best of feelings, personally, tow r ard the Presi 
 dent. I always thought of him and spoke of him 
 as General Garfield. 
 
 " I never had the slightest idea of removing Mn 
 
6 4 
 
 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Elaine or any member of the Administration. My 
 only object was to remove Mr. Garfield in his 
 official capacity as President of the United States, 
 to unite the Republican party, and save the Re 
 public from going into the control of the rebels 
 and democrats. This was the sole idea that in 
 duced me to remove the President. I appreciate 
 all the religion and sentiment and honor connected 
 with the removal ; no one can surpass me in this, 
 but I put away all sentiment and did my duty to 
 God and to the American people." 
 
 INTERVIEW WITH MR. CONKLING. 
 
 The fourth chapter in Guiteau s autobiography 
 contains little that is of interest. He gives his 
 
 o 
 
 impressions of men in public life whom he casually 
 met ; whom he bored for office or money. It is a 
 record of intense egotism. His speech, " Garfield 
 against Hancock," he used everywhere as his letter 
 of introduction. If a public man failed to recog 
 nize him out came the speech. He tells how he 
 was snubbed by Mr. Conkling, whom he styles 
 " My Lord Roscoe," and who nearly always seemed 
 to him to be on his " high horse." Mr. Jewell was 
 always affable and appeared to like him. Mr. 
 Elaine he met two or three times at the State De 
 partment. He describes one interview in the first 
 week of March. " I gave Mr. Elaine my speech, 
 headed Garfield against Hancock/ and he im 
 mediately recognized me and brightened up and 
 was very clever to me. I met him in the elevator 
 
GUITEAU y THE ASSASSIN. * 
 
 one day about that time probably about a week 
 later and he was very cordial, and said he re 
 membered me, and seemed to be very glad to see 
 me. My standing with Mr. Elaine ran along in 
 this free and familiar way until he told me one 
 day that he did not think the President would re 
 move Mr. Walker. Since that I have not seen 
 him." Mr. Conkling he saw one day in the Vice- 
 President s room at the Capitol. The ex-Senator 
 was in conversation with a gentleman. " I sat 
 within a few feet of him," says Guiteau, "on the 
 sofa. I eyed him and he eyed me, and when he 
 got through with his friend I stepped up to him 
 and said Good morning, Senator, and he said 
 1 good morning. I said, I hope to get an appoint 
 ment, Senator, and I hope when the matter comes 
 up you will remember me, and he simply said, 
 perfectly, and I bowed, and he bowed, and we 
 parted." 
 
 LOOKING FOR A WIFE. 
 
 In bringing his autobiography to an end he says : 
 " And now I speak of two matters strictly personal. 
 First, I am looking for a wife and see no objection 
 to mentioning it here. I want an elegant Chris 
 tian lady of wealth, under thirty, belonging to a 
 first-class family. Any such lady can address me 
 in the utmost confidence. My mother died when 
 I was only seven, and I have always felt it a great 
 privation to have no mother. If my mother had 
 lived I never should have got into the Oneida 
 
56 AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF 
 
 Community, and my life, no doubt, would have 
 been happier every way. Nearly three years after 
 I left the Community I was unfortunately married. 
 At last I made up my mind that I would sever the 
 bonds, and I was divorced in 1874. I am fond of 
 female society, and I judge the ladies are of me, 
 and I should be delighted to find my mate." 
 
 PRESIDENTIAL ASPIRATIONS. 
 
 "The second" subject in which he desires to 
 take the public into his confidence refers to the 
 Presidency. " For twenty years," he writes, " I 
 have had an idea that I should be President. I 
 had the idea when I lived in the Oneida Com 
 munity, and it has never left me. When I left 
 Boston for New York, in June, 1880, I remember 
 distinctly I felt that I was on my way to the White 
 House. I had this feeling all through the canvass 
 last fall in New York, although I mentioned it to 
 only two persons. My idea is that I shall be 
 nominated and elected as Lincoln and Garfield 
 were that is, by the act of God. If I were Presi 
 dent, I should seek to give the nation a first-class 
 administration in every respect; I want nothing 
 sectional or crooked around me. My object would 
 be to unify the entire American people, and make 
 them happy, prosperous and God-fearing," 
 
MARRIED LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES JULIUS GUITEAU, 
 
 BY HIS FORMER WIFE, 
 
 MRS. ANNIE J. DUNMIRE. 
 
 STENOGRAPHICALLY REPORTED. 
 
 (67) 
 
Philadelphia, Dec. 29, 1881. 
 Messrs. Hubbard Bros., 
 
 Philadelphia, Penna.: 
 
 Gentlemen : / have given you as fully as possi 
 ble, and exclusively for publication in your forth 
 coming book on the " Life and Trial of Charles 
 J. Guiteau" all the important and interesting 
 particulars concerning him, as I knew him, while 
 his wife. 
 
 Very respectfully yours, 
 
 MRS. THEODORE DUNMIRE. 
 
 (68) 
 
MARRIED LIFE OF GUITEAU: 
 BY MRS. ANNIE J. DUNMIRE. 
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 MRS. ANNIE J. DUNMIRE, the divorced wife of 
 Guiteau, now residing in Leadville, Colorado, 
 has given to the publishers some interesting infor 
 mation, which, in a striking manner, portrays the 
 moral obliquity of her quondam husband. 
 
 In following her narrative and the testimony 
 introduced at the trial concerning the nefarious 
 life of this theological vagabond and modern vam 
 pire, one is forcibly reminded of the character of 
 that most illustrious imp of depravity Tiddlebat 
 Titmouse, M. P. Titmouse has justly been con 
 sidered one of the most repulsive and nauseating 
 characters in fiction, but the reality which the 
 santimonious Guiteau presents, is infinitely more 
 despicable and loathsome than the contemptible 
 effigy created by the brilliant imagination of 
 Warren. His defense of inspiration is undoubt 
 edly an artifice, and his pretensions to patriotism, 
 and claim to be ranked with a Brutus and Char 
 lotte Corday, equally absurd in the light of his 
 selfish career. If such an event could, in any man 
 ner, advance his personal interests, he would be 
 
 (69) 
 
MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 perfectly content to see the Republic obliterated 
 from existence. His ambition was to wriggle into 
 notoriety, "to strike a blow in the world that would 
 resound through the centuries," whether for good 
 or bad, whether by a gigantic achievement of 
 genius, or the surreptitious assault of an assassin 
 against purity and honor, he was supremely in 
 different. It was the old Satanic ambition: Better 
 to reign in hell than serve in heaven. 
 
 MRS. DUNMIRE S STATEMENT. 
 In the spring of 1868, I was employed as libra 
 rian of the Young Men s 
 Christian Association, in 
 Chicago, and I there be 
 came acquainted with Gui- 
 teau. He was then a mem 
 ber of the Association, and 
 had been for a short time 
 previous to my connection 
 with it. He took an active 
 part in the work, often 
 conducting the meetings, 
 and frequented the library 
 rooms a great deal. He represented himself as 
 practicing law, and I think he was then in the 
 office of Reynolds & Phelps. I presume he was 
 studying law and getting what business he could 
 just commencing business. He pretended to 
 
 GUITEAU IN JULY 1869. 
 
GUITEAL\ THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 feel a great deal of interest in religious matters, 
 and repeatedly referred to his having been a 
 member of Mr. Beecher s Church, in Brooklyn. 
 The gentlemen in the Association seemed to 
 think that he was a very exemplary young man, 
 so far as his conduct and work among them was 
 concerned. 
 
 My first impression of him was that he was 
 rather peculiar in his manners and dress, but 
 nothing very remarkable. Of course, one some 
 times notices little peculiarities in a person that 
 another would not observe. 
 
 MARRIAGE. 
 
 We were married in Chicago on the 3d of 
 July, 1869, by the Rev. 
 William Alvin Bartlett, 
 who was then pastor of 
 the First Congregational 
 Church of that city. We 
 lived there until the time 
 of the great fire, in Octo 
 ber, 1871. During that 
 period he practiced law, 
 but the principal part of 
 the law business that he 
 attended to was collect 
 ing old notes and debts. He seemed to have 
 more business of that nature than any other. He 
 had a great deal of difficulty with almost every 
 party with whom he had any business transactions, 
 
 WIFE OF GUITEAU, IN 1869. 
 
^ 2 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 in regard to making proper returns respecting 
 such bills as he had collected. 
 
 METHODS AS A COLLECTOR. 
 
 When he had a bill for collection he would work 
 with a great deal of energy for a time, and suc- 
 ceed in obtaining a part of it ; and then he would 
 state to the creditor that he had had a great deal 
 of trouble in collecting the first instalment on 
 their claim, and he would keep the amount so 
 collected as payment for his services, promising 
 to pay to them their share if he should succeed in 
 obtaining the remainder, and if not (as in many 
 cases he never did) that is the way the matter was 
 left he never paid over any more, thereby natu 
 rally causing these men to feel very hard toward 
 him, they often threatened him with exposure, 
 and pursued him and gave him trouble. He pro 
 bably thought I knew very little about these mat 
 ters, but I learned the state of affairs from people 
 who would call to see him where we were board 
 ing, and in an indirect way at different times. He 
 would often tell me, in fact, of different sums of 
 money that he had succeeded in collecting, and 
 he seemed to take unbounded delight in talk 
 ing about how he would arrange to keep these 
 amounts, and evidently looked upon it as quite a 
 piece of smartness to be able to do so without 
 getting into any difficulty about it. I repeatedly 
 told him that he knew that way of doing business 
 was dishonest and not the right conduct, and that 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. * * 
 
 he would suddenly cause a great deal of trouble. 
 His reply invariably was, that the world owed him 
 a living, and that he intended to get it in one way 
 or another. 
 
 AN UNCLEAN LIFE. 
 
 I lived in continual anxiety and suspense of 
 mind on account of this mode of living his cheat 
 ing and dishonest transactions. I was constantly 
 expecting that something would happen to him, 
 during that time, because I knew how people felt 
 toward him, and if he was late at meal-time or 
 was out unusually late in the evening, I was in 
 constant fear that something had happened to him. 
 I became so sure of it that the least unexpected 
 noise in the house or hall, would startle me, and I 
 would think that perhaps he had been attacked or 
 killed or injured in some way. I lived in a per 
 petual dread and expectancy of something fear 
 ful occurring to him on that account. 
 
 GUITEAU S CUNNING. 
 
 I might mention a few instances of his remarka 
 ble shrewdness, or cunning, if you can call it that. 
 One incident that transpired while we were living 
 in New York I remember very well, which shows 
 how very quick he was in trying to deceive or in 
 deception. He had a hunting-case watch which 
 was not worth more than five dollars. It was re 
 ferred to by Mr. Shaw in his testimony at the 
 trial. It was what was called an oroide watch and 
 could be brightened up so that it would greatly re- 
 
 7 
 
74 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 semble "old, and one o^lancinof at it mio ht think it 
 
 o o o o 
 
 very valuable. He was in great need of money 
 and an idea occurred to him that he would try to 
 get some money on this watch. He waited until 
 evening and then went to the store of a pawn 
 broker, kept by a Jew, somewhere down town. 
 He handed the man his card, and told him that he 
 was short of money, and that he wished to get 
 about twenty-five dollars advanced on the watch, 
 which he produced. The man took it and turned to 
 get the money from his safe or drawer, and as he 
 turned Guiteau picked up his card and slipped it 
 into his pocket, and he took the twenty-five dol 
 lars and came away. He returned home and 
 showed me the money. He clapped his hands 
 and walked up and down the room and just 
 laughed to think how he had cheated " that old 
 Jew." He was a perfect stranger to the pawn 
 broker, and of course in a large city like New 
 York, it would perhaps be impossible to find him 
 again. I told him that in all probability the man 
 would find him, because he had given him his card ; 
 and he said, " Oh, no ; there is no danger of that, 
 for as he turned his back to get the money, I 
 slipped the card off the counter, so that the 
 man would lose the clue as to who I am." He 
 regarded that as so much clear gain. 
 
 DISHONEST DEALING. 
 
 During all the time we were living in Chicago, 
 he kept up his dishonest practices, cheating- every- 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. j~ 
 
 body that he came in contact with, great or small, 
 in any way he possibly could. I presume no one 
 ever had any dealings with him where money was 
 involved, that did not get the worst of the trans 
 action. 
 
 We were both members of the First Baptist 
 Church of Chicago, of which Dr. Evarts was pas 
 tor; we were baptized and received into full 
 membership, and part of the time Guiteau taught 
 in the Sabbath-School, and often conducted, or 
 assisted in conducting, the prayer-meetings held 
 during the week. He attended the services rema- 
 
 o o 
 
 larly, and to all outward appearances, took great 
 interest in the church. And yet all the while it 
 was his constant study to see how successfully he 
 could carry on his dishonest operations. He 
 seemed to delight in such conduct, and succeeded 
 in almost every instance, and, notwithstanding 
 this, I do not know of his ever getting into any 
 serious difficulty as a result of his roguery, during 
 our residence in that city. 
 
 HIS PLAUSIBILITY. 
 
 He apparently was able to explain satisfactorily 
 all his questionable doings, and his manners were 
 so pleasant and so agreeable to strangers that he 
 was continually making friends, and sometimes 
 was able to borrow sums of money, two or three 
 different times from the same parties, who were 
 almost total strangers to him, a thing that perhaps 
 few persons could have done. 
 
7 6 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 I remember of one instance where he discovered 
 that I was acquainted with a lady who is, or was 
 then, a very intimate friend of George W. Childs, 
 of the Philadelphia Ledger. Guiteau had an idea at 
 that time that he wanted to go to San Francisco 
 for the purpose of opening a law office there, and 
 as he did not have means to go with he wished 
 me to write to this lady to see if he could borrow 
 some money from Mr. Childs. He talked about 
 it so persistently that I at last told him he could 
 write to the lady, as she was an intimate acquain 
 tance of mine and mention the request he desired 
 to make. He accordingly wrote to her and en 
 closed his note payable to Mr. Childs for the 
 amount; it was for several hundred dollars (I 
 think two or three hundred) that he wanted Mr. 
 Childs to loan him on his note. I do not remem 
 ber for what length of time the note was made 
 out. Of course, Mr. Childs did not see fit to 
 advance it, because he did not know him and he 
 did not know me. Yet Guiteau was very san 
 guine, in fact convinced, that if he could have gone 
 to Philadelphia he could have gotten that loan 
 just upon the strength of his position in Chicago 
 as a lawyer. He thought if he could once intro 
 duce himself with his business card, he could secure 
 almost anything he wished. 
 
 BORROWING MONEY. 
 
 In regard to his borrowing money, I might 
 mention another incident. He at one time, soon 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 77 
 
 after our marriage, inquired something about my 
 relatives. I was born in England, and my relatives 
 are there. He asked me, a number of times, if I had 
 not relatives living there ? He also said, " It is 
 singular you don t know anything about your 
 family, who they are, or what they are," and I 
 told him that I had a cousin who, I thought, was 
 probably still living near Liverpool, but that I had 
 forgotten his address ; that the family might have 
 moved, and that I did not know anything about 
 them. He thought it likely that they were in 
 pretty good circumstances, and he had a wonderful 
 desire to find where those people were living. 
 He wrote to the authorities at that place or in the 
 neighborhood, and gave the address of the family 
 as far as he knew, and requested that a special 
 effort should be made to trace them up, and dis 
 cover their whereabouts, and that he should be 
 notified of the result of the inquiry; he sent his 
 card, of course, enclosed in the letter. After a 
 time, an answer came, stating that the family were 
 still residing in the same place ; that my aunt 
 (my father s sister) was dead, but that her son was 
 married and was living there. He obtained their 
 address and wrote to them, and wanted to learn 
 how they were situated financially, which was his 
 only object in writing. They sent us a very kind 
 letter and stated their pecuniary circumstances, 
 and when he found they were people who were 
 not able to help us (as he inferred from their 
 7* 
 
*,g MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 letter), he never mentioned them again. He never 
 afterward expressed a desire to know anything 
 about them, and I naturally concluded that his 
 object in communicating with them, was because 
 they might possibly be in a position to aid him 
 in money matters or otherwise. 
 
 BOARDING-HOUSE EXPERIENCE. 
 
 In regard to board-bills, there was scarcely a 
 place at which we boarded, during our married 
 life, that he ever paid our bills. I have expe 
 rienced more difficulties in that respect than I 
 could describe. He was always unwilling to take 
 a house. Mr. and Mrs. Scoville tried every way 
 to induce him to do so. They even offered to 
 rent a house for us, and furnish it comfortably, so 
 that we could have a home, but he never would 
 consent to such a thing. He insisted that it was 
 too much trouble ; that there was too much work 
 about it; that it was a great deal less expensive 
 to board, and he did not want the annoyance of 
 keeping house; consequently, we boarded con 
 stantly in Chicago, from the time we were married, 
 in 1869, until the fall of 1871, when we left that 
 city. 
 
 We stopped sometimes at hotels and some 
 times at boarding-houses, and he invariably made 
 an especial effort to get the very best place, and se 
 cure the best accommodations the house afforded, 
 and would remain just as long as they would allow 
 us to stay. As a result of his procrastination 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. ~ 
 
 and failure to pay his debts, the people who kept 
 the hotels and boarding-houses would become 
 tired of his promises, and disgusted with us both, 
 and treated me with frowns and contempt. Even 
 if he had money, as he often had, it was impossible 
 to persuade him to pay such bills; if there was 
 any way of avoiding such bills, he would refuse 
 to pay. Occasionally, when his creditors would 
 press him closely, his excuse was: "I have 
 been disappointed about getting money; I am 
 expecting one hundred or two hundred, or may 
 be three hundred dollars in a day or so, and then 
 I will settle my bill, and it is not worth while," 
 he would perhaps add, " for you to get on your 
 ear about it or to get angry, for I will pay you 
 just as soon as I have the money, and I can t pay 
 before." I was exceedingly worried and an 
 noyed about the matter and would urge him to 
 pay the bills, and told him that I would not live 
 that way, and that unless he paid the bills I would 
 work and do almost anything in order to live in 
 an honest and proper manner and be saved the 
 anxiety and inconvenience to which his conduct 
 subjected me. 
 
 BAGGAGE DETAINED. 
 
 Our baggage would time and time again be de 
 tained, in order to secure the payment of the 
 board-bills. I cannot begin to tell the number of 
 times during my acquaintance with him that I have 
 lived for weeks, sometimes four or five weeks and 
 
g o MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 even into months, with scarcely a change of 
 clothes, on account of the detention of my clothes 
 for board. In some instances I have gone person 
 ally to the creditors and actually begged them to 
 let me go to the store-room or wherever the bag 
 gage was kept, and open the trunk and take out a 
 dress or an article of clothing I was compelled to 
 have, and then wait for the rest until he could 
 arrange to get them. He did not usually suffer as 
 much inconvenience as I did from these matters, 
 because he had a valise, and what clothes he 
 needed, or he thought he would need for a while, 
 he would put into the valise and take it away with 
 him. The greater part of our clothing, however, 
 was kept for board. 
 
 I remember one occurrence particularly, while 
 we were living in Chicago. We were staying at 
 a boarding-house on Wabash Avenue at that time. 
 He went there for the purpose of boarding out a 
 bill he had undertaken to collect for some client. 
 The bill, I believe, was against the woman who 
 kept the house, and he agreed with her to board 
 out his share of the claim for services in making 
 the collection. He accordingly received his fee in 
 board, and continued to board there and of course 
 never turned over any money to the party who 
 gave him the claim to collect. The client was not 
 in Chicago at the time and did not know anything 
 about it. The woman became very tired of hav 
 ing us there, we had one of the best rooms in the 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. gj 
 
 house, and, after boarding out what he termed his 
 share of the claim, she repeatedly asked him for 
 money. He would pay her a small sum once in 
 a while, and it ran along in that way for several 
 months. At last she notified him that he would 
 have to find another place, as she needed the 
 room for some one who would pay her cash every 
 week, and he owed her then a considerable 
 amount.. We had two or three trunks at that 
 time, and when we came to vacate she would not 
 let us take our baggage along with us, and we had 
 to depart without anything save what we were 
 wearing. 
 
 But he vowed when he left the house that he 
 would get those trunks in spite of anything she 
 might do ; that he would not allow anyone to 
 " beat " him in that way, and that he would get 
 those trunks and she would not get anything 
 just to retaliate for their detention. 
 
 We went to another place to board, and some 
 time had elapsed when he one day informed me 
 that he had at once commenced replevin proceed 
 ings in court ; and he had to wait several days, I 
 believe, before he could perfect arrangements. It 
 was in the summer time, and, during evenings in 
 warm weather, the front doors of houses would 
 be left open. He said he knew the room in which 
 the trunks were stored, and that he intended to 
 go to the house while the family and boarders 
 were at their meals in the basement (at dinner or 
 
g 2 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 supper, for instance), that he was going to bring 
 an express-wagon to the door, that he would walk 
 right into the house and into the room and have 
 the trunks out before the woman could know any 
 thing about it, and that, if she should attempt to 
 molest or interfere with him in any way, he would 
 secure the baggage at all events. And he did so. 
 He succeeded in getting them out. Just as he 
 got the last trunk down stairs, this lady discovered 
 it and called on some of the boarders. Before 
 they could get up the steps, however, to help her, 
 he was on the wagon driving off with the baggage, 
 and she never got a cent from him. 
 
 He had the baggage brought tip-stairs into our 
 room, paid the expressman for his services, and 
 he was just completely exhausted from his exer 
 tions and excitement, and he could scarcely ex 
 press his delight at the way he had succeeded in 
 accomplishing his object. He talked of it for 
 hours afterward ; it was the constant theme of his 
 conversation on all that day and the next the 
 smartness of the idea and the brilliancy of its 
 execution. He would say: "There is not one 
 man in five hundred who would have attempted 
 that; they would be afraid they would be shot 
 at. But not I ; nobody will beat me, for I will be 
 even with them in the end !" He made that re 
 mark several times, walking up and down the 
 room, hysterically clapping his hands and shouting : 
 " Sold aofain and o-ot the tin !" 
 
 o o 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. g~ 
 
 He looked upon such an act as a great achieve 
 ment, as if it was an honor to him. It was of no 
 use to attempt to reason with him and talk about 
 such conduct being dishonest. He did not care 
 anything about it; he was impervious to senti 
 ment or feeling. I never heard him say that he was 
 sorry for behavior of that kind : he apparently 
 never suffered any pangs of regret on account of 
 his dishonesty. 
 
 GETTING OUT OF A HOTEL. 
 
 After the fire in Chicago we went to New York, 
 and boarded for a time at the Cortlandt Street 
 Hotel, in the lower part of the city, and the same 
 old story was repeated there. The proprietor 
 was very patient, and would sometimes come to 
 him at the table and tap him on the shoulder and 
 say : " I will have to trouble you for some money 
 to-night," or something of that sort, and Guiteau 
 would always turn to him and say very pleasantly 
 and politely: "I am very sorry to keep you so 
 long ; I appreciate your kindness. I expected 
 money to-day, but didn t get it, but I shall pro 
 bably be able to settle with you to-morrow." But 
 the proprietor got tired of waiting. Guiteau then 
 owed somethino- over one hundred dollars for 
 
 o 
 
 board, and one day after dinner he said to me : " I 
 tell you what it is, I haven t got the money to pay, 
 and I presume I had better leave. I hate to be 
 annoyed about board ; I think we will have to 
 get a place up-town." I said : " I presume we 
 
8 4 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 shall have to leave our baggage again for board, 1 
 and made some remark about detesting to have to 
 live in that way ; and he said : " I tell you what we 
 can do. We can leave some things here and we 
 can take some things with us." But the difficulty 
 was how to cret the goods out of the house with- 
 
 o o 
 
 out detection, because they always kept the 
 ladies entrance fastened, as is customary, and the 
 entrance through the office was so public it would 
 have been impossible to carry away anything with 
 out being observed. He did not know what to do 
 He studied over it some time, and said: "There 
 is one thing certain, if I ever get out of here, I 
 will never pay them one red cent," as he was in 
 the habit of saying. The room we had was on 
 the second floor, in a corner of the hotel, and 
 fronting on the street. There was a porch under 
 one of the windows, and he proposed that we 
 should fasten up some of the articles of which we 
 were in the most need ; that he should go down 
 on the side-walk, and I throw these things out ; 
 and that would secure them, and then I would 
 go out. They would not suspect anything, of 
 course, by my going out alone, and he said : "We 
 will leave the other things until we can get them 
 out at some time." I demurred to such a proceed 
 ing, and he got very mad, and said: "You are a 
 jackass ; you have no sense : I had no business 
 to have a wife anyhow ; if I had not a wife I 
 would have none of this annoyance about board- 
 
GU1TEAU, THE ASSASSIN. g - 
 
 bills." He went out and ascertained that our 
 windows were right over the clerk s office of the 
 hotel, and as that was lighted up at night, his pro 
 posed action would unavoidably have attracted 
 immediate attention: and he said: "Of course, 
 that will not do. But, I presume they will be 
 willing for us to take a valise, or something of 
 that sort. You had better pack up some things 
 you need the most." I did so, and we left the 
 hotel. We went up town, and took board at a 
 place on Twenty-second Street, I think, and lived 
 two weeks there, and our trunks were kept at the 
 hotel, some two or three months, before he made 
 any attempt to get them. 
 
 Those are only a few characteristic instances 
 but of a great many. Rather than make an effort 
 to get the money like any one who would pay, he 
 would go to all that inconvenience. He had an 
 idea that whatever he could cheat a boarding- 
 house or hotel-keeper out of was so much clear 
 gain. The only motive in the world that ever in 
 duced him to pay them anything was in order to 
 get what belonged to him his clothing and mine; 
 that was the only reason influencing him to pay at 
 all, and he regarded that as an unnecessary ex 
 penditure altogether. 
 
 LIVING BEYOND HIS MEANS. 
 
 Another singular feature about his conduct was 
 that he was always anxious to live so far beyond 
 his means. It was always : " Nothing but the best," 
 8 
 
g5 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 the best place and among the very best first-class 
 people, prominent people, people well known so 
 far as position and wealth were concerned. That 
 was his great object always to be among them 
 and to live at the most expensive places and to 
 have the best accommodations ; he was not satis 
 fied to live in plain style anywhere, 
 
 RENTING OFFICES. 
 
 In renting offices in Chicago, it was the same 
 way as in boarding. There were very few places 
 where he had an office that he paid his rent. In 
 nearly every instance he owed for rent, and he re 
 mained just as long as he could comfortably, and 
 then when they would press him too much and 
 become persistent about his settling with them he 
 would say that he could find a better place, or he 
 would find some fault with the office, or the parties 
 he was with, and then change. And this was re 
 peated over and over again. It is perhaps impos 
 sible to tell how many persons there are in Chicago 
 and New York, whom he owes for office-rent and 
 board-bills. There are probably scores of them. 
 
 BORROWING MONEY. 
 
 Dr. McArthur gave very good testimony at the 
 trial illustrating the character of the prisoner. 
 Soon after we went to New York, Guiteau sent 
 for our letters from the Baptist Church in Chicago, 
 and was admitted to the Calvary Baptist Church 
 of New York, Dr. McArthur being the pastor at 
 that time. He attended it regularly and evinced 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. gy 
 
 a great interest in it. Several months after we 
 joined that church, he handed me a note one day, 
 and said that he wished me to call on Mr. Mc- 
 Arthur and request him to loan one hundred dol 
 lars for thirty or sixty days on the note, which I 
 think was payable " on demand." At first I stren 
 uously objected to it, and he said, " Well, I know 
 that Mr. McArthur would very much sooner loan 
 you the money than he would me, because he 
 would not like to refuse you on account of its 
 being a lady who makes the request, and if you 
 go to him very pleasantly and tell him that it is to 
 pay a board-bill, that we need it very much, and 
 state the circumstances that I have been here 
 but a short time; that I have not got fairly started 
 in business, having lost everything in the Chicago 
 fire I have no doubt he will loan you the money." 
 With great reluctance, I went to Mr. McArthur s 
 house, and explained it to him, and gave him this 
 note, and he was very kind indeed. He stated 
 that he did not have that much money with him 
 that morning, but he gave me twenty dollars and 
 said he would make an especial effort to get the 
 rest that day, and to call or send for the remain 
 der ; that he was interested in us, and if it would 
 help us he would be only too glad to be able to 
 assist. And he did as he promised. I think the 
 next day, or a clay or two afterwards, he paid the 
 balance in all ninety-five dollars, and, as he 
 stated in his testimony, that money is still unpaid. 
 
gg MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 
 
 Guiteau never made the slightest attempt to 
 return it to Mr. McArthur, and never said any 
 thing about paying it. I talked with him repeat 
 edly about it and asked if he ever intended to 
 repay the money, and his reply was: "Well, per 
 haps, sometime when it is perfectly convenient for 
 me to return the money, I will do it, but not before, 
 and it is not necessary for you to say anything 
 more on the subject. Dr. McArthur does not need 
 it ; he has a large congregation ; receives a large 
 salary, and a hundred dollars is nothing to him. 
 He doesn t expect us to return it. He is a good 
 man and he gives that with perfect good-will ; he 
 will think none the less of us for not returning the 
 money." 
 
 STILL BORROWING. 
 
 Guiteau was also acquainted with General Jones, 
 then Postmaster at New York. Subsequently to 
 the incident I have just mentioned, he was taken 
 sick, and we were in great want of money; and 
 he said: "I think I will get you to call on Post 
 master Jones, and I will make my note and you 
 can give it to him." I forget the amount, but I 
 think he wished to borrow seventy-five or one 
 hundred dollars. His excuse then was that he 
 knew very well that General Jones would not re 
 fuse me; that he might refuse him, but not me. 
 He said: "Your manners are so pleasant and you 
 seem so amiable and lady-like, people won t dare 
 to refuse you." So I went to General Jones, very 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. gg 
 
 reluctantly again, ancf I succeeded in getting the 
 amount. I never heard of Guiteau s returning 
 that money, and his apology was just the same as 
 in the case of Mr. McArthur that he was a 
 wealthy man, and would not miss it. But I told 
 him at that time that he need never again ask me 
 to go to anyone to borrow money : "I positively 
 will not do it," I said: "You told me often that 
 you would pay this money to these parties, and I 
 will never do such a thing again; I had rather 
 starve than do it." I presume he would have sent 
 me to a number of others, borrowing money on 
 his note, if I would have consented to do it. 
 
 HIS TEMPERATE HABITS. 
 
 Guiteau never drank or used tobacco. He has 
 many times said that he disliked the taste and 
 smell of liquor in any form, and that his father 
 disliked those things very much also. He was 
 perfectly temperate in this respect, and I have 
 wondered at it. He seemed to be always per 
 fectly sensible of what he was doing. He would 
 plan and study up things for hours ; his mind was 
 often deeply buried in some project that would 
 give him fame and wealth. 
 
 ASPIRING TO FAME. 
 
 He was sure that he was destined to be at some 
 time " famous in this world," as he expressed it, 
 and he constantly conversed about it that he 
 knew the time was coming when he would be a 
 
 o 
 
 " big man." He used to walk back and forth be- 
 
QO MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 fore the glass and pull down his coat and 
 straighten back his shoulders, so as to give him 
 self a conspicuous appearance. If there was any 
 peculiarity in his style of dress or deportment in 
 the street, it was in keeping with his desire to look 
 like some of our noted men. He has asked me 
 the question repeatedly : " Don t you think I 
 would look like a good Foreign Minister?" or 
 something of that kind. His great predominating 
 ambition at that time was to be noted in some 
 thing. While conversing on the subject he would 
 mention the early lives of some of our prominent 
 men particularly those born and reared in ob 
 scurity and poverty. He would say: " There is 
 such and such a man, occupying such a position 
 to-day ; he was born in poverty. There are Mr. 
 Lincoln and Mr. Greeley, and so it has been with 
 me ; I have had a hard time, a hard road to travel, 
 but the time is coming when I will be just as fa 
 mous as they are." And I would laugh at him 
 and come down to everyday life ; I at that time 
 wanted something comfortable, something whereby 
 we could live ; his mind was always in the future ; 
 I would say : " I do not think you are living now 
 as you ought to live if you are expecting to be a 
 prominent man ; you are not living in the proper 
 way now." But of course he would not take that 
 view of the matter. 
 
 EARNING LITTLE. 
 
 He habitually represented that he made a great 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. O T 
 
 deal more money than he ever did, the actual fact 
 being that he made but little money rightfully, and 
 the only way he succeeded in getting any money 
 at all was either by borrowing or by collecting old 
 debts, and in nine cases out of ten, he would col 
 lect half (or what he was pleased to consider his 
 half) and keep it ; if he should at any time obtain 
 the rest, why all well enough. 
 
 TRIP TO SAN FRANCISCO. 
 
 While we were living in Chicago I think it 
 was in the summer of 1871 he decided to go to 
 San Francisco and open a law office there ; he 
 was thoroughly disgusted with Chicago. After he 
 failed to get money from Mr. Childs, of Phila 
 delphia, he managed to obtain some elsewhere I 
 presume through collecting bills, and retaining 
 what did not belong to him, because he never 
 seemed to get money in any other way. He went 
 to San Francisco and was absent about two weeks. 
 He returned to Chicago, and said he was perfectly 
 satisfied with Chicago, that he did not think he 
 
 o 
 
 would care to live in San Francisco at all, and he 
 stated that while he was there he had stopped at 
 the Cosmopolitan Hotel, which at that time was 
 considered to be one of the handsomest hotels in 
 that city, and he mentioned that circumstance with 
 great glee that his stay there had cost him noth 
 ing, getting the very best accommodations and 
 living in the best of style at no expense what 
 ever. 
 
Q 9 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 REMOVAL TO NEW YORK. 
 
 We were living in Chicago at the time of the 
 fire in October, 1871. He had quite a nice library, 
 and he lost that and the furniture in his office in 
 the conflagration. We succeeded in saving our 
 clothes, but nothing more. 
 
 From Chicago we came to New York. He 
 
 o 
 
 decided to establish himself there and renew his 
 law practice. The first office or desk-room rather 
 that he rented was with Mr. M c Lane Shaw, who 
 testified at the trial, the office being at 59-61 
 Liberty Street. He remained there nearly a year. 
 We took board up-town, and the experience 
 which we had passed through in Chicago, in regard 
 to board-bills, was repeated in New York, as I 
 have before stated. We would stay a while at 
 one place and then have to leave our baggage, or 
 possibly get it and go to another place and board 
 there and then leave that, and so on always and 
 everywhere. 
 
 GOOD REFERENCES. 
 
 I believe he obtained considerable practice in 
 New York. He had business cards printed, and 
 with quite a number of references to responsible 
 men on the back, in order that persons to whom 
 he applied for business, could refer to those gen 
 tlemen for any needed information, as to his char 
 acter and ability. I remember that one of those 
 references was to the firm of Reynolds & Phelps, 
 of Chicago, another to his brother John W. Gui- 
 
GUITEAU, 7 HE ASSASSIN. g., 
 
 teau, who was then in Boston, I think, another to 
 General Jones, the then Postmaster at New York, 
 in addition to several others. He had five or six 
 references, and whenever, he applied for business, 
 he would turn his card over and say, "you can 
 refer to any of these," and that was generally 
 satisfactory. 
 
 He resolved to make collections a specialty, 
 and attend to nothing else. He said that it was 
 a branch of the law-business, and he thought he 
 could do very well at that, and he went around 
 among the merchants, and leading business houses 
 in New York, and obtained a great many bills for 
 collection, and* I believe that he succeeded in col- 
 lecing considerable money on their account. 
 
 He had difficulty with nearly all his clients, in 
 New York, as he had had with those in Chicago. 
 He was several times threatened with arrest for 
 withholding moneys that he had received, but he 
 always got out of it in some way; he was never 
 arrested during my acquaintance with him. 
 
 POLITICAL ASPIRATIONS. 
 
 He continued in this branch of the law business 
 in New York during that winter and the spring 
 and summer of 1872, following. When Mr. 
 Greeley was nominated for the Presidency Guiteau 
 made up his mind that he would get out of the 
 law business and get into politics with Mr. 
 Greeley. He talked of him continually, almost 
 everything that Mr. Greeley had done in the past 
 
QA MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 was discussed, and he read his life and read the 
 New York Tribune, and he became infatuated 
 with the idea of going into the canvass and doing 
 everything he possibly could for the election of 
 that gentleman ; Mr. Greeley being "just the 
 man for the place." He accordingly wrote quite a 
 number of speeches and probably visited the com 
 mittee rooms for the purpose of getting an oppor 
 tunity to address meetings. They used to have 
 torchlight processions and open-air meetings, and 
 he would go out in the evenings ostensibly to 
 deliver his speeches, and he did make addresses 
 at several assemblies in different parts of the city. 
 He would say that he had been appointed to speak 
 at various places, and would come home much 
 delighted at his success, and he was particularly 
 pleased at the notice of his address in the papers 
 of the following day. 
 
 WRITING HIS CHIEF SPEECH. 
 
 He wrote a speech that he regarded as a 
 wonderful production, and I find that it is substan 
 tially the same speech that was offered in evidence 
 at the trial the speech entitled " Garfield against 
 Hancock." There are sentences in that speech 
 that, when I commenced to read it, came to me as 
 plainly as when he composed it. He read it over 
 and over again ; sometimes he would sit up nearly 
 all night working on that address changing it 
 and thoroughly revising it. 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. g* 
 
 STICKING TO POLITICS. 
 
 During that summer he neglected, almost en 
 tirely, his law business, He had no income, and 
 our condition was terribly embarrassing and dis 
 tressing to me. We had no means with which to 
 
 o 
 
 live, and yet he persisted in his resolution of 
 "sticking right to politics," and nothing else. He 
 said that after a time he would be rewarded for 
 his services, for he knew that just as soon as Mr. 
 Greeley should be elected he would appoint 
 him to a foreign mission ; that he had consulted 
 different persons about the foreign missions, and 
 believed that the one he would prefer to have above 
 all others, was that of Minister to Chili. He de 
 nied this in court and stated that it was the Swiss 
 mission, but I never heard him refer to that be 
 fore. He was apparently fully informed about 
 these foreign appointments, the salaries attached 
 to them, at what time he would go there, etc. 
 Often times, when speaking of our embarrassed 
 circumstances, he would say : "Well we will try to 
 put up with these things for a while; after a time 
 I will have a good position. There is no doubt 
 that Mr. Greeley will be elected; and as soon as 
 he is elected, I shall see him and tell him of the 
 work I have done, and shall ask him as a compen 
 sation for the services I have rendered, to appoint 
 me to that foreign mission." And he would fre 
 quently ask me if I did not think he would fill the 
 position well, and turn to look in the glass and 
 
9 6 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 add: "I think I would look very well in such a 
 position as that ; don t you think I could fill the 
 office first-rate?" and similar comments which, 
 showed it was his constant thought, and he worked 
 at his scheme with a great deal of perseverence 
 more than he ever displayed at anything else. 
 
 DISAPPOINTED. 
 
 He continued to work in the Campaign until the 
 fall. I was not in New York, at the time Mr. 
 Greeley died, but he was there, and he wrote to 
 me afterward of the death, stating what a dreadful 
 disappointment it was to him. It seemed to 
 completely unfit him for everything ; he was 
 utterly disheartened, and did not have the desire 
 or inclination to undertake anything whatever. 
 
 As soon as I heard of the assassination, his career 
 during the other campaign came to my mind at 
 once ; the interest which he took in it, his positive 
 confidence that he was to have a position, and the 
 disappointment all these things, were reproduced 
 before me, the moment I heard of his crime. He 
 evidently worked in the last campaign, with as 
 much zeal as he did in the other. I cannot say 
 that I was surprised to hear of the assassination. 
 The idea of his being insane, however, never 
 occurred to me, at all it never occurred to me 
 at that time, or during the time I lived with him. 
 
 THE " INSPIRATION " DODGE. 
 
 I never heard anything of " inspiration " until I 
 came to Washington. There is no doubt in my 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. gy 
 
 mind but that this has been an afterthought on his 
 part. He has been alone in the prison; he has 
 looked back and seen his danger and realized how 
 the people regarded him, and he has said to him 
 self: " I have got to get up something," and he 
 has studied and studied and finally resolved that 
 the plea of " insanity " or " inspiration " was the 
 only thing that could save him. Or he may have 
 carefully studied out his proposed defense before 
 the assassination. 
 
 Now, there is another reason that leads me to 
 think this view of the matter is correct. During 
 my acquaintance with him I do not remember of 
 his ever making any remark about " inspiration." 
 I might hold a different opinion if he had been in 
 the habit of believing then that he was led by 
 God to do certain things and, as it is now pre 
 tended, he had been in the habit of hearing voices 
 in his dreams directing him to do certain things. 
 But he never spoke of dreaming. That is one of 
 the first things Mr. Scoville asked me when I 
 came to Washington if I had ever heard Charles 
 refer to voices speaking to him " in dreams," and 
 I just laughed at the question. In fact, I don t 
 think that he ever dreamed ; he never told me that 
 he had dreams ; he never talked of such things. 
 
 INGENIOUS PLEAS. 
 
 The " inspiration " plea is entirely new to me, 
 for he never was in the habit of using that term. 
 He was always very ingenious at devising defenses 
 9 
 
9 8 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 and excuses for his misdeeds. He was in the 
 habit of talking with me about certain notes and 
 bills that he had collected, and "Now," he would 
 say, " when they come to me for this settlement, 
 why I will tell them such and such a thing ; that I 
 could not succeed in collecting that amount from 
 such and such a one ; that they had gone away 
 somewhere and I could not find where they 
 were." He would describe the whole thing glibly 
 and consistently, and when his clients would come 
 and inquire in regard to these accounts he would 
 explain it in such a manner that they would not 
 doubt for a moment that it was exactly as he 
 stated. 
 
 I have known of many firms in New York 
 with whom he had dealings that did not find out 
 the exact state of affairs for months after he had 
 made the collections, and then perhaps by that 
 time he would be away from the city, or rather 
 than have any difficulty with him, they would let 
 the matter go. Whenever they called he would 
 receive them so amiably and explain everything 
 so satisfactorily to them that perhaps, if they were 
 angry when they commenced to talk with him, be 
 fore they left, they would seem to be pleasant 
 and perfectly satisfied. That is one reason, as I 
 say, why I thought as soon as I heard it that his 
 claim of " inspiration " was an afterthought or an 
 artifice on his part, because I know he was so ex 
 cellent in such matters. He made a specialty of 
 
GLITEAU, THE ASSASSIA r . gg 
 
 studying up defenses by which he could explain 
 or cover anything and make it appear correct. 
 
 HABITUAL DECEPTION. 
 
 Judging from the deception which he practised 
 in small affairs, and his general behavior in our 
 married acquaintance, I am unable to detect any 
 material variation from his former conduct, so far 
 as I have seen his actions in court and at the jail. 
 In fact, if I had not known that the defense was " in 
 sanity" the suggestion never would have occurred 
 to me for a moment that there was anything 
 wrong with him. I have merely thought of in 
 sanity in connection with the plea, and, in my 
 opinion, there is not the slightest foundation for it. 
 The only difference I notice is in his thin and 
 haggard appearance, which of course is easily 
 accounted for by his nomadic, or "tramp" ex 
 periences. 
 
 COMMITTING CRIME FOR NOTORIETY. 
 
 As soon as I heard of the crime and afterward 
 read more of the circumstances, I formed the 
 opinion that he had committed it for the purpose 
 of securing notoriety. 
 
 His disappointment at not obtaining the foreign 
 mission that he had labored so hard tb obtain, and 
 his other disappointments, his impecunious con 
 dition and failure in everything he had under 
 taken all these circumstances led me to think that 
 he was actuated by a desire to become noted in 
 some wav. He knew of course, that if he com- 
 
IOO MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 mitted that act he would become notorious, and 
 looking back over his past life, and knowing so 
 well how morbidly anxious he was for fame, and 
 to have his name known over the land, his egotism 
 and pride, I came to the conclusion at once be 
 fore I had heard anything of " insanity" or " inspi 
 ration " that he had done the act for that purpose. 
 His being insane or ignorant of the enormity of 
 the crime he committed, never suggested them- 
 elves to my mind. I knew that he was always re 
 sponsible ; that he always knew the difference be 
 tween right and wrong, and had the power to 
 control himself when it was to his interest or 
 suited his inclination do so. 
 
 FAMILY LETTERS. 
 
 In October last, I received a letter from a sister 
 of Guiteau s in relation to the crime ; it is very 
 ingeniously worded, apparently for the purpose 
 of obtaining some admission from me as to the 
 
 o 
 
 insanity of her brother, for use at the trial, but I 
 promptly answered the letter, according to the ex 
 act facts. The two communications are as fol 
 low: 
 
 532 WEST ST., 
 
 CHICAGO, Oct. 29111, 1881. 
 MY DEAR ANNIE: 
 
 I have thought of you and what you must feel, since our 
 poor Charles has brought upon us, and himself, as well as 
 upon the whole people, this terrible trouble through his in 
 sane act. What I have suffered in view of the sufferings of 
 our departed President and his family, the good Lord only 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. IOI 
 
 knows. If we only could have known what the future was to 
 bring forth, we, perhaps might have prevented it. But it is 
 so hard for friends to believe that those they are constantly 
 with, and have long and truly loved, are really insane, and 
 ought to be deprived of their liberty, that our case is 
 only one of hundreds, where the proper steps are deferred 
 until something terrible happens. When I look back now 
 and can see so plainly, what then I only saw in part, and can 
 see what a risk you and I were in of losing our lives, I am 
 amazed we could have been so blind. 
 
 He raised an axe at me four years ago, and then I insisted 
 upon having him examined ; but before we got to the point 
 of having anything done about it, he slipped away. If I had 
 only persisted then in putting him in an asylum, how much 
 better it would have been ! 
 
 I saw your mother a few days ago. She is very well ; says 
 she thinks Charles was crazy long ago. The doctors tell me 
 a marked symptom in such cases as his is a persistent deter 
 mination to marry some woman with whom they become in 
 fatuated. First one, and then another. The insanity expert 
 in the case considers it important to know, if he ever thought 
 he heard voices commanding him to do certain things, espe 
 cially voices in the night. Do you know of any such facts? 
 They are not essential ; but if you do, we would like 
 to take your deposition or affidavit. You will confer a 
 favor upon me, and may save him from further misfortune by 
 giving your testimony towards proving his insanity. Mrs. 
 
 P has no doubt he was insane when he boarded at her 
 
 house with you, and from what she saw of him after her hus 
 band s death; she went over to Mr. Scoville s office and told 
 him so, and wanted his father informed ; they were then afraid 
 of him she and her daughter. 
 
 If you know of anything that will be of service, write me 
 what it is anything you can think of, and we will send on 
 copies of interrogations for you to answer and swear to before 
 a notary. You will have to send us name of notary. If you 
 
102 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 can think of anything going to show his insanity, do not fail 
 to send it. 
 
 What we want is to place him in an " Insane Criminal Asy 
 lum," of which there are two in this country, one in St. Louis. 
 He will never be better, but will be properly cared for during 
 life, which the Lord grant may not be long. You, of all 
 others, can understand how my heart aches for him. He was 
 my dead mother s son. He was the husband of your youth. 
 We loved him. 
 
 Hoping to hear from you immediately, I am, as ever, 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 P. S. Preserve this letter. You will see by the papers the 
 poor fellow is terribly changed. Anything proving that he 
 believed he was acting under Divine direction would be of 
 value. You need not wait to answer this, but send your depo 
 sition right along. The time, is shjrt. Write me what you 
 intend to say, also. 
 
 138 EAST SECOND STREET, 
 LEADVILLE, COL., Nov. 5th, 1881. 
 DEAR : 
 
 Yours of the 2Qth inst., was received, and in reply I desire 
 you to accept my sincere sympathy in this dreadful sorrow 
 through which you are passing. 
 
 You desire to know how I feel with reference to the state 
 of Charles mind, during my acquaintance with him. I have 
 read your letter, carefully, and have studied well each ques 
 tion, and have tried to recall any instance, during our mar 
 ried life, where I had cause to look upon him as a man of 
 unsound mind, and I must say, that I have failed to find 
 aught which would convey that idea. I met with him repeat 
 edly, some four years ago, previous to my leaving Chicago for 
 Denver, and then I saw nothing which would impress me 
 that he was not a responsible man. That he has been de 
 luded, to some extent of that fact, there can be no doubt. 
 
 Now, with regard to my mother s opinion, as you mention, 
 
G UITEA U, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 that Charles was always crazy. She never has expressed herself 
 before in that way, only since your and Mrs. P -- s visit to 
 her, and on account of her exceeding sensibility and nervous 
 ness, I presume, she expressed herself so, under the influence 
 of the moment. 
 
 You also speak of Mrs. P - s opinion as the same. 
 Strange that she never mentioned her fears to me, knowing 
 her as intimately and as long as I did. However, looking 
 over all these facts, I am entitled to my own opinion with re 
 gard to Charles sanity or insanity ; living with him and 
 knowing him as only a wife can know a man, it is natural that 
 I could form a tolerably correct idea on the subject. You 
 judge me wrong, if you think I have at this late day no feel 
 ing or pity for him in his deplorable condition. God above 
 knows how exceedingly sad I have felt during these last few 
 months, and I daily beseech Almighty God to open his dark 
 ened mind to a true sense of his error, and save him in his 
 time of need. However charitably inclined we may try to 
 look upon him, the thought will present itself to our minds 
 that he is only reaping what he has sown ; and the more I 
 look upon his past deeds the more positive I feel that his 
 mind was good and sound. He doubtless now well remem 
 bers my oft-repeated warning to him, when we lived together. 
 It was this : " Unless you change your course of action, you 
 will be led down until you end your life either on the gal 
 lows or in a penitentiary." It will seem very harsh for me to 
 talk thus, but think what I suffered on his account. Tis true, 
 he was the husband of my youth, and I loved him better than 
 anything on earth, but he crushed me, he spurned my love, 
 and turned me out sick and poor to make my living, while he 
 lived in style and supported improper women. In answer to 
 my loving letters he would say I was too affectionate and he 
 could not afford to keep a wife, when I would have been 
 happy to have lived with him and shared a crust. Ah, the 
 many bitter tears I have shed, the loving Heavenly Father 
 above only knows. At last, when I had decided to obtain a 
 
MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 decree of divorce from him, even then I could scarcely tear 
 myself from him, and would rather have died than lived. 
 
 Again, neither those friends who obtained my divorce nor 
 the bill for divorce, mentioned insanity at that time. 
 
 With much love and sympathy for you and family, I am, 
 Yours truly, 
 
 MRS. THEO. DUNMIRE. 
 
 PROCEEDINGS FOR DIVORCE. 
 
 In the winter of 1872, I was absent in Phila 
 delphia for awhile ; from there I returned to !N"ew 
 Xork, and he was still doing some law business, 
 though not very much. But for a long time he 
 did not take any interest in his business, as he had 
 done previously ; he was unsettled, and did not 
 seem to care to attend or apply himself to his 
 business. The following spring of 1873 I lived 
 there, and in the summer I went away, and that is 
 really the termination of my acquaintance with 
 him.. I lived with some friends near Saratoga 
 Springs, and the following fall I met him again a 
 little while, but did not live constantly with him 
 after that summer. 
 
 In the fall of 1873, while I was in Philadelphia, 
 I commenced proceedings for divorce, assisted by 
 my friends in that city, the family of Mr. Wood. 
 The application was made through Mr. Wood, and 
 the suit was instituted in Kings County, New 
 York, for absolute divorce on the ground of adul 
 tery. Guiteau put in no defense. The case was 
 referred to Mr. Levi A. Fuller, as referee, to take 
 testimony and report. He reported in my favor, 
 
GLITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. IO c 
 
 favor, and on the fourth day of April, 1874, Justice 
 Calvin E. Pratt passed the decree of divorce, 
 which is as follows : 
 
 DECREE OF DIVORCE. 
 In the Supreme Court 
 
 Kings County. 
 ANNIE J. GUITEAU, \ At a special term af this Court held at the city of 
 
 Plff., J Brooklyn, April 4, 1874. 
 against 
 CHARLES J. GUITEAU, V Present : Hon. C. E. Pratt, 
 
 Deft. / Justice. 
 
 This action having been brought on to be heard upon the 
 complaint herein and upon proof of the defendant s failure 
 to answer, and upon the report of Levi A. Fuller, Esq., duly 
 appointed referee in this action, from which it appears that 
 the material facts alleged in the complaint are true, and that 
 the defendant has committed the adultery charged therein, 
 on motion of Warren G. Brown, plaintiffs attorney, 
 
 It is adjudged, That the marriage between the said plaintiff 
 Annie J. Guiteau and the defendant Charles J. Guiteau be dis 
 solved in pursuance of the statute in such case made and pro 
 vided, and the same is hereby dissolved accordingly, and the 
 said parties are and each of them is freed from the obligations 
 thereof with fifty-one -^"VV dollars costs of this action to the 
 plaintiff, and the privilege to her of applying to the court at 
 such time as she shall be advised for a suitable allowance for 
 her support in the nature of alimony. 
 
 And it shall not be lawful for the said Charles J. Guiteau 
 to marry again until the said Annie J. Guiteau is actually 
 dead. 
 
 I do not think any application for alimony was 
 ever made on my behalf; I did not make the 
 attempt because it would have been impossible, 
 in my opinion, to have obtained anything from 
 
IO 6 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 him. He agreed with Mr. Wood to pay the costs 
 of the proceeding, amounting to about $125, and 
 I believe he gave his note for that amount, or 
 made some arrangement of that sort, but he never 
 did pay it, and Mr. Wood, as I understand, paid 
 the money out of his own pocket, and has never 
 been reimbursed by Guiteau even to this day. 
 
 TESTIMONY IN THE DIVORCE CASE. 
 
 I was not present at the hearing of the case and 
 know of the testimony that was taken merely from 
 
 information. I understand that Guiteau brought 
 
 t> 
 
 the woman Jennings to testify the person with 
 whom he was charged with having committed adul 
 tery. According to the law of the State of New 
 York, there was no difficulty about obtaining the 
 divorce, so far as residence was concerned, as he 
 had been a resident there over a year, and so 
 had I. He evidently was perfectly satisfied with 
 the proceedings, and did not object to them in 
 the slightest manner. 
 
 A REVIVAL MEETING USHER. 
 
 After the divorce was granted I did not see 
 Guiteau again until the winter of 1876, at which 
 time I met him in Chicago. I went one afternoon 
 to the revival meetings that Moody and Sankey 
 were conducting in Chicago that winter, and he 
 
 o o 
 
 was acting as usher. I had not known then where 
 he was, but it seems that he, at that time, was or 
 pretended to be very much interested in the work 
 of Moody and Sankey, and as I subsequently ascer- 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 tamed, he was a regular attendant at their meet 
 ings, apparently as enthusiastic in that work as he 
 had been in politics. 
 
 They had different rooms in the building, where 
 various meetings were conducted for young con 
 verts, inquirers, etc. and as I was coming out of 
 the main hall, I happened to look up, and I saw 
 Guiteau standing at the entrance to one of those 
 rooms, distributing tracts, a bundle of which he 
 held in his hand, to the persons who passed out, 
 and inviting them to go into the prayer meeting. 
 As I came out, I looked at him perfectly straight 
 in the face, unconscious for the moment that it 
 was he. I think he recognized me, for as soon as 
 he got a glimpse of me he turned directly around 
 the other way. I went down a few steps and 
 turned for some purpose, and I noticed that he 
 had gone into the room. I presume he did not 
 wish to come in contact with me there. 
 
 SILENCED BY MOODY. 
 
 Those meetings were continued through the 
 winter, and he was one of the most earnest 
 workers. He used to address the meetings, and 
 became so persistent, and pestiferous in his efforts 
 to talk and converse with persons, that Mr. Moody 
 at one meeting was compelled to publicly request 
 him to keep quiet, so tired had they become of 
 him and his interest in the work. I suppose they 
 did not place confidence in him, and thought he 
 was doing the cause more harm than good. 
 
Io g MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 A CALL FROM GUITEAU. 
 
 I was living with some friends in Chicago, and one 
 day, during that winter, I was informed that a 
 stranger had called and wished to see me. I went 
 down i-nto the parlor and found it was Guiteati. 
 When I entered he extended his -hand and shook 
 hands with me very pleasantly, inquired how long I 
 had been there, and where I had been in the mean 
 time. It was a very severe, cold day, one of the most 
 bitter days of the winter, and I noticed as soon as I 
 came into the room that he wore no overcoat and 
 no gloves, his coat being a short business coat. 
 I remember thinking that he certainly must be 
 cold. There was a bright fire in the grate and I 
 invited him to sit closer to the fire. He talked in 
 a very affable and amiable manner, and I asked 
 him what he was doinof. 
 
 o 
 
 ASPIRING TO BE AN EVANGELIST. 
 
 He replied: "O, I have given up the law busi 
 ness altogether : I am working now for the Lord. 
 I have changed my whole course of life, since I 
 knew you, and I have laid aside all old things, 
 and have been working very earnestly, for some 
 time past, in company with Moody and Sankey, 
 and I intend, very soon, to leave here and travel 
 in Europe. They are going to such and such a 
 place (mentioning several places) and I am going 
 to work as an evangelist. I am going to do the 
 same work that Moody and Sankey are doing 
 here." I inquired, if Moody was going along 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 with him, and he said: " O, no. I am engaged 
 to a lady of wealth. She is very good and very 
 pretty, and beside all that, she is a very devoted 
 Christian-woman," and he added, " she and I are 
 going to work together in this cause working 
 for the Lord." He did not state who this lady was. 
 I ascertained that he was doing no business what 
 ever. 
 
 NOT FEELING THE COLD. 
 
 He several times afterward called at the house 
 where I was staying, and every time he was in the 
 same condition as to dress ; and at one of % these 
 visits I think the second one I asked him why 
 he did not wear an overcoat, and if he did not 
 feel cold ; he said no, he did not feel cold that 
 he did not notice those things ; that his mind 
 was not upon how he felt ; that he was en 
 gaged in other thoughts or something of 
 that kind. I thought his manners were very 
 strange, but nevertheless, did not think he was 
 very different from what he was during my 
 married acquaintance with him, for he was always 
 peculiar and eccentric in many respects, and I 
 thought it was merely a peculiar notion in not 
 wearing an overcoat. Soon after that I learned 
 that he had been boarding a few blocks from 
 where I lived and was greatly in debt for board, and 
 that the people had turned him out and kept all 
 his clothes, and that was the reason he did not 
 have sufficient clothes. He probably never was 
 10 
 
j j o MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 able to get the clothes, as he never paid them his 
 board-bill 
 
 AT MR. SCOVILLE S. 
 
 Immediately following our meetings at my resi 
 dence, I met Guiteau again at Mr. Scoville s. Mr. 
 and Mrs. Scoville sent for me to come and see 
 them. I had not been in Chicago for several 
 years, and Mrs. Scoville, probably, wished to be 
 informed as to how we had lived, and the cause 
 of our separation, in addition to other matters, 
 and I paid them a visit, and remained there a 
 week. One day he called, while I was there, as 
 he was accustomed to do. He would, sometimes, 
 come to the house, and stay a day, or a night and 
 then leave, and they would not see him again, 
 probably, for two or three weeks. One day, as 
 I have stated, he called, and still looked in the 
 same condition as if he was suffering for clothes, 
 ragged, hungry and forlorn. It was Christmas 
 time. I had spoken to Mrs. Scoville about the 
 manner in which he was going about, appar 
 ently in need of all the comforts of life, and she 
 felt a great deal of anxiety about him, and did not 
 know what he was doing. 
 
 A STRANGE ACT, 
 
 I purchased a pair of gloves, and when he called 
 that day, I gave them to him, and asked him to 
 wear them. He thanked me, and accepted them, 
 and seemed to appreciate the gift very much, but 
 said: "They are of no use to me really, because, 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. IIT 
 
 I have no overcoat ; I have no pocket to put tnem 
 in." He took them, however, and after he went 
 away, I remember that I spoke of the circum 
 stance to Mrs. Scoville, and stated that it was a 
 a strange remark for him to make that the 
 gloves were of no use to him because he had no 
 pocket to put them in. Mr. Scoville referred to 
 this incident in his cross-examination, and asked 
 me if I did not say that he must be insane or that 
 the remark was that of an insane man. I said no 
 such thing ; I merely said that it was a strange 
 remark, it was so foolish. 
 
 VISIT TO THE PRISON. 
 
 Since our meeting at the house of Mr. Scoville 
 I never again saw Guiteau until the day I ap 
 peared on the stand as a witness at the trial, and 
 I have had but one conversation with him. Upon 
 returning from a drive to Arlington Heights, on 
 the afternoon of Saturday the i /th of December, 
 1 88 1, my husband suggested that we visit the jail 
 before leaving Washington for our western home. 
 Arriving at the jail, my husband expressed a wish 
 to see the cell usually occupied by Guiteau. War 
 den Crocker then informed the prisoner of our 
 presence, when he sent word that he wanted to 
 see us both and our children. We were then very 
 courteously conducted by Warden Crocker first, 
 to the cell usually occupied by Guiteau, and then 
 to another and larger cell where the prisoner was 
 writing. As we entered the prisoner advanced, 
 
j j 2 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 shaking hands with us both, receiving us very po 
 litely. I then inquired for his health, and re 
 marked that he was looking much thinner and a 
 
 o 
 
 great deal older than when I last met him. Gui- 
 teau replied that he was feeling well. He then 
 asked the ages of my children and stooping, 
 kissed my three-year-old boy, and then kissed my 
 little girl, whom I held in my arms, and said they 
 were nice little children. Some remarks were then 
 made with reference to the climate of Leadville, 
 Colorado, where we reside, and I then inquired if 
 he had ever been in Colorado, and he replied that 
 he had passed through there when he visited San 
 Francisco some ten years ago. Mr. Dunmire, who 
 had been standing near the prisoner, then said, 
 addressing the prisoner in an impressive manner: 
 " Guiteau, I am sorry to see you, or any other one, 
 in the condition you are in," when Guiteau, smil 
 ing, sadly, said : " The Almighty will protect me." 
 Mr. Dunmire then shook hands with him, and 
 said : " Good-bye, Guiteau, it is not likely we shall 
 meet again." The prisoner then asked me how I 
 liked the West, and said he was glad to know I 
 was well and comfortably settled in life, and said : 
 " Annie, I wish you much prosperity ; I wish you 
 well." I then shook hands with him, and said : 
 " I am exceedingly sorry to meet you under 
 these sad circumstances," and then bade him fare 
 well. We then quietly withdrew, leaving him 
 alone with God. Our interview was strictly 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. jj- 
 
 private, no other visitors being present at that 
 time. 
 
 HABITS OF DRESS, ETC. * 
 
 Guiteau was always very proud and nice and 
 particular about his dress and general appearance. 
 He always dressed well, wore the best of every 
 thing. He would not think that a suit of clothes 
 was fit to wear that did not cost at least sixty or 
 seventy-five dollars, and he would not wear any 
 thing that cost less. He would frequently buy a suit 
 and pay part of the purchase money and give his 
 note for the balance and never pay it. 
 
 In having photographs taken he would be very 
 fastidious in his directions, saying: "Now, I want 
 you to be sure and take a good picture of me. 
 Be sure you get the right expression of my face 
 and eyes, and I think you had better not take a 
 side view my nose is so prominent." He always 
 objected to his profile ; he regarded his nose as 
 too long and conspicuous, and as spoiling the rest 
 of his face. We had our photographs taken 
 shortly after our marriage, when he had a smooth 
 face. One of them was produced at the trial 
 and Guiteau at once noticed the change in his looks, 
 remarking that he had had a hard road to travel 
 since the taking of that photograph. When I 
 married him he had side-whiskers and a mous 
 tache. He wore his hair long and heavy and was 
 rather fleshy when in good health, and altogether 
 he was rather good-looking in strong contrast 
 10* 
 
i 4 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 with the haggard appearance which he presented 
 at the trial. 
 
 UNTRUTHFULNESS OF GUITEAU. 
 
 Guiteau was by no means truthful ; it was impos 
 sible to believe anything he said unless one knew 
 it to be a fact from other information. 
 
 PLEA OF INSANITY. 
 
 Concerning the plea of insanity which has been 
 interposed, I place no faith in it, and I hardly think 
 Mr. Scoville has any confidence in Guiteau s in 
 sanity. Mrs. Scoville is probably the only one 
 who has any sincere convictions in that respect, 
 but she seemingly does believe, or pretends to 
 believe, that her brother is insane and wholly irre 
 sponsible. 
 
 RELATIONS OF SCOVILLE AND GUITEAU. 
 
 Mr. Scoville is a good, honest man, and has 
 acted with good intentions in the trial of the case. 
 He, however, is controlled and influenced entirely 
 by his wife ; he has to obey her instructions im 
 plicitly. There has never been the slightest con 
 geniality between Mr. Scoville and Guiteau, and 
 Guiteau has been tolerated at Mr. Scoville s house 
 only as a brother-in-law. The abuse that he has 
 heaped upon Mr. Scoville at the trial is just what 
 he has been accustomed to throw upon him all 
 his life, and even while sitting at Mr. Scoville s 
 table often calling him an " idiot," "a consummate 
 jackass," and using similar epithets in speaking 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. jjc 
 
 r 
 
 of him, both out of his presence and also when 
 addressing him to his face. 
 
 WASTE OF MONEY. 
 
 As I have before stated, I do not think Guiteau 
 ever made as much money as he pretended to 
 make in his business, but I have no doubt that he 
 spent a great deal of what he did receive in keep 
 ing lewd women, and in other improper ways, 
 although I cannot say positively that he was in the 
 habit of living in that manner during the time we 
 resided in Chicago. But in the winter of 1871-72, 
 when we went to New York, I learned that that 
 was the way he was living, and from information 
 obtained afterwards I was convinced that he had 
 been in the habit of so living, almost continuously, 
 all the time. And in this connection, to show his 
 reputation in this regard, and his early character 
 generally, I may refer to a communication which 
 was published in the Washington Evening Star, 
 of December 2Oth, 1881. I do not know the 
 writer, but I have good reasons for believing that 
 its statements, which follow, are true. 
 
 GUITEAU S BOYHOOD DEPRAVITY. 
 
 In the Washington correspondence of the New York 
 Tribune of December i2th is a report of an interview with 
 one of the insanity experts, in which the following passage 
 occurs : 
 
 "What general consideration led you to believe him 
 (Guiteau) sane ?" 
 
 "Well, look at his career. From his birth until he was 
 sixteen or seventeen years of age his life was that of an ordi- 
 
n6 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 nary, studious, quiet school-boy. He did not, during that 
 time, develop any unusual traits of wickedness, and did not 
 show that hereditary tendency to insanity which the defense 
 has attempted to prove. * * * When he reached early 
 manhood his system changed greatly of course. He has evi 
 dently been a man of strong passions, and that fact explains 
 many things in his career. He did not smoke, chew, or swear. 
 He preserved the outward moralities. He went at an early 
 age to the Oneida Community, where he aspired to be a 
 leader, which would mean that he would have exceptional 
 liberty. Leaving the Community because his life did not suit 
 him, he went to New York, and ever since that time has been 
 tending toward criminality." 
 
 Mr. Scoville, in his opening argument for the defense, 
 makes similar statements, and tries to give the same impression 
 as to the boyhood innocence of the prisoner. He says : 
 " His father was an intense religionist. He probably did not 
 give that personal attention to the boy that he ought to have 
 given, and yet the boy grew up bright, intelligent, gentle 
 manly, gentle, loving, with no wayward ways, habits or acts." 
 This is the character Mr. Scoville gives him up to his going 
 to Ann Arbor, and finally to the Oneida Community. Now, 
 is it true that up to his joining the Oneida Community Gui- 
 teau had been the immaculate, gentle boy he is represented 
 to have been in the above extracts ? It is not true. Here are 
 som^ facts on the other side, which paint a different picture 
 of that boyhood. Soon after he went to the Oneida Com 
 munity, his egotism and self-conceit, which were then of 
 enormous proportions, subjected him to some severe criticism, 
 one result of which was that he made a written confession of 
 his previous life. This confession showed that he had from 
 early years been a very disobedient boy to his father ; that he 
 had, while a clerk in a business house, sometime during the 
 period from 1854 to 1857, /. *., from his thirteenth to his 
 seventeenth year, robbed his employer s money-drawer re 
 peatedly of considerable sums of money ; that he had fre- 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. j j 
 
 quented brothels, and had had venereal disease, and that he 
 had been addicted to self-abuse to the extent of seriously 
 injuring his health. 
 
 In regard to his disobedience toward his father, he con 
 fessed that on one occasion, when he had been refused some 
 request, he attacked his father, overpowered him, threw him 
 upon the floor, and held him there till he yielded to the de 
 mand made upon him. 
 
 This attack upon his father was also described to me once 
 by his father (whom I knew personally and quite intimately 
 for a score of years). He represented his son as having a 
 very angry spirit toward him, and that he yielded to the 
 demand because he feared that Charles might kill him if he 
 did not he felt that he was dealing with a murderous spirit. 
 
 The testimony of Luther W. Guiteau as to his son s char 
 acter was that he had been very disobedient from his early 
 years ; and I know that one of the great sorrows that the 
 father carried with him to his grave was that he had found it 
 impossible to secure obedience in Charles during his boyhood. 
 First and last, he suffered more from his wicked son than 
 President Garfield did. For more than a quarter of a cen 
 tury he carried burdens of heart and mind about that son^ 
 which saddened his life and made him old before his time. 
 Happily he was "beyond the sorrow and the weeping," 
 when his son s crowning act of disobedience came disobe 
 dience to all that his father had taught him, disobedience to 
 all authority and government, disobedience to God in the 
 murder of the President. 
 
 One of the objects of the attempt to make it appear that 
 Guiteau s boyhood was a career of innocence up to the time 
 of his joining the Oneida Community, apparently is to create 
 the impression that his after career of criminality was the 
 result of his sojourn in the Community. The insanity 
 expert quoted by the New York Tribune gives that impres 
 sion. The drift of all of Mr. Scoville s treatment of the pris 
 oner s connection with the Community seems to give that 
 
j j g MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 impression. Nothing could be more untrue. The truth is, 
 that the six years which the assassin spent at the Community 
 with, perhaps, a brief period after that time was the one 
 oasis of comparative purity in his life since puberty the 
 one period when his passions were under wholesome restraint, 
 when his selfishness was crucified, when he was not drifting 
 in the direction of disobedience and " devilish depravity." 
 
 T. L. P. 
 GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE. 
 
 The first that I knew of his being intimate with 
 women was, as I say, during the time of our resi 
 dence in New York. There was a woman living 
 in the house where we boarded who represented 
 herself as a widow of some lawyer from Chicago, 
 and I was made aware of the fact that he was 
 too intimate with her during our stay in that house. 
 Throughout that year at different times I knew of 
 similar goings on that occurred with other women 
 in New York until some time in the -fall of 1873 
 about September or October when I made my 
 application for divorce. I was then living in Phila 
 delphia, and made the application through my 
 friends in that city. 
 
 A SERIOUS ILLNESS. 
 
 In the summer of 1873, while I was living with him 
 in New York city, he had a very long illness, that 
 lasted some two months or more between two and 
 three months resulting from his intimacy with im 
 proper women ; and I nursed him and took care of 
 him through that sickness, and no one else knew 
 anything about it. He had no physician, and would 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. j JQ 
 
 not have one because he did not want any one to 
 know his condition. He said he would rather die 
 than consult a doctor or have any medical advice, 
 for fear that it might possibly get out among busi 
 ness men that he had been so " unfortunate " 
 (thfet is the way he seemed to look at it) and in 
 jure his business. He was a very great sufferer 
 and came very near dying. We were boarding 
 at that time in a large boarding-house and I had 
 a fearful experience with him. He was very much 
 reduced on account of it, and in the worst stages 
 of his illness he was entirely helpless. He was 
 not able to attend to his business or anything else, 
 and at times I was almost sure he would never 
 recover from it. He had considerable business 
 on hand at that time, and I had to go down to the 
 office (which he then occupied with Mr. Shaw,) 
 every day or two and get his mail, and get the 
 gentlemen there to attend to his cases for him 
 matters that he ought to attend to himself. 
 
 AT SARATOGA. 
 
 After that experience, as soon as he recovered, 
 I went to Lucerne, near Saratoga Springs, and 
 spent the remainder of the summer with some 
 friends who were living there, he remaining in 
 New York. The latter part of the summer these 
 friends gave me their consent to invite him 
 to come there and spend a few weeks. I oc 
 casionally heard from him, though not very often, 
 his correspondence being very irregular, and I 
 
120 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 wrote, inviting him to come, thinking that it might 
 benefit him. He came and stayed there about two 
 weeks, and he then seemed to be very much bet 
 ter, and to be recovering in health, but still was 
 not entirely w r ell. While he was there, he was 
 suddenly taken lame in one of his hips, and ^as 
 badly crippled. He became so much worse that 
 he wanted to go back to New York at once, his 
 excuse being that he probably would get better if 
 he could return to that city. I am very positive 
 that the cause of his lameness was the trouble he 
 had had. 
 
 SEPARATED FROM GUITEAU. 
 
 He went back to New York. That was the 
 latter part of the summer of 1873, the last of my 
 acquaintance with him at that time ; I may say, 
 that that was the conclusion of our living to 
 gether, for from Lucerne I went to Philadelphia, 
 and remained there until 1874, having in the 
 meantime obtained the divorce. The next time 
 that I met him was in Chicago, as I have already 
 explained. 
 
 GUITEAU S STATE OF MIND. 
 
 In connection with his illness, I might mention 
 the state of his feelings during those weeks. By 
 any one who has unfortunately ever been com 
 pelled to bear with his bad and uncontrollable 
 temper and excited, irritable disposition, it can 
 readily be understood what a trying ordeal I 
 passed through. He would pace the room by 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 the half-hour at a time, and curse himself and the 
 rest of humanity, and would say that as soon as 
 he recovered he would shoot that woman who had 
 placed him in this predicament. He never ex 
 pressed any regret for his deed, only so far as 
 being so unfortunate was concerned. He in 
 formed me that this woman was an utter stranger 
 to him, as he never met her until the evening she 
 accosted him on the street, and he admitted that 
 he was not able to resist her inducements and 
 blandishments. He never said to me, that he had 
 committed that act in order to get rid of me, but 
 instead of that, he seemed to deplore his inability 
 to withstand such temptations. In fact, I never 
 heard him assert at any time, until recently in 
 court, that he committed adultery for the purpose 
 of ridding himself of me, his wife. 
 
 LEFT TO SUPPORT HERSELF. 
 
 For nearly a year and a half previous to our 
 final separation I was absent among strangers 
 earning a support for myself, while he was living 
 in good style in New York, boarding at expensive 
 hotels and keeping women. He w r ould tell me 
 that his business would not enable him to keep me 
 and that I must maintain myself. I therefore had 
 to seek some employment, and if not with my 
 friends I would have to go among strangers. 
 Sometimes I was in Philadelphia, at other times at 
 Saratoga Springs, and again at some other place. 
 During these periods of separation, what I suffered 
 1 1 
 
! 2 2 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 mentally words can never tell. I was a mere child 
 in experience, having married at the age of six 
 teen and being naturally of a confiding nature, he 
 was everything to me. I was true and earnest in 
 my love for him and mourned with a true woman s 
 intensity on account of his misconduct. I, how 
 ever, could not conceal from my heart his corrupt, 
 depraved nature, and I sought by every imagina 
 ble means to win him over to purity, beseeching 
 him many times to live a better life. In reply to 
 my entreaties he appeared amused at my earnest 
 ness and would say that, while he admired my 
 principle and motive, still I was altogether too par 
 ticular and conscientious for everyday life. 
 
 AN OCCASION OF TENDERNESS. 
 
 The only instance that he ever seemed really 
 sensitive and interested in my happiness was 
 immediately following a severe illness, when my 
 life was despaired of and I was in profound grief 
 at the loss of our only child, who died at birth, and 
 whose death he knew was caused wholly by his 
 brutal treatment of its mother. At that time he 
 would occasionally display a spark of kindness by 
 stroking my hair and pitying my thin, wearied 
 appearance, and would study my comfort, and 
 even bring me little delicacies and luxuries. He 
 did at such times profess to regret his conduct, 
 and promise, if I would only recover, never to act 
 unkindly again. 
 
GU1TEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 HARD TO LIVE WITH. 
 
 During the time I lived with him, almost from 
 the commencement of our married life, he was 
 very peculiar, very eccentric in many things so 
 much so that it was nearly impossible for any one 
 to live with him with any degree of comfort or 
 happiness. Sometimes he was kind, and disposed 
 to be gentle and pleasant and amiable, and then 
 again he would be very morose and irritable, and 
 just the opposite in every respect. He was in 
 tensely high-tempered, and became angry upon 
 the most trifling provocation, or no provocation at 
 all ; and it would seem as if he would lose all con 
 trol over himself. 
 
 NO SUSPICION OF INSANITY. 
 
 In regard to these peculiarities, I often thought 
 he was exceedingly strange, and now understand 
 exactly what kind of disposition he possessed. It 
 never occurred to me that he was not perfectly 
 sensible, or that his mind was affected in any 
 respect whatsoever, or that he was in the least 
 insane. In fact, I never heard of any of the 
 family being affected with insanity ; I never heard 
 it mentioned, although I was intimate with his 
 sister and the other members of the family, and 
 had been with them at different times, I never 
 heard anything of the kind referred to. 
 
 HIS EXCITED TALKS. 
 
 I did not know until after our marriage of his 
 having lived in the Oneida Community. He never 
 
T 24 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 broached the subject before, but he then told me all 
 about his going there and how unfortunate it was 
 for him that he ever did go there, and he would 
 talk of that perhaps an hour or more at a time. 
 He would get into that strain of talk and become 
 very much excited. He reiterated over and over 
 again that he blamed his father for all the difficul 
 ties and troubles he had experienced, for he at 
 tributed them all to his experience in the Commu 
 nity. He said it was the greatest curse that could 
 have happened to him his father s inducing him 
 to go there, and blamed him altogether, for it, re 
 peatedly asserting that it would have been a bless 
 ing if his father had died before he himself was 
 old enough to understand anything about those 
 things. He stated that his father used to talk of the 
 Community doctrine constantly in his family, and 
 that Noyes was an intimate friend and visited 
 them. That was at the commencement or organ 
 ization of the society, I presume. He also stated 
 that Mr. North, who testified at the trial, was an 
 old friend of his father, and he has often said that 
 his father took North s family into his house and 
 boarded them with the means that he ought to 
 have spent in sending him to college and giving 
 him a good education, just on account of the 
 fanaticism, as he always termed it, that so possessed 
 his father at that time. 
 
 WORKINGS OF THE ONEIDA COMMUNITY. 
 
 He talked a great deal about the inner work- 
 
QUITE A U, THE ASSASSIN. j 2 r 
 
 ings of the Community and the dreadful feeling 
 under which he labored during his life there ; that 
 he had lost all of what he called his " free-agency :" 
 he said his " free-agency " was entirely destroyed 
 during his association and connection with those 
 people, and that he passed through a terrible or 
 deal in that place ; that part of the time, he 
 thought he would be lost, according to their teach- 
 
 o o 
 
 ings, if he left them, and that he was intensely un 
 happy ; that he could not decide what was the 
 right course for him to pursue, until finally he re 
 solved that he would leave them. He claimed 
 that he left them in the night, slipping away with 
 out letting them know of his intentions. His ac 
 quaintance with them he always characterized as 
 the great misfortune of his life. He dwelt a great 
 deal upon the meetings which they were accus 
 tomed to hold, wherein they would criticise each 
 other. That was something, it seemed, that he 
 could not possibly stand when they would bring 
 up himself and the other members and publicly 
 criticise them for any improper conduct committed 
 by them. He described that as the worst feature 
 in the whole affair the " terrible despotism " that 
 Noyes exerted over the people ; he said they had 
 no will of their own in any respect, that they were 
 just like children under the control of that man 
 Noyes. He has publicly elaborated those mat 
 ters, however, very fully in print and otherwise, so 
 that I need not dwell upon them. 
 
I2 6 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 AN UNKIND HUSBAND. 
 
 His behavior and conduct toward me was ex 
 ceedingly unkind during the greater part of our 
 association together. There were times when he 
 was very kind and genial, and would often tell me 
 that he greatly regretted his treatment, but that 
 if. I would overlook the past he would never do it 
 again. Those instances, however, were rare, that 
 he expressed any feeling of remorse, or regret, 
 or compunction for anything he had done, no 
 matter how outrageous his misconduct may have 
 been. 
 
 The reason for his acting toward me in that 
 cruel way I cannot explain, because I have reason 
 to believe that he loved me as much, probably, as 
 he is capable of loving any one. But it seemed 
 as if there was something in his disposition that 
 was naturally ugly; he appeared to take a real 
 delight in forcing persons to feel they were under 
 his control, that he could exercise authority over 
 them, and he always wanted me to learn that he 
 was so far superior to me that I must not express 
 or have an idea or a will of my own ; that I must 
 always live in complete subordination to him, and 
 he would find a great deal of fault with me if I 
 acted otherwise. He would say: "You have such 
 a terrible will ; your will was never broken when 
 you were a child, and the sooner you know that 
 you are in subjection to me, why, the better it will 
 be for you." 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN, I2 j 
 
 I could mention many illustrations of his un 
 kind treatment, which was incomprehensible. Per 
 haps in conversing with him about something, if I 
 did not happen to agree with him in what he said 
 or felt about the subject, or dared to express an 
 opinion in the slightest degree antagonistic to his 
 own, he would instantaneously become angry, and 
 if I were to talk any longer he would become per 
 fectly furious. Many times, while in such moods, 
 when I have not knowingly offended him, he has 
 taken hold of me suddenly (he had great strength 
 in his arms and hands), opened the door perhaps, 
 wherever we might be boarding, and kicked me 
 ri^ht out into the hall and fastened me there. It 
 
 o 
 
 made no difference who was out there, or who was 
 passing along the hall ; it would have made no 
 difference if I had fallen down-stairs from the kick 
 or push. I do not think he would have opened the 
 door to have seen whether I had fallen down and 
 broken my neck or not. At these times he seemed 
 devoid of all sensibility. 
 
 During our residence in Chicago, one incident 
 occurred which was repeated a number of times, 
 where in the night, he actually pulled me out 
 of bed and shoved me out into the hall. In one 
 place where we boarded, there was a large closet 
 in the hall belonging to the room occupied by us, 
 which we used for the storage of our baggage and 
 other articles, and on cold winter nights he would 
 take me and push me out into that closet and keep 
 
I2 g MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 me there all night in the cold. Of course I did 
 not dare to make any noise, because I did not 
 want any one else in the house to know anything 
 about it. I never wanted anybody to know these 
 troubles. I had too much pride and preferred to 
 keep them to myself. He would sometimes keep 
 me in the closet until morning, and go back to bed 
 and probably go to sleep and let me remain there, 
 and when perhaps it suited his convenience, he 
 would come and unfasten the door and let me 
 return to the room again. And he did not seem 
 to regard such conduct as in any wise out of the 
 way, and when I would say: "Why, I don t see 
 what you can think of it, acting in such a way, and 
 treating me as you do ! I certainly shall not live 
 with you or continue to put up with it," he would 
 retort : " Well, nothing would suit me better. 
 When you make up your mind to find other quar 
 ters, the better it will suit me, for you are not the 
 kind of a woman that I should have married any 
 way. I want somebody who could help me. If 
 I had married a girl who had money whose 
 father, for instance, or some one belonging to the 
 family had means, and could have helped me it 
 would have been a different thing. But you are 
 poor ; you have no one who can help you, who- 
 perhaps, could give you a meal if you wanted it, 
 and I have no business with a woman like you. 
 You are good enough and kind enough, but I 
 made a great mistake when I married you." 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 12 ~ 
 
 That was generally his excuse for his treatment. 
 He had an idea that if I were out of the way, he 
 could then marry some one who could help him. 
 He said that he was destined to occupy a pro 
 minent position in life, and he wanted a wife who 
 would be an assistance to him in that respect. 
 
 MARRIED LIFE MADE MISERABLE. 
 
 This conduct was repeated, time and time again, 
 until I became mentally crushed ; my life was sad 
 dened ; I got into the habit of constantly feeling 
 so distressed, and so unhappy, that I would rather 
 have died than lived. Existence was a perfect 
 agony to me, nearly all the period of our married 
 relations. My acquaintance with him began, of 
 course, when I was much younger than I am now, 
 and I loved him a great deal, and I was willing to 
 suffer anything, everything, rather than be separ 
 ated from him ; I looked upon a divorce and 
 separation as a terrible thing then, and I felt that 
 it was my duty to live with him, and to bear these 
 troubles just as long as I possibly could. Many 
 times I used to think that the difficulties and sor 
 rows to which I had to submit, were almost more 
 than I could bear ; yet I felt that the time would 
 come, when I would be released in some way. I 
 knew that my unhappiness was something that I 
 had not caused, that it was one of those mys 
 terious things, that I could not explain. I, there 
 fore, continued to endure it, and be as patient 
 under it as I could. 
 
1 3 o 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 I frequently had conversations with him on the 
 subject, and talked with him about the way he was 
 living, and told him that I thought there was much 
 inconsistency in his life, that he was not acting ac 
 cording to his professions ; for, all this while, he 
 made a profession of religion. He was a constant 
 attendant upon all the means of grace; he was 
 connected with the Young Men s Christian Asso 
 ciation, both in Chicago and in New York, and 
 always referred to such matters with so much re 
 spect and feeling as to cause a stranger to think 
 he was one of the most excellent and exemplary 
 of men. 
 
 In talking with him, I often told him and warned 
 him that I believed in fact, that I was almost sure 
 that if he continued to live in the way in which 
 he was living, something terrible would happen ; 
 that he would surely suffer for his conduct toward 
 me alone, to say nothing of anything else; that I 
 was confident that if he did not reform, he eventu 
 ally would go either to the gallows or to the peni 
 tentiary to one place or the other. He would 
 invariably turn off all reference to this subject, 
 as lightly as possible, and attempt to make some 
 justification for what he had done, and say; "Well, 
 I would not treat you as I do, or would not be as 
 harsh as I am, if you would not be so self-willed; 
 if you would be more submissive, and willing to 
 be controlled by me, I would not treat you as I 
 do." That was the sole excuse he would offer. 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. j^i 
 
 Whenever I talk about these matters the re 
 membrance always works upon my spirits, and I 
 cannot talk about my life with him, even to this 
 day, without its affecting me, and my experience 
 apparently changed my whole life; it had so de 
 pressing an effect upon my disposition that I never 
 after it felt as I did before marriage. I used to be 
 very cheerful, was naturally very buoyant and 
 hopeful, and could undertake almost anything; but 
 the systematic course of unkind treatment that I 
 endured as his wife, completely changed and 
 revolutionized my feelings, and I had no hope or 
 desire for anything but was utterly dejected and 
 depressed. 
 
 DELIBERATELY WICKED. 
 
 With regard to his character in private life, I 
 doubt, if there has ever been an instance of a man 
 who was so wonderfully (I hardly know how to 
 express it, other than as I have often thought and 
 said that he used to be) possessed of an evil 
 spirit. He was entirely conscious of what he was 
 doing. He was never under the influence of 
 liquor he could not account for it on the ground 
 of drunkenness. He was perfectly sensible and 
 cool, and deliberate in everything he did, and I 
 therefore think he could control himself when 
 ever he wanted to do so. 
 
 CONDUCT AT THE TRIAL. 
 
 I do not know much about the proceedings of 
 the trial except what I have read in the press. I 
 
132 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 attended only when I was on the witness-stand, 
 but from my observations, the days I was in court, 
 I do not think there was anything in his conduct 
 different from my personal experience with him. 
 Whenever he would talk at a table and be contra 
 dicted, he would pound the table, and pound, and 
 pound, and say: "It isn t so! It isn t so !" just as 
 he does in court. As to the discrepancy between 
 his conduct at the jail and his conduct at the 
 court-house, he could change his behavior just as 
 much, and just as quickly as that, when I knew him. 
 He has made the same remarks in court to 
 Mr. Scoville, almost word for word, that I have 
 heard him make at other times about that gentle 
 man, and to his face. He has talked to him in 
 that abusive manner before perhaps not so vio 
 lently as he has done at the trial, but just about 
 the same way, in regard to his having no ability 
 as a lawyer, and that he was a stupid and con 
 summate jackass ; and that was the way he was in 
 the habit of talking to other persons about Mr. Sco 
 ville, with reference to his business qualifications. 
 He would say: "he has not a particle of judg 
 ment never had. He has no experience in law. 
 He is no lawyer. All he is fit for is to examine 
 titles to property and such things." 
 
 CONTEMPT FOR LABOR. 
 
 He never would work that is, do manual la 
 bor ; he looked upon persons who did so, as 
 amounting to nothing at all. He thought it en- 
 
CUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 133 
 
 tirely beneath the dignity of any man who pro 
 fessed to be a lawyer, or minister, or physician, 
 to do any work at all, and that was one reason 
 why he regarded Mr. Scoville with so much con 
 tempt. Mr. Scoville was very active and ener 
 getic, and about his house he would often do work 
 that was ^necessary to be done, both inside and 
 outside, if the family did not havejielp. Guiteau 
 frequently referred to this and used to say that 
 Mr. Scoville was of no account, or apply to 
 him some contemptuous term. 
 
 Mr. Scoville excited Guiteau s animosity by try 
 ing to induce him to go into some other business, 
 to get a clerkship somewhere or into any other 
 pursuit where he would have a salary, and whether 
 large or not, he would know what he had to de- 
 
 o 
 
 pend upon. Mr. Scoville told him that he did not 
 think that he would ever make a lawyer, and that 
 would put him in a white-heat of anger the 
 slightest insinuation from Mr. Scoville that he 
 never would succeed at the law, and that the 
 sooner he came to that conclusion the better, as 
 he had no legal ability and never could succeed 
 in that profession. This was one of the causes of 
 his bitter feelings against Mr. Scoville. But it 
 was perfectly useless to attempt to induce him to 
 go into any other business than that, for he would 
 not think of accepting a position where he would 
 be under the control of another ; he would never 
 consent to that. 
 
 12 
 
j 2 A MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 NOT INSANE. 
 
 In view of all these facts that I know so well, 
 when I have been asked so many times since the 
 perpetration of this crime whether I thought him 
 insane, it was impossible for me to answer any 
 other way than in the negative, that I did not be 
 lieve him to be insane, at least at the time I knew 
 him. And now, since I have been in Washington 
 and have seen him and become conversant with 
 the manner in which he deports himself every day 
 in court, and at other times when in jail, I do not 
 see that there is any difference between his con 
 duct now and his conduct when I lived with him. 
 It may be that he is a little worse, if anything 
 more violent in his actions and demeanor, but that 
 is probably due to the condition and change in 
 which he knows he is placed, and also to fear. And 
 I presume it exasperates him to have the wit 
 nesses on behalf of the prosecution brought up to 
 him, face to face, where he knows so well that he 
 must listen to their statements statements which 
 I have no doubt are strictly true. Many of those 
 witnesses I have met and know personally, and 
 also know of his having transactions with them 
 
 o 
 
 that were not square and honest on his part. For 
 instance, take the case of Mr. Shaw, the witness 
 to whom I have several times referred, and upon 
 whom the prisoner heaped especial abuse. I know 
 that Mr. Shaw was probably one of the best friends 
 Guiteau ever had in his life ; he has given him 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. j^ 
 
 money repeatedly in sums of twenty-five and fifty 
 dollars at a time, and sometimes more, which he 
 never repaid. 
 
 I presume Guiteau does not know how much 
 he does owe him, for money borrowed and due 
 for office-rent during the time he shared Mr. 
 Shaw s office with him. 
 
 WATCHFUL AGAINST VIOLENCE. 
 
 All the time he lived in New York he carried a 
 cane a small black cane with a large round head 
 one of those loaded canes. I remember when 
 he purchased it. He brought it home and ex 
 plained it to me, and said if a person were to 
 strike another one, at a certain place on the head 
 the temple I presume it would result in instant 
 death. " But," he added, " I am liable to a fine if 
 it should become known I carried such a cane." I 
 asked : " Well, why do you want to carry such a 
 cane ?" and he answered ; " Well, if I were to be 
 attacked by anybody I could turn around and 
 strike him and kill him, and I could disappear and 
 no one would find it out." I asked him if he had 
 any apprehensions that he would be attacked, and 
 he said : " I don t know but that one of those 
 mean, dirty, low-lived whelps " as he termed his 
 clients and other creditors, " might try to get even 
 with me, and it is best for a man to be on his 
 guard, so that in case of an attack at night by 
 any one, I can turn around and give him a hit that 
 will kill him." 
 
136 
 
 MARRIED LIFE OF 
 
 He never left the house without that cane ; he 
 habitually carried that cane back and forth between 
 his office and the house. He was not accustomed 
 to do so in Chicago, and I therefore concluded 
 that he did it in order to protect himself. In fact 
 he is a great coward and very easily frightened, 
 and if he feels that he is in danger of having his 
 bad deeds detected, he will instantly concoct some 
 measure to save himself. 
 
 A COWARDLY MAN. 
 
 In illustration of his cowardice, I might refer to 
 another circumstance which may not generally be 
 understood. His violent threats in court to pub 
 licly abuse me if I testified against him, are no 
 doubt notorious, and it may have been a surprise 
 to many to learn that, when I did testify, his man 
 ners were diametrically opposite from what was 
 expected. This was not owing to kindness of 
 feeling or magnanimity on his part, but was the 
 submission of abject cowardice, as the following 
 facts will illustrate: 
 
 A few days before I came on the stand, it was cir 
 culated in the press, and elsewhere, that it would be 
 quke an ordeal for me to pass through his fire of 
 falsehoods and insinuations, and my husband, Mr. 
 Dunmire, was asked by some one at the court 
 house, in the presence of several persons, whether 
 he did not dislike to have his wife subjected to 
 such treatment. Mr. Dunmire, in a business-like 
 manner, remarked that he knew the nature of the 
 
GUITEAU, THE ASSASSIN. 
 
 137 
 
 prisoner, and that if the Court would permit him 
 to stand at my side during the delivery of my 
 testimony, with a revolver in his hand loaded or 
 unlbaded he would guarantee that Guiteau would 
 not dare to say anything against me. His words 
 were of no significance, merely an off-hand re 
 mark of what he would like to do, but that remark 
 was communicated to Guiteau by a member of his 
 family, with exaggerated additions. He was told 
 that his former wife had married again, and that 
 her present husband was a Western man who 
 came from a place where a human life was re 
 garded as of no consequence, and that he would 
 be in attendance while his wife should be upon 
 the witness-stand, and would see that she was sub 
 jected to no indignity or insult. This warning had 
 its effect, and when I appeared on the stand with 
 my husband standing by my side, Guiteau evi 
 dently appreciated the force of what he had heard, 
 and abstained from the bombardment of excoria 
 tion which he had threatened against me. 
 
 o 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 Truly, God leads us through ways which we 
 would not choose and over rough and stony 
 ground, but it is sweet to know and feel that His 
 hand is leading us, and that all will be well. 
 
 J2 ! 
 
THE TRIAL 
 
 OF 
 
 CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 THE ASSASSIN OF 
 
 PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 SATURDAY, July 2d, 1881, was as fair a day 
 as comes with an American summer. 
 Though the heat was somewhat noticeable 
 in Washington, as in most cities, the sun that 
 gilded the dome of the Capitol, and stole softly 
 into the awakening streets, was not unkindly in 
 its fervor. At the White House that morning the 
 President was early astir. He had many matters 
 that needed attention before he left the city, which 
 he intended to do on an early train. 
 
 He was going to attend the commencement ex 
 ercises of his Alma Mater, Williams College, 
 Williamstown, Massachusetts. There had been 
 arranged, in connection with this visit, a some 
 what extended trip through Vermont, New Hamp 
 shire and Massachusetts. The President had 
 looked forward to the trip with eagerness and 
 delight, and in view of it had been in the best of 
 spirits. 
 
 Breakfast was over, and Secretary Elaine had 
 come to accompany the President to the station. 
 A few last words, and the carriage started rapidly 
 for the station of the Baltimore and Potomac Rail 
 road, at Sixth and B Streets. The President was 
 
 (140 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 in the best of humor, and chatted with many a 
 light-hearted laugh. The station was soon reached 
 and the carriage halted at the B Street entrance. 
 As the carriage drove up to the door, the Presi 
 dent asked Officer Kearney, who was on duty 
 there : 
 
 " How much time have I ?" 
 
 "About ten minutes, sir," was the reply, 
 whereupon the President and Secretary Elaine 
 continued their conversation. After about five 
 minutes they were warned that they must be 
 moving. They alighted from the carriage and 
 passed quietly through the door into the ladies 
 room. 
 
 There was no crowd about. There was nothing 
 stirring, nothing of note, nothing to attract atten 
 tion. Most of those who were to take the train 
 were already on board. Of those in the room 
 beside the railroad officials, there was a slender, 
 light-complexioned man, about forty years of age, 
 who walked up and down rather nervously, occa 
 sionally glancing out of the door in a vacant 
 fashion, as if his mind was bent upon some 
 strangely fascinating picture. This man was 
 Charles Julius Guiteau. He had been noticed by 
 the railroad employes, but his was not a face, or a 
 figure, that would attract special attention. 
 
 He walked up and down with short, irregular 
 steps. He had just reached the end of the room 
 as the President entered arm in arm with his 
 
ASSASSIA* OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Secretary. Guiteau turned about and inserted 
 his hand within his pocket. The President passed 
 beyond him, he advanced one step, drew a heavy 
 revolver from his pocket, pointed it steadily and 
 fired deliberately at the man he had come to 
 murder. 
 
 The President made no sign that he was hurt, 
 but turned with a surprised look to see from 
 whence the bullet came. Secretary Elaine sprang 
 to one side, Guiteau re-cocked his revolver and 
 fired again. The President fell to the floor, the 
 blood spurting profusely from a jagged wound in 
 his side. Guiteau fled. The pistol was dropped 
 and the smoke of the powder drifted upward to 
 the ceiling. 
 
 A terrible deed had been done. Assassination 
 a second time had stricken the Chief Magistrate 
 of the nation. For an instant those nearest to 
 him could not believe their senses. Then ensued 
 a moment of terrible agony and confusion. Secre 
 tary Elaine sprang after the assassin, who, finding 
 his way barred in one direction, turned in another 
 only to run into the arms of the law. 
 
 By this time had gathered about the wounded 
 man a horror-stricken crowd. Secretary Elaine, 
 Secretary Windom, Secretary Hunt, Postmaster- 
 General James, and others were busy sending 
 hither and thither messengers and messages for 
 doctors. A local physician was first to arrive. 
 He came in breathless, in response to the awful 
 
144 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GLJITEAU, 
 
 summons, just as a mattress was brought on jvhich 
 to lay the wounded man. The room being un 
 comfortably crowded with men in whose eyes 
 stood tears, gathered in the first pause of their 
 terror to offer any, every aid in their power it 
 was decided to remove the President to the room 
 above. 
 
 Within a few moments, Dr. Bliss and several 
 other physicians arrived. A minute s inspection 
 of the wound demonstrated that the President 
 was terribly wounded. It was imperative that he 
 should be removed to the White House, where 
 he could receive every attention. An ambulance 
 was speedily summoned. The President was 
 brought down stairs, and laid within it. The doc 
 tors got in, and the horses started at a dead run 
 for the Executive Mansion, which was reached in 
 less than ten minutes. Then began the treatment 
 with which the public became so familiar, but 
 which, alas ! failed to rescue its beloved object 
 from the grave. Details of this treatment need 
 not be stated here. Testimony concerning it will 
 appear beyond. 
 
 The life and doings of the assassin are fully ex 
 posed in the narrative of the trial. A summary 
 sketch of it, however, will enable the reader to 
 start with a better understanding of the man. 
 Charles J. Guiteau is about forty years of age, 
 and of French descent. He is five feet five inches 
 in height, has a sandy complexion, and is slender, 
 
ASSASSM OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 145 
 
 weighing not more than 125 pounds. He wears 
 a mustache and thin chin whiskers, slightly tinged 
 with gray. His sunken cheeks and widely-sepa 
 rated eyes give him a sullen appearance. Nomi 
 nally, he is a lawyer, although it does not appear 
 that he ever had any very desirable or extensive 
 practice. His reputation was bad wherever he 
 went. 
 
 The following letter was found upon Guiteau 
 after his arrest : 
 
 July 2d, 1881. 
 To the Whi-e House : 
 
 The President s tragic death was a sad necessity, but it will 
 unite the Republican party, and save the Republic. Life is a 
 flimsy dream, and it matters little when one goes. A human 
 life is of small value. During the war thousands of brave 
 boys went down without a tear. 
 
 I presume the President was a Christian, and that he will 
 be happier in Paradise than here. It will be no worse for Mrs. 
 Garfield, dear soul, to part with her husband this way than 
 by natural death. He is liable to go at any time, anyway. 
 I had no ill-will toward the President. His death was a 
 political necessity. 
 
 I am a lawyer, a theologian, and a politician. I am a 
 Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I was with General Grant and the 
 rest of our men, in New York, during the canvass. I have 
 some papers for the press, which I shall leave with Byron 
 Andrews, and his co-journalists, at 1420 New York Avenue, 
 where all the reporters can see them. I am going to the 
 jail. CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 The following letter was found on the street 
 soon after Guiteau s arrest, with the envelope un- 
 
146 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sealed, and addressed, " Please deliver at once to 
 General Sherman, or his first assistant in charge 
 of the War Department:" 
 
 To General Sherman : 
 
 I have just shot the President. I shot him several times, 
 as I wished him to go as easily as possible. His death was a 
 political necessity. I am a lawyer, theologian and politician. 
 I am a Stalwart of the Stalwarts. I was with General Grant 
 and the rest of our men, in New York during the canvass. 
 I am going to the jail. Please order out your troops, and 
 take possession of the jail at once. 
 
 Very respectfully, CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 i 
 
 Further light was thrown upon Guiteau and 
 his terrible deed, by District-Attorney Corkhill, 
 who, after a patient investigation, extending over 
 several weeks, issued the following statement : 
 
 The interest felt by the public in the details of the 
 assassination, and the many stories published, justify me in 
 stating that the following is a correct and accurate statement 
 concerning the points to which reference is made: The 
 assassin, Charles Guiteau, came to Washington city on Sunday 
 evening, March 6th, 1881, and stopped at the Ebbitt House, 
 remaining only one day. He then secured a room in another 
 part of the city, and had boarded and roomed at various 
 places, the full details of which I have. On Wednesday, 
 May i8th, 1881, the assassin determined to murder the Presi 
 dent. He had neither money nor pistol at the time. About 
 the last of May he went into O Meara s store, corner of 
 Fifteenth and F Streets, this city, and examined some pistols, 
 asking for the largest calibre. He was shown two similar in 
 calibre, and only different in the price. On Wednesday, 
 June 8th, he purchased a pistol, for which he paid $10, he 
 
OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. IAJ 
 
 having, in the meantime, borrowed $15 of a gentleman in this 
 city, on the plea that he wanted to pay his board bill. On 
 the same evening, about 7 o clock, he took the pistol and 
 went to the foot of Seventeenth Street, and practiced firing at 
 a board, firing ten shots. He then returned to his boarding 
 place and wiped the pistol dry, and wrapped it in his coat, 
 and waited his opportunity. On Sunday morning, June I5th, 
 he was sitting in- Lafayette Park, and saw the President leave 
 for the Christian Church on Vermont Avenue, and he at once 
 returned to his room, obtained his pistol, put it in his pocket, 
 and followed the President to church. He entered the church, 
 but found he could not kill him there without danger of 
 killing some one else. He noticed that the President sat 
 near a window. After church he made an examination of the 
 window, and found he could reach it without any trouble, and 
 that from this point he could shoot the President through the 
 head without killing any one else. The following Wednesday 
 he went to the church, examined the location and the window, 
 and became satisfied he could accomplish his purpose. He 
 determined to make the attempt at the church the following 
 Sunday. Learning from the papers that the President would 
 leave the city on Saturday, the iSth of June, with Mrs. Gar- 
 field, for Long Branch, he, therefore, decided to meet him at 
 the depot. He left his boarding place about 5 o clock Saturday 
 morning, June iSth, and went down to the river at the foot 
 of Seventeenth Street, and fired five shots to practice his aim, 
 and be certain his pistol was in good order. He then went 
 to the depot, and was in the ladies waiting-room of the 
 depot, with his pistol ready, when the presidential party 
 entered. He says Mrs. Garfield looked so weak and frail that 
 he had not the heart to shoot the President in her presence, 
 and, as he knew he would have another opportunity, he left 
 the depot. He had previously engaged a carriage to take him 
 to the jail. On Wednesday evening, the President and his 
 son, and I think, United States Marshal Henry, went out for 
 a ride. The assassin took his pistol and followed them, and 
 
148 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 watched them for some time, in hopes the carriage would 
 stop, but no opportunity was given. On Friday evening, 
 July ist, he was sitting on the seat in the park opposite the 
 White House, when he saw the President come out alone. He 
 followed him down the avenue to Fifteenth Street, and then 
 kept on the opposite side of the street upon Fifteenth, until 
 the President entered the residence of Secretary Blame. He 
 waited at the corner of Fifteenth and H Streets for some time, 
 and then, as he was afraid he would attract attention, he 
 went into the alley in the rear of Mr. Morton s residence, 
 examined his pistol and waited. The President and Secretary 
 Elaine came out together, and he followed over to the gate of 
 the White House, but could get no opportunity to use his 
 weapon. On the morning of Saturday, July 2d, he break 
 fasted at the Riggs House about 7 o clock. He then walked 
 up into the park, and sat there for an hour. He then took a 
 horse car and rode to Sixth Street, got out and went into the 
 depot, and loitered around there; had his shoes blacked; 
 engaged a hackman for $2 to take him to the jail; went into 
 the water-closet and took his pistol out of his hip-pocket, and 
 unwrapped the paper from around it, which he had put there 
 for the purpose of preventing the perspiration from the body 
 dampening the powder; examined his pistol; carefully tried 
 the trigger, and then returned and took a seat in the ladies 
 waiting-room, and, as soon as the President entered, advanced 
 behind him and fired two shots. 
 
 These facts, I think can be relied upon as accurate, and I 
 give them to the public to contradict certain false rumors in 
 connection with the most atrocious of atrocious crimes. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 INDICTMENT AND PLEA. 
 
 THE Grand Jury for the District of Colum 
 bia was discharged on July 8th, the Dis 
 trict-Attorney not presenting Guiteau for 
 indictment at that time, because of the following 
 letter from President Garfield s physicians, sent in 
 answer to official inquiry as to his condition : 
 
 SIR : In reply to your inquiry as to the condition of the 
 President, we would say that up to the present time he has 
 done exceedingly well for one who has received so dangerous 
 a wound ; but while we anticipate recovery, it is not yet 
 possible to assert with confidence that his injuries may not 
 terminate fatally. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 D. W. BLISS, J. K. BARNES, 
 
 J. J. WOODWARD, ROBERT REYBURN. 
 
 These anticipations having been sadly disap 
 pointed by the President s death, the Grand Jury, 
 on October 8th, found a true bill against Guiteau, 
 and lodged with the District-Attorney, for " the 
 murder of James A. Garfield, President of the 
 United States, by wounding him with a bullet 
 fired from a pistol in the hands of Charles J. Gui 
 teau, at the Baltimore and Potomac Depot, on or 
 about the 2d day of July, A. D., 1881." 
 
 The indictment contains eleven counts, drawn 
 
 (H9) 
 
l$ TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 with great care and minuteness. A synopsis of 
 the bill is appended : 
 
 The Grand Jurors of the United States of America in and 
 for the county and district aforesaid, upon their oath present 
 that Charles J. Guiteau, late of the county and district afore 
 said, on the second day of July, in the year of our Lord one 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, with force and arms, 
 at and in the county and district aforesaid, in and upon the 
 body of one James A. Garfield, .he, the said James A. Gar- 
 field in the peace of God and of the United States of Amer- 
 ca, then and there being, feloniously, wilfully and of his 
 malice aforethought, did make an assault, and that the said 
 Charles J. Guiteau, a certain pistol of the value of $10 then 
 and there charged with gunpowder and one leaden bullet, 
 which said pistol he, the said Charles J. Guiteau, in his right 
 hand then and there had and held, then and there felonious 
 ly, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, did discharge and 
 shoot off to, against and upon the said James A. Garfield, 
 and that the said Charles J. Guiteau, with the leaden bullet 
 aforesaid, out of the pistol aforesaid, then and there, by force 
 of the gunpowder aforesaid, by the said Charles J. Guiteau 
 discharged and shot off as aforesaid, then and there 
 feloniously, wilfully and of his malice aforethought, did strike, 
 penetrate and wound him, the said James A. Gaafield, in and 
 upon the right side of the back of him, the said James A. 
 Garfield, giving to him, the said James A. Garfield, then and 
 there with the leaden bullet aforesaid, so as aforesaid dis 
 charged and shot out of the pistol aforesaid by the said Charles 
 J. Guiteau in and upon the right side of the back of him, the 
 said James A. Garfield, one mortal wound of the depth of six 
 inches and of the breadth of one inch, of which said mortal 
 wound he, the said James A. Garfield, from the said second 
 day of July, in the year last aforesaid, until the nineteenth 
 day of September, in the year of our Lord one thousand 
 eight hundred and eighty-one, at and in the county and dis- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 151 
 
 trict aforesaid, did languish, and languishing, did live; on 
 which said igth day of September, in the year of our Lord 
 one thousand eight hundred and eighty-one, at and in the 
 county and district aforesaid, the said James A. Garfield of 
 the mortal wound aforesaid died. 
 
 The second count is precisely like the first, with 
 the exception of the last clause, which reads, " of 
 which said mortal wound he, the said James A. 
 Garfield, then and there instantly died." 
 
 In the third count the last clause is varied as 
 follows : 
 
 Of which said mortal wound he, the said James A. Garfield, 
 from the said 2d day of July, in the year last aforesaid, until 
 the i pth day of September, in the year of our Lord, 1881, as 
 well at, and in the county and district aforesaid as at and in the 
 county of Monmouth, and State of New Jersey, did languish, 
 and languishing did live, on which said i9th day of Septem 
 ber, in the year of our Lord, iSSi, at and in the county of 
 Monmouth, and State of New Jersey aforesaid, the said James 
 A. Garfield, of the mortal wound aforesaid, died. 
 
 The fourth count is identical with the third, 
 except that it omits the last twelve words of the 
 final clause and substitutes the following : 
 
 To-wit, at and in the county of Washington and District 
 of Columbia, the said James A. Garfield, of the mortal 
 wound aforesaid; died. 
 
 The only variation in the fifth count is a change 
 in the order of mention of the places where death 
 is said to have occurred, the county of Washington 
 and District of Columbia being put first. 
 
 The sixth count is like the third, except in re- 
 
1^2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 citinof that the offence charged was committed in 
 
 o o 
 
 the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad depot in the 
 city of Washington, which building stands and at 
 that time stood on ground belonging to and under 
 the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States. 
 
 The seventh count repeats the recital of the 
 sixth with regard to the place where the offence 
 was committed and in all other respects is like 
 the fourth. 
 
 The eighth count also repeats the recital of the 
 sixth with regard to the place where the assault 
 occurred, and is in all other respects like the fifth. 
 
 The ninth count is varied by the introduction 
 of the recital that the district in which the offence 
 charged was committed constitutes a judicial 
 circuit of the United States, and that the county 
 of Monmouth and State of New Jersey, where 
 the said James A. Garfield died, form part of a 
 judicial circuit of the United States, other than 
 the judicial circuit of the United States consisting 
 of the District of Columbia. In all other respects 
 this count is like the third. 
 
 The tenth count recites that the district in 
 which the offence was committed constitutes a 
 judicial district of the United States, and that the 
 State of New Jersey, within the limits of which 
 the said James A. Garfield died, constitutes a 
 judicial district of the United States other than 
 the judicial district of the United States consist 
 ing of the District of Columbia. In all other 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. l c^ 
 
 respects this count is like the one immediately 
 preceding. 
 
 The eleventh and last count is a repetition of 
 the third, with the following addition : 
 
 And that thereafter to wit, on the 2ist day of September, 
 in the year of our Lord iSSi the dead body of him, the 
 said James A. Garfield, was removed from the said county of 
 Monmouth and State of New Jersey and brought into the 
 county of Washington and District of Columbia, within 
 which last mentioned county the said dead body of him, the 
 said James A. Garfield, lay and remained from the 2ist day 
 of September, in the year of our Lord 1881, until the 23d 
 day of September, in the year of our Lord 1881. 
 
 Each of the eleven counts of the indictment 
 closes with the following formal charge : 
 
 o c> 
 
 And so the Grand Jurors aforesaid do say that the said 
 Charles J. Guiteau, him, the said James A. Garfield, in the 
 manner and by the means aforesaid, feloniously, wilfully and 
 of his malice afore-thought, did kill and murder, against the 
 form of the statute in such case made and provided, and 
 against the peace and government of the United States of 
 America. 
 
 On the morning of October 4th, Mr. George 
 M. Scoville, the brother-in-law of Guiteau, arrived 
 in Washington, and after a hasty breakfast pro 
 ceeded to the jail where Guiteau was confined, 
 and had an interview with him. 
 
 On October nth, a copy of the indictment was 
 served upon Guiteau by Deputy Marshal Williams, 
 who also furnished the list of names from which 
 twelve jurors were to be selected, and also the 
 list of witnesses to be called by the Government. 
 
1^4 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Friday, October I4th, Guiteau was brought into 
 court and arraigned on the charge of murdering 
 the President of the United States. The fact that 
 the arraignment was to take place this morning 
 remained a secret. The accused was brought 
 
 o 
 
 from his cell at ten o clock to the Warden s office 
 in the jail, where he was manacled, and then es 
 corted by two officers to a hack in waiting and 
 driven at a rapid rate over the broad commons 
 and asphalt pavements, unobserved, to the Dis 
 trict Court House. An eye witness thus describes 
 the scene. "At a quarter past eleven o clock 
 the little door in the dark corner of the room is 
 opened. The stalwart figure of Marshal Henry, 
 leads the way, and behind him a sort of brigand, 
 with slouch hat, collarless shirt and dark coat and 
 pants, in the grasp of two men of nerve, is led 
 rapidly to the upturned chair beside Mr. Scoville. 
 The shining manacles on his wrists tell the story 
 briefly. It is Guiteau. The brawny arm of the 
 marshal pulls down the chair for the prisoner and 
 a bailiff removes his hat, and another unlocks the 
 handcuffs, and the prisoner repays the release 
 with a gracious smile. The wild stare and nerv 
 ous twitch which betrayed his feelings upon enter 
 ing the court room in part disappeared when once 
 seated. There was a shudder of apprehension in 
 the audience until the District-Attorney arose, and 
 in a voice hardly audible to any one but the Court 
 he feelingly announced the presence of Charles J. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 155 
 
 Guiteau, indicted for the murder of James A. 
 Garfield." 
 
 Then followed the reading of the indictment. 
 At its close Guiteau presented a paper containing 
 a plea of "not guilty," upon the three grounds of 
 insanity, malpractice and lack of jurisdiction. The 
 substance of the paper, which was not then read, is 
 as follows : 
 
 I plead not guilty to the indictment and my defense is 
 threefold : 
 
 First Insanity, in that it was God s act and not mine. 
 The divine pressure on me to remove the Pnsident was so 
 enormous that it destroyed my free agency, and therefore I 
 am not legally responsible for my act. 
 
 Second The President died from malpractice. About 
 three weeks after he was shot his physicians, after a careful 
 examination, decided that he would recover. Two months 
 after this official announcement he died. Therefore I say he 
 was not fatally shot. If he had been well treated he would 
 have recovered. 
 
 Third The President died in New Jersey, and, therefore, 
 beyond the jurisdiction of this court. This malpractice and 
 the President s death in New Jersey are special providences, 
 and I am bound to avail myself of them on my trial in 
 justice to the Lord and myself. I undertake to say that the 
 Lord is managing my case with consummate ability and that 
 He had a special object in allowing the President to die in 
 New Jersey. His management of this case is worthy of him 
 as the Deity, and I have entire confidence in his disposition 
 to protect me and send me forth to the world a free and 
 vindicated man. * The President would not 
 
 have died had the Lord not have wished him to go. I have no 
 conception of it as a murder or an assassination. I had no 
 feeling of wrong-doing when I sought to remove him, because 
 
I -5 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE AU, 
 
 it was God s act and not mine, for the good of the American 
 people. I plead not guilty to the indictment. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then presented an affidavit out 
 lining the proposed defense and designating 
 
 GEORGE M. SCOVILLE, COUNSEL FOR THE DEFENSE. 
 
 witnesses whose fees and expenses it was desired 
 the Court should pay in such manner as witnesses 
 for the government are paid. Further time for 
 preparation was asked also. 
 
ASSASSJN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD, 
 
 157 
 
 As the time for the trial drew near arrange 
 ments were perfected by adding counsel on both 
 sides, Mr. Leigh Robinson entering for the de 
 fense, and Mr. Walter D. Davidge for the 
 prosecution. It was also decided to abandon the 
 pleas on the grounds of malpractice and lack 
 of jurisdiction. Mr. Scoville also issued the follow 
 ing card to the public : 
 
 The trial of Guiteau is fixed for November 7. The short 
 time allowed makes this appeal to the public necessary. Will 
 the press kindly copy it ? 
 
 He attempted to lecture on religious subjects through sev 
 eral Northern states. It is believed there are many people in 
 that connection who can, if they will, furnish evidence of his 
 insanity. Will they not do so in the interests of patriotism, 
 justice, humanity and mercy ? Patriotism, because if he is 
 hanged as a sane man it will be an eternal blot on our history ; 
 justice, so that it may not be said hereafter that he, being de 
 prived by Heaven of the guidance of reason, was put to death, 
 contrary to all law, human and divine, humanity and mercy^ 
 that should prompt the laying aside of passion and the deal 
 ing with this case in Christian charity. 
 
 If any person knows of facts bearing on this question will 
 he not furnish me the information ? No one will be called to 
 testify unless it seems to be important to a just defence and a 
 fair trial. Please communicate at once with 
 
 GEORGE SCOVILLE, Washington, D. C. 
 
 This card called forth many replies, some of 
 them seemingly valuable, but more of them abso 
 lutely worthless. The day of trial was at last 
 postponed to Monday, November, I4th. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 IMPANELING A JURY. 
 
 A VERY serious task was apprehended in 
 the selection of a jury to try Guiteau. 
 Mr. Scoville frankly said, beforehand, 
 that all he wanted was candid, intelligent jurors, 
 who would give an honest verdict on the evidence 
 submitted, and that he would not object to a man 
 simply because he had read the newspapers or 
 formed an opinion. 
 
 The trial began Monday, November 1/j.th, at 
 10 o clock, a.m. In order to avoid the crowd, 
 Marshal Henry had Guiteau taken from the jail 
 at 8 o clock, and he was securely lodged in the 
 prisoners room of the Court-house before the 
 crowd had assembled. The assassin \vas escorted 
 from jail by four mounted policemen, two of whom 
 rode in front of, and two behind, the van. A 
 guard of four men also rode on the van. Gui 
 teau was handcuffed before leaving his cell, the 
 irons being- removed after he entered the court- 
 
 o 
 
 room. He looked in much better condition, physi 
 cally and otherwise, than when he appeared in 
 the same room to plead to the indictment. Still, 
 he had the same restless expression which charac 
 terized him before. 
 
OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 There was a great scramble for front seats by 
 the crowd, which hardly differed in character from 
 that usually seen in a criminal court where any 
 case involving local or public interest is being tried. 
 A noticeable feature of the gathering was the large 
 number of young persons. There were not over 
 twenty colored persons among the spectators. A 
 dozen or more ladies, including Mrs. Scoville, 
 sister of the prisoner, were in the court-room. 
 There was a marked absence of prominent lawyers, 
 and but few men of note were present, outside 
 those encracred in the trial. Mr. Smith, Assistant 
 
 o o 
 
 Attorney-General, was present as advisory counsel 
 to the prosecution. 
 
 The District- Attorney Mr. Corkhill, Judge Por 
 ter, of New York, and Mr. Davidge, of Washing 
 ton, who represented the government in the prose 
 cution, and Mr. Smith had seats to the left of the 
 table, facing the judge. Next were the counsel 
 for the accused Mr. Robinson, of Washington, 
 and Mr. Scoville, of Chicago. Immediately to 
 Mr. Robinson s right sat the prisoner. By his 
 side were his sister, Mrs. Scoville, and then his 
 brother, John Wilson Guiteau, of Boston. Between 
 the attorneys table and the railing to the forum 
 were seats set apart for the press. On either 
 side and immediately in the rear were those for 
 the local bar. Further to the rear was the plat 
 form on which seats were arranged for the gene 
 ral spectators. 
 
I 62 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 As soon as the main door opened there was a 
 general rush for places, men climbing and pulling 
 over chairs in their haste to get a good position 
 whence they could hear the proceedings and better 
 observe the actors. Outside of the building there 
 was a comparatively small crowd anxious to get 
 within, which was impossible as there was not 
 standing room in the court. Along the halls of 
 the building were detectives, policemen and spe 
 cial officers. 
 
 Proceedings began promptly, Judge Walter S. 
 Cox on the bench. A surprising scene imme 
 diately followed between the counsel for the de 
 fence. Mr. Robinson stated that he had not con 
 sulted with Mr. Scoville for several clays. When 
 Mr. Scoville interposed his objection to a continu 
 ance of the case the fact was developed that Mr. 
 Robinson had made the affidavit and selected 
 additional counsel without Mr. Scoville s knowl 
 edge or consent. The result of this announce 
 ment was that Guiteau and his two lawyers tried 
 to address the Court at the same time. Mr. 
 Scoville was somewhat agitated. Mr. Robinson 
 
 o 
 
 was cool and assured. 
 
 It was finally decided to proceed at once with 
 the trial, and the impaneling of a jury was the 
 first duty. Of the twenty-four jurors examined 
 all save one, a mulatto ship-cook, had formed an 
 opinion. Three said they were in favor of hang 
 ing the prisoner. One, a colored man, said his 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 63 
 
 opinion was such that no amount of testimony 
 could change him. A good deal of merriment 
 was caused by the interrogations and replies in 
 the examination of jurors. 
 
 HIS HONOR JUDGE COX, OF THE SUPREME COURT, D. C. 
 
 Of the five jurors selected, three were reported to 
 be Democrats. One is an ex- Methodist preacher. 
 Three of them have never had a law-suit and none 
 have ever served on a petit jury. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 The following are the names ot the jurors 
 selected on the first day : 
 
 JOHN P. HAMLIN, restaurant-keeper. 
 FREDERICK W. BRANDENBERG, cigar-maker. 
 CHARLES G. STEWART, flour and feed dealer. 
 HENRY J. BRIGHT, retired from business. 
 THOMAS H. LANGLEY, grocer. 
 
 At the suggestion of the District-Attorney, an 
 order was issued for the drawing of seventy-five 
 additional names from the box. 
 
 On the second day of the trial, Tuesday, No 
 vember 1 5th, the work of securing a jury was 
 proceeded with. During the examination of 
 talesman for the jury, Guiteau several times re 
 quested Mr. Scoville to ask certain questions, and 
 frequently made suggestions which he deemed 
 absolutely necessary. He especially objected to 
 any one as a juror who believed him insane, and 
 insisted that Mr. Scoville should challenge any 
 person who held such an opinion. He said that 
 he did not wish this to be made an issue, but pre 
 ferred the trial to be on the merits of the case. 
 Mr. Scoville humored the whims of Mr. Guiteau, 
 and whenever he accepted a juror, consulted the 
 prisoner before doing so. 
 
 Of the seventy talesmen drawn to-day from the 
 box, the defense peremptorily challenged three 
 and accepted four. The prosecution challenged 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. \ 65 
 
 one, three or four were excused, and the rest 
 were disqualified by reason of their opinions, 
 which, they said, would render it impossible for 
 them to give the prisoner a fair and impartial trial. 
 The cross-examination of talesmen by Mr. Sco- 
 ville was conducted ingeniously and excellently. 
 Nearly every person examined made some re 
 mark that caused general laughter, and even Gui- 
 teau smiled several times at the witty answers. 
 John P. Buckley said he could not do the prisoner 
 justice, and was, therefore, declared disqualified. 
 John Lynch, a white man, when asked by the 
 Judge as to the character of the opinion he had 
 formed on the matter said : " I think the prisoner 
 ought to be hung or burnt. There is nothing in 
 the United States to convince me otherwise." 
 
 Joshua Green said he was of opinion that the 
 prisoner should be hanged. This opinion was 
 also expressed by a colored man, Alexander 
 Peterson. John Judd, being called up, said he 
 thought the prisoner should be hanged, as he had 
 swindled him out of fifty dollars. William F. 
 Poulton said his opinion was such that no amount 
 of evidence could change it. He believed the 
 prisoner onght to have a rope put around his 
 neck. 
 
 L. C. Bailey, a colored man, in defining his 
 opinion, said he fully believed Guiteau was crazy. 
 Much amusement was caused by the answers of 
 Mr. Bade, a typical colored gentleman of the old 
 
I 66 TRIAL OP CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 school. Dade wore a puffed bosom shirt, and 
 across his right shoulder hung carelessly a gray 
 toga. With thorough composure of manner, and 
 a wooden toothpick in one corner of his mouth, 
 he answered shrewdly and wittily every question 
 propounded. He was the second colored man 
 challenged to-day by the defense, the other being 
 Mr. Howard, who was too ignorant to tell whether 
 he had any opinion. 
 
 The four additional jurors accepted to-day are : 
 
 MICHAEL SHEEHAN, an Irish grocer. 
 SAMUEL F. HOBBS, a plasterer by trade. 
 GEORGE W. GATES, in the Government navy yard. 
 RALPH WORMLEY, a colored laborer. 
 
 For the third day another list of seventy-five 
 talesmen was ordered. By a quarter to one the 
 three remaining jurors had been selected from 
 the sixty talesmen examined in Court. Out of 
 this number four persons were excused, the Gov 
 ernment challenged four, the defense seven, three 
 being accepted and sworn, while the other forty- 
 two were disqualified from serving because of 
 their opinions. The examination was conducted 
 with great shrewdness by Mr. Scoville, who, 
 though not a criminal lawyer, has given evidence 
 of superior judgment and unquestionable tact. 
 
 During the examination several incidents oc- 
 
 o 
 
 curred worthy of mention : 
 
 The first challenge by the defense was that of 
 Edward Thomas, who said he could not read and 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 I6 7 
 
 had " never formed any opinion whatsoever." Mr. 
 Scoville remarked that while this was such a per 
 son as the law qualified, the defense did not want 
 him. The second challenge by the defense was 
 S. H. Williams, a barber, who thought the act 
 dastardly, but had " since modified his opinion on 
 the subject." The next challenge by the defense 
 was Thomas H. Barron, a carpenter, who twenty 
 years ago had employed Mr. Davidge, now of 
 Government counsel. John Hughes, a colored 
 man, who could not read, was also challenged by 
 the defense. Charles Hopkins, a bartender, who 
 objected to serving on the case because he thought 
 " the duty would be too confining," was challenged 
 by the defense. Frederick C. Revels (colored) 
 was challenged by the defense because he is em 
 ployed under his father, a deputy marshal in the 
 police court. One said, when examined as to his 
 qualification by Judge Cox : " My opinion is such 
 that no evidence whatever will change it." An 
 other said : " There is nothing under the sun that 
 can change my opinion." Again came the em 
 phatic answer : " My opinion is unchangeable, 
 and I know that no evidence will modify it." One 
 person said : " I am satisfied of the prisoner s 
 guilt and it will have to be proved that he is 
 not guilty before I will change my opinion." 
 Three talesmen were positive as to what disposi 
 tion should be made of Guiteau. One said his 
 opinion was such that nothing save the rope 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 should be used. Enoch Edmundson, upon being 
 examined, said : " No amount of torture is too 
 great for the prisoner. Allison Naylor, a livery 
 stable keeper, said : " No amount of proof can 
 remove my opinion but that the prisoner should 
 be hung." Of course these remarks were made 
 under oath, and in the presence of the jury, the 
 court and the spectators. 
 
 As finally constituted, the jury was made up as 
 follows : 
 
 JOHN P. HAMLIN, restaurant keeper. 
 FRED. W. BRANDENBERG, cigar dealer. 
 HENRY J. BRIGHT, retired merchant. 
 CHARLES J. STEWART, merchant. 
 THOMAS H. LANGLEY, grocer. 
 MICHAEL SHEEHAN, grocer. 
 SAMUEL F. HOBBS, plasterer. 
 GEORGE W. GATES, machinist. 
 RALPH WORMLEY (colored), laborer. 
 W. H. BRAWNER, commission merchant. 
 THOMAS HEINLEIN, iron worker. 
 JOSEPH BATHER, commission merchant. 
 
 The oath was then administered to the jury in 
 these words : 
 
 You and each of you do solemnly swear that you will well 
 and truly try and a true deliverance make between the United 
 States and Charles J. Guiteau, the prisoner at the bar, whom 
 you shall have in charge, indicted for the murder of James 
 A. Garfield, and a true verdict give according to the evi 
 dence, so help you God. 
 
 With the impaneling of the jury and their oath, 
 the proceedings of the third day closed. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PROSECUTION. 
 
 THE scene in and about the Criminal Court 
 room, on the fourth day of the trial, Thurs 
 day, November I7th, was not materially 
 different from that of the preceding days. Ar 
 rangements for preserving order were better, and 
 possibly a better class of spectators was present. 
 Mr. Scoville made a brief explanation of his re 
 lations with his colleague, Mr. Robinson, declaring 
 that all was amicable . 
 
 This speech had the effect of bringing Guiteau 
 to his feet and precipitating the first scene of the 
 day. With flashing eyes, violent gestures and an 
 excited voice the prisoner addressed the Court: 
 
 " May it please the Court," he said, " I object to 
 Mr. Robinson appearing in this case." 
 
 The Court (severely) "Take your seat, pris 
 oner. I wish you to understand distinctly that 
 your labors as counsel in this case, as you claim 
 to be, shall be confined to consultation with the 
 associate counsel in the case. If you disobey," he 
 continued, as the prisoner again jumped to his 
 feet and commenced another wild speech, "the 
 Court will be under the necessity of ordering 
 
 169 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 your removal from the court- room and proceeding 
 with the trial in your absence." 
 
 HON. GEO. B. CORKHILL, U. S. DISTRICT-ATTORNEY, D. C. 
 
 Order being thus secured the District-Attorney 
 proceeded with his opening speech. He said : 
 
 May it please the Court and gentlemen of the jury : The 
 prisoner at the bar stands before you charged with the murder 
 of James A. Garfield. Under any circumstances there rests 
 a grave and responsible obligation upon every man who is 
 
ASSASSnV OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. l ~ l 
 
 called upon in the discharge of his duty under the law to render 
 a decision upon which depends the life of a fellow-creature, 
 and while it is true that the offence charged in the present 
 case is no greater in legal gravity and consequences to the 
 prisoner than if by his act he had taken the life of the hum 
 blest and most obscure citizen of the Republic, still it is idle 
 to overlook the fact that the eminent character of the man 
 whose life was taken, his high official position and the startling 
 effects of the commission of the crime, render the case one of 
 unusual and unparalleled importance. 
 
 Murder under all circumstances and upon all occasions is 
 shocking. The life, of which we know so little and which 
 we hold by so fragile a tenure, is dear to us all, and when it is 
 brought to a close, not in the usual order and course of na 
 ture, but prematurely by violence, no matter what may be the 
 condition of the person, the human mind is appalled with ter 
 ror. When a man holding a position of eminence and power 
 falls a causeless victim to the murderer s stroke, we realize still 
 more fully the awfulness of the deed which produces this result. 
 
 In a public depot the prisoner at the bar, without warning, 
 fires upon him with a pistol, inflicting wounds which result in 
 his death. And to-day this, the greatest case ever presented 
 to a court of justice, is entrusted entirely to you, who have 
 been selected from the body of the community to weigh the 
 evidence and the law and then to say upon your oaths whether 
 the man charged with the crime is guilty. While this trial 
 will attract unusual attention, while every stage of its pro 
 gress will be watched with intense interest throughout the en 
 tire world, yet its final decision rests with you. You are to 
 determine, after you shall have heard the evidence and the 
 law, whether or not the prisoner at the bar is guilty of the 
 murder of James A. Garfiekt. * * 
 
 No words can faithfully depict the scenes of that fatal July 
 morning. It was bright and beautiful, and as the morning 
 sunlight gilded the dome of the Capitol its rays fell upon a 
 city adorned with all the luxuriant loveliness of summer leaf 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GLITEAU, 
 
 and flower, The President, wearied with official care was 
 specially joyous at his approaching vacation. His official life 
 had been one of anxiety and labor, but on this occasion he 
 was bright with hope for the future. He was on his way to 
 join a convalescent wife at Long Branch and then to visit the 
 college from which he had graduated and to join with comrades 
 of his student life in a reunion in the halls of his Alma Mafer. 
 It was to him an approaching season of great pleasure, and he 
 started from the Executive Mansion, in company with the 
 Secretary of State, for the depot, buoyant and glad. Early 
 in the morning of July 2nd, last, the prisoner at the bar made 
 preparations for the murder. Breakfasting at the Riggs House 
 he took the fearful weapon that he had previously obtained, 
 and going to the foot of Seventeenth street, away from resi 
 dences and beyond observation, he planted a stick in the soft 
 mud on the river bank where the tide had gone out and 
 deliberately practised his aim and tested his weapon. He 
 intended there should be no failure in the accomplishment 
 of the crime for which he had been preparing. Returning 
 he took with him, a small bundle of papers and went to 
 the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad depot at half-past 8 
 o clock a. m., an hour before the arrival of the President. 
 After reaching the depot he went the news-stand, and left 
 certain papers with a letter addressed to Byron Andrews, a cor 
 respondent of the Chicago Inter- Ocean, and a package ad 
 dressed to Mr. Preston of the New York Herald, and then 
 went into the closet, carefully examined his weapon, placed 
 it in his pocket, returned and went outside to the pavement, 
 had his boots blacked, and then to avoid the swift vengeance 
 of an outraged community, which he properly feared, engaged 
 a carriage to take him, as he said, to the Congressional bury 
 ing ground, this point being near the jail, and then entered 
 the waiting-room to wait for his victim. All unconscious of 
 this preparation for his murder, President Garfield, in com- 
 pany with Secretary Blaine, arrived at the depot and fora few 
 moments remained in the carriage in conversation. While thus 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 173 
 
 occupied the assaasin stood gazing at them, waiting and watch 
 ing for a favorable opportunity for the perpetrationof the deed. 
 
 The President and Secretary of State alighted faom the 
 carriage. With his usual courtesy, President Garfield hesitated 
 a moment on the step to acknowledge the salutation of the 
 policeman at the door, and then entered the depot. He had 
 gone but a few steps when the assassin, lurking in the rear, 
 stepped up behind him and, pointing his pistol with deliberate 
 aim, fired at his back, the first shot no doubt doing the fatal 
 work. The President shuddered, staggered and attempted to 
 turn, when another shot was fired and he fell bleeding to the 
 floor, unconscious. The horror that seized upon every one 
 may be imagined, but no words can describe it. The ball from 
 the assassin s pistol had entered the middle of the back of the 
 President, about three inches to the right of the backbone, 
 inflicting a fearful wound, which resulted in his death after 
 nearly three months of pain and suffering, and here the story 
 of this crime might legally end. 
 
 The unlawful killing of any reasonable creature by a person 
 of sound memory and discretion, with malice aforethought, 
 either expressed or implied, is murder. The motives and 
 intentions of an individual who commits a crime are of 
 necessity known to him alone. No human power can pene 
 trate the recesses of the heart ; no eye but the eye of God 
 can discern the motives for human action. Hence the law 
 wisely says that a man s motives shall be judged from his 
 acts, so that if one kill another suddenly, without any pro 
 vocation, the law implies malice. If a man uses a deadly 
 weapon it is presumed he intended to commit murder, and in 
 general the law presumes a man to intend the natural conse 
 quences of his act. Were there nothing more against the 
 accused than the occurrences of the morning of July 2, the 
 evidence of his crime would be complele, and you would be 
 authorized to conclude that he feloniously, wilfully and with 
 malice aforethought did kill and murder James A. Garfield. 
 But crime is never natural. The man who attempts to violate 
 
IJ4 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 the laws of God and society goes counter to the ordinary 
 course of human action. He is a world to himself. He is 
 against society, against organization, and of necessity his 
 action can never be measured by the rules governing men in 
 the everyday transactions of life. No criminal ever violated 
 the laws who did not leave the traces of his crime distinct 
 and clear when once discovered. So in this case we can 
 only add to the enormity of this offence by showing you 
 its origin, its conception and the plans adopted for its 
 execution. 
 
 One year ago the nth day of the present month the 
 prisoner addressed to Hon. William M. Evarts, then Secretary 
 of State, the following letter: 
 
 NEW YORK, Nov. n, i8So. 
 HON. WILLIAM M. EVARTS: 
 
 DEAR SIR : I wish to ask you a question. If President Garfield 
 appoints Mr. A to a foreign mission does that supersede President Hayes 
 commission for the same appointment? Do not all foreign Ministers 
 appointed by President Hayes retire on March 4 next? Please answer me 
 at the Fifth Avenue Hotel at your earliest convenience. I am solid for 
 General Garfield, and may get an important appointment from him next 
 spring. Yours very truly, CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 At this time, over a year ago, it will be seen he had in his 
 mind an application for and expectation of receiving an office 
 under the approaching administration. In pursuance of that 
 hope the prisoner came to this city on the afternoon of the 
 5th of last March, no doubt believing that he would receive 
 at the hands of an administration he supposed he had assisted 
 in placing in power such recognition as, according to his own 
 opinion of his merits, he deserved. He was outspoken and 
 earnest in his demands, and in his various conversations 
 seemed to feel confident of success. 
 
 From his own letters, it is evident that during October and 
 January he had written to President Garfield, calling attention 
 to his services in the campaign, and soliciting an appoint 
 ment. On the 8th of March, he addressed a letter to the 
 President, calling attention to his desire to be appointed to 
 
ASSASS/.V OF PRESIDENT CARFIELD. 
 
 75 
 
 the Paris Consulate. On the nth of March, he wrote Secre 
 tary Elaine the following letter : 
 
 March //, 1881. 
 Senator ELAINE : 
 
 In October and January last I wrote General Garfield touching the 
 Austrian Mission, and I think he has filed my application and is favorably 
 inclined. Since then I have concluded to apply for the Consul-Generalship at 
 Paris instead of the Austrian Mission, as I prefer Paris to Vienna. I spoke 
 to the General about it and he said your indorsement would help it, as it 
 was in your department. I think I have a just claim to your help on the 
 strength of this speech [a speech was enclosed] which was sent to our 
 leading editors and orators in August. It was about the first shot on the 
 rebel war claim idea, and it was the idea that elected General Garfield. 
 
 Mr. Walker, the present Consul at Paris, was appointed through 
 Mr. Evarts, and I presume he has no expectation of being retained. I 
 will talk with you about this as soon as I can get a chance. There is 
 nothing against me. I claim to be a gentleman and a Christian. 
 Yours, very respectfully,* 
 
 CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 He followed up this communication by persistent personal 
 appeals, and by writing notes and letters, urging in various 
 ways his claims for this position. Not only did he besiege 
 the Secretary of State and the officers of the department, 
 but the President and the officers of the Executive Mansion. 
 Generally treated w r ith courtesy and kindly dismissed, his 
 wants and necessities became more persistent and determined. 
 On the 8th of March, he commenced writing to the Presi 
 dent, stating his reasons why the position should be given 
 him, and urging in various ways his claims for the place. 
 When his application reached the President he was politely 
 referred, as were all other applicants for similar appoint 
 ments, to the Department of State, the recommendation of 
 which was usual for positions of the grade he sought. He 
 frequently saw the Secretary of State, and had various con 
 versations with Mr. Hitt, the assistant secretary, in which he 
 urged his claims upon their attention. Wearied of his impor 
 tunity, the Secretary of State on Saturday, the i4th of May, 
 according to the prisoner s statement in writing, said to him : 
 
176 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE AU, 
 
 " Never speak to me again about the Paris Consulship as 
 long as you live." 
 
 On the following morning, he wrote to the President, in 
 forming him of Mr. Elaine s statement and saying he was 
 satisfied Mr. Elaine was endeavoring to run the State Depart 
 ment in the interests of his own candidacy for the Presi 
 dency in 1884, and appealing to the President direct for an 
 immediate order for his appointment. During this time he 
 continued to visit the Executive Mansion and urged and in 
 sisted on an opportunity to see the President. 
 
 Finally, it became necessary, in order to avoid his pre 
 sumptuous intrusion, to prohibit his entrance into the White 
 House. Soured and indignant at this treatment, disap 
 pointed and enraged, on the 23d of May he wrote President 
 Garfield a letter in which, in the light of the fearful tragedy 
 which followed, it needs no discerning eye to detect the 
 threat of murder. It was as follows : 
 
 Private. 
 
 General GARFIELD I have been trying to be your friend. I do not 
 know whether you appreciate it or not, but I am moved to call your atten 
 tion to the remarkable letter from Mr. Elaine, which I have just noticed. 
 According to Mr. Farwell, of Chicago, Elaine is a vindictive politician and 
 an evil genius, and you will have no peace till you get rid of him. This 
 letter shows that Mr. Blaine is a wicked man, and you ought to demand 
 his immediate resignation ; otherwise you and the republican party will 
 come to grief. I will see you in the morning if I can, and talk with 
 you. Very respectfully, CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 May 2j. 
 
 You see in these sentences his bitterness of spirit, inspired 
 by the treatment he claims to have received at the hands of 
 the Secretary of State, and the demand for his removal, and 
 threat, if it was not done, what would result; yet we will find 
 that, on the 2ist of March, he wrote to Secretary Elaine: 
 "lam very glad personally that the President selected you 
 for his Premier. * * * You are the man above all others 
 for the place." 
 
 That is one chapter in the history of this crime. The let- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 77 
 
 ter, standing alone and independent of any other circum 
 stances, would not of itself attract attention to its peculiar and 
 significent expressions, but it will be shown that among the 
 papers left by this man for publication is found one dated 
 the i6th of June, 1881, in which he uses this significant lan 
 guage : " I conceived the idea of removing the President 
 four \veeks ago. 
 
 He knew, and well knew, that he must hang some screen 
 in front of the real motive for his crime. His heart was 
 wicked enough to conceive from its own malignity the crime 
 itself; but his shrewdness and vanity demanded that the pub 
 lic should not gaze upon his real motive. This will account 
 for many of the extraordinary circumstances connected with 
 the crime. This will explain many of his lofty and egotis 
 tical utterances 
 
 It is true, there was a period during this time when there 
 existed dissentions in the party in power. It is a well-known 
 fact that, as between the Executive and certain prominent and 
 eminent men, there was a difference of opinion as to the 
 course to be pursued and the policy to be inaugurated by the 
 administration, then just in its commencement. It is true, 
 there were grave differences of opinion and earnest expressions 
 of sentiment on questions of great gravity and importance to 
 the peace and welfare of the country, and, as attendant upon 
 those, there were frequent utterances of bitterness by partisans 
 on either side. To this man s wicked and revengeful mind it 
 immediately occurred: " Here is the opportunity to commit 
 this crime, to revenge myself, and shelter my action under 
 the claim that it was the outgrowth of the present strife," 
 and he systematically and cunningly prepared an apology and 
 defense of his crime in accordance with this. 
 
 You will learn by the testimony that will be presented to 
 you, that, from the time of his arrival in this city and until he 
 had lost the expectation of favors to be received, and made up 
 his mind to kill the President a period of nearly three 
 months he was an earnest, so-called, Garfield man. He an- 
 

 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 nounced to the President, as will be shown by his own letter, 
 his devotion and fealty to him. He desired constantly to 
 impress upon the President that he was for him as against 
 every one else. You will find him, on May 7, announcing to 
 the President that in the contest going on he stood by him. 
 But when he had lost all hopes of the appointment desired 
 under the administration of President Garfield, and all expec 
 tation of official recognition from this source, he resolved to 
 seize upon the pretext afforded by the situation to gratify his 
 revenge, to kill the President and shield his real motives 
 from the public. After this had been fully settled in his 
 mind, with his knowledge of the world, with his experience 
 of human affairs, with his observations of society, for he is a 
 man of no ordinary ability in these directions, he carefully 
 determined to make the situation of advantage to himself, and 
 when he had fully conceived this idea, when it had fastened 
 itself on his mind, he went to work to accomplish his purpose 
 with a spirit of vindictiveness, with a cool determination, 
 that has scarcely a parallel in the annals of crime. How 
 many efforts he made to do this deed, or when and where he 
 decided upon the exact method of its commission, no 
 human mind can tell. 
 
 On the 8th day of June, he borrowed from an acquaintance 
 in this city $15, representing that he was out of money and 
 desired the amount to pay his board-bill. After procuring 
 this loan he at once visited the store of Mr. O Meara, on the 
 corner of Fifteenth and F streets, for the purpose of purchas 
 ing a weapon. In this, as in all other acts connected with 
 the crime, he displayed the malignity of his determination 
 and the wickedness of his motives. He asked for a pistol of 
 the largest calibre and one that would do the most effective 
 work, and was shown and purchased the pistol which he 
 finally used a weapon terrible to behold, carrying a bullet 
 of the largest size ; a weapon that was self-cocking in order 
 that there might be no delay in its use when an emergency 
 occurred. How for twenty-four days he carried that deadly 
 
ASSASS/A r OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 179 
 
 weapon, and how often he dogged the footsteps of the un 
 suspecting President ; how he watched his carriage \ how he 
 made his arrangements at the church ; how he followed him 
 from the residence of Mr. Elaine, watching and waiting for 
 the fatal hour, he alone can tell. But on the morning of the 
 1 8th of June he ascertained from publications in the newspa 
 pers that the President would go to Long Branch, and he de 
 termined to kill him at the depot. How he went there fully 
 prepared for that purpose and was deterred from its accom 
 plishment his own words best tell. Returning to his room he 
 wrote : 
 
 WASHINGTON, Saturday Evening, June 18, 1881. 
 
 I intended to remove the President this morning at the depot as he took 
 the cars for Long Branch, but Mrs. Garfield looked so thin and clung so 
 tenderly to the President s arm that my heart failed me to part them, and I 
 decided to take him alone. It will be no worse for Mrs. Garfield to part 
 with her husband this way than by a natural death. He is liable to go at 
 any time, any way. C. G. 
 
 And after this came another period of watching and wait, 
 ing. It might be a story of thrilling interest to know how 
 often the fatal danger threatened the lamented dead, and 
 how often while buoyant with life the shadow of death 
 haunted him. But, again, we nre in the field of conjecture 
 until we come to the morning of the murder, the occurrences 
 of which I have already described, and this completes the 
 story of this crime. This ends the recital of this national 
 bereavement, for it cannot be forgotten that the effects of 
 that fatal shot were felt throughout the land ; that not only 
 one family mourned, but around every hearthstone and about 
 every fireside there hung a shadow. And it is not surprising 
 that many for a time forgot the law and doubted Providence, 
 for it seemed so terrible that this man, in the full tide of his 
 career of eminence and usefulness, should fall murdered 
 without warning or notice. 
 
 : No verdict of yours can recall him. He "sleeps the sleep that 
 knows no waking," on the peaceful banks of Lake Erie, whose 
 
jg o TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 limpid waters wash the boundaries of his native State, over 
 looking the city he loved so well, and beneath the sod of that 
 State whose people had crowned his life with the highest 
 honors. It is too late to call that husband back to the 
 bereaved wife and fatherless children. For that waiting little 
 mother, whose face will never fade from the nation s memory, 
 there will be no relief in this world. The fatal deed is done, 
 and its horrors and griefs must remain. 
 
 You have each been asked whether you were governed by 
 religious convictions. Upon your oaths you have answered 
 affirmatively. Eighteen hundred years ago it was written, by 
 the pen of inspiration, as the law of that merciful God whom 
 you revere : " Woe unto the world because of offenses, for it 
 must needs be that offenses come ; but woe to that man by 
 whom the offense cometh : it were better for him that a mill 
 stone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned 
 in the depths of the sea." And the honest, patriotic, law- 
 abiding people of this country are waiting for your verdict, 
 to see whether the man by whom this great offense was qpm- 
 mitted shall not suffer the just and merited punishment of the 
 law. 
 
 The conclusion of the District- Attorney s speech 
 was greeted with applause. Mr. Robinson stated 
 that the defense reserved its opening, where 
 upon Secretary Elaine was called to the witness- 
 stand, and having been sworn, he made answer as 
 follows : 
 
 O. What is your name and business ? A. My 
 name is James G. Elaine, at present Secretary of 
 State for the United States. 
 
 Q. You were acquainted with James A. Gar- 
 field ? A. I was acquainted with him from the 
 year 1863 until the hour of his death. 
 
ASSASSIN 1 OF PRESIDENT GAR FIELD. l g j 
 
 Q. Are you acquainted with the prisoner at the 
 bar; have you ever seen 
 him? A. I saw him occa 
 sionally during the months 
 of March, April and May; 
 not so frequently in May as 
 the previous months. 
 
 Q. Were you in company 
 with the President at the 
 time of the shooting ? A. I 
 
 was at his side. HON. JAMES G. ELAINE. 
 
 Q. You met the President by appointment on 
 the morning of the assassination ? A. Yes, sir. 
 On the night of July the ist I was engaged with 
 the President until near midnight on public busi 
 ness. On parting, he suggested that I had better 
 call and see him in the morning before he left, be 
 cause there might be some matters to which he 
 
 o 
 
 desired to call my attention ; I went to the White 
 House, in the morning, reaching there at 9 o clock, 
 not later than three minutes past ; I was detained 
 some little time in conference with the President 
 in the Cabinet room and library, a very few min 
 utes ; I then started with him for the depot, he rid 
 ing in the carriage in which I went to the White 
 House, the State Department carriage in daily use 
 by myself, following out of the White House 
 grounds his own carriage, in which his children 
 were carried, under the conduct of Colonel Rock- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES V. GUITEAU, 
 
 well ; we rode down the avenue without any 
 noticeable incident and at a moderate speed ; on 
 reaching" the depot on the B street side (the ladies 
 entrance, commonly called), we sat a moment fin 
 ishing the subject on which we were then convers 
 ing, and the President turned around to say good 
 bye ; " No," said I, " I will escort you ;" I thought 
 it not proper that the President should go entirely 
 unattended; "I will escort you," I said, "and be 
 sides I wish to see the gentlemen of the Cabinet 
 who are going to leave with you ;" with that he 
 alighted; he had got in, of course at the White 
 House, and that brought him on the side next to 
 
 c> 
 
 the pavement at the depot, and as the carriage 
 was a small coupe he got out first as a matter of 
 convenience ; he took my arm as we ascended the 
 steps and turned on the left (he was on my left) 
 to speak to some one I think a police officer, the 
 same officer who had told us that we had ten or 
 twelve minutes time remaining. 
 
 When he turned to speak to him our arms be 
 came disengaged, according to my impression, 
 and as we walked through the ladies waiting- 
 room we were not arm-in-arm, but side by side ; 
 he had got two-thirds across the room, when sud 
 denly, without any premonition whatever, there 
 was a very loud report of a pistol discharge, fol 
 lowed in a very brief interval by a second shot ; 
 at the instant I first heard the report, it occurred 
 to me that it was some trouble between persons 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 to whom we were in no way related, some such 
 deed of violence, and I touched the President as 
 though to hurry him on, as I thought there might 
 be some danger to his person or my own ; just as 
 I did that the President kind of threw his hands 
 up and said: "My God, what is this?" It seemed 
 to have been almost between the shots that he 
 said that; of course in so exciting and horrible a 
 scene I can only give an impression, not an abso 
 lute statement ; then there rushed past me a man ; 
 according to .my recollection he passed on my 
 right, though I am aware that this statement must 
 be taken merely as my impression ; I immediately 
 followed after the man instinctively and went, I 
 suppose, the distance of eight feet; I remember I 
 stopped just outside the door which led from the 
 ladies waiting-room ; then the shout came up, 
 " We have got him ;" I found that the President 
 had quite sunk ; he was sinking as I left ; when I 
 got nearly back to him (I was the first or second 
 person who got back to him) he was vomiting, and 
 I think at that moment was unconscious ; of course, 
 immediately a very large crowd surrounded him ; 
 and mattresses were brought, I think from a sleep 
 ing-car, and he was removed to an upper room in 
 the depot. 
 
 Medical aid was at hand as soon as possible, 
 and an examination was made. He was returned 
 to the White House, reaching there, I should say, in 
 about fifty minutes or possibly an hour. I know 
 
184 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 that I returned to my own room and wrote a dis 
 patch to the public, especially to the European 
 public, directing it to Minister Lowell, at London. 
 In that dispatch I said that at " this hour twenty 
 minutes past ten, a. m.," the President being shot 
 about twenty minutes past nine. That enabled 
 me to identify the time at which the President got 
 to the White House ; he got there about the time 
 I got to my house, possibly a little before. These 
 are, in brief, the circumstances connected with my 
 observation ; when, in the upper room of the 
 depot, there was a gathering around of the Cabi 
 net Ministers, who immediately repaired there 
 from the cars ; there had yet been no report made 
 of whom it was, but I gave information that the 
 man I saw run, and whom I went after, and whom 
 I saw fall into the hands of the police was Gui- 
 teau ; I recognized the man ; I made that state 
 ment to the Cabinet, the attending surgeons and 
 General Sherman, before the police had discovered 
 the man. Of course, the shot being behind 
 my back, I did not see him with the pistol in 
 his hand ; he did not in running have the pistol 
 exposed. 
 
 The District-Attorney then produced a diagram 
 of the depot in which the tragedy occurred, and 
 at his request the witness indicated the positions 
 occupied by the President and himself at the time 
 the fatal shot was fired ; he also stated that, though 
 the second shot was fired immediately after the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. l g ^ 
 
 first, it did not follow it as rapidly as shots could 
 be fired from a self-cocking revolver. 
 
 Q. How often have you seen the prisoner, to 
 the best of your recollection ? A. Very often ; 
 numerical statements are apt to be exaggerated 
 when we are recalling a statement of this kind; 
 according to my recollection he visited the State 
 Department twenty or twenty-five times ; it might 
 possibly not be over ten, but eight or ten visits of 
 that kind are apt to make the impression of twenty 
 or twenty-five. 
 
 O. You saw him personally ? A. Yes, very 
 frequently. 
 
 Q. Was he an applicant for an office? A. He 
 was a very persistent applicant for the Consul- 
 Generalship at Paris. 
 
 Q, Did you have any conversation with him on 
 that subject? A. Several times; I never gave 
 him the slightest encouragement that he would 
 
 o o 
 
 receive the appointment. 
 
 Q, Do you recollect ever having made use of 
 any particular expression to him with regard to 
 that appointment? A. I rememher, after persistent 
 and repeated visits that I told him that there was 
 in my judgment no prospect whatever of his re 
 ceiving the appointment, and that I did not want 
 him to continue his visits ; I wanted to bring them 
 to an end and I told him there was no prospect 
 whatever of his receiving it. 
 
 After the identification and reading of certain 
 
1 86 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 letters from Guiteau, pressing his application for 
 appointment, the direct examination of Secretary 
 Elaine ended. The cross-examination related to 
 the position of the parties at the time of the 
 shooting, the persistency of Guiteau on the 
 appointment question, the principles upon which 
 appointments were made, and the condition of 
 the Republican party at the time of the shooting, 
 with definitions of the terms "stalwart" and 
 "half-breed," after which the noon adjournment 
 occurred. 
 
 The next witness called was Mr. Simon Cama- 
 cho, the Venzuelan Minister. Before having the 
 witness sworn the District-Attorney stated that, 
 under the law governing diplomatic relations, 
 Mr. Camacho could not be subpoenaed or re 
 quired to testify, but that his government had 
 given him instructions to appear and testify just 
 as any citizen of this country. 
 
 Mr. Camacho was then sworn and examined. 
 He spoke with a strongly marked foreign accent, 
 so that it was rather difficult at times to un 
 derstand him. In reply to questions by the Dis 
 trict-Attorney he testified, in substance, as fol 
 lows : 
 
 I was at the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad 
 Depot in this city, on the morning of the 2d of 
 July last: while waiting there for some ladies 
 whom I was to accompany to New York I saw a 
 carnage, and in the carnage I saw Mr. Blaine 
 
ASSASSfJV Of PRESIDENT GARF1ELD. 
 
 189 
 
 talking with a gentleman whom I did not then 
 know to be the President ; I went to take my 
 place in the cars, and then came back to the wait 
 ing-room ; I heard the report of a pistol and 
 turned around and saw one man firing on another ; 
 the man who received the shot fell immediately, 
 turning his face a little to the right-hand side as if 
 to see who shot him, and extending his hands so 
 as not to fall hard to the ground ; immediately 
 another shot was fired, with a very short interval 
 between the first and second shots; then I saw 
 Secretary Elaine run toward the door between 
 the ladies saloon and the gentlemen s saloon ; I 
 ran toward the B street cloor ; the man who fired 
 the shot had run toward that door, and he turned 
 around again and I met him, and he ran toward 
 the principal saloon ; then I went to see the man 
 who had been shot, and met for the first time 
 President Garfield ; I saw a lady putting his head 
 upon her knee;, I remained there until they 
 brought a mattress and put him on it, and then I 
 had to leave, because the ladies were waiting .for 
 me in the car ; I saw the man who fired the pistol. 
 
 O. Do you recognize the prisoner at the bar as 
 that man ? A. Indeed I do : that is the man. 
 
 Q. Describe how he was holding the pistol 
 when he fired. A. He was holding it low, about 
 three or four yards from the President s back ; he 
 fired in a diagonal position. [The witness rolls a 
 sheet of paper and describes how the pistol was 
 
1 90 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 held.] The second time that he fired the Presi 
 dent was already down and the bullet passed. 
 
 The cross-examination related simply to the 
 prisoner s hat and his style of wearing it at the 
 time of the shooting. 
 
 The additional witnesses examined were Mrs. 
 Sarah B. White, who was in charge of the ladies 
 waiting-room at the depot at the time of the shoot 
 ing ; Mr. Robert A. Parke, the ticket agent who 
 arrested Guiteau ; Judson W. Wheeler, a young 
 man from Virginia who was in the ladies waiting- 
 room ; George W. Adams, publisher of the Wash 
 ington Evening Star, and Jacob P. Smith, janitor 
 of the depot. They related the facts of the shoot 
 ing from their several points of view, but did not 
 add any material points to the evidence already 
 taken. 
 
 The next day, Friday, November i8th, was 
 ushered in by a demonstration from Guiteau. As he 
 entered the court-room, Mr. Scoville was making 
 an explanation, when Guiteau, flashing with an 
 ger, cried out excitedly : " Mr. Scoville talks one 
 thing to me in private and another in public. Last 
 night he spent an hour in jail with me and showed 
 a different spirit from now. That is his way. I 
 do not propose to put my case in his hands. He 
 is no lawyer and no politician. I want first-class 
 talent in this business, and I am going to have it 
 or there s going to be trouble. Mind your busi 
 ness," he continued, fiercely struggling with the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. j g j 
 
 deputy marshals who were trying to suppress 
 him. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : " Yesterday the prisoner told me 
 that he had another communication he intended to 
 give to the press." 
 
 "I do not care a snap about its going out," in 
 terjected the prisoner excitedly. "That settles it." 
 
 " Keep quiet," said Mr. Scoville, angrily. " I 
 told him, in order to prevent its getting into the 
 hands of the reporters, that I would see him in 
 jail about it. I went to the jail and he kept it in 
 his pocket." 
 
 " I gave it to you myself," broke in Guiteau. 
 
 " I went there," continued Mr. Scoville, " and 
 spent an hour suggesting different points to pre 
 vent its getting out." 
 
 " You ve got the document and you can keep 
 it," exclaimed the prisoner. 
 
 " If you say you will not give it out ?" began 
 Mr. Scoville, inquiringly. 
 
 " I represent myself here," was the loud reply 
 of the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Scoville was evidently getting disgusted 
 with the prisoner s conduct, and it was in tones of 
 annoyance that he said to the Court : " I do not 
 propose to be interrupted here by the prisoner 
 every day, nor spend an hour or two at the jail 
 every day to prevent the prisoner giving out com 
 munications." 
 
 Struggling with the deputy marshals Guiteau 
 
192 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE A U, 
 
 exclaimed wildly, addressing to Mr. Scoville his 
 remarks, which were uttered very rapidly : " You 
 are no criminal lawyer, and I have no confidence 
 in your capacity. I propose to get two or three 
 of the first-class lawyers in America to manage 
 my case. And I want to say a word upon the 
 law," cried the prisoner, addressing the Court. 
 " If you expel me from the court-room the Court 
 in bane will reverse you. If the Court puts me 
 out confounded fools you," he cried, turning and 
 struggling with the deputy marshals who were 
 pressing him into his seat from which he had half- 
 risen, " the Court will understand that he will be 
 reversed in the Court in bane. Mind your busi 
 ness ; you ain t got no sense," he said again, turn 
 ing upon the deputies, with whom he continued to 
 struggle violently for several moments. 
 
 The Court : " On several occasions in the 
 courts in the United States the prisoner has been, 
 on account of disorderly conduct, removed from 
 court and the case continued in his absence. 
 
 The first witness sworn, after the prisoner had 
 subsided, was Joseph K. Sharp, assistant train 
 master of the Baltimore and Potomac Railroad, 
 who narrated what he had seen of the shooting 
 of President Garfield. His testimony was not of 
 special importance. 
 
 The next witness was Miss Ella M. Ridgley, a 
 young lady who was at the depot on the morning 
 of the 2d of July. She had been standing at the 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J> QUITE A U, 193 
 
 B street door waiting for a street car, when she 
 saw the prisoner. A hackman came up to him 
 and asked him where he wanted to be driven to ; 
 the prisoner said to the cemetery, and told him to 
 wait there till he came out. This was about four 
 minutes before the President and Secretary Elaine 
 entered the depot. Then she saw the prisoner in 
 the ladies waiting-room, with his ri^ht hand in 
 
 o o 
 
 his pocket; he drew out a weapon, and witness 
 noticed the sunlight shining on the barrel, although 
 she did not realize at the moment that it was a 
 pistol. The first shot was fired, and then the 
 prisoner took two or three steps nearer to the 
 President and fired a second shot when about four 
 feet from him. On the first shot the President 
 threw up his hands and half fell back. He kept 
 sinking all the time as the second shot was fired. 
 She was not sure whether the second shot touched 
 him at all. When prisoner fired the second shot 
 he stepped to the B street door and witness lost 
 siofht of him, as her attention was directed to the 
 
 o 
 
 President. When she next saw prisoner the offi 
 cers were passing through the room with him. 
 
 Joshua Davis, who was present at the shooting, 
 and Wm. S. Crawford, driver of a baggage wagon, 
 gave their testimony, without presenting anything 
 new or important. Then came John R. Scott, 
 special officer at the railroad depot. He was the 
 first officer to reach the prisoner after Parke 
 seized him ; the prisoner said that he wanted to 
 
194 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 go to jail and that he had a letter which he wanted 
 sent to General Sherman ; witness, however, did 
 not see any letter in his hand ; they took him out 
 of the Sixth street door to the station-house, and 
 when passing Sixth and B streets he looked up 
 and said: "I am a stalwart, and Arthur is now 
 President of the United States." 
 
 He kept repeating about the letter that he 
 wanted sent to General Sherman, and he said : 
 "I am a gentleman and a lawyer." 
 
 At the station-house prisoner was searched, and 
 a packet of papers, some change and a revolver 
 were taken out of his pocket. [Here the revol 
 ver was identified and exhibited to the jury, three 
 of the chambers being still loaded.] 
 
 The cross-examination developed nothing new, 
 and the testimony of the next witness, Edmund 
 L. DuBarry was brief and unimportant. He was 
 followed by Patrick Kearney, police officer, who 
 gave a graphic account of the occurrence, speak 
 ing slowly and with a strong Irish brogue. His 
 narrative was as follows: 
 
 The first time I saw the prisoner was at five 
 minutes to nine, on the morning of the 2d of 
 July; I saw him standing with two hackmen, one 
 white and one colored ; they were both " bucking 
 a job" from him that is, soliciting him for a job; 
 then I saw the President s carriage coming around 
 from Pennsylvania Avenue to the B Street 
 entrance ; I went around and stood by the lamp- 
 
ASSASSfA OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 195 
 
 post ; the President s carriage stopped outside the 
 curbstone, and the President had his hand on Mr. 
 Elaine s shoulder; the President said to me: 
 "How much time have I got?" I took out my 
 watch and showed him that he had ten minutes ; 
 he made no reply and I went back to the lamp 
 post; after a while Mr. Elaine got out of the 
 carriage and went into the depot out of my sight ; 
 the President then got out and walked ahead ; 
 as he moved past I took up my hat and saluted 
 him ; he went up as far as the third step and then 
 turned around smiling, lifted his hat to me and 
 went in to the depot out of my sight ; then I was 
 moving down Sixth Street, when I heard the 
 report of a pistol ; I turned back quickly and ran 
 down to the B Street door, and then I heard 
 another report and a scream. 
 
 I went to the door, and the first thing I saw was 
 the prisoner coming against me ; I grabbed him ; 
 said he, u I want to send this letter to General Sher 
 man immediately ;" " Hold up," said I, " there are 
 two shots fired, and you are coming from the 
 direction in which they were fired ; I will hold you 
 to know the result ; if you are in the wrong I will 
 keep you, and if not you can get off; but now I 
 put you under arrest ;" then I turned his back to 
 the door; the first man that I saw was Du Barry 
 (the last witness); he was right by my side; then 
 I could see the smoke rising out of the carpet, 
 and saw that I could not advance in that way with 
 
1C) 6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 him ; the prisoner jerked, and pulled me down to 
 ward the heater in the ladies room, and I pulled 
 out my club to hit him, but I thought of the Grand 
 Jury [Laughter.] and not knowing what the 
 man had done I did not hit him, but I gave him a 
 good shaking and brought him along ; after that 
 he went along with me ; when I stopped he 
 stopped and when I moved he moved ; we went 
 out of the ladies room into the main room and 
 stood by the indicator ; one or two men passed by 
 and tapped the prisoner on the shoulder and said, 
 " I arrest you ;" I said nothing, but I thought they 
 were fools, because I had arrested him at the door 
 and brought him back ; Parke was standing at the 
 jamb of the door near the ticket office with a linen 
 duster on him and his hands behind his back as 
 mildly as now. [Laughter.] [The point about 
 this is that Parke testified on the stand that he was 
 the first to seize Guiteau, and that he held him 
 until Officers Scott and Kearney came and took 
 him in charge.] The prisoner passed Parke at 
 the corner, and he and I went and stood by the 
 indicator ; then Parke advanced toward the ticket 
 office ; I was standing along with the prisoner, and 
 there was a crowd in a circle around us ; I saw 
 Lowry snatch the paper the prisoner held in his 
 hand; then Parke, the ticket agent, made a run 
 and grabbed at Guiteau and threw his hat off. 
 [Laughter.] I lifted the hat up and put it right on 
 the prisoner s head again; then Scott came from 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 197 
 
 the platform over to where I was with Guiteau, 
 and got hold of his wrist and twisted it ; Guiteau 
 complained and asked him not to break his wrist ; 
 as he did not repeat the complaint I said nothing ; 
 after Parke made the grab at Guiteau he said, 
 * That is the man who shot the President ;" that 
 was the first I knew of what had happened ; I did 
 not know until then that the President or any 
 other man had been shot ; I took the prisoner out 
 of the Sixth street door, and when we came to 
 the sewer trap in the street he said : 
 
 *! did it; I will go to jail for it. Arthur is 
 President and I am a stalwart/ 
 
 Scott and me took him along to Pennsylvania 
 avenue and then we took an oblique direction 
 eastward until we came to Mount Vernon House, 
 and then we walked alono- until we crot to Police 
 
 o o 
 
 Headquarters, on Four-and-a-half street; when I 
 went in I sung out, " this man killed (or shot) the 
 President;" Lieutenant Eckloff says, "You are 
 giving us taffy." [Laughter.] I said " No ;" then 
 I took the pistol out of the prisoner s pocket and 
 laid it on the table, and then two pieces of silver, 
 and then when I went for these letters he 
 kicked. 
 
 Q. He what? asked the District- Attorney, with 
 a puzzled expression of countenance. A. He 
 resisted, and I was going to throw him ; then one 
 of the officers catched him by the arm and held 
 him till I got them letters from him ; he said that 
 
198 TRIAL OF CHARLES % GUITEAU, 
 
 he wanted them letters to go to Byron Andrews, 
 on Fourteenth street ; Lieutenant Eckloff asked 
 him if he had anything to say ; " I have nothing to 
 say," said he, " the papers speak for themselves ;" 
 I asked him what his name was ; he said, " Charles 
 Guiteau, of Illinois, a theologian and a lawyer;" 
 after I got through his pockets I went to search 
 him about the breast ; he said, " Don t get excited; 
 take your time ; you have plenty of time to search 
 me ;" he was put into a cell for about ten minutes 
 and then he was sent to jail ; I never saw him 
 again until I saw him here. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, in cross-examination, asked : 
 Did Parke ever touch him until you brought him 
 into the main room ? 
 
 Witness, solemnly: Never, so help me God, 
 never; it was up by the heater that Parke 
 rushed at him, grabbed at him, knocked off his 
 hat, and said. "I seize the assassin." [Loud 
 laughter.] 
 
 All that I knew was that somebody was hurt; 
 on the way to headquarters the prisoner spoke to 
 me once or twice about his fear of being hurt, and 
 I says to him: " Now, the quicker you and me get 
 to headquarters the better for both of us ;" I never 
 had no trouble with him after that. 
 
 When Mr. Scoville closed the cross-examination, 
 Guiteau said in his usual excited manner: "Allow 
 me to examine the witness ; he comes nearer the 
 truth than any one else who has been on the stand." 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. \ 99 
 
 f 
 
 Mr. Scoville succeeded in suppressing the 
 prisoner, and then he further examined the witness 
 as to whether he was much excited when he 
 arrested the prisoner. No, said the witness ; 
 when I catched that man I did not know what he 
 had done ; I knew that there were two shots fired 
 and that he was running from the direction where 
 the shots were fired. 
 
 Prisoner: As a matter of fact I was stand 
 ing still, and the witness came up and seized me 
 by the wrist. I had just got my pistol put up, and 
 you (addressing the witness) seized me simulta 
 neously. I told the officer that I wanted to go to 
 jail at once. I made no disposition to escape at 
 all. 
 
 Witness: No; I will say that for you. 
 After the difficulty in the corner of the room you 
 gave up and went along with me and stood by 
 me all the way to headquarters. Is not that so ? 
 
 Prisoner: Yes sir. [Laughter.] 
 
 Thompson H. Alexander was the next witness, 
 but nothing new or important was developed by 
 his testimony. After the recess, Guiteau ad 
 dressed the Court saying: I understand, your 
 Honor, that Judge Magruder, of Maryland, is 
 willing to assist in the defense. I hereby publicly 
 invite him to meet me here on Monday at the 
 trial. I do not know whether Mr. Scoville wants 
 him or not. I want him here. The only way I 
 can make that known to him is to make it public. 
 
2 CO TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 He has written a very fine letter. I have two 
 or three other names I shall mention. Mr. Sco- 
 ville is doing splendidly, but I want him to have 
 help. 
 
 John Taylor (colored) was next called to the 
 witness-stand. He was the hackman to whom 
 Guiteau spoke about a week before the shooting 
 in regard to what he would charge to drive him 
 to Benning s Station, just beyond the Congres 
 sional Cemetery, and he gave an account of that 
 conversation. 
 
 Another colored hack driver, Aquilla Barton, 
 was the next witness. He was quite a character 
 and elicited a good deal of amusement by his tes 
 timony. He was at the depot on the morning the 
 President was shot. The prisoner came along 
 toward the hack stand, and he (witness) asked 
 him if he wanted a carriage ; the prisoner said 
 that he wanted to see a man named Taylor ; the 
 witness said, " Mister, I pledge my word and 
 honor that Taylor has not been here this morning ; 
 let me wait on you ;" the prisoner said, " Hold on, 
 don t get excited ;" the prisoner then went into 
 the depot, but presently returned and asked wit 
 ness how much he would charge to drive him to 
 the cemetery ; he then engaged the carriage, tell 
 ing witness that when he jumped into the car 
 riage he wanted to be driven very rapidly ; he 
 said that he merely wanted to look around the 
 burying ground ; witness took particular notice of 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 QI 
 
 the man when he re-entered the depot and knew 
 him from the crown of his head to the sole of his 
 foot ; in about ten minutes witness heard two pis 
 tol shots and ran into the depot to see what was 
 the matter ; he did not think of the man who had 
 engaged him, but after he had heard that the 
 President was shot he returned to his carriage ; 
 just then the prisoner was brought out and 
 he (the witness) said, "Oh God! That is the 
 man who wanted me to take him to the grave 
 yard." 
 
 On cross-examination as to the prisoner s ap 
 pearance at the time of the shooting, the answer 
 was given that the prisoner was not excited. 
 
 A. Were you excited ? A. Not at all ; I was 
 not, but I was bucjting very strong for the job ; he 
 was a good deal in his senses; he was "flesher" 
 than he is now. [Laughter.] 
 
 Prisoner, in a humorous manner : I may 
 state here that I had the first square meal to-day I 
 have had since the 2d of July. [Laughter.] 
 
 Byron Andrews was then called to the stand 
 simply to identify himself as the correspondent of 
 the Chicago Inter- Ocean and the New. York 
 Graphic. He had received no papers from the 
 prisoner, and did not know him. 
 
 At this stage of the proceedings Mr. Scoville 
 rose and said : 
 
 I give notice now that the defense in this case 
 is insanity, and we will claim that the burden of 
 
2Q2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 proof is on the prosecution. If they intend to 
 introduce evidence on that point they must intro 
 duce it before they close. 
 
 Mr. Davidge : We think otherwise, and we will 
 act according to our convictions of what is proper. 
 The defense has made no opening. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : I give you notice now, before 
 you close your proofs ; I simply want to make it a 
 matter of record. 
 
 Judge Cox : I understand. 
 
 Mr. Sevelion A. Brown, Chief Clerk of the 
 State Department, was the next witness. He 
 testified as to the frequent visits of the prisoner 
 to the Department, and to the witness giving 
 orders not to send any more of his cards to the 
 Secretary, or let him see the Secretary. 
 
 On cross-examination he said he was quite sure 
 the place for which Guiteau applied was beyond 
 his reach. The prisoner did not look to be that 
 kind of man who would be appointed to such a 
 position. He had excluded his cards from the 
 Secretary because it was hardly worth while to 
 take up the Secretary s time ; the Secretary had 
 not ordered the exclusion of Guiteau s cards, nor 
 did Guiteau know that they were excluded. Wit 
 ness had also refused to permit the prisoner to 
 make use of the library of the Department; he 
 did not want to give him any excuse for being 
 there ; he wanted to rid the Department of him. 
 He did not notice anything peculiar about him, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 203 
 
 except that he was a nervous individual and that 
 he seemed to have a reluctance to look one in the 
 eye. 
 
 Guiteau : I looked in your eye, Mr. Brown. 
 
 Adolphus Eckloff, a police lieutenant, was called 
 by the prosecution to identify the revolver. 
 
 In the cross-examination he detailed the man 
 ner of searching the prisoner when he reached 
 the Police Headquarters; on taking the man to 
 the jail he had appeared frightened, but there 
 was nothing peculiarly wild about his face; in con 
 versation with Detective McElfresh the man had 
 stated that he was "a stalwart of the stalwarts," 
 and that he shot the President to save the Repub 
 lican party and the country. 
 
 Mr. J. Stanley Brown, private secretary to the 
 late President, was the next witness. He testified 
 to Guiteau s frequent calls at the White House 
 and of his (witness ) finally, about the 1 5th of May, 
 telling the ushers that Guiteau must no longer 
 trouble the office ; he had told Guiteau himself 
 and had reiterated it twice, that his application, 
 being in the consular service, must go to the State 
 Department ; witness identified a large number of 
 letters from Guiteau to the President, which the 
 District- Attorney proceeded to read, as follows : 
 
 [Private.] March 8, 1881. 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD I called to see you this a. m., but 
 you were engaged. In October and January last I sent you 
 a note from New York touching the Austrian Mission. Mr. 
 
2OA. TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Kasson of Iowa, I understand, wishes to remain, at Vienna 
 till fall. He is a good fellow, I should not wish to disturb 
 him in any event. What do you think of me for Consul 
 General for Paris? I think I prefer Paris to Vienna, and 
 if agreeable to you, should be satisfied with the Consulship at 
 Paris. The enclosed speach was sent to our leading orators 
 and editors in August. Soon thereafter they opened on the 
 Rebel war claim idea, and it was this idea that resulted in 
 your election. 
 
 Mr. Walker, of New York, the present Consul at Paris was 
 appointed through Mr. Evarts, and I presume he has no expecta 
 tion of being retained. Senators Elaine, Logan and Conk- 
 ling are friendly to me, and I presume my appointment will 
 be promptly confirmed. There is nothing against me. I 
 claim to be a gentleman and a Christian. C. G. 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD I understand from Colonel "Hooker, 
 of the National Committee, that I am to have a Consulship. 
 I hope it is the Consulship to Paris, as that is the only one I 
 care to take, now that Mr. Phelps has the Austrian Mission, 
 I think I have a right to press my claim for the Consulship at 
 Paris. I think General Logan and Secretary Elaine are favor 
 able to this, and I wish you would send in my name for the 
 Consulship at Paris. Mr. Walker, the present Consul, I do 
 not think has any claim on you for the office, as the men 
 that did the business last fall are the ones to be remembered. 
 Senator Logan has my papers ?and he said he would see you 
 about this. Very respectfully, 
 
 March 26. CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD From your looks yesterday I judge 
 you did not quite understand what I meant by saying "I have 
 not called for two or three weeks." I intended to express 
 my sympathy for you on account of the pressure that has been 
 on you since you came into office. I think Mr. Elaine intends 
 
ASSASSfN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 205 
 
 giving me the Paris Consulship, with* your and General 
 Logan s approbation, and I am waiting for the break in the 
 Senate. I have practised law in New York and Chicago, and 
 presume I am well qualified for it. I have been here since 
 March 5, and expect to remain some little time, or until I 
 get my commission. Very respectfully, 
 
 April 6. CHAS. GUITEAU. 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD : I wish to say this about Mr. Robert, 
 son s nomination. Would it not be well to withdraw it on 
 the ground that Mr. Conkling has worked himself to a white 
 heat of opposition ? It might be done quietly and gracefully, 
 on the ground that since the nomination many merchants 
 and others in New York had petitioned for the retention of 
 General Merritt. It strikes me that it would be true policy 
 to do this, as Mr. Conkling is so determined to defeat Mr. 
 Robertson, and the chances are he may do it. It is doing 
 great harm all around. I am very sorry you have got Conk 
 ling down on you. Had it not been for General Grant and 
 Senator Conkling we should have lost New York. The loss 
 of New York would have elected Hancock. Mr. Conkling 
 feels you ought to have consulted him about the appointments 
 in his own State, and that is the reason he is so set against 
 Mr. Robertson ; and many people think he is right. It seems 
 to me that the only way to get out of this difficulty is to with 
 draw Mr. Robertson, on the ground that since his nomination 
 the leading merchants of New York have expressed them 
 selves as well satisfied with General Merritt, who certainly is 
 not a " Conkling man." I am on friendly terms with Sena 
 tor Conkling and the rest of our Senators, but I write this on 
 my own account and in the spirit of a peacemaker. 
 
 I have taken the liberty of making this suggestion to Mr. 
 Blaine. and wish you and he would give it due attention. 
 
 Very respectfully, 
 
 CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 April 2<}th. 
 
206 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD : I am sorry you and Senator Conk- 
 ling are apart, but I stand by you on the ground that his 
 friends Morton, James, Pearson and the rest of them have 
 been well provided for, and Mr. Conkling ought to have been 
 satisfied. Very respectfully, 
 
 May jth* CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 To GENERAL GARFIELD : I have got a new idea about 84. 
 If you work your position for all it s worth you can be nomi 
 nated and elected in 84. Your opponents will probably be 
 General Grant and Mr. Elaine. General Grant will never be 
 so strong again as he was just after his trip around the world. 
 Too many people are dead set against a third term, and I don t 
 think he can be nominated much less elected again. Two 
 national conventions have slaughtered Mr. Elaine on account 
 of his 
 
 At this point the District-Attorney had some 
 difficulty in deciphering the writing, but was 
 helped out of his difficulty by the prisoner, who 
 finished the sentence for him " of his railroad 
 record and connections," The remainder of the 
 letter was as follows : 
 
 The Republican party are afraid to run him. This leaves 
 the way open for you. Run the Presidency on your own 
 account. Strike out right and left. The American people 
 like pluck, and in 84 we will put you in again. 
 
 White House, May 10. C. G. 
 
 P. S. I will see you about the Paris Consulship 
 to-morrow, unless you happen to send in my name to-day. 
 [Private.] 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD : Until Saturday I supposed Mr. 
 Elaine was my friend in the matter of the Paris Consulship, 
 but from his tone Saturday I judge he is trying to run the 
 State Department in the interest of the Elaine element in 84. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2OJ 
 
 You are under small obligations to Mr. Elaine. He almost 
 defeated your election by the loss of Maine. Had it not 
 been for Hancock s blunder on the tariff, and the decided 
 efforts of the stalwarts, you certainly would have been 
 defeated after the loss of Maine. You recalled Mr. Noyes 
 for Mr. Morton, and I wish you would recall Mr. Walker for 
 me. I am in with Mr. Morton and General Arthur, and I will 
 get them to go on my bond. General Logan and Senator 
 Harrison and the rest of my friends will see that it is 
 promptly confirmed. " Never speak to me again," said Mr. 
 Elaine, Saturday, "on the Paris Consulship as long as you 
 live." Heretofore he has been my friend, but now his eye is 
 on a "Elaine man" for the position that will help him in 84. 
 Two National Conventions have slaughtered Mr. Elaine, and 
 he ought to see that there is no chance for him in 84. I 
 want to get in my work for you in 84. 
 
 I am sorry Mrs. Garfield is sick, and hope she will recover 
 soon. 
 
 May 16. CHARLES GUITEAU. 
 
 [Private.] 
 
 GENERAL GARFIELD : I hope Mrs. Garfield is better. 
 Monday I sent you a note about the Paris Consulship; 
 Tuesday, one about 84. The idea about 84 flashed through me 
 like an inspiration, and I believe it will come true. Your 
 nomination was a providence, -and your election a still greater 
 providence. Had Hancock kept his mouth shut on the tariff 
 he would have been elected, probably, notwithstanding 
 Grant and Conkling and the treachery of Kelly. Business 
 men were afraid to trust a man in the White House who did 
 not know "A" about the tariff, and this killed Hancock. 
 You are fairly elected and now make the best of it. With 
 two terms in the White House and a trip around the globe 
 you can go into history by the side of General Grant. May 
 I tell Mr. Elaine to prepare the order for my appointment to 
 the Paris Consulship, vice George Walker recalled ? 
 
 White House, May ij, 1881. C. G. 
 
2O8 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Another letter was read, in which Guiteau 
 refers to Secretary Elaine as a wrecked man, and 
 which was read by the District-Attorney in his 
 opening address yesterday. 
 
 District- Attorney, to the witness : These are 
 all the letters from the prisoner that you found on 
 the files of the executive office ? 
 
 Witness : Yes. 
 
 Prisoner : They are all that I ever wrote. 
 
 District-Attorney : I propose to identify by 
 this witness the letters left by the prisoner at 
 the cigar-stand in the depot. 
 
 Prisoner: Those letters are all correct, every 
 one of them. 
 
 The papers were shown to the witness, and 
 were identified as in Guiteau s handwriting. 
 
 The next witness was James L. Denny, who has 
 charge of the news-stand at the railroad depot. 
 He identified the package addressed to Byron 
 Andrews and co-journalists and left with him by 
 the prisoner at the news-stand just before the 
 shooting. 
 
 The District-Attorney proceeded to read the 
 letters and scraps of various kinds contained in 
 the package, all of which have been given already. 
 He put them all in evidence, together with the 
 book written by Guiteau, with the annotations its 
 author has added to it. 
 
 The Court then, at about 3 o clock, adjourned. 1 . 
 
 On Saturday, November iQth, the first witness 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 209 
 
 examined was George C. Maynard, who had been 
 somewhat acquainted with Guiteau for some 
 twenty years. On March i2th, the prisoner bor 
 rowed $10 of the witness, and on June 8th, bor 
 rowed $15 additional. It was from this latter sum 
 that the pistol was purchased, with which the 
 President was shot. On cross-examination, the 
 following colloquy took place. Mr. Scoville 
 asked : 
 
 Q. What was the last time you saw the prisoner 
 before he borrowed that $10? A. I do not know. 
 
 Q. You had not seen him recently before that ? 
 A. Once in the Riggs House reading-room, and I 
 have had the impression since I made this unfortu 
 nate investment that it was about the time of the 
 November election. 
 
 Guiteau, politely: I was in New York at that 
 time. I came here in March. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : Did you notice anything pecu 
 liar about him ? A. I did not notice anything 
 peculiar anything different from the man as I 
 knew him before. 
 
 Q. Was there anything peculiar then ? A. He 
 had a peculiar manner, a peculiar attitude, a pecu 
 liar walk, what I should call a skulking manner. 
 
 Q. Describe his appearance on the 8th of June. 
 A. He looked rather thin, and what I should call 
 haggard. 
 
 Guiteau : That was from mental anxiety, not 
 from lack of food. 
 
2io TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU2TEAU, 
 
 Joseph M. Burkhart, clerk to the last witness, 
 testified to handing $15 to the prisoner on June 
 8th and receiving a note from him. On cross- 
 examination he described the appearance of the 
 prisoner at that time. The only thing peculiar 
 about him was that he walked so quietly that his 
 steps could hardly be heard ; that he held his head 
 bent forward and had very little to say. 
 
 The next witness was John O Meara, keeper of 
 a gun and cutlery store at the corner of Fifteenth 
 and F streets. He testified that Guiteau came 
 into his store about the sixth of June, looked at 
 the show-case, pointed at the largest calibre re 
 volver and asked to look at it. He examined it 
 carefully, inquired as to its accuracy, made some 
 common-place remarks, and then left, saying that 
 he would call again in a few days. A few days 
 afterward the prisoner called again, examined the 
 pistol, inquired as to where he could test its accu 
 racy, and was told that the river-edge would be a 
 good place. He also inquired as to the force of 
 the pistol, and the witness told him it was a very 
 strong-shooting pistol. The prisoner paid $10 for 
 the pistol, a box of cartridges, and a lady s pen-knife. 
 The pistol was handed to witness for identifi 
 cation, and he was directed (to guard against an 
 accident in the handling of the pistol) to draw the 
 three remaining cartridges. While the witness was 
 engaged in doing so, the prisoner said that he might 
 as well take advantage of that opportunity to re- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 I I 
 
 quest John D. Townsend, an eminent lawyer of 
 New York, Leonard Swett, a distinguished crim 
 inal lawyer of Chicago, and Mr. Trude, of Chicago, 
 to appear for him next Monday, if the Court had 
 no objection. 
 
 Judge Cox : I am certainly willing. 
 
 Prisoner: I have heard that Mr. Townsend 
 is willing to assist. If it is possible for Mr. 
 Swett to leave his business, he will assist. We 
 have been expecting to hear from Mr. Trude for 
 the last two. weeks. I expect them all here on 
 Monday morning with Judge Magruder, of Mary 
 land. There is plenty of brains on the other side, 
 and I desire to have an equal amount on this 
 side, in the interest of justice. After a moment s 
 pause, the prisoner again broke out. There is 
 another matter, he said, in this connection. I un 
 derstand that there are one or two disreputable 
 persons hanging around this court-room intending 
 to do me harm. The Chief of Police has very 
 kindly furnished me with an escort, and I have a 
 body-guard now. I want to notify all disreputable 
 persons that if they attempt to injure me they will 
 probably be shot dead by my body-guard. [Laugh 
 ter.] I have no fears as to my personal safety. 
 There has been considerable loose talk on this 
 subject for a week, and I wish to let the public un 
 derstand it. 
 
 The District- Attorney, to Mr. Scoville : Is your 
 client through ? 
 
212 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 There was an affirmative nod from Mr. Scoville 
 and then the testimony of the witness was con 
 cluded, with the statement that the pistol was 
 known as a British bull-dog. 
 
 Col. A. L. Rockwell was the next witness. He 
 proceeded to detail what he observed at the time 
 of the shooting. 
 
 The testimony of the witness 
 was resumed. He was pres 
 ent at Mr. Garfield s death, 
 and stated the time and place 
 thereof. 
 
 General D. G. Swaim testi 
 fied that he was the last per 
 son to whom Mr. Garfield 
 spoke, his last words being 
 " Oh, Swaim !" There was no 
 DR. D. w. BLISS. cross-examination of either of 
 these last three witnesses. 
 
 Dr. D. W. Bliss was the next witness. He 
 pointed out on a portion of a human skeleton the 
 course which the ball had taken and the manner 
 in which death had been produced. The wound 
 made by the ball was the immediate occasion of 
 death. 
 
 The cross-examination was opened by Mr. Rob 
 inson, with the following comprehensive direction : 
 State concisely, but accurately, what was observed 
 on each date, from the time of the shooting until 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD 
 
 213 
 
 the time of the death. Describe all the symptoms 
 observed each day, and also 
 what was done. Begin with 
 the first day. 
 
 The witness proceeded to 
 make the statement called for. 
 He was interrupted by in 
 quiries as to the medical con 
 sultations held prior to the 
 arrival, on the 4th of July, of 
 Drs. Agnew and Hamilton. 
 Then the witness was askecl DR - D - HAYES AGNEW - 
 to describe again, minutely, the course of the 
 ball. In doing so he made use of a section of 
 the late President s backbone, showing the hole 
 made by the bullet. 
 
 Mr. Robinson next inquired as to the position 
 of the abscess, the incision into 
 the pus-sac, the incision into 
 the pus-track, the muscles or 
 organs through which the ball 
 
 o o 
 
 passed, the inclination at which 
 the ball struck the spinal col 
 umn, its force, the fragments 
 of bone that were found dur 
 ing life and at the autopsy, 
 and the condition of the wound 
 as discovered at the autopsy. 
 
 Mr. Robinson next went back to the consulta- 
 
 DR. F. H. HAMILTON. 
 
214 OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 tions that were held up to the arrival of Drs. 
 Ao-new and Hamilton. He wanted to know 
 
 o 
 
 exactly what was said by the physicians, Witness 
 said that he could not give that information, but he 
 could state the conclusions. Mr. Robinson called 
 for them, and the witness proceeded promptly 
 to state them. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then took up the cross-examination, 
 and inquired minutely as to the formation, growth, 
 and final rupture of the sac formed on the artery 
 which had been cut by the ball. He also inquired 
 as to who had authorized the witness to take 
 charge of the case. Mr. Davidge suggested that 
 that had nothing to do with the matter, but the 
 witness answered by saying that the request had 
 been made to him on the 3d of July by the 
 President, no one else being present but Mrs. 
 Garfield and the witness. Mr. Scoville also 
 inquired minutely about the probing of the wound, 
 about the supposed internal hemorrhage the first 
 day, about the pus-cavity and the openings made 
 to it, and about the quantity of morphine adminis 
 tered. 
 
 After the recess, the cross-examination of Dr. 
 Bliss was resumed by Mr. Scoville. It ran upon 
 the probing and washing of the wound, and the 
 possibility of its having been thoroughly probed 
 if the real track of the ball had been known from 
 the first. To the question on that point the 
 witness gave a negative reply. He was also 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 j r 
 
 asked by what authority most of the doctors who 
 had been originally in attendance were discharged, 
 and he said that it was by authority of the 
 President, given in the presence of Mrs. Garfield 
 and the witness. 
 
 Then Mr. Robinson again took up the cross- 
 examination, and asked the witness to reply in 
 detail to the question as to the symptoms observed 
 during the first four davs. In 
 order to do that it was neces 
 sary for him to refer to the 
 data kept by Dr. Reyburn, 
 and as there was some diffi 
 culty in reading the manu 
 script, Dr. Reyburn was sworn 
 and stood beside him to aid 
 him in the task. 
 
 Mr. Davidge said he ob- - 
 jected with great reluctance DR - ROBT - 
 to the introduction of any evidence that, in the 
 judgment of the counsel representing the de 
 fense, benefited in any degree the case of the 
 prisoner; but it appeared to him that the reading 
 of this record was not only not pertinent to the 
 issue, but had no pertinence whatever to the ex- 
 amination-in-chief, which had been studiously con 
 fined to the character of the wound. * * * In 
 order to save time, he suggested that the doctor s 
 record could be handed to the counsel for the de 
 fense and by them examined. This suggestion 
 
21 6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 was acceded to by Mr. Robinson, who thereupon 
 proceeded with the cross-examination of the wit 
 ness. His questions were written upon two or 
 three sheets of foolscap, and bore indications of 
 having been drawn up by a medical expert. They 
 related to the condition in which the organs of the 
 President were found at the time of the autopsy. 
 The answers were given in a clear and straight 
 forward manner, and when Mr. Robinson had 
 concluded, Mr. Davidge subjected the witness to 
 a short re-direct examination, as follows : 
 
 Q. What elements of danger are there attend 
 ant on a wound such as you have described the 
 President s to have been ? A. The injury to the 
 body of the backbone and the vertebrae in gun 
 shot wounds is liable to produce blood-poison, 
 and more especially so because the vessels that 
 are running through it are surrounded by firm 
 walls. The vessels, when torn, still remain open, 
 and will take up the products of the pus that has 
 formed, which is poisonous and produces septi 
 caemia. The laceration of the splenic artery I 
 should consider a vital injury ; that sooner or later 
 the aneurism would give way, and death would 
 ensue. The carrying of the debris, or the broken 
 particles of bone through the spine each one a 
 point of suppurative inflammation would be liable 
 to produce blood-poisoning. These are three ele 
 ments of danger, in my judgment, in an injury of 
 that character. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIFLD. 2 j y 
 
 Q. What was the character of the wound ? was 
 it a mortal wound ? A. Yes, it was mortal. 
 
 This concluded Dr. Bliss s examination, and the 
 Court, at 2.15, adjourned until Monday. 
 
 While returning to prison after this day s pro 
 ceedings, Guiteau was shot at by an unknown 
 horseman. 
 
 On Monday, November 2ist, there was a great 
 rush for places in the court-room. Guiteau s nar 
 row escape on Saturday excited public interest 
 and hundreds desired to see him. He seemed to 
 realize that he was the central object of attraction 
 and his demeanor was careless, and at times de 
 fiant. Immediately after Court opened Mr. Rob 
 inson arose and addressed Judge Cox, asking per 
 mission to withdraw from the case. 
 
 As soon as Mr. Robinson had finished, Guiteau, 
 without rising from his chair, said : I want Robin 
 son to stay in the case. He has made a sensible 
 speech, and I agree with him in the most of it. 
 Had he made it last Monday there would not have 
 been any difficulty between us. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then made a short address, in 
 which he said that Mr. Robinson had not even 
 told him the name of the counsel he desired, nor 
 the fact that he intended to withdraw, and added 
 that he did not regard this as professional. When 
 
 Judge Cox, after hearing Mr. Scoville, said : 
 
 The thanks of the Court are due to Mr. Robin 
 son for the promptness with which he responded 
 to the request of the Court, and participated in 
 
2 I 8 ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 this defense at a great professional sacrifice, as 
 I know, and nobody questions his professional 
 ability and the sentiments which governed him 
 throughout. I perceived from the start that he 
 was placed in a position of unpleasantness, and I 
 have felt recently that I ought, if he desired it, to re 
 lieve him from connection with the case, especially 
 as I perceived that Mr. Scoville was thoroughly 
 master of the case. I feel constrained to grant 
 Mr. Robinson s application, and to grant him a 
 most honorable discharge. 
 
 The medical testimony was 
 now resumed. Surgeon-Gene 
 ral Barnes, Surgeon J. J. Wood 
 ward and Assistant Surgeon D. 
 S. Lamb, of the United States 
 Army, gave their testimony for 
 the government regarding the 
 effect of Guiteau s shot. Dr. 
 Barnes said : " The wound was 
 a mortal wound and was the 
 occasion of death." Dr. Wood- DR - J- K - BARNES - 
 ward testified that " It was a mortal wound and 
 the cause of the President s death." Dr. Daniel 
 S. Lamb, the surgeon who made the autopsy, said 
 the cause of death was a shot wound. 
 
 Dr. Lamb, by request of Mr. Corkhill, produced 
 the bullet which Guiteau fired into the President. 
 He opened a large envelope, sealed with red wax, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 j g 
 
 which contained the following paper, the bullet 
 secured to it by a wire : 
 
 I hereby certify that the within 
 pistol ball was, in the presence of 
 Surgeon-General J. K. Barnes, Sur 
 geon J. J. Woodward, Robert Rey- 
 burn, Frank H. Hamilton, J. Hayes 
 Agnew, S. C. Boynton, D. S. Lamb 
 (who made the autopsy,) General D. 
 G. Swaim, Col. A. F. Rockwell and 
 Mr. C. O. Rockwell, taken from the 
 body of James Abram Garfield, late 
 President of the United States, at 
 the post-mortem examination held in DR. j. j. WOODWARD. 
 Francklyn Cottage, at Elberon, N. J., during the afternoon 
 of September 20, 1881. 
 
 D. W. BLISS. 
 
 The bullet which is indented and partly flattened 
 on one side and end, was shown to and examined 
 by the jury. Guiteau was engaged in reading 
 a paper, and did not appear to take any notice 
 of the bullet. At this point the prosecution 
 rested its case, having called and examined thirty- 
 two witnesses. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE DEFENSE. 
 
 IMMEDIATELY after the prosecution closed 
 its case, Mr. Scoville suggested that the pris 
 oner should be heard in his own behalf at 
 this stage of the proceedings. The Court as 
 sented to this proposition. 
 
 The prisoner, without leaving his seat, then said: 
 I was not aware that I was expected to speak 
 this morning. To Mr. Scoville, who whispered to 
 him to stand up, he said : I will not stand up. I 
 am not afraid to, however, but I have only got a 
 moment to speak. I do not care to say anything 
 more than was published in my address last Mon 
 day afternoon in the Evening Star. That paper 
 was addressed to your Honor and the public, and 
 I presume that most of the jurymen have heard it. 
 I have no set speech to make. So long as I ap 
 pear, in part, as my own counsel, the best way is 
 for me to make corrections as the case proceeds, 
 just as I have done during the last three or four 
 days. I mean no discourtesy to anybody in the 
 case. I only want to get at the facts. If some 
 body says that I owe him twenty dollars and it is 
 not true, I will deny it on the spot simultaneously 
 with the false charge and that as the case pro- 
 220 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 221 
 
 ceeds. Of course I will go on the stand at the 
 proper time and be examined and cross-examined. 
 My idea is, however, to correct a misstatement 
 while it is hot, and at the moment the statement 
 is made, and that disposes of it, instead of waiting 
 a number of weeks till the matter is digested and 
 misunderstood. A great deal of the bad feeling 
 in this matter has come from enforced silence, or 
 from the suppression of my papers. I think that 
 the true way is to interject statements as the case 
 proceeds. I have no set speech to make. I am 
 much obliged to your Honor and my counsel for 
 the courtesy of the invitation. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then proceeded with his address 
 to the jury in a plain, easy matter-of-fact style, 
 and without the slightest effort at oratory or 
 sensationalism. He criticised the course of the 
 District- Attorney in presenting the testimony so 
 much in detail. The simple questions in the case 
 were whether the prisoner had committed the act 
 (which was not denied), and whether he was, at 
 the time, in such condition of mind as that be 
 should be held responsible for the act. On this 
 point there would be a great deal of expert, 
 and therefore contradictory, testimony. The jury 
 should note carefully the expert witnesses, hear 
 their testimony, see how they stand examination 
 and cross-examination, and then come to the best 
 conclusions they could arrive at. The difficulty 
 would come when the jury came to weigh the 
 
222 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 evidence on both sides. The jury should then 
 consider that the experts on the part of the 
 government are being paid $100 to $200 a day, 
 and that even these scientific men have not reached 
 that height beyond passion and feeling and love 
 of money as that those things could have no 
 influence whatever on their feelings or their judg 
 ment. On the other hand, not a single expert 
 witness for the defense would be paid, and their 
 testimony, if in favor of the prisoner, would 
 expose them to condemnation and ostracism in 
 the community where they reside. These were 
 things to be taken into consideration in weighing 
 the expert testimony. The popular feeling 
 against the prisoner had been manifested in three 
 separate attacks upon his life the last one was 
 being commended by the newspapers all over the 
 country. That popular feeling would also show 
 itself in the testimony of the expert witnesses. 
 He contrasted his own inexperience in criminal 
 cases with the experience and ability of the coun 
 sel for the prosecution, and in viewof this disparity he 
 asked the jury to be considerate and candid toward 
 the defense. Still he did not ask for any odds 
 when it came to questions of fact. He expected 
 that the defense would erect an impregnable wall 
 and fortress which all the power of the other side 
 could not overthrow. If he came short in his law, 
 he knew that he could rely confidently on the 
 Court s learning, integrity and sense of justice. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 223 
 
 With the array of facts which he would present to 
 an honest jury and an upright judge, he felt that 
 he was not entirely at a disadvantage. 
 
 At this stage of his address Mr. Scoville asked 
 that the case should go over till to-morrow, and it 
 was so ordered. 
 
 At the opening of the morning session of the 
 Court (Tuesday, November 22d), Mr. Scoville 
 took his stand in front of the jury, and in a delib 
 erate and conversational tone continued his ad 
 dress. He called the attention of the jury to the 
 defense set up insanity. There was, he knew, 
 considerable antipathy against that defense in 
 criminal cases ; but he asserted that it was put for 
 ward as a just defense quite as often as it had availed 
 as an unjust defense. He expected the jury to treat 
 it fairly and candidly, and to weigh it upon the evi 
 dence. The prisoner, since he had been in Court, had 
 done many things which might have influenced the 
 minds of the jurors. They might already have come 
 to a conclusion as to what sort of a man the accused 
 was. It was impossible for it to have been otherwise, 
 but it was not exactly the proper thing to do. The 
 jurors should keep their minds open, so that when 
 the sworn evidence was produced before them 
 they could weigh it and accept what was shown to 
 be the fact. He proceeded to state the progress 
 of the courts on this question of insanity, explain 
 ing the various kinds of insanity, and citing deci 
 sions on the subject. 
 
224 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 It was the duty of the jury to ascertain the fact 
 whether the defendant was trying to deceive or 
 not, because if not he was entitled to the protec 
 tion of the law. In the first place it was a very 
 difficult thing to feign insanity so as to deceive ex 
 perts. It would appear from the evidence that 
 the defendant did not know anything about in 
 sanity ; had never visited an insane asylum, and 
 had never given the subject any thought or atten 
 tion. Yet it was said that he was simulating, and 
 the newspapers and a good many people in the 
 community had been as hasty in passing judg 
 ment on this subject as on others. If the news 
 papers were correct, the District- Attorney himself 
 had repeatedly said that the prisoner was only 
 feigning insanity. It was absolutely impossible 
 for a man who never knew anything about it to 
 feign insanity so as to deceive an expert. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, continuing, said that, having been 
 acquainted with the defendant since he was a boy, 
 the first thing he had said when he heard of the 
 act was, " He is crazy," just as many others had 
 said just as President Garfield had said, " What is 
 the man doing ; he is crazy ;" just as Secretary 
 Elaine had said, "Why was this done? the man 
 must be crazy." 
 
 District- Attorney : Allow me to say that Presi 
 dent Garfield never said such a thing, and Secre 
 tary Elaine never uttered such a sentiment. He 
 said he was sane all the time. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 225 
 
 Mr. Scoville: I only speak from newspaper 
 reports. 
 
 District- Attorney : Secretary Elaine has stated 
 on his oath that he believed the man was sane. 
 
 Having sketched the facts as to the prisoner s 
 family history, Mr. Scoville narrated the facts of 
 the prisoner s personal history, which need not be 
 again detailed. Finally, the District- Attorney in 
 terrupted the narrative saying: 
 
 May it please your Honor, Mr. Scoville knows 
 as well as your Honor that this testimony, if any 
 such exists, can never be produced in this trial ; 
 that if there were any such letters they never can 
 reach the jury, and this attempt to get into a pub 
 lic colloquy with this man is reprehensible. Let 
 him confine himself to the testimony which it is 
 proper to introduce to the jury, and let this man 
 play his part when the time comes. 
 
 I am not playing a part (cried the prisoner 
 excitedly and gesticulating wildly). I knew Sco 
 ville was lying. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : I understand that this evidence 
 is coming. I understand that it is perfectly com 
 petent. 
 
 As a general thing, testimony obtained from 
 lying is not competent, retorted the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: I will not reply to Mr, Corkhill 
 at present for his insinuation. When the time 
 comes for the argument of this case he will get his 
 answer, 
 ii 
 
226 TRIAL OF CHARLES J, GUITEAU. 
 
 The applause that greeted this declaration was 
 so impetuous, so spontaneous and so unexpected 
 that the District-Attorney and counsel for the 
 government looked amazed, for they seemed to 
 interpret it as the first triumph won by the defense. 
 The District-Attorney could hardly believe his 
 own ears as he stood there in anything but a pleas 
 ing mood. His associate counsel could conceal 
 neither their vexation nor surprise. Mr. Davidge 
 frowned ; Mr. Smith looked a little startled ; Judge 
 Porter, of New York, grew more thoughtful in 
 look. Every eye was directed to the government 
 counsel. Judge Cox, unmoved, awaited further 
 remarks, while the bailiff ordered silence. 
 
 I had considered (continued Mr. Scoville), 
 that this evidence was competent. 
 
 Prisoner : You will not have any success 
 from the Lord by lying. You lie. I ve found you 
 out. When a man lies to me once I never believe 
 him again. You have lied to me once, and that is 
 played out. 
 
 The prisoner in making this speech seemed to 
 be convulsed with passion, and it was in vain that 
 his brother and sister attempted to quiet him. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: All I want in this case is that 
 the truth shall prevail. 
 
 Prisoner : That is what I want, and I am going 
 to have it, too. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, to the jury: All I want is that 
 the truth shall prevail. If there is any evidence 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 229 
 
 brought before you, you have an opportunity to 
 criticise it any way you please, and if you believe 
 I produce an item of evidence for theatrical effect, 
 without an earnest conviction that it is just and 
 proper to be done, I want you not only to reject it, 
 but to charge it against me with tenfold effect in 
 your final verdict. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then proposed to read a bundle of 
 letters written by the prisoner, dating back to 
 1858, as showing the bent of his mind. 
 
 District-Attorney : Do you propose to intro 
 duce these letters as evidence ? 
 
 Mr. Scoville : Yes. 
 
 District- Attorney : As immediately connected 
 with the crime ? 
 
 Mr. Scoville : As showing the bent of the 
 prisoner s mind, just as you read some of his let 
 ters in the evidence. 
 
 District- Attorney : The letters I read were 
 immediately connected with the commission of 
 the crime. 
 
 Court: I do not know that I ean draw any 
 distinction as to time. These letters are indica 
 tions of the prisoner s mind. 
 
 Mr. Scoville thereupon proceeded to read the 
 letters, most of them addressed to Mrs. Scoville 
 and some to himself. Those of the earliest date, 
 1858, show nothing peculiar, but gradually they 
 drift into a religious turn, quoting texts of Scrip 
 ture and appealing to his sister to turn to God. 
 
230 
 
 ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 This feature of them is more marked after he has 
 gone to the Oneida Community, the first letter 
 from which is dated in February, 1861. In this 
 he lays down and supports the doctrines of the 
 Community. When this letter was read the pris 
 oner said : 
 
 I forgot that letter. It is a very good repre 
 sentation of the influence under which I lived for 
 six years. I was not aware that it was in exist 
 ence. 
 
 The last letter from Oneida was dated October 
 12, 1866, and stated that his views had changed; 
 that he desired to leave the Community and go to 
 New York to qualify for a position in some bank, 
 and asking Mr. Scoville to send him $50. 
 
 Prisoner: I was recovering from my insanity 
 then, got up under their influence. I was get 
 ting my eyes open then, away from those mis 
 erable people. I had been six years subject to 
 their fanaticisms. 
 
 Mr. Scoville explained that others of the pris 
 oner s letters had been burned up in his office in 
 the Chicago fire. These letters happened to have 
 been kept at home. The next letters read were 
 from New York and Brooklyn in 1867 and 1868. 
 There were no striking peculiarities in any of 
 these letters, except where they dealt with relig 
 ious subjects. 
 
 At this stage of the proceedings the case went 
 over for the day. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 2 ^I 
 
 o 
 
 When the Court opened on Wednesday, No 
 vember 23d, Mr. Scoville addressed the Judge 
 and made a formal request for the newspaper ex 
 tracts and papers which were taken from Guiteau 
 at the time of his arrest, stating that they were 
 material evidence for the defense, and, since the 
 prosecution did noUneed them, he could see no 
 reason why they should be withheld from him. 
 The District-Attorney offered to furnish copies of 
 the papers, but Mr. Scoville insisted upon his 
 rights in the matter and asked for the originals. 
 Pending discussion, Guiteau insisted upon being 
 heard, and said: I can throw light upon this. 
 At the time of my arrest I had forty or fifty edi- 
 tiorial slips showing the political situation in May 
 and June last. These slips show the action of 
 one of the forces that impelled me on to the 
 President. They are very important, as showing 
 the gist of the whole matter. There were forty 
 or fifty slips denouncing President Garfield. It 
 was living on such ideas as these that I was finally 
 impelled to fire on the President, with my inspira 
 tion. Colonel Corkhill interposed, saying: "If 
 it will enable you to get through to-day I will send 
 for them at once." Mr. Scoville then continued 
 to read letters written by Guiteau years ago, to 
 show the state of his mind at that time ; and then, 
 alluding to Guiteau s career as a politician, drew 
 the conclusion that his intellect was deficient. 
 This view aroused the prisoner at once, and he 
 
232 ASSASSIN OF PREIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 began a series of interruptions, protesting against 
 Mr. Scoville s conclusions as false. 
 
 Mr. Scoville proceeded to tell how Guiteau ran 
 from one committee-room to another during the 
 Presidential campaign, and said his speech, entitled 
 " Garfield vs. Hancock," was but a jumble of ideas. 
 No one but a crazy man would have imagined, as 
 Guiteau did, that this speech possessed any merit. 
 Yet he thought it a passport to the Austrian 
 mission, and that he had only to present that 
 speech to the President to get any office. 
 
 Prisoner: I did not think anything of the 
 kind, and I protest very solemnly against your 
 trying to make out that I was a fool. If you 
 want to rest this case anywhere rest it on the true 
 doctrine, that the Deity did this act, and I am with 
 you. But if you say I am a fool I am down upon you. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : Some of the witnesses will ex 
 press the opinion that the prisoner was a fool and 
 others that he was crazy. You (to the jury) are 
 to be governed by the testimony. The prisoner 
 will also be sworn and you can give to his testi 
 mony what weight you please. 
 
 Prisoner : I say that the Deity inspired the 
 act and that he will take care of it. You need 
 not try to make out that I am a fool, because you 
 cannot do that. I repudiate your theory on that 
 point. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : I am stating what the witnesses 
 will swear to. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 233 
 
 Prisoner : Let them swear to it and we will 
 meet them on the stand. 
 
 District- Attorney, interrupting: Is it necessary? 
 
 Prisoner : It is not necessary for you to make 
 any remarks, Colonel. 
 
 The District-Attorney insisted that the priso- 
 er s constant interruptions should be prevented 
 by the Court. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, to the District- Attorney : I will 
 join you in any proceeding- to keep him quiet. 
 
 Prisoner to Mr. Scoville : You have got to 
 speak the truth and I will keep still. 
 
 District- Attorney : This man knows very well 
 that he should keep still. 
 
 Prisoner : Let him (Scoville) state the truth and 
 I will keep still. 
 
 The Court to the Prisoner : You keep quiet. 
 
 Prisoner: I wish to make running statements 
 on the proceedings ; that will save me from mak 
 ing a long speech. 
 
 The prisoner attempted to proceed, but was 
 severely ordered by the Court to be silent. "If 
 you will not," continued the Court, "I will have to 
 take the strongest measures to make you. " 
 
 Prisoner : I shall keep quiet. I only want this 
 thing to go out straight. I shall give the entire 
 facts when I am on the stand. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then proceeded with his address, 
 stating that in the matter of his application for 
 office the prisoner had shown a total want of 
 
234 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 reasoning power. He was continually fed with 
 suggestions from newspapers. There were con 
 tinual su^qrestions that, but for President Garfield, 
 
 oo 
 
 everything would be harmonious in the Republi 
 can party. These newspaper slips fed his morbid 
 feelings, and the result was that, thinking about 
 the matter with nothing to divert his mind, with 
 his intense, unbalanced religious convictions, he 
 was completely carried away. The evidence would 
 show that the matter was always preying on his 
 mind and it became his fixed and firm idea that 
 his duty to his country and God required him to 
 remove the President. He was impelled by an 
 irresistible impulse to do that thing. There must 
 be blame somewhere for the great crime. If this 
 man were insane, if he were not responsible for 
 his act, he could not be found to blame, and the 
 question then recurred, where was the blame ? 
 From the necessities of the case certain elements 
 the political situation, the discords in the Re 
 publican party must be brought in. He was not 
 going to direct attention to any individual or any 
 branch -or faction of the party and lay the blame 
 there, but he was going to say that this continual 
 strife for office, this element of politics that had 
 entered in during the last few years, had been 
 made the question of the day. This crime owed 
 its origin to that element of political contest and 
 the blame for it must be located on modern poli 
 tics. If the jury found by their verdict that this 
 
ASSASSLW OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 - - 
 
 man was insane the same verdict would say that 
 the blame rested on the politicians of the present 
 day. It coulcl not be otherwise. 
 
 Mr. Scoville concluded his opening, and at the 
 request of the District- Attorney witnesses for the 
 defense were excluded from the court, except 
 Guiteau and Mrs. Scoville. The first witness 
 for the defense, H. N. Burton, was then examined. 
 He heard Guiteau lecture at Kalamazoo, Mich., 
 on the subject, "The Second Coming of the 
 Lord." Mr. Scoville desired to prove by this 
 witness that the audience on that occasion were 
 unanimous in declaring Guiteau to be insane. 
 Witness said: "I did not think him so deranged 
 as to be irresponsible. I thought him not de 
 ranged, but very badly arranged." 
 
 Dr. John A. Rice, of Minton Wis., was called. 
 He had been a practicing physician for twenty-six 
 years. He first saw Guiteau in 1876, when he 
 was requested by Mrs. Scoville to see the prisoner 
 for the purpose of inquiring into his mental con 
 dition. The result of his examination was that 
 he became satisfied that the prisoner was insane ; 
 that his insanity was of the emotions, rather than 
 of the intellect. There appeared to be an im 
 pairment of the judgment, but not much, if any, 
 impairment of the intellect. He displayed what 
 might be termed a moral imbecility. 
 
 Frank L. Union, of Boston, spoke of circum 
 stances attending Guiteau s lecture in Investigator 
 
236 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Hall, in the Paine Memorial Building, Boston, in 
 September, 1879. The witness thought Guiteau 
 was crazy. 
 
 Norwood Damon, of Boston, was present at 
 Guiteau s Boston lecture, and thought him an 
 insane man. 
 
 George W. Olds, of Michigan, was employed 
 upon Mr. Scoville s farm at the time of Guiteau s 
 visit in 1879. He detailed eccentricities on the 
 part of Guiteau which led him (the witness) to 
 think at the time that he was insane. 
 
 At this point the Court adjourned until Friday 
 on account of the National Thanksgiving. 
 
 Friday, November 25th, was ushered in by an 
 other statement from Guiteau. He also read a 
 paper without rising from his seat, but stating that 
 he was not afraid to rise. 
 
 Some discussion between counsel concerning 
 certain papers followed at this point, after which 
 Guiteau again broke out saying : " I understand 
 that my divorced wife is here. The fact is that I 
 had no business to marry that woman; we have 
 been unfortunate. If she comes into court to do 
 me harm I will rip up her entire record. * 
 
 The next witness was Joseph E. Smith, of Free- 
 port, Illinois, seventy-one years of age. He had 
 known Luther W. Guiteau (the prisoner s father) 
 from 1846 to the hour of his death ; he was a per 
 fectly sincere man, who stood well in the commu 
 nity. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2^7 
 
 o / 
 
 Charles H. Reed, a Chicago lawyer, was the 
 next witness. He held the position of State s 
 Attorney from 1864 to 1876. He related an inci 
 dent, when the prisoner, having been assigned to 
 the defense of a small larceny case, proceeded to 
 deliver a rambling, wandering speech, full of vaga 
 ries and quite illogical. He introduced all sorts 
 of subjects that were foreign to the case. He 
 talked about theology and divinity and the rights 
 of man. Witness saw the prisoner at the Riggs 
 House, in Washington, upon the Tuesday preced 
 ing the shooting of the President. He desired to 
 borrow from witness $15, promising to pay it back 
 when he obtained the Paris Consulship. He 
 stated that Mr. Elaine was on his side, and that in 
 a few days the papers would announce his ap 
 pointment. Witness had seen him several times 
 previous to that, and on each occasion he intro 
 duced the subject of the Paris Consulship, and he 
 had become quite excited when witness suggested 
 that he obtain some inferior office. Witness 
 thought that he was off his balance. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: You had an interview with him 
 in the jail a few weeks ago ; what was that ? 
 
 Witness replied that he had visited the jail in 
 company with Mr. Scoville, and that he had found 
 the prisoner lying on his couch. Witness asked 
 him why he shot the President. He rose up to a 
 sitting posture and began, in a very excited man 
 ner, a sort of speech, saying : " I did not do it ; 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J t GUITEAU, 
 
 the Lord did it. He used me as an instrument. 
 It was necessary for the salvation of the country 
 to remove the President." 
 
 In the cross-examination Mr. Davidge asked 
 the witness whether, before his visit to the jail, he 
 had ever considered the prisoner of unsound 
 mind? A. Yes. 
 
 Q. To the degree of unsoundness as to render 
 him irresponsible? A. For what? 
 
 O. For crime? 
 
 Witness : That is a difficult question for any 
 body to answer in cases where a person is not a 
 raving, wild maniac. I should not like to express 
 an opinion. 
 
 The witness then responded to questions pro 
 pounded by Mr. Davidge, again detailed the con 
 versation at the Riggs House, but was interrupted 
 by the prisoner with a positive denial. I clo not 
 want, he said, to contradict Mr. Reed because he 
 is a good fellow, but there is not a word of truth 
 in it. I spoke to Mr. Reed two or three months 
 prior to July. I never spoke to Mr. Reed or any 
 one else about the Paris Consulship for two or 
 three months prior to July. I want the exact 
 truth and nothing but the truth, and I don t care 
 who hears it. 
 
 Mr. Davidge : We can dispense with these 
 interruptions. 
 
 Prisoner, excitedly : We want the facts, Judge. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 239 
 
 Mr. Davidge : You have been indulged alto 
 gether too much. 
 
 And it is right that I should be, retorted the 
 prisoner. I appear as my own counsel, 
 
 The Court, severely : Be silent. 
 
 Mr. Davidge, firmly: You must keep quiet at 
 least while I am cross-examining a witness. 
 
 But neither court nor counsel could repress the 
 prisoner, who continued talking and struggling 
 angrily with the deputy marshals. This conver 
 sation, he continued, occurred about two months 
 prior to July. You are right as to the conversa 
 tion, but wrong as to the date. I say that it was in 
 May. With that correction your statement is true. 
 
 Mr. Davidge, to the witness : You have heard 
 the interruption of the prisoner. What is your 
 opinion about the time ? 
 
 Witness : I am very certain that it was on that 
 Tuesday. 
 
 Prisoner: That was the time I spoke to you 
 about getting $15. You said you did not have 
 the money. That part of the conversation is cor 
 rect. I don t forget anything. Anything that 
 gets into my head sticks. [Laughter.] 
 
 Mr. Davidge, to witness : You said that he 
 stated that you would see his name in the papers 
 in connection with the Paris Consulship. 
 
 Prisoner : I never said that. 
 
 Mr. Davidge : Well, he says, Mr. Prisoner, that 
 you did say it, and he has a right to his opinion. 
 
240 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 The prisoner, in a persevering manner, declared 
 that he had not said so. He also indignantly de 
 nied the witness statement that he (witness) had 
 not admitted him to the Bar in Chicago. He did 
 not want any trickery about this case. 
 
 Court, impatient at the prisoner s constant in 
 terruptions of counsel and witness, in a stern and 
 determined tone, said : If there is no other way of 
 preventing these interruptions you will have to be 
 gagged. 
 
 Well , commenced the prisoner. 
 
 Keep your mouth shut ! thundered the Judge, 
 and don t interrupt during this trial. I do not 
 desire it, but if the trial cannot go on without 
 resort to gagging it will have to be done. 
 
 Even this threat, though it had a momentary 
 effect upon the prisoner, could not entirely repress 
 him, and he again denied the conversation detailed 
 by the witness, who " was a very good fellow, but 
 wrong there. I am going to have the facts in this 
 case," he continued, "and nothing but the facts. I 
 want the Judge and the jury to decide upon the 
 facts, and upon nothing else. The witness is en 
 tirely erroneous in his memory." 
 
 Q. Did Guiteau say that you would see his 
 name in the newspapers in a few days as consul 
 to Paris, or that he would make a fuss ? A. He 
 
 said, " If I do not get it " (reflecting, I will 
 
 find his exact language). 
 
 Prisoner, interrupting : It is absolutely false. I 
 
ASSASS/tf OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 , x 
 
 never said any such thing. That has nothing at 
 all to do with my intending to remove the Presi 
 dent. 
 
 Witness : He said, in connection with the admin 
 istration, that if he did not get the Paris consulate, 
 he would either make a fuss about it or would do 
 something about it in the newspapers. 
 
 Prisoner : I never said anything of the kind, and 
 I never thought anything of the kind. That is the 
 result of your own imagination, Mr. Reed. It is 
 not true. 
 
 H. B. Hamerling, at present a lawyer in Wil- 
 liamsport, Pa., and who formerly resided in Free- 
 port, 111., was the next witness. He had known 
 Luther W. Guiteau intimately; he (Guiteau) be 
 lieved that in order to be healed all that was 
 necessary was to believe in Jesus Christ. Witness 
 related an incident as to the sickness of his wife, 
 when Luther W. Guiteau advised her to turn out 
 the doctors and put her faith in Jesus Christ; he 
 also gave witness the same advice upon another 
 occasion ; he believed that the pocket-books of all 
 persons should be open to every one, but that 
 nothing more should be taken out than was 
 right. 
 
 The cross-examination proceeded for consider 
 able time, with more amusement than profit. 
 
 The next witness was Thomas North, a Chicago 
 lawyer. He formerly lived in Freeport, Illinois, 
 where he was intimately acquainted with Luther 
 
 21 
 
2^2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J, GUITEAU, 
 
 W. Guiteau, and was Deputy Clerk under him 
 
 when he was Circuit Clerk and ex-officio Recorder. 
 
 Q. What peculiarities were there in his religious 
 
 views as to the union with Christ, perfectionism, 
 
 etc? A. He was what is called a perfectionist. 
 
 He believed in perfect holiness. He believed in 
 
 vital union with Christ by faith. He believed in 
 
 inspiration by the Holy Ghost. He believed that 
 
 inspiration w r ould be carried so far as to save 
 
 him from theological error and to give him power 
 
 over all diseases and maladies. He discarded 
 
 doctors and would have nothing to do with them. 
 
 He believed in immortality on earth, by vital union 
 
 with Christ. I have heard him say, perhaps a 
 
 dozen times, that he never expected to die. Once, 
 
 his daughter Flora, six years old, was sick, and 
 
 her mother had sent for a doctor. Guiteau came 
 
 in and told the doctor to get out of the house, 
 
 that he would attend to his own daughter s case. 
 
 He then began to manipulate the child, and to 
 
 command the disease to disappear, in the name of 
 
 Christ. His manner was frenzied. 
 
 On another occasion, when a Mrs. Plummer was 
 ill, and when two doctors were in the room with 
 her, Luther W. Guiteau came in and went into a 
 violent display, both of words and manner, so 
 much so that he shocked all who were present 
 into silence. He said to the doctors: "Get out of 
 the room, and let every one who believes in 
 doctors get out. This woman can be cured, and I 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 will proceed to try and cure her." He kneeled by 
 her side, took her hands in his, and began to pray 
 to God Almighty to command the disease to leave 
 the woman. He ordered her in the name of Christ, 
 to rise up, to take up her bed and walk. He 
 went on in that way for five minutes. 
 
 Q. In your opinion was he, on either of those 
 occasions, of sound mind? A. I do not think he 
 was. His whole manner was unnatural. 
 
 At a later stage of the proceedings, Mr. Scoville 
 asked the witness how the prisoner and his father 
 compared, in regard to personal and mental char 
 acteristics. Objected to by the District- Attorney. 
 
 The objection being overruled, witness stated 
 that the prisoner was an exaggerated fac-simile of 
 his father. 
 
 Prisoner : I am a little larger than he was. 
 
 Witness : I should say that mentally there was 
 a very marked resemblance. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : What do you mean by the phrase 
 " an exaggerated fac-simile of his father ?" 
 
 Prisoner : A chip of the old block. [Laughter.] 
 
 Witness : I used the word " exaggerated " in 
 reference to his mental characteristics. 
 
 Q. From your acquaintance with the prisoner 
 what have you to say as to his sincerity ? A. I 
 never saw anything in him that I thought hypo 
 critical or dishonest. He was always like the 
 father in that respect. His father was one of the 
 most intensely sincere men that I ever knew. 
 
244 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 The witness went on to narrate another incident 
 that occurred one evening at the supper- table. 
 Charles Guiteau, or Julius, as they called him, came 
 to the table late and was spoken to by his father 
 in a peremptory and offensive tone, and Charles, 
 passing behind his father s chair, struck his father 
 on his back or neck, and his father jumped from 
 his chair, and the two clinched and struggled, 
 until finally Charles surrendered, and then they 
 withdrew from the table by themselves, talked the 
 matter over, came back, and went on with their 
 meal. There had been no previous quarrel be 
 tween them, and this was a sudden outburst. 
 
 The witness said that Luther Guiteau s wife 
 came to the front porch one evening, as the witness 
 and Luther Guiteau were sitting there, and put 
 ting her arms around her husband s neck said, 
 "Will you love me?" Luther jumped from his 
 chair and said, " No. I never will love you until 
 you submit to Jesus Christ." He had been try 
 ing to bring her to his way of thinking about the 
 Oneida Community, and that was what he meant 
 by that remark. One evening, at a meeting of 
 the " circle," as it was called (a religious and 
 social circle), an elderly gentleman and his wife 
 were present, who had been investigating some 
 what the doctrines of the Oneida Community. 
 There seemed to be one serious family difficulty 
 in the way of their joining the Community, and 
 that was that their son, a young man from 20 to 
 
A SSA SSIN OF PR ESI DENT GARFIELD. 245 
 
 25 years of age, was violently opposed to it. This 
 couple went on and told their story, to which 
 Luther Guiteau listened very quietly. At last he 
 jumped from his seat and said, " I will tell you 
 what to do. Take a knife and slay him as Abra 
 ham did Isaac." His manner was so exceedingly 
 shocking that it paralyzed the tongue of every 
 one present. Luther attended church occasion 
 ally; sometimes the Presbyterian Church, some 
 times the Methodist. 
 
 Prisoner : His idea was that he was so good 
 that he did not need to go to church. He was a 
 church unto himself. 
 
 Mr. North s examination was continued on Sat 
 urday, November 26, but nothing of special inter 
 est was developed. He was followed on the wit 
 ness-stand by Senator John A. Logan, of Illinois, 
 whom, as he was sworn, the prisoner greeted with : 
 " How are you, Mr. Senator. I am glad to see 
 you," but his greeting met with no response. 
 
 The witness detailed two interviews which he 
 had with the prisoner. The first was about the 
 1 2th or the i5th of March last, in the morning. 
 The prisoner came to his room, uninvited. The 
 first thing that the prisoner did was to pull a 
 pamphlet out of his pocket and hand it to the wit 
 ness, saying that it was a speech which he had de 
 livered in the recent canvass and asking witness 
 to read it. It was a speech entitled " Garfield 
 against Hancock. 7 The prisoner then said : "That 
 
246 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE AU, 
 
 speech elected Mr. Garfield President of the 
 United States." He then commenced talking 
 about a position that he desired, saying that he 
 had the promise of an appointment as Consul- 
 General to France. He said he had seen the Sec 
 retary of State, who had promised him this ap 
 pointment, provided he could get Senator Logan s 
 recommendation. Witness said: " I do not know 
 you and cannot recommend you." Guiteau then 
 went on to say that he resided in Chicago and 
 was a constituent of the witness , and that witness 
 was under obligation to recommend him for these 
 reasons. 
 
 Q. Was there anything particularly noticeable 
 in his appearance ? A. He was rather peculiarly 
 clad for the season, there being snow on the street 
 at the time. He had on his feet a pair of sandals, 
 or rubbers or something of that kind. He had 
 no stockings. He wore a light pair of panta 
 loons and a common ordinary coat. A day or two 
 afterwards he came again to my room uninvited. 
 He still insisted on my signing his recommen 
 dation, reiterating the same statement as before, of 
 his having a promise of the place if I would re 
 commend him. I again declined. I tried to dis 
 pose of the matter as quickly as possible. I said 
 to him : " The first time I see the Secretary of 
 State I will mention your case to him." I did not 
 say that I would recommend him, but simply that 
 I would mention his case ; and I intended to do so, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 34? 
 
 but probably in a different way from what he sup 
 posed I would. 
 
 Q. From what you saw of the prisoner on 
 those occasions, and from what was said and done 
 by him, did you form any opinion as to his mental 
 soundness or unsoundness ? A. I am not an ex 
 pert and do not know whether I should answer the 
 question. 
 
 Court: You may give an opinion in accordance 
 with your observation. 
 
 Witness: I thought there was some derange 
 ment of his mental organization, but to what ex 
 tent I could not say. 
 
 The next witness was George D. Hubbard, a 
 farmer of Oneida County, New York. He lived 
 less than half a mile from the Community, but 
 (indignantly) was never connected with it as a 
 member. In 1863 he worked for three months 
 for the Community, to which the prisoner at that 
 time belonged. He worked in the same shop with 
 witness. He was a nervous, quick-tempered man. 
 If anything was said to disturb him he would "get 
 riled" and gesticulate wildly and talk in a mys 
 terious manner. He would sit for hours in a 
 corner saying nothing to anybody. At other times 
 he would be cheerful. On one occasion he told 
 witness that he aspired to be the leader of the 
 Community. 
 
 This witness was followed by Edward M. Smith, 
 of Chicago. He had been clerk to the Republican 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Central Committee in New York during the last 
 campaign. Witness had seen the prisoner sev 
 eral times. He wanted to be placed on the rolls 
 as a speaker. He did not appear to be able to 
 put half a dozen sentences together, and witness 
 did not think that he had received any assignment. 
 
 Prisoner : This gentleman was not in a position 
 to know whether I did or not. He was only a 
 clerk. 
 
 Mr. Davidge : That is what I thought. 
 
 Prisoner: Jewell was the fellow who did the 
 business Jewell and Hooker and Dorsey, and the 
 rest of those fellows. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then read the deposition of J. W. 
 Turner, of Dakota Territory, who deposes to hav 
 ing known Mrs. Maynard and Mrs. Parker, sisters 
 of Luther W. Guiteau, and to having regarded 
 them as insane. John A. Moss, a colored lawyer, 
 who resides near the Government Asylum for the 
 Insane, was the next witness. He had seen the 
 prisoner at the Executive Mansion fifteen or 
 twenty times during the months of May and June. 
 He thought he was a crazy man when he first saw 
 him. Witness had seen many crazy people, and 
 this man appeared to him to be crazy. He had 
 never heard the prisoner say anything. 
 
 Mrs. Frances Scoville, sister to the prisoner and 
 wife to his counsel, was next called to the witness 
 stand. She gave her age as forty-five. Her father 
 was Luther W. Guiteau, of Freeport, 111., and her 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 mother Jane Howe Guiteau. The prisoner is 
 forty years old. He was about seven years old 
 when her mother died. She remembered her 
 mother from the time the witness was three years 
 old. She was sick a very long time at the time 
 that Charles was born. 
 
 Witness never saw her mother walk in the street 
 after that. There were two 
 children born subsequently ; 
 Luther Theodore, who died 
 when he was two years old, 
 and who was born with a 
 crooked foot and limb, and 
 Julia Catherine, who died 
 when twenty months old 
 six weeks after her mother s 
 death. Her mother s sick 
 ness was attended with a 
 
 . - - - lYJLXXO.OS^V^VJLAji. 
 
 very severe pain in her head, euiteau-s sister. 
 
 and her hair never grew again. Her first recollec 
 tion of Charles was that he was a troublesome child, 
 because he was very active and smart. He was sent 
 to school when quite young about six years old 
 to learn to talk. He could make a noise, but 
 could not talk. He used the word "ped" for 
 " come," and the word " pail " for " quail." His 
 father punished him for it, but that made no 
 difference. 
 
 Witness was married in January, 1853, while 
 Charles was living with his grandfather. Subse- 
 
 MRS. SCOVILLE. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 quently, when he was twelve years old, he lived 
 with witness for a year in Chicago, where he went 
 to school. She recollected nothing peculiar about 
 i him then except that he was very affectionate and 
 she was very much attached to him. Then he 
 went to his father, and subsequently, when he was 
 seventeen years old, he came again to live with 
 witness at Oak Park, near Chicago. He attended 
 school at the Commercial College, Chicago, and 
 after that he went back to Freeport, and from 
 there he went to Ann Arbor to attend school. She 
 went to Ann Arbor to see him, as she had been 
 informed that he was going on worse than her 
 father had ever done. She found that he had 
 abandoned his studies and was giving his whole 
 time and attention to studying the publications of 
 the Oneida Community. She argued with him 
 for a whole evening, appealing to him to go on 
 quietly like other young men, and to give up all 
 that stuff. Her appeals had no effect upon him, 
 however, and she made up her mind that he was 
 crazy. She told her uncle, who lived at Ann 
 Arbor, to pay no more attention to him, but let 
 him go his own way, as he was " clear gone daft." 
 She afterwards visited him at the Oneida Com 
 munity, but could hardly have any conversation 
 with him as they were not left alone a moment 
 together. She noticed that he acted like a person 
 who had been bewildered, struck on the head, or 
 had partly lost his mind. 
 22 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 r j 
 
 The witness went on to relate the prisoner s 
 history, including his admission to the bar (at 
 which she was very much surprised), his marriage 
 and his separation from his wife, down to the 
 time he visited her in Wisconsin in 1875. She 
 noticed then a great change in his personal ap 
 pearance. He was also very hard to get along 
 with, and he used to get in a "hifalutin" state. 
 He seemed willing to do anything that he was told, 
 but got very much befogged and could not do it. 
 She related the incident of his attacking her with an 
 axe. She had given him no provocation, but had 
 got out of patience with him. It was not the axe 
 that frightened her so much as it was the look 
 of his face. He looked like a wild animal. She 
 retreated into the house and ran up to her 
 daughter s room. Then she called Olds, the 
 hired man, and said : " Here, take this boy and 
 put him off the place." Olds took hold of him 
 and brought him into the dining-room. 
 
 On Monday, November 28th, Mrs. Scoville s 
 testimony was continued as follows: He visited 
 her in Wisconsin in the summer of 1875. At this 
 time he was full of wild ideas about establishing a 
 great newspaper, buying the Chicago Inter-Ocean, 
 etc. Then she described how the prisoner soaped 
 the hickory trees, and insisted that, if they were 
 not apple trees, they were certainly peach trees. 
 He became very violent about it, but the witness 
 was very much amused. The prisoner that sum- 
 
252 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J, GUITEAU, 
 
 mer spent most of his time reading the news 
 papers and a Testament which he kept in his 
 pocket. He said he was preparing to go in with 
 Moody and Sankey. Finally, the witness son, 
 Louis, would not stand any more nonsense from 
 her brother, and put him off the place without her 
 knowledge. She was very much worried about 
 him, but a day or two afterward he rode past with 
 a lady, and tipped his hat to the witness, as if to 
 say he was all right. On his return she sent him 
 to the cottage kept by the hired man, where he 
 spent a couple of days. 
 
 The witness testified that in the summer of 
 1877, her brother Charles was still interested in 
 some big scheme, lecturing. He denounced 
 everybody who did not believe as he did, and said 
 they were going to hell. He used to talk with 
 one of the boarders at Beaver Lake Mr. Bur 
 rows on the subject of the second coming of 
 Christ, until she told him he must not talk to her 
 boarders. Her brother never bore any malice. 
 It was remarkable that he never laid up anything 
 against anybody. In this respect she thought 
 he was silly. Her brother had always been in 
 dead earnest about everything. She never knew 
 him to do as other young men in regard to games, 
 or swimming, or anything of that kind. In ladies 
 society he was always very polite and pleasant. 
 
 George T. Burrows was called to the stand. 
 He became acquainted with the prisoner at Mrs. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD, 2 r <, 
 
 Scoville s country place. The prisoner had often 
 talked with him about his book on the second coming 
 of Christ, till finally the witness stopped talking 
 to him because the prisoner became violent. Wit 
 ness also related an incident of the prisoner, at 
 that time, dropping a puppy dog out of an up 
 stairs window, breaking the dog s leg, and ^the 
 prisoner saying that he did not think it would 
 hurt the dog ; he supposed the dog would strike 
 on his feet just as a cat does ; witness, from all 
 these circumstances and from the general conduct 
 
 o 
 
 of the prisoner, had decided in his own mind that 
 the prisoner was either a fool or crazy. 
 
 Charles S. Jocelyn, of Lenox, New York, busi 
 ness manager of the Oneida Community, testified 
 that he knew the prisoner when he was a member 
 of that Community; he came there in 1860 and 
 remained for nearly five years ; excessive egotism 
 was his peculiar characteristic ; he was the most 
 egotistical man the witness ever knew, so much so 
 as to be eccentric and different from other men ; 
 he was absorbed in himself and had such a high 
 idea of himself as to think himself a superior be 
 ing, qualified to be a leader and manager of men ; 
 he never noticed any insincerity about him ; he 
 had a very strong religious bias toward exaltation 
 and even fanaticism ; he attempted to deliver lec 
 tures there, but they were mainly made up of 
 ideas rehashed from former publications of the 
 Oneida Community ; there was nothing original 
 22 
 
254 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 in them ; they were not a great success as works 
 of art or literary productions. 
 
 John W. Guiteau, of Boston, the prisoner s 
 brother, was the next witness. He went over the 
 prisoner s history so far as known to him, and re 
 lated a conversation in which witness upbraided 
 him for not paying Mr. Scoville $500 or $600 that 
 he owed him ; the prisoner said that he had paid 
 
 it long ago ; that he had 
 given Mr. Scoville his note 
 a year ago, which note 
 Mr. Scoville could get dis 
 counted in a bank in Chi 
 cago, but that he was too 
 stubborn and ugly to do it; 
 he insisted that that was a 
 discharge of the debt, and 
 the witness thought that he 
 JOHN WILSON GUITEAU. was a fool or crazy. 
 Witness described the first conversation which 
 he had with the prisoner in company with Mr. 
 Scoville at the jail. The conversation was 
 first carried on between Mr. Scoville and the pri 
 soner, who said that the name of Guiteau would get 
 honor instead of dishonor; that it would be 
 " Guiteau, the patriot," instead of " Guiteau, the 
 assassin ;" he spoke very loud, louder than in any 
 exhibition here ; I said to him finally : 
 
 " I believe you are honest in your view," 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 r e 
 
 " Now," I said, " are you willing to abide by the 
 decision of the jury and suffer the penalty imposed 
 by the Court, if they fail to agree to your views ?" 
 
 He said.: " I am." 
 
 I said: "They say that you are afraid of your 
 life." "That is not so," he answered; "I do not 
 care a snap for my life." 
 
 " Now," I said, " I think you are telling me the 
 truth. Which would you prefer, to be hanged by 
 the verdict of the jury or shot by the mob?" 
 
 " I do not want either," he cried, and he flew as 
 quick as a flash into a corner and got behind a 
 table ; when he saw the ludicrousness of it he 
 laughed at his sudden emotion, and we all laughed; 
 his eyes looked wild ; I became satisfied from that 
 conversation that he was sincere as to his reason 
 for shooting the President, and thoroughly believed 
 in the inspiration; I believe him insane. 
 
 On cross-examination, the witness stated that 
 his opinion as to the sanity of his brother under 
 went a change last October, when he received from 
 Freeport, 111., some of the prisoner s letters to his 
 father. That changed opinion was confirmed by 
 the interviews he had had with Charles since he 
 came here. 
 
 Q. Did you state in conversation with John H. 
 Barren, of Concord, N. H., that the prisoner was 
 sane ? A. I did not. 
 
 Q. Did you state that the act was the result of 
 "pure cussedness?" A. I do not think I did in 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 the connection in which you use it ; I believe that 
 my brother s case was one of demonism that he 
 was possessed of the devil. 
 
 Q. And you stated that substantially to Mr. 
 Barren ? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. Did you there state that the prisoner was 
 not insane, but was responsible ? A. I stated that 
 I believed him to be responsible, but not insane ; 
 I stated that constantly and always until about the 
 receipt of those letters; I said that I believed that be 
 fore God he was responsible for his act morally re 
 sponsible because I believed that some time in 
 his past life he made a choice to follow the path 
 of evil rather than of good ; that so far as regarded 
 his responsibilty before the law, I could not deter 
 mine that, because the law dealt with a man s 
 body; the interpretation of the law as to insanity 
 I was not to judge. 
 
 In response to questions on the subject of life 
 insurance policies, the witness mentioned several 
 that he had taken the last in September or Oc 
 tober, 1 88 1 and admitted that he had replied in 
 the negative to the usual question as to there 
 being insanity, consumption or scrofula in the 
 family. 
 
 The witness was then inquired of as to his put 
 ting the prisoner out of his office in Boston, and 
 he related the circumstances. The prisoner called 
 at the office and complained that the witness had 
 told certain persons that the prisoner was worth- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 less and would not pay his board-bills. Witness 
 told him that he had never meddled with him by 
 making any voluntary statement ; but that when 
 any one came to inquire about him he told the 
 truth. My brother said (he continued) that I had 
 no business to make any statement about him or 
 his indebtedness ; that I was no better than he 
 was ; that I was in debt (which unfortunately was 
 true), and we had some strong talk; I told him 
 that if he was honest in the publication of his book, 
 and in his method of life, he should not continue 
 to deceive people about his means of paying for 
 his board. 
 
 Prisoner: I never deceived people about my 
 board-bills. 
 
 Witness : He said that he wished to live as 
 Christ did ; that Jesus Christ went to a house and 
 if the people received Him He blessed them ; 
 that he was working for God, and that he con 
 sidered God, and not himself, responsible for his 
 board ; we had some further conversation, and I 
 drove him to the wall, then his spirit of antagonism 
 came up and he attempted to drive me to the wall 
 by asserting that I was no better than he ; at this 
 time I told him he had better leave the office, and 
 I caught hold of him and rushed him to the door ; 
 he was passing ahead of me and he said, as he 
 went along, that I was a thief and a scoundrel ; 
 I slapped him on the side of the neck with the 
 back of my hand and he turned round and gave 
 
2 rg TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 me one on the side of the face, for which I very 
 much respected him. 
 
 The witness told again the story of insanity in 
 the family, and then was subjected to a re-direct 
 examination, in which he was asked as follows : 
 
 Q. What do you mean by saying your brother 
 was possessed of a demon or a devil ? A. The 
 religious theory is that there are two forces in the 
 universe, one under Satan or the devil and one 
 under God or Jesus Christ ; my father held to the 
 view that there were living in the world those 
 who were seized of the devif or Satan, and of 
 Christ or God ; he believed that those two forces 
 were at war, one with the other, and that at pre 
 sent and since the fall of man Satan had, to a very 
 great extent, dominion on the earth to possess 
 himself of all those he could, and that he did 
 possess himself of all those who were not abso 
 lute believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, as Saviour, 
 and who had not been saved from the power of 
 sin by a complete union with the Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ ; that all evil, all disease, all de 
 formity, all infirmity was the result of sin or the 
 admission of those who had a free will that they 
 were under the dominion of Satan or the evil 
 spirit, or of the evil nature. That was my father s 
 theological view ; it was my brother s ; it was 
 mine. And so I believe that, at some time in my 
 brother s life, as he had a free will to choose good 
 or evil, he must have, through his evil, through his 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 wilfulness, through his stubbornness, through his 
 perversity of nature, allowed Satan to gain such a 
 control over him that he was under the power of 
 Satan ; that idea is the one on which I based my 
 opinion that my brother was morally responsible 
 to God, but perhaps not responsible according to 
 human or legal responsibility, being in one sense 
 insane. 
 
 Prisoner : You certainly have that thing wrong 
 side up. 
 
 Witness : Perhaps I have. 
 
 Prisoner : That s very poor theology, and a very 
 poor position for you to take. 
 
 The next witness was Mrs. Sarah W. Parker, of 
 Chicago, the widow of Augustus, one of the sons 
 of the prisoner s aunt Anna. Her husband died 
 in the Insane Asylum at Elgin, 111. He had be 
 come insane from disappointment in not obtaining 
 a piano agency which he expected; she visited 
 him several times at the asylum ; her husband was 
 the prisoner s cousin ; the prisoner and his wife 
 came to her house in Chicago ; witness had then 
 two children, a son and daughter, twelve and 
 thirteen years old ; she had requested the prisoner 
 to cease visiting at her house, because he had pro 
 posed to educate her daughter so as to marry her. 
 This was in 1876, soon after her husband became 
 insane ; he seemed to have fallen very desperately 
 in love with her little daughter, and to want to 
 marry her. Witness formed an opinion at that 
 
2 6o TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE AL, 
 
 time about the condition of the prisoner s mind ; 
 she thought him crazy. 
 
 The next witness was Fernando Jones, of Chi 
 cago, who, in 1878, had boarded at the same 
 house with Guiteau in that city ; for four years 
 witness had been one of the Board of Trustees 
 who had supervision over the Insane Asylum at 
 Jacksonville ; that was previous to the time he 
 met Guiteau ; he had formed an opinion as to 
 Guiteau s mental condition, considering him to be 
 of unsound mind, and what some authorities 
 would call in a state of incipient insanity. At 
 that time the prisoner was memorizing lectures 
 on Mormonism and the second coming of Christ, 
 and talked very incoherently. 
 
 The examination of this witness having been 
 
 o 
 
 completed, a buzz of expectancy ran through the 
 assemblage as Mr. Scoville asked that the pris 
 oner be sworn. 
 
 The prisoner nervously proceeded to the wit 
 ness-stand in the custody of two deputy marshals, 
 and the oath was administered to him. He then 
 whispered a few words to a policeman who was 
 standing near the witness-box, and immediately 
 the three deputies ranged themselves, shoulder to 
 shoulder, behind the prisoner, who, apparently 
 more at ease, said inquiringly to the Court, "I can 
 sit down ?" " Yes," replied the Court, and the 
 prisoner seated himself accordingly, and seemed 
 quite satisfied. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then stated he merely wished the 
 prisoner to identify some letters. 
 
 Prisoner: 1 understand from Mr. Scoville that 
 all I am to do is to identify some letters. I do not 
 appear as a witness, aside from that.. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then presented a number of let 
 ters dating from 1857 to 1868, which were identi 
 fied by the prisoner, who made running comments 
 upon his penmanship : " This does not look like 
 my present handwriting ; there is a decided im 
 provement shown here ; this is better than I can 
 do now ; this is as fine as steel-plate." 
 
 There were about twenty letters which had been 
 written by the prisoner to his father, his sister 
 (Mrs. Scoville), and his brother (J. W. Guiteau) 
 and to Mr. Scoville. 
 
 The identification having been completed, the 
 Court at 3 o clock adjourned. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, November 29th, Guiteau 
 was called to the stand again. He seemed ner 
 vous and unsteady. Several officers were sta 
 tioned about him and he sat while on the stand. 
 After considerable quibbling on the part of the 
 prisoner as to what was expected of him at that 
 stage of the proceedings, and after the reading of 
 letters identified on the previous day, but which 
 were of little interest, the examination of the pris 
 oner proceeded. It covered in detail remem 
 brances of his early life, school-days, Oneida Com 
 munity, his father s peculiarities as to theology, 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 prayer, healing diseases, his own newspaper ex 
 periences, admission to the bar, arrest and impris 
 onment at New York, etc., all of which have 
 already been given in full in this volume. His 
 exact idea on the second coming of Christ was 
 thus defined: "The second coming of Christ 
 occurred on the destruction of Jerusalem, .in the 
 clouds directly over Jerusalem ; that it was an 
 event in the spiritual world, and that the destruc 
 tion of Jerusalem was the outward sign of His 
 coming ; I hold that for all these eighteen cen 
 turies the churches have all been in error in sup 
 posing the second coming of Christ to be in the 
 future!" 
 
 The witness then went on to relate his various 
 failures in delivering his lecture in Chicago, Evans- 
 town, Racine, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor, Detroit, 
 Ypsilanti, Toledo, Cleveland, Buffalo, Washington, 
 Rochester, Syracuse, Albany, Troy and elsewhere. 
 He frequently laughed as he repeated some of the 
 humorous incidents of his failures ; the various 
 times that he was put off railroad cars for not pay 
 ing his fare and arrested for not paying his board- 
 bills. At other times he grew excited in the 
 assertion that in all that he clid he was, like St. 
 Paul, engaged in the service of God, and that God 
 was therefore responsible for his board-bills. On 
 this latter point, he said : I did not give up lectur 
 ing because of my repeated failures ; I stuck to 
 my work ; my idea was that, as I was working for 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 the Lord I would do my duty and let him take 
 care of me as He felt disposed ; I went into that 
 whole business to serve the Lord, not to make 
 money; success or failure was nothing to me ; I 
 considered that the Lord s affair ; my duty was to 
 continue with my work ; Paul had no success, be 
 cause he had new ideas on theology ; I kept think 
 ing of Paul all the time and how he stuck to his 
 theology. 
 
 This line of testimony was resumed on Wed 
 nesday, November 3Oth, it appearing among other 
 evidences of ill-success that he had sold less than 
 fifty copies of his book. Proceeding with his nar 
 rative, Guiteau said : 
 
 That brings us down to January i, 1880. I had 
 no money, but got on the best way I could, and 
 made up my mind that I would go into politics. 
 [At the word " politics," the audience, which had 
 been listening in a listless way, became suddenly 
 silent, and paid the strictest attention.] I had a 
 great interest in General Grant s nomination. The 
 Chicago Convention came on and I watched the 
 proceedings with great interest. Finally, General 
 Garfield was nominated. I was in Boston at the 
 time, but decided that I would go to New York 
 and offer my services to the National Committee 
 and take an active part in the election of General 
 Garfield. I left Boston on the nth of June. I 
 was on the Stonington when she struck the Nar- 
 ragansett, and thought my time had come then, 
 
25J. TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 but it hadn t. I was in New York about two 
 >veeks. I had my speech "Garfield against Han 
 cock" in manuscript. 
 
 Q. How long were you at work upon that 
 speech? A. A couple of days. The speech as 
 originally prepared was quite a different affair. I 
 remodeled most of it in New York. I called upon 
 General Arthur at his house two or three times, 
 but he was not at home. I called upon him at his 
 office in relation to that speech and to my taking 
 part in the campaign. I went to Poughkeepsie 
 and advertised the speech, but it did not draw. I 
 went to Saratoga and tried to deliver it there, but 
 no one came, as usual. [Laughter.] I came 
 back, and saw General Arthur and other prom 
 inent men at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. Of course 
 they knew me, and were glad to see me, and all 
 that. Grant and Conklin^ and that kind of men 
 
 o 
 
 were there. I sent my speech, which was printed 
 on the 5th of August, to all the men connected 
 with that conference, also to the leading editors 
 of New York. 
 
 Q. Did you get any assignment to speak? A. 
 I was only actually assigned once, some time in 
 August. 
 
 Q. What place was that? A. I think in Twen 
 ty-Fifth Street, at a colored meeting. 
 
 Q. What was the result there? A. I delivered 
 part of the speech and gave the newspaper men 
 the rest. I didn t exactly like the crowd. 
 
ASSASSIN Of PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 26 5 
 
 The witness then detailed his interviews, at 
 tempted interviews, correspondence with, and let 
 ters to various prominent men, including Presi 
 dent Garfield, Secretary Elaine, etc., and bringing 
 his narrative up to about May ist, 1 88 1, about 
 which time, he ceased to press for the Paris con 
 sulship. The examination then proceeded thus : 
 
 Q. After you gave up applying for the office, 
 what employed your mind mostly? A. I was 
 thinking about the political situation more than 
 anything else. I kept reading the papers and 
 kept being worried and perplexed, and in a great 
 state of mind about the future of the country. I 
 think that that was the prevailing thought in my 
 mind after I saw the President and General Grant 
 and that kind of men were wrestling and at log 
 gerheads. I saw the Nation was going to wreck, 
 (emphasizing the sentence with a bang on the 
 railing.) 
 
 Q. You have spoken of inspiration. What do 
 you mean by that? State when it came first to 
 your mind, and the circumstances connected with 
 it. A. Inspiration, as I understand it, is where a 
 man s mind is taken possition of by by by a 
 superior power, and where he acts outside of his 
 own natural outside of himself. 
 
 Q. State the circumstances of the commence 
 ment of that inspiration with you. A. It came to 
 me one Wednesday evening, the evening Senators 
 Platt and Conkling resigned. At this time there 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 was great excitement in the public mind in regard 
 to the resignations, and I felt greatly perplexed 
 and worried about it. I retired about 8 o clock 
 that evening, greatly depressed in mind and spirit 
 over the political situation. Before I went to 
 sleep the impression came on my mind like a flash 
 that if the President was out of the way the diffi 
 culty would be all solved. The next morning I 
 had the same impression. I kept reading the 
 papers, and had my mind on the idea of the re 
 moval of the President. This idea kept working 
 me and working me and grinding and oppressing 
 me for about two weeks. All this time I was hor 
 rified, and I kept throwing off the idea, and did 
 not want to give it my attention at all. In fact, I 
 shook it off, but it kept growing on me and grow 
 ing on me, until at the end of two weeks my mind 
 was thoroughly fixed as to the necessity of the 
 President s removal. As to the divinity of the 
 inspiration (excitedly), I had not the slightest 
 doubt about the divinity of the inspiration from 
 the ist of June to the present moment. I felt just 
 as confident as to the divinity of the inspiration as 
 I do now. 
 
 Q. Did you talk with any one about it? A. I 
 never mentioned it to a soul at any time. 
 
 Q. After the idea took full possession of your 
 mind about the ist of June, what did you do with 
 reference to that subject ? A. I kept praying 
 about it, and praying about it, and praying about it. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 267 
 
 Q. What was the substance of your prayer? 
 A. The substance of my prayer was that, if it was 
 the Lord s will I should not remove the Presi 
 dent ; He would in some way, by His providence, 
 interrupt it. That is always the way I have found 
 the Lord. When I feel a pressure upon me to do 
 anything, and when I feel doubt about it, I keep 
 praying to the Deity that he may show it in soro^e 
 way, if I am wrong. 
 
 O. Did you get any information from the Deity 
 as to whether you were right or wrong in 
 answer to your prayer ? A. (in a loud voice and 
 excited manner) : I never had the slightest shadow 
 of a doubt on my mind as to the divinity of the 
 act and as to the necessity for it to the great 
 American people (with a bang on the railing). 
 
 Q. Wherein did it seem to you necessary for 
 the good of the American people ? A. To unite 
 the factions of the Republican party, which were 
 then in a most bitter and deplorable state. 
 
 Q. Did you consider that necessary to the good 
 of the American people ? A. Most decidedly. 
 
 Q. Why ? A. Because in the way that things 
 were going on last spring, another war was going 
 to break out. 
 
 Q. How would that result be reached ? A. It 
 would be reached by the destruction of the Repub 
 lican party. 
 
 Q. State how it was necessary, in order to 
 avoid war, that the breach in the Republican 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE A U, 
 
 party should be healed. A. The idea was. if the 
 disruption of the Republican party was to continue 
 as it was going on last spring, the Democrats 
 would have taken entire possession of the Gov 
 ernment, and by the mismanagement of finances, 
 would precipitate the country into another war. 
 That was the central idea that was talked of in the 
 National Republican Committee, and on the stump, 
 and by all the leading Republican papers in the 
 canvass that the safety of the Republic depended 
 upon the Republican party continuing in control ; 
 that the Democratic party and the rebel element 
 were not yet sufficiently civilized to take posses 
 sion of the national finances. 
 
 Q. Did you believe it? A. Most emphatically! 
 more than I believe that I am alive. 
 
 The prisoner was then questioned regarding 
 his interviews in the jail with medical experts, de 
 tectives, and the District-Attorney and his steno 
 grapher. As he was showing signs of fatigue, 
 and said he was not well, and that he always felt 
 better after dinner, a recess for an hour was 
 taken. After the recess the prisoner again took 
 the stand, and was questioned by Mr. Scoville as 
 to his experience with special providences. 
 
 Witness : I have always believed in special provi 
 dence. There are four distinct times in my life 
 when I claim special inspiration : first, when I 
 went to the Oneida Community ; second, when I 
 left the Community to go to New York to estab- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 269 
 
 lish a theocratic paper, to be the organ of the 
 Deity in this world ; third, when I left a good law 
 business in Chicago to o-o out lecturing- and work- 
 
 o o o 
 
 ing for the Lord ; the fourth time, I claim special 
 Divine authority when I attempted to remove the 
 President. Those are the four distinct times when 
 I claim inspiration. 
 
 Q. On what special occasion before you were 
 arrested were you protected by special provi 
 dence ? A. I think the preservation of my life at 
 Newark was one, when I jumped from the train 
 which was going thirty-five miles an hour. An 
 other was when I was on the Stonington, when 
 we were all in momentary expectation of going 
 down. Since my arrest, it has been my constant 
 feeling all the way through. When I was shot at 
 and missed, and when last Summer a mob was 
 howling for me. I had no anxiety for myself, and 
 (excitedly) I have no anxiety as to the result of 
 this trial. 
 
 Q. What was the first instance of Divine inter 
 position after you went to jail ? A. When that 
 keeper attempted to shoot me and put his pistol 
 within eight inches of my head. He denied the 
 whole thing, but I am satisfied that I am right. 
 General Crocker said it was all a mistake, and he 
 hushed it up. I do not care to discuss it, but the 
 fact is, that man came into my cell deliberately to 
 shoot me, and the only reason he did not is that I 
 happened to be awake. The witness here de- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARFES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 scribed in detail the manner in which he had seized 
 the keeper and pinioned his arms. The special 
 providence here was, that the man had 10 or 12 
 seconds in which to fire, but that the Lord stopped 
 him. 
 
 Q. What was the next interposition ? A. I 
 claim a certain interposition when Mason fired at 
 me. 
 
 Witness then described this incident at length. 
 He was standing in a cramped position. If he 
 had been standing up, the ball would have gone 
 through his heart, just what Mason aimed for. 
 
 Q. Has there been any special providence 
 since ? A. I think Jones s failure to shoot me was 
 providential. I was standing directly behind the 
 driver of the van. I was in a quite happy frame 
 of mind. I had a fine jury and was pleased with 
 the Court, and I was pleased with the way every 
 thing was going. I was praising the Lord for all 
 this. Just as we got to the Capitol I saw a flash, 
 and in a moment I saw another, and then the 
 horses began to run away. I thought that my 
 guard was killed and that the horses were running 
 away. I said to my guard. "Ed, are you shot?" 
 " No," said he, " are you ?" The providence was 
 that the ball struck me here (pointing to his torn 
 coat-sleeve). It did not strike my arm, but the 
 concussion made my arm sore. If it had gone two 
 or three inches to the right it would have gone 
 through my heart. It was a good shot, consider- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 2 y j 
 
 ing the fact that the van was going and that he 
 was moving ; I should say it was an exceedingly 
 good shot. The Lord saved me from that. 
 
 O. Had you any ill-feeling against the Presi 
 dent ? A. Decidedly not. I considered him as 
 my political and personal friend. I never had the 
 slightest ill-will toward General Garfield in any 
 shape. I simply executed what I considered the 
 Divine will for the good of the American people, 
 to unite the two factions of the Republican party, 
 and prevent another war. I undertake to say that 
 the people of this country, when they know that 
 another war has been prevented, instead of say 
 ing "Guiteau, the assassin," will some of these 
 days say " Guiteau, the patriot." 
 
 Q. What was your idea as to the removal of 
 the President ? A. It was established in my mind 
 about the i st of June, and I never doubted from 
 that moment to this about the divinity of the act, 
 and the necessity of it. 
 
 Q. Were you easy in your mind ? A. I was 
 under a great pressure, and that is why I looked 
 gaunt and thin. I could not eat well. I was 
 ground and ground, and pressed and pressed, and 
 I could get no relief until it was actually done. I 
 felt greatly relieved when the thing was over. I 
 felt happy. I had not felt so happy for weeks as 
 I did when I was in the cell on the 2d of July, and 
 I thanked God that it was all over. 
 
 Q. Have you a distinct recollection of the 
 
2 7 2 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 occurrences on the 2d day of July ? A. Oh, cer 
 tainly. 
 
 Q. Do you remember who was with you going 
 to the police-office ? A. Those two witnesses who 
 were on the stand. Officer Kearney was the first 
 man that seized me. I was in the act of putting 
 up the pistol when the officer came up. He was 
 very much excited. He said : " You have shot 
 the President of the United States." I said : 
 " Keep quiet, my friend ; I want to get to the jail." 
 I wanted first to get away from him, but when I 
 saw I could not, I said I wanted to go to jail. As 
 soon as I said "jail" he cooled down. We started 
 from the depot at once. 
 
 Q. Have you supposed since you have been in 
 jail that you have influence with President Arthur? 
 A. I have not had any occasion to test it. He 
 was my friend last spring and fall. 
 
 Q. Have you written any letters to him ? A. I 
 have addressed several letters to him. I don t 
 know whether they were delivered or not. From 
 the way I have been treated in other matters I 
 suppose not. I presume Arthur is my friend, but 
 I have never asked any favor of him since I got 
 into this trouble, though I am the man that made 
 him, through my inspiration. 
 
 Q. How ? A. (apparently amazed) Why, my 
 inspiration made him. 
 
 The examination proceeded from this point, on 
 the lawsuit with the Herald, Guiteau s aspirations 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 273 
 
 to the Presidency, his search for a wife and other 
 minor matters. 
 
 The direct examination of the prisoner here 
 closed, and the cross-examination was begun by 
 Mr. Porter, who put his questions to the prisoner 
 with great deliberation, pointedness and solemnity 
 of manner. 
 
 PRESIDENT ARTHUR] 
 
 Q. Mr. Guiteau, I think you are about forty 
 years of age ? A. Forty on the 8th of Septem 
 ber last, Judge. 
 
 Q. Are you conscious of being a man of con- 
 
274 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 siderable ability? A. I would not express an 
 opinion on that, Judge. 
 
 Q. Are you a man of truth ? A. Most decid 
 edly, Judge, I am in dead earnest in anything 
 I do. 
 
 Q. I think you were converted at the age of 
 seventeen, or thereabout ? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. From that time on you have been a man of 
 truth, have you not? A. Yes, sir. 
 
 Q. And, as you believe, a Christian man ? A. 
 I hope so, Judge. 
 
 Q. You have hated all shams ? A. Most de 
 cidedly. 
 
 Q. And you do now ? A. I do. 
 
 O. You have had no bad habits ? A. I think not. 
 
 O. Did you pass through the ordeal of the 
 Oneida Community and maintain your virtue ? A. 
 Well, not absolutely. 
 
 O. I thought you said yesterday that you did ? 
 A. I said, or intended to say (although misre- 
 ported), that I had been mostly a strictly virtuous 
 man. They left out the word " mostly." That is 
 what I intended to say. As a matter of fact, I 
 had to do with three distinct women. But there 
 is no pleasure in that kind of business there. 
 Aside from that, I was strictly virtuous. 
 
 Q. Did you believe in the doctrines of the 
 Oneida Community while you were there ? A. I 
 did. I thought that the Community was the com 
 mencement of God s kingdom on earth. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 The prisoner was then cross-examined in re 
 gard to his business as a lawyer in Chicago and 
 New York, the result of it all being that he only 
 had some collection cases in Chicago, and a simi 
 lar kind of business in New York, mixed up with 
 some stray jobs in connection with getting prison 
 ers out of the Ludlow Street Jail, for which jobs 
 he paid a commission to a prisoner in the jail, 
 who was a big talker and who would recommend 
 him to other prisoners. He admitted that he was 
 behind in his office-rent in New York, and, per 
 haps, in some of his collections, but thought that 
 $1,000 would pay all those debts, together with 
 his board-bills. 
 
 After these subjects had been disposed of the 
 cross-examination proceeded as follows : 
 
 Q. You have always been a very persistent and 
 and persevering man ? A. Yes. 
 
 O. Have you been a man of a good deal of 
 force of will and determination ? A. (with a 
 laugh) : Some people think so. 
 
 Q. That has been a characteristic of yours from 
 boyhood, has it not ? A. I have been very ear 
 nest in what I undertook. 
 
 Q. You determined to kill General Garfield, did 
 you not ? A. I decline to answer that. That is a 
 a very strong way to put it (with some excite 
 ment). I consider myself the agent of the Deity 
 in the matter ; I had no personal volition in the 
 matter. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GLITEAU, 
 
 Q. Did General Logan say to you that he would 
 endorse your application for the Paris consulship? 
 A. I understood him to say so. 
 
 Q. Did he say so ? A. Yes ; he did say so. 
 
 O. Then when General Logan swore he did 
 not say he would recommend you, he did not tell 
 the truth? A. I would not like to say that. One 
 evening, at the boarding-house, I asked him to sign 
 my application, and he said he had no pen just 
 there to do it with, but told me to come up in his 
 room next morning and he would do it. Next 
 
 o 
 
 morning he had changed his mind. I do not want 
 to make any reflections upon General Logan, but 
 that is the way all these politicians do. 
 
 Q. Did Secretary Elaine promise you the Paris 
 consulship if General Logan would recommend 
 you? A. No, sir; he did not. 
 
 Q. Did you say to Officer Scott, on leaving the 
 depot after the murder of the President, "General 
 Arthur is now President." A. I decline to answer 
 that. 
 
 Q. Why do you object to answering that? A. 
 I suppose I did say that (then he added excitedly) ; 
 I want it distinctly understood that I did not do 
 that of my own personal volition, but on the in 
 spiration of the Deity. I never would have shot 
 the President on my own personal account. 
 
 Q. Who bought the pistol, the Deity or you ? 
 A. I said the Deity inspired the act, and the Deity 
 would take care of it. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Q. The question is: Who bought the pistol? 
 A. The Deity furnished the money with which I 
 bought the pistol. I was the agent. 
 
 Q. I thought it was somebody else who fur 
 nished the money. A. It was the Deity who fur 
 nished the money with which I bought the pistol. 
 
 Q. He furnished you all the money you ever 
 had on earth, did he ? A. I think so. 
 
 Q. From whose hand was it that you were fur 
 nished the money with which you bought that mur 
 derous weapon ? A. It is of no consequence 
 (somewhat flurried and excited). Mr. Maynard 
 swore he loaned me gi z. 
 
 Tr w 
 
 Q. Did he ? A. Yes, he loaned me money. 
 
 Q. What did you do with that money ? A. I 
 used it for several purposes. 
 
 Q. What were they ? A. I have no objection 
 to stating frankly that I got $15 from Maynard, 
 and that I used $10 of it to buy that pistol with. 
 
 Q. Did you deny, when he was on the stand, 
 that that was the money with which you bought 
 the pistol ? A. No, Sir ; I never denied it, be 
 cause that is the truth, But it is of no conse 
 quence whether I got the money from Maynard, 
 or whether I pawned my coat for it. 
 
 Q. Were you inspired to borrow $15 form May 
 nard ? A. No, sir ; Mr. Maynard did not know 
 what I wanted the money for. 
 
 Q. Were you inspired to buy that British bull 
 dog ? A. I do not pretend that I was inspired to 
 
278 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU2TEAU, 
 
 do that specific act. But I claim that the Deity 
 inspired me to remove the President, and that I 
 had to resort to my own means to accomplish the 
 Deity s will. 
 
 Q. Were you inspired to remove him by mur 
 der ? A. I was inspired to execute the Divine 
 will by murder, so called. 
 
 Q. You did not succeed in executing the 
 Divine will ? A. I think the doctors finished the 
 work. 
 
 Q. The Deity tried, and you tried, and you both 
 failed, but the doctors succeeded ? A. The Deity 
 confirmed my act by letting the President down so 
 gently as he did. 
 
 Q. Do you think it was letting him down 
 gently to let him suffer that torture, over which you 
 professed to feel so much solicitude, during these 
 long months ? A. The whole matter was in the 
 hands of the Deity, and (impatiently) I do not 
 want to discuss it any further. I appreciate the 
 fact of the President s long sickness as much as 
 any person in the world, but that is a very narrow 
 view to take of the matter. 
 
 Q. What time did Senator Conkling resign ? 
 A. About the I5th of May, I should judge. 
 
 Q. That was Monday, and you had no inspira 
 tion on that day? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Had you any inspiration on Tuesday ? A. 
 No, sir. 
 
 Q. On Wednesday night you went to bed at 8 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 o clock, and then came the inspiration? A. It 
 came between 8 and 9 o clock. 
 
 Q. Did you believe that it was the will of God 
 that you should murder the President? A. I be 
 lieved that it was His will that he should be re 
 moved and I was the appointed agent to do it. 
 
 Q. Did He give you a commission in writing? 
 A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Did He give it in an audible tone of voice? 
 A. He gave it to me by His pressure on me. 
 
 Q. Did He give it to you audibly ? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. He did not come to you as a "vision of the 
 night"? A. I do not get my inspirations in that 
 way. 
 
 Q. It occurred to you, as you were lying on your 
 bed, that if President Garfield were dead it would 
 solve the whole difficulty ? A. Yes. 
 
 Q. * Did it occur to you that you were the very 
 man to kill him ? A. Not at that time. My mind 
 was unsettled. 
 
 Q. Who did you think then was the man to kill 
 him ? A. I had no thought on the subject. The 
 mere impression came on my mind that if the 
 President were removed everything would be 
 well. 
 
 Q. Did you contemplate his removal otherwise 
 than by murder? A. No, sir (petulantly). I do 
 not like the word " murder." 
 
 Mr. Porter : I know you do not like the word 
 " murder ;" it is a hard word, but. it is there. 
 
2 g TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GlITEAU, 
 
 Prisoner: I do not recollect the actual facts in 
 that matter (excitedly). If I had shot the President 
 of the United States on my own personal account, 
 no punishment would be too severe or too quick 
 for me ; but, acting as the agent of the Deity, 
 that puts an entirely different construction on the 
 act ; and that is what I want to put to the Court 
 and the jury, and to the opposing counsel. That 
 is the idea I want you to entertain, and nt>t to 
 settle down on the cold-blooded idea of murder, 
 because I never had the first conception of mur 
 der in the matter. 
 
 Q. Do you feel under great obligations to the 
 American people ? A. I think the American peo 
 ple may some time consider themselves under 
 great obligations to me. 
 
 Q. My question was whether you felt under 
 great obligations to them ? A. I do not know why 
 I should be 
 
 Q. Were you under great obligation to the Re 
 publican party ? A. Not that I know of. 
 
 Q. Did the Republican party ever give you any 
 office ? A. I never held any kind of political 
 office in my life. 
 
 Q. And never desired one? A. I had some 
 thought about the Paris consulship. That is the 
 only office I ever had the slightest thought about. 
 
 Q. That was the one that resulted in the inspi 
 ration of murder ? A. No, sir. My getting it or 
 not getting it never had the slightest effect upon 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD, 
 
 my mind in attempting to remove the Presi 
 dent. 
 
 Q. You never desired the removal of Mr. 
 Elaine ? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. And never suggested it to anybody? A. 
 No, sir. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Allow me to read to you your let 
 ter, written on the 23d of May four days, accord 
 ing to your account, after you made up your mind 
 to remove the President. Let me refresh your 
 recollection as to whether you desired at that time 
 to remove Mr. Elaine also. 
 
 Prisoner : I never had the slightest thought of 
 removing Mr. Elaine. I had not made up my 
 mind to remove the President on the 23d of May, 
 nor until the ist of June. For two weeks after I 
 got the conception I was shaking it off. My natural 
 feelings were all against it. But the pressure 
 continued pressing me and pressing me, so that 
 at the end of two weeks, and about the i st of June, 
 I had made up my mind as to the inspiration of 
 the act, and as to the necessity for it. 
 
 Mr. Porter : That reminds me of another very 
 deliberate utterance of yours, made on the i6th 
 of June, the day on which you intended to murder 
 the President. 
 
 Prisoner: I intended to remove him under 
 Divine pressure never to murder him. 
 
 Q. Oh, certainly. On the i6th of June, in an 
 address to the American people, which you in- 
 
2 g 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 tended should be found on your person after you 
 had shot him, you said: "I conceived the idea of 
 removing the President four weeks ago." Was 
 that a lie ? A. I conceived it, but my mind was 
 not fully settled on it. There is a difference be 
 tween conceiving a thing and actually fixing it in 
 your mind. You may conceive the idea of going 
 to Europe in a month, and yet you may not go. 
 That is no point at all. 
 
 Q. Let me return to the subject of Mr. Elaine. 
 You say in your letter to the President: "Mr. 
 Elaine is a wicked man, and you ought to demand 
 his immediate resignation. Otherwise, you and 
 the Republican party will come to grief." A. Po 
 litical grief, not physical grief. Every intelligent 
 man will see that I meant political grief. 
 
 Q. Was that after Wednesday night, when you 
 conceived the idea of removing the President ? 
 A. That was a mere flash, which had not taken 
 shape or form in my mind, and did not take shape 
 or form for over two weeks. All that time I was 
 resisting the idea. 
 
 Q. Then there was no inspiration in May ? A. 
 No ; it was a mere flash, an embryo inspiration, a 
 mere impression which came into my mind that 
 possibly it would have to be done. My mind was 
 fully made up about the ist of June. 
 
 Q. You say " about the ist of June." Was it 
 on the ist of June ? A. I say in about two weeks 
 from the i6th of May. During that time I was 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 283 
 
 resisting it with all my might, all my strength, and 
 all my prayers. At the end of that time my mind 
 was fully fixed in regard to the necessity and di 
 vinity of the act. 
 
 Q. Then the question was not whether you 
 should obey the inspiration, but whether it was an 
 actual necessity? A. I was finding out during 
 those two weeks whether it was God s will or not. 
 At the end of two weeks I made up my mind that 
 it was His will, and that it was for the best inter 
 ests of the American people. That is the way 
 that I get inspirations. 
 
 Q. Your making up your mind was not His 
 act? A. Yes, it was. 
 
 Q. While you were praying and professing to 
 be in doubt, were you in doubt? A. For two 
 weeks I was in doubt, but I never had any doubt 
 since that time. 
 
 Q. What occasioned the doubt ? A. Because I 
 wanted to know whether it was the Deity that in 
 spired me. I kept praying that the Deity should 
 not let me make any mistake about it, and the 
 Deity has not made any mistake about it. 
 
 Q. Why did you have doubts about it? A. 
 Because all my natural feelings were opposed to 
 the act. 
 
 O. You regarded it as murder, then ? A. So 
 called, yes. It was not murder for me. All my 
 natural feelings were against it. 
 
 o o 
 
 Q. Why were your natural feelings against 
 
2 g^ TRIAL OJ> CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 murder? A. I cannot make myself any better 
 understood than I have done. 
 
 At this point in the cross-examination, which 
 the prisoner bore with considerable self-possession, 
 although he occasionally got flurried and excited, 
 the court adjourned. 
 
 On Thursday, December 2d, Guiteau seemed 
 very nervous and excitable. He was put on the 
 witness-stand at once, and Judge Porter pro 
 ceeded with the cross-examination. It turned, first, 
 upon the sense in which Guiteau claimed to have 
 been inspired to remove the President by his mur 
 derous shot. 
 
 Judge Porter then asked : Was Mason guilty of 
 a murderous assault? A. Most decidedly. 
 
 Q. Was Jones ? A. Most decidedly. 
 
 Q. Do you think it was wrong ? A. Without 
 they can show they acted as the agents of the 
 Deity, it was wrong ; if they can show that, it was 
 right ; anything the Deity does is always right. 
 
 O. How do you know they did not act as agents 
 of the Deity ? A. I have no knowledge of it. 
 
 Q, But if you knew they did ? A. I know 
 nothing about them, and care nothing about them. 
 
 Q. But you did care about them yesterday. A. 
 I never saw the men ; I care nothing about them ; 
 I have no doubt they should be punished ; I ex 
 pect that the Court and the American people de 
 mand that they should be punished. 
 
 Q. Why should they be punished ? A. Because 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 they made an assault on a citizen of the Republic, 
 without it was the action of the Deity. 
 
 Q. You do not know whether it was or not ? 
 A. Without they can show that they acted as 
 agents of the Deity, they ought to be punished ; 
 but if they were executing the Divine will, they 
 should be set free. 
 
 Q. Why do you think they should be punished 
 for shooting at you ? A. Because they have no 
 right unless they can show it was the act of the 
 Deity; the Deity s action supersedes man s law. 
 
 Q. What law did they violate if they shot at 
 you ? A. (impatiently and impertinently) : What 
 law did they violate if they shot at you ? 
 
 Q. That s what I ask you ? A. I ask you. 
 
 Q. Persistently: What law did they violate? 
 A. They violated the law on the statute-book of 
 this District ; the only way they can mitigate that 
 violation is showing that they acted as agents of 
 the Deity ; the Deity s law supersedes the law of 
 any man. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Do you think it was wrong for 
 Mason to shoot at you ? 
 
 Prisoner, angrily: I am not an expert, and I 
 decline to answer any more questions on that 
 point ; I am not afraid of you, Judge Porter ; I 
 know bigger men than you ; I have seen you 
 shake your finger before, in New York ; I am not 
 afraid of you. 
 
 Mr. Porter: If Mason shot at you with in- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE A U, 
 
 tention to take your life without trial, would he 
 have done wrong? 
 
 Prisoner: I decline to answer. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Are you afraid that your answer 
 would criminate you ? 
 
 Prisoner : I decline to give an opinion about 
 Mason or Jones ; they are in the hands of the law 
 and let the law take its course ; let these men de 
 fend themselves in the best way they can. I care 
 nothing for them. 
 
 Q. Do you believe in the Ten Commandments ? 
 A. Yes. 
 
 O. Have you higher evidence that the Supreme 
 Ruler of the universe said to you "Thou shalt 
 kill/* than you have that He said "Thou shalt not 
 kill"? 
 
 Prisoner, excitedly : I do not entertain the idea 
 that there was any murder in the matter ; no more 
 murder in removing General Garfield than it was 
 
 o 
 
 to kill a man during the war, and who would con 
 tend that the shooting of a man during the war 
 was either murder or homicide ? I do not want 
 to discuss this matter with you ; it is altogether 
 too sacred a matter to make light of it, and I will 
 not have it. 
 
 Witness was closely questioned about the pur 
 chase of the pistol, and was asked why he bought 
 the one with an ivory handle instead of a plain 
 one. He replied, "Because I thought it worth a 
 dollar more." 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 287 
 
 Judge Porter : Did you not say that it would 
 look better in the Patent Office ? 
 
 Witness admitted that he might have believed 
 or thought that the pistol would sometime be 
 placed in the State Department. Shortly after 
 ward, Guiteau became very indignant at Judge 
 Porter s use of the word "murder," and shouted 
 fiercely, "You seem to delight in the use of the 
 words kill and murder. There s no use of your 
 whining in that way. The mere outward fact of 
 how I removed the President has nothing to do 
 with this case." 
 
 Mr. Porter : After you had bought the revolver, 
 being unused to firearms, did you practice with it? 
 A. I went down to Seventeenth Street and fired 
 it off over the river. 
 
 Q. What did you shoot at ? A. I shot at a 
 sapling. 
 
 Q. Why did you want to shoot at a sapling; 
 you had no divine command for that? A. I wanted 
 (and here the witness hesitated for some time) to 
 fire it two or three times ; I knew nothing about 
 a weapon ; I expected to have to use it and famil 
 iarized myself with the outward use of the weapon. 
 
 Q. You did not know how to fire a pistol, but 
 this was the work of the Deity? A. (apparently 
 in a violent passion and gesticulating wildly): 
 There is no use of your whining in this kind of 
 way ; you might as well rest ; you are making 
 entirely too much talk about the outward act of 
 
2 gg TRIAL OF CHARFES J. QUITE AU, 
 
 the Deity ; I say you have to go back and look at 
 the motive. 
 
 Q. The motive was to kill . A. (interrupt 
 ing excitedly): To remove the President for the 
 good of the American people. 
 
 Q. When did you begin watching the Presi 
 dent s movements ? A. About the time he and 
 Mrs. Garfield went to Long Branch. 
 
 Q. Did you not go to the White House grounds 
 to see when he went out? A. I did not go near 
 the White House grounds, or if I did it was in the 
 latter part of June ; I used to sit in the park op 
 posite the White House. 
 
 Q. For the purpose of observing him and watch 
 ing your chance ? A. I wanted to execute the 
 Divine will, and to obviate all this loose talk I will 
 state that I would have removed the President 
 any time from the middle of June until I shot him, 
 if I had had an opportunity; at anytime I would 
 have executed the Divine will from the middle of 
 June until the time I actually did shoot him. 
 
 Q. Where were you on the morning of June 16, 
 when you wrote your address to the American 
 people ? A. That was prepared at the Arlington. 
 
 Q. In this address you say, " I conceived the 
 idea of removing the President four weeks ago?" 
 A. (impatiently) : Oh! that is the great point you 
 tried to make yesterday ; I meant that the first im 
 pression came upon me about the i6th of May, 
 and in about four weeks it became a fixed neces- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 289 
 
 sity to remove him ; I went to work after the i st 
 of June to prepare myself, in an orderly way, to 
 do the act ; that is all there is in this whole case. 
 
 Q. (reading from the address) : "Not a soul 
 knows of my purpose"? A. That is correct. 
 
 Q. Then you did "purpose" it for four weeks 
 before? A. That is not literally true. 
 
 Q. (reading) : " I killed the President because 
 he proved a traitor to the men that made him, and 
 thereby imperiled the life of the Republic? A. 
 That was the idea; that was the cause under 
 Divine pressure. 
 
 The witness was then asked whether, if he had 
 been appointed consul to Paris, he would have 
 killed the President, and in reply repeated his an 
 swer of yesterday that he would not have accepted 
 the Paris consulate after June ist. 
 
 O. If General Garfield had sent your name to the 
 Senate you would have laid in wait and murdered 
 him ? A. I would have sent it right back after the 
 ist of June; my whole heart and mind and in 
 spiration were in removing him. 
 
 Q. Do you think that it would have been a 
 grateful return to President Garfield for appoint 
 ing you to the consulship ? A. I would not have 
 accepted the office. 
 
 Q. Did you have any malice ? A. (interrupting) : 
 I repudiate you for making that allusion ; you 
 know as well as I do that I never had any malice; 
 he was my personal and political friend. 
 
 25 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Witness then explained that his personal friend 
 ship with President Garfield consisted in speaking 
 with him once, and his political of belonging- to the 
 same political party. He did not consider it neces 
 sary to be a man s bedfellow to be his friend. 
 
 Q. (dramatically, and modulating his tone at 
 the close of the question: And you had no ill-will ? 
 A. (imitating and mockingly) : I had no ill-will 
 against him. 
 
 Q. And no ill-will against your sister when you 
 raised an axe against her ? A. I never raised an 
 axe against her. 
 
 Q. You had no ill-will against your brother 
 when you struck him ? A. I never struck him. 
 
 Q. You think that General Garfield was to 
 blame in appointing Mr. Elaine Secretary of State? 
 A. I think most decidedly that it was a very un 
 wise thing ; I say that it was an open insult to 
 General Grant and Conkling for General Garfield 
 to appoint their worst enemy ; I think that that 
 caused all the harm (with a bang on the railing): 
 it made it so bitter for Grant and Conkling and 
 Arthur that they would not go to the White 
 House; I say that (with more banging of his fist on 
 the railing) to the American people and to the 
 jury and to this Court. 
 
 Q. Is this what you said in your note to Mr. 
 Elaine, " I am very glad personally that the Presi 
 dent selected you for his Premier?" A. I said 
 that. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Q. Was that true? A. It was true at that 
 time. 
 
 Q. You were glad ? A. I was glad ; (after a 
 pause) that needs modification, however. 
 
 Q. What modification does it need ? A. The 
 modification is that at that time General Garfield 
 had not insulted Grant and Conklinp- by Robert- 
 
 O J 
 
 son s appointment and Merritt s withdrawal. 
 
 The witness then related how he met General 
 Logan in New York and Washington, and told of 
 his final interview with Mr. Elaine on the Paris 
 consulship, as stated on the direct examination. 
 He was asked whether at the time of his last in 
 terview with Secretary Elaine he gave the latter 
 to understand that he would support him for the 
 Presidency. He replied in the negative. Upon 
 Judge Porter s reading, however, a paragraph from 
 a letter of Guiteau to Secretary Elaine saying that 
 he (Guiteau) hoped to get back from Paris in time 
 to be of service to him (Mr. Elaine) in the Re 
 publican Convention of 1884, the witness modified 
 his previous answer and admitted he had some 
 such idea. 
 
 About this time, the prisoner, who had been 
 speaking very rapidly, showed signs of considera 
 ble exhaustion, and Mr. Porter had got tired of 
 standing and was occupying a seat. At the sug 
 gestion of the District- Attorney the Court there 
 fore took a recess for an hour. 
 
 After the recess, the prisoner was again con- 
 
292 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE A U, 
 
 ducted to the witness-stand, looking very haggard 
 and worn, and his cross-examination proceeded. 
 It ran upon political subjects, of interest in the 
 main for the keen questioning and answering it 
 evolved. 
 
 Q. Did you intend, as you said in that letter, to 
 remain in Washington until you got your commis 
 sion as consul to Paris? A. At that time I did. I 
 was pressing my application for the Paris consul 
 ship during the months of March and April. You 
 ought to make a broad dictinction in the position 
 between the time prior to the first of May and the 
 time after that. 
 
 Q. Did you write on the 7th of May to President 
 Garfield, whom you afterward shot, "I am sorry 
 you and Senator Conkling are apart, but I stand 
 by you?" A. I wrote that; that was the time I 
 was trying to bring these men together; I was 
 acting the part of a peace-maker. 
 
 Q. Did you write to President Garfield on the 
 lothof May: "I have got anew idea about 1884. 
 If you work your possition for all it is worth you 
 can be nominated and elected in 1884. * * * 
 Run the Presidency on your own account. Strike 
 out right and left. The American people like 
 pluck and in 1884 we w ^^ P ut vou * n again"? 
 
 A. I wrote that letter. 
 
 Q. Did it express your then opinion and inten 
 tion? A. It expressed my opinion; I had no 
 special intention about it, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Q. You added a postscript: " I will see you about 
 the Paris consulship to-morrow, unless you hap 
 pen to send in my name to-day " ? A. That is the 
 way I felt and talked, but that was long before 
 this political disruption. 
 
 Q. Did you think that President Garfield, after 
 reading this letter, would give you the Paris con 
 sulship? A. I had no special thought on the sub 
 ject. 
 
 Q. After that, on the 1 6th of May, did you write 
 to President Garfield a letter marked ("Private"), 
 saying: "Until Saturday I supposed Mr. Elaine 
 was my friend in the matter of the Paris consul 
 ship, but after his tone on Saturday, I judge he is 
 trying to run the State Department in the interest 
 of the Elaine element"? 
 
 Prisoner, with a violent bang on the railing: 
 Yes, and that is the truth about it; I hit him square 
 there, and that is the reason why Blnine went back 
 on me; because I was a Grant man, and he 
 thought he would put a Elaine man in the Paris 
 consulship. 
 
 Q. Were you ever inspired with the idea that 
 President Garfield would he re-elected ? A. I did 
 not have any inspiration on that subject at all. It 
 was a mere casual thought of my own. I did not 
 need inspirations for that kind of work. 
 
 Q. How came you to write to Mr. Garfield on 
 the 1 3th of May : "The idea of 1884 flashed upon 
 me like an inspiration and I believe it will come 
 
 25* 
 
294 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 true*? A. All these letters were written prior to 
 General Garfield s disrupting the Republican 
 party, and it is mean and unfair in you to distort 
 my letter. After he disrupted the Republican 
 party by bringing Grant and Conkling down on 
 him there was a very different condition of affairs. 
 
 Q. You said in this letter that the idea of 1884 
 flashed through you like an inspiration ? A. But 
 Mr. Garfield killed the idea by his disruption of the 
 Republican party. 
 
 Q. On the 2d of July you* wrote a letter to 
 "The White House People." Whom did you 
 mean by the White House people ? A. I meant 
 all the inmates of the White House. 
 
 Q. Including Mrs. Garfield ? A. Of course 
 the entire White House family. 
 
 Q. You stated in that letter that the President s 
 tragical death was a sad necessity ? A. Cer 
 tainly a political necessity. 
 
 Q. Did the Deity tell you that ? A. That did 
 not require any telling. 
 
 Q. You say "It will unite the Republican party." 
 Who told you that ? A. It did not require any 
 telling (with excitement), and that is exactly what 
 it did do, too ; that shows that the inspiration was 
 correct. 
 
 Q. Who told you it would save the Republic ? 
 A. My own judgment told me so, and it proved to 
 be correct. 
 
 Q. You say that Mason fired at you while under 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 the protection of the law. Did you esteem that 
 to be a crime ? A. Of course that was a crime. 
 
 Q. Did it occur to you, then, in the language of 
 your letter to Mrs. Garfield and the White House 
 people, that " life is a fleeting dream, and it mat 
 ters little when one goes "? A. Those are my 
 sentiments. 
 
 Q. Does it matter much to you when you go ? 
 A. (coolly) : I have got no great fear of death ; 
 you are liable to die in five minutes, and so is 
 every one in this court-house ; the only question is 
 whether you are ready to die. 
 
 Q. Did you say in your letter to the White House 
 people, " I presume the President was a Christian, 
 and he will be happier in paradise than here "? 
 A. I did, and I am sure the President is a great 
 deal happier at this very moment than any man on 
 earth. 
 
 Q. You have no doubt that when you killed 
 him he went direct to paradise? A. I believed 
 him to be a good Christian man. 
 
 Mr. Porter, solemnly: And you believe that 
 the Supreme Being who holds the gates of life 
 and death wanted to send him to paradise for 
 breaking the unity of the Republican party, and 
 for ingratitude to General Grant and Senator 
 Conkling? 
 
 Prisoner: His Christianity had nothing to do 
 with his political character ? His political record 
 was very poor, but his Christian character was 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 good, because he was a good man, so far as I 
 know, although they did tell very hard stories 
 about him in connection with the Credit Mobilier 
 and such things. 
 
 In reply to a question why it required a special 
 inspiration to shoot General Garfield, he said : It 
 required special directions from the Deity to me ; 
 I suppose there were a thousand men in the Re 
 publican party who would have shot General Gar- 
 field if they had had the chance and had got the 
 nerve, and the brain, and the opportunity to do the 
 work. 
 
 Q. Did it occur to you that there, was a com 
 mandment, "Thou shalt not kill"? A. The 
 Divine authority overcame the written law. 
 
 Q. Was there any higher Divine law than that 
 spoken on Sinai ? A. Indeed there was. 
 
 Q. When you pointed that pistol at General 
 Garfield and sent that ball into his backbone, you 
 believed that it was not you but God that pulled 
 the trigger ? A. That I was simply executing the 
 Divine will ; He used me as the agent in pulling 
 the trigger; I had no option in the matter ; I would 
 have done it if I knew I was to be shot dead the 
 next moment ; the pressure was so enormous I 
 could not resist it ; put that down. 
 
 Q. Did you walk back and forth in the depot 
 watching for him ? A. Yes ; I was working my 
 self up, for I knew the hour had come. 
 
 Q. Working yourself up? Was it necessary 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 297 
 
 to do that to obey God ? A. It was all I could 
 possibly do to do the act anyway, and I had to work 
 myself up to it ; I had to obey God Almighty if 
 I died the next second. 
 
 Mr. Porter then asked if the prisoner had writ 
 ten a letter stating that he would have killed the 
 President on June 18, if it had not been that Mrs. 
 Garfield was with him leaning tenderly on his arm. 
 The prisoner stated that that was correct and 
 thought it spoke well for his heart. "My heart 
 would not allow me to remove him in the presence 
 of Mrs. Garfield. 5 
 
 Q. What objection would she have? A. A de 
 cided objection; she was a sick lady, and the shock 
 might have killed her; that was my reason for not 
 doing it ; I only had authority for removing the 
 President. 
 
 Q. And did not intend to kill Mrs. Garfield? 
 A. Decidedly not ; I felt very sorry for her, re 
 markably sorry for his children, and for every 
 body; I was grieved that it was necessary to save 
 the Republic from another war. 
 
 Counsel then branched off and asked the pris 
 oner the necessity of requesting General Sherman 
 to send troops to the jail to protect him for having 
 obeyed the Deity? A. I would have been shot 
 and hung a hundred times if it had not been for 
 the troops at the jail. 
 
 Q. Any harm in that? A. That is a matter for 
 the law to pass upon ; (impatiently) I will not 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 have any more conversation with you on this 
 sacred subject ; you are making light of a serious 
 matter and I will not talk about it. 
 
 Q. Did you think it wrong to remove President 
 Garfield without a trial ? A. I decline to discuss 
 the matter. 
 
 Q. Did God tell you that he ought to be mur 
 dered ? A. That he ought to be removed. 
 
 Q. When did He tell you so ? A. I decline to 
 discuss that. 
 
 Q. Would it criminate you ? A. I don t know 
 whether it would or not. 
 
 Going back to the letters, Mr. Porter read that 
 in which the prisoner stated that Garfield s nom 
 ination, election and "removal" were acts of God, 
 and then asked: Who nominated him? A. The 
 Chicago Convention. 
 
 Q. W T as that inspired ? 
 
 The prisoner hesitated and seemed about to 
 dodge the question, when Mr. Porter stopped him 
 with an impatient "Now, now, now." 
 
 A. mockingly: Now, now, now; I thought that 
 Grant or Elaine, would be nominated, and when 
 Garfield was nominated on the thirty-sixth ballot, 
 it was an act of God; the facts surrounding his 
 election would sustain the position that it was an 
 act of God, and the facts surrounding his removal 
 would sustain the same position. 
 
 Q. Was the Chicago Convention inspired ? A. 
 In a certain sense it was. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Q. In the same sense that you were? A. No, 
 sir; I had a positive and direct inspiration. 
 
 At this point of the testimony the prisoner com 
 plained of being fatigued, saying he was not used 
 to speaking five hours at a time, and the Court, 
 at a quarter of 3, adjourned. 
 
 This days proceedings were quite unique. Fre 
 quently Guiteau and Judge Porter were talking at 
 the same time, the former eliciting laughter by his 
 comments on the the latter s style of interrogat 
 ing him and by his objections against what he 
 deemed the unfair method. In explanation of his 
 letters, Guiteau, with a great flourish, repeated a 
 large portion of their contents. When Judge 
 Porter once said, " No, no, no," by way of stopping 
 the circumlocution of Guiteau s response, the 
 latter with enraged mockery replied, " Naw, naw, 
 naw." One-half of Guiteau s answers to the cross- 
 examination was a running parody on the inter 
 rogatories. Altogether the scene was shocking 
 to decency. It is impossible to give anything like 
 an exact report, for the "Hold on, Judge," and 
 "Wait now," of Guiteau were intermingled with 
 Judge Porters questions and utterances of " No, 
 but answer this," etc. 
 
 Friday, December 2d, the prisoner was again 
 on the witness-stand, seemingly more excitable 
 than ever. Judge Porter s deliberateness and 
 pointedness were very marked. Guiteau opened 
 proceedings by saying : I desire to say to you, 
 
300 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GLITEAU, 
 
 Judge, and to this honorable Court, that I decline 
 to answer any more questions by a repetition of 
 what we have already had. If you have anything 
 new I am ready to answer, otherwise not, unless 
 by special direction of the Court." 
 
 The cross-examination was then continued as 
 follows : 
 
 Q. Was it one of your purposes in killing the 
 President to create a demand for your book? A. 
 One of the objects was to preach the Gospel as 
 set forth in my book. 
 
 Q. Have you read a good deal about Napoleon ? 
 A. No. 
 
 Q, When you wrote "The President s nomina 
 tion was an act of God: his election was an act of 
 God; his removal was an act of God," did you 
 have Napoleon s bulletins in your mind? A. Ap 
 parently gratified: That is the way I express my 
 self sharp, pointed, sententious ; if you want to 
 see a specimen of that kind of style, look through 
 my book. 
 
 Mr. Porter: I think you have remarkable power 
 of brain, and whatever your brother-in-law may 
 think, I appreciate your ability. 
 
 Prisoner, highly pleased : I thank you Judge, 
 for your good opinion. 
 
 Mr. Porter, significantly: I think that is the 
 opinion of every juror. 
 
 Prisoner, excitedly: I take my chance before 
 this Court and the jury on the fact that the Deity 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 301 
 
 inspired the act. I am not a fool, and the Deity 
 never employed a fool to do His work. He put 
 it into my brain and heart and left me to work it 
 out in my own way. 
 
 Q. You believe in the doctrines of predestina 
 tion. A. Most decidedly; I claim that I am a 
 man of destiny ; you spoke of Napoleon, he thought 
 he was a man of destiny though he had different 
 work from me: I am a man of destiny as much as 
 the Saviour, or Paul, or Martin Luther, or any of 
 those religious men. 
 
 O. And your destiny was to kill Garfield? A. 
 It was my destiny to obey the Divine will, and let 
 Him take care of it; I put up my life, and I have 
 not been hung or shot yet. 
 
 Mr. Porter went on to cross-examine the pris 
 oner, with the object of showing that the pretended 
 inspiration in regard to a theocratic daily, to the 
 book called " Truth," to the lecture on the second 
 coming of Christ, etc., were merely borrowed from 
 the ideas of Noyes and that portions of the book 
 and lecture were plagiarisms from the book called 
 "The Berean." 
 
 Q. Do you not think that you ever had a de 
 vilish delusion? A. No, sir; I do not have devilish 
 delusions; Noyes believed in devilish delusions; 
 the devil and the Almighty are fighting it out 
 according to him; I believe in a personal devil; 
 there is an article in my little book about it; it is 
 good reading, Judge. 
 26 
 
302 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Mr. Porter : I have read it with a good 1 deal of 
 pleasure. 
 
 Q. Do you believe the devil tempts men ? A. 
 Most decidedly ; he tempts them to do evil, and 
 that is the reason, when pressed to do a thing, I 
 first question whether it is the devil or the Deity. 
 
 Q. And that was so when the question came up 
 about killing the President ? A. For two or three 
 weeks I entertained the proposition, praying the 
 Deity not to let me make any mistake ; and the 
 confirmation of the fact came to me in the fact 
 that the newspapers were denouncing Garfield, 
 and I saw the necessity of his removal for the good 
 of the American people ; if the political situation 
 had not existed, then I should have said that it was 
 the inspiration of the devil ; but the political situa 
 tion required the removal of the President for the 
 good of the American people, and that is the way 
 I knew it was the Deity and not the devil. 
 
 Q. And it was in view of the political situation 
 that you made up your mind to murder 
 
 Prisoner, interrupting excitedly : Don t use that 
 word " murder ;" you are entirely too free with 
 the word. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Are you not on trial for murder? 
 
 Prisoner : So- it is said ; can t you use the 
 proper word, "removed ?" 
 
 Mr. Porter : I can use the word " remove," but 
 it is as repulsive to me as "murder" is to you. 
 
 Prisoner, insultingly : I presume you have a 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 big fee for this, Judge. You are working on con 
 ditions I see. 
 
 Q. (suddenly) : What is your theory of your 
 defense ? A. I stated it very frequently ; if you 
 have not the comprehension to see it by this time, 
 I will not attempt to enlighten you. 
 
 Q. Your defense is that you are legally insane 
 and not in fact insane, is it ? A. The defense is 
 that it is the Deity s act and not mine. 
 
 Q. Are you insane at all ? A. A good many 
 people think I am badly insane ; the Oneida peo 
 ple thought so, my father thought so, and my rel 
 atives thought so, and still think so. 
 
 Q. Did you expect at the time you shot the 
 President to be tried for it ? A. I had no ex 
 pectation about it ; my only thought was to ex 
 ecute the Divine will and let Him take care of me ; 
 I would not have been deterred from the act if 
 I had known I should be shot in five minutes. 
 
 The examination then proceeded upon the facts 
 of Guiteau s watching for and following the Presi 
 dent, which developed nothing new. In many of 
 his answers the prisoner was exceedingly sarcastic 
 and cutting. He imitated Mr. Porter s tones, re 
 peated his phrases, and grinned and sneered at 
 him in a most malicious way. 
 
 After the recess Mr. Porter questioned the 
 prisoner as to his visit to the jail made prior to 
 the day of the shooting. The prisoner stated that 
 that visit had been made after the inspiration had 
 
304 
 
 first seized him, and that its purpose was to see 
 where he would ofo under human law. The ex- 
 
 o 
 
 amination was then addressed to the occur 
 rences of the night before the shooting, when the 
 prisoner followed the President and Mr. Elaine. 
 The prisoner stated that he had not shot that night 
 because it was hot and sultry. He was then re 
 torted upon by Mr. Porter as follows : 
 
 Q. And you were afraid you would make Mr. 
 Elaine sweat? A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Did you think it would make you hotter to 
 pull that trigger ? inquired Mr. Porter, raising his 
 arm and making a motion as if shooting with a 
 pistol. 
 
 Prisoner, contemptuously: Oh, don t put on 
 so much style with the trigger. 
 
 Q. Did you think so ? A. (imitating) : No, sir ; I 
 did not think so ; it was extremely hot, and I did 
 not feel like it at that particular time. 
 
 Q. You felt like it when you did shoot? A. 
 Under extraordinary resolution and pressure I did 
 it ; I had to do it. 
 
 Q. There was a remonstrance against the mur 
 der in you all the time ? A. No, sir ; I never had 
 a conception of it as a murder ; I have no idea of 
 it as a murder. (Impatiently) : You have gone 
 over this two or three times. 
 
 Q. You never had a remonstrance after the ist 
 of June? A. Never. 
 
 Q. In your own conscience ? A. In my own 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 conscience, it was simply a question of opportu 
 nity. 
 
 Q. Did the Deity tell you that ? A. The Deity 
 told me to remove him whenever an opportunity 
 occurred. 
 
 Q. That was His language ? A. In substance 
 it was. 
 
 Mr. Porter then called the prisoner s attention 
 to the fact that he had made arrangements to go 
 to the jail, and inquired why he had done so. 
 
 The prisoner replied that he was afraid of be 
 ing mobbed before he could explain his views to 
 the people. They would say that he was a disap 
 pointed office-seeker, and would hang him up. 
 That was the only possible motive they could con 
 coct for the act. 
 
 Mr. Porter then put some questions as to the 
 occurrence of the i8th of June, when the pris 
 oner refrained from shooting the President on ac 
 count of Mrs Garfield s presence, and finally 
 asked, if Mrs. Garfield had been with the Presi 
 dent on the 2d of July, would you have shot him ? 
 A. No, I should not have shot him in her pres 
 ence. I did not know what the effect might be on 
 her. 
 
 Q. Then it depended entirely on your will ? A. 
 It depended on whether I had a suitable opportu 
 nity. 
 
 Mr. Porter inquired why he would not have 
 shot in Mrs. Garfield s presence. 
 26* 
 
306 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Prisoner: If your head is so thick that you can t 
 get the idea in I won t try to pound it in ; don t 
 try to ask your questions in that mean, sickly sort 
 of way. 
 
 Mr. Porter pressed his question, whereupon the 
 prisoner quietly took up a paper, and adjusting 
 his eye-glasses, began to read, paying no atten 
 tion whatever to the counsel. 
 
 Mr. Porter : What are you reading ? 
 
 Prisoner, without raising his eyes : I am glanc 
 ing over the New York Herald. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Don t you think that the time of 
 the Court and jury is of some value ? 
 
 Prisoner : Not in the way you are interrogating 
 the matter. It has been discussed and repeated 
 over and over again. And the prisoner settled 
 himself back in his chair to read. 
 
 Mr. Porter: I suppose you have no objection to 
 answering what you did on the day that you killed 
 him? 
 
 The prisoner then gave an account of his ac 
 tions on the morning of July 2. He had slept the 
 previous night at the Riggs House, had risen 
 early and sat in Lafayette Park some time before 
 breakfast. After breakfast he went to his room 
 and put his revolver in his pocket. A little before 
 9 o clock he went to the depot and had his boots 
 blacked. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Did you want to be in full dress 
 when you killed him ? 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Prisoner, drawling: No. I didn t want to be 
 in full dress. I don t want to be interrupted. 
 
 Q. And I don t want to be interrupted. A. 
 Then keep quiet. 
 
 The prisoner then proceeded with his story. 
 Elaine and the President drove up in a single 
 horse carriage, and not in the White House car 
 riage, which showed how much the President was 
 under Elaine s influence ; Elaine was blowing and 
 blowing, and the President was listening ; they 
 were on the most intimate relations ; Elaine got 
 out of one side of the carriage and Garfield out 
 of the other; they walked into the depot and 
 passed within a few feet of the prisoner, who 
 drew his weapon and fired twice and hit him once. 
 
 Q. You shot him in the back ? A. I did not fire 
 at any particular place. 
 
 Q. Did you not fire for the. hollow of his back ? 
 A. My intention was to shoot him in the back. 
 
 O. Did you think that if he got two balls in his 
 back it would remove him? A. I thought so. 
 
 Q. And you intended to put them there ? A. I 
 did. 
 
 Q. (in a solemn manner) : And from that hour 
 to this you have never felt regret or remorse ? A. 
 I regret giving pain or trouble to any one, but I 
 have no doubt as to the necessity of the act or 
 the divinity of the act. 
 
 Q. You have never hinted at any remorse? A. 
 My mind is a perfect blank on that subject. 
 
308 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAL, 
 
 Q. Do you feel any more remorse about ren 
 dering his wife a widow and her children fatherless 
 than about breaking the leg of that puppy dog ? 
 A. I have no conception of it as murder or kill 
 
 ing. 
 
 Q. And you feel no remorse ? A. (in a low 
 and almost inaudible tone) : Of course I feel re 
 morse so far as my personal feelings are con 
 cerned ; I feel remorse as much as any man and 
 regret the necessity of the act, but, raising his 
 voice 
 
 Mr. Porter : The cross-examination is closed. 
 
 But, continued the prisoner excitedly, my duty 
 to the Lord and the American people overcame 
 my personal feelings. If the Lord had not in 
 spired that act it would not have been done. 
 
 After a few questions from Mr. Scoville, in re 
 direct examination, the prisoner was conducted 
 from the stand looking completely worn out. 
 
 Dr. Alexander McNeil, of Columbus, Ohio, was 
 next examined, and then, at half-past 2 o clock, the 
 court adjourned. 
 
 Proceedings began on Saturday, December 3rd, 
 by calling to the stand Colonel J. O. P. Burnside, 
 disbursing officer of the Post office Department. 
 He testified that he had lived at Freeport, knew 
 the prisoner s family and that the prisoner s mother 
 was an invalid. 
 
 Charles C. Allen, of Missouri, testified that he 
 lived in Freeport in 1839 and 1840 and knew the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 309 
 
 Guiteau family. Mrs. Guiteau was in feeble 
 health, and before the birth of the prisoner was 
 for some time confined to her bed. 
 
 Emory A. Storrs, of Chicago, was the next wit 
 ness. He knew Guiteau in Chicago as a young 
 lawyer. He saw Guiteau perhaps a dozen times 
 at the National Republican committee rooms dur 
 ing the late Presidential canvass. Witness never 
 saw Guiteau doing anything at the committee 
 rooms other than reading the papers. Mr. Storrs 
 continued: I saw him in April, 1881, in the Riggs 
 House ; I observed nothing peculiar in his dress ; 
 his manner might be called one of exultation ; my 
 recollection is that he told me he was going to 
 have the Austrian Mission, though it might have 
 been the Paris Consulship. I do not think he 
 asked me to see Mr. Elaine, but seeing that the 
 conversation was tending to that point, and as I 
 did not wish to see Mr. Elaine on that business or 
 any other relative to appointment to office, I 
 rather forestalled what he had on his mind by say 
 ing that my hostility to Mr. Elaine was so active 
 politically that I thought that any advocacy of mine 
 would be a serious damage to Guiteau; that I 
 apprehended that if Mr. Elaine knew of my pro 
 moting his claims it would be a sure way of defeat 
 ing him. From that time he never spoke to me. 
 He seemed to be rather discouraged. 
 
 Q. Did you form any opinion as, to his mental 
 condition ? A. There was nothing in his conver- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sation about the headquarters in New York that 
 would lead me to form an opinion. Altogether I 
 had formed an opinion about as to his mental 
 size. 
 
 Q. You can state what your conclusion was. 
 A. My impression was that he had an illy-balanced 
 judgment and an illy-balanced mind and did not 
 have what the average man would call good com 
 mon sense. 
 
 Witness was asked in relation to the political 
 status just prior to the shooting of President Gar- 
 field, and was asked if there were not elements of 
 discord in the Republican party which threatened 
 to disrupt it ? The reply was : " I think the Re 
 publican party a pretty difficult one to disrupt, and 
 while there were elements of discord my belief in 
 the good sense of the rank and file is such that I 
 think it would have held together." The cross- 
 examination then began, as follows : 
 
 Mr. Davidge : Did you see anything in his con 
 duct to indicate any want of capacity to determine 
 between right and wrong ? A. No, sir. I have 
 never seen anything in Guiteau which led me to 
 believe that he could not distinguish between right 
 and wrong. 
 
 Q. Nothing that came under your observation 
 made you doubt the knowledge and appreciation 
 of the prisoner for what is called crime ? A. I 
 never saw anything in the conduct of the prisoner 
 that led me to believe that he could not distinguish 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. j j 
 
 and did not know the difference between guilt and 
 innocence, and did not clearly know just what 
 crime was. 
 
 Edward Daniels, of Virginia, the next witness, 
 had met Guiteau at the Young Men s Christian 
 Association rooms in this city. He thought the 
 prisoner s movements and conversation somewhat 
 peculiar. 
 
 Senator David Davids .next took the stand. 
 He was questioned about the political situation at 
 the time President Garfield was shot. 
 
 Q. Was there not such a breach in the Republi 
 can party that it bid fair to destroy it ? A. The 
 Republican party has not been destroyed, and it 
 has had a good many breaches in it. The Re 
 publican party is an extraordinary organization. 
 I don t believe it will die until the Democratic 
 party does. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: From your knowledge of the 
 parties, do you not think the success of the Demo 
 cratic party would endanger the Republic ? 
 
 Mr. Davis : I don t think the success of any 
 political party would endanger the Republic. 
 
 The prosecution had no questions to ask and 
 Senator Davis, with an air of blank wonderment, 
 said : " Can I be excused ? I told the officer who 
 came for me that I never saw the prisoner, and 
 knew nothing about him, except what I had read. 
 I couldn t, for the life of me, see why I had been 
 summoned." 
 
3j 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU1TEAU, 
 
 Mr. Scoville : You will learn the reason, Sena 
 tor, from the arguments. 
 
 Edmund A. Bailey, stenographer, was called, 
 and was closely questioned in regard to the short 
 hand notes he had taken of Guiteau s conver 
 sations in .the jail and his disposition of them. 
 Guiteau made quite a noisy demonstration, and 
 accused the witness of deceiving him by pretend 
 ing to be a Herald representative. Witness pro 
 nounced Guiteau s statement in the matter abso 
 lutely false. " You sold it afterwards to the 
 Herald" Guiteau said, "and I suppose you got $500 
 for it." Witness explained his connection with 
 the matter, and stated that the Herald had paid 
 him $500 for the report. 
 
 Guiteau, excitedly : I told you so. I m always 
 right, though I was only guessing then. 
 
 Guiteau availed himself of a pause to announce 
 that he desired to have subpoenas issued for Presi 
 dent Arthur, General Grant, Governor Jewell, 
 Ex-Senators Conkling and Platt, Collector Robert 
 son, Secretary Elaine, Ex-Senator Dorsey, James 
 Gorden Bennett, Whitelaw Reid, George Jones, 
 Charles A. Dana, William Henry Hurlburt, George 
 C. Gorham and Stillson Hutchins, as the grava 
 men of his offence depended upon showing the 
 state of political feeling in the country in April, 
 May and June. No attention was paid to his 
 modest request. The Court then adjourned. 
 
 On Monday morning, December 5th, Dr. James 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 313 
 
 G. Kiernan was called to the stand, and testified 
 that he has been a practicing physician for eight 
 years : he is now managing editor of the Chicago 
 Medical Review and lectures on mental diseases 
 in the Chicago Medical College ; he has made a 
 study of mental diseases since 1874. 
 
 Q. Assuming it to be a fact that there was a 
 strong hereditary taint of insanity in the blood of 
 the prisoner at the bar ; also at about the age of 
 thirty-five years his own mind was so much de 
 ranged that he was a fit subject to be sent to an 
 insane asylum; also that at different times after that 
 date during the next succeeding five years he 
 manifested such decided symptoms of insanity, 
 without simulation, that many different persons 
 conversing with him and observing his conduct 
 believed him to be insane; also that in or about 
 the month of June, 1881, at or about the expira 
 tion of said term of five years he became de 
 mented by the idea that he was inspired of God, 
 to remove by death the President of the United 
 States ; also that he acted on what he believed to 
 be such inspiration, and as he believed to be in 
 accordance with the Divine will in the preparation 
 for and in the accomplishment of such a purpose; 
 also that he committed the act of shooting the 
 President under what he believed to be a Divine 
 command which he was not at liberty to disobey, 
 and which belief made out a conviction which con 
 trolled his conscience and overpowered his will as 
 27 
 
^4 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 to that act, so that he could not resist the mental 
 pressure upon him; also that immediatly after the 
 shooting he appeared calm and as if relieved by the 
 performance of a great duty; also that there was 
 no other adequate motive for the act than the con 
 viction that he was executing the Divine will for 
 the good of his country assuming all these pro 
 positions to be true, state, whether in your opinion, 
 the prisoner was sane or insane at the time of 
 shooting President Garfield ? A. Assuming these 
 propositions to be true, I should say that the pris 
 oner was insane. 
 
 Q. Have you any doubt about it? A. No, sir. 
 
 On cross-examination it appeared that the wit 
 ness is thirty years of age ; does not believe in 
 a future state of rewards and punishments ; is a 
 graduate of the medical department of the Univer 
 sity of New York City ; has never been superin 
 tendent of an insane asylum, but had been con 
 nected with a department for the insane on 
 Ward s Island; had been assistant physician there 
 at one time and practically assistant physician for 
 the greater part of the time ; was apothecary to the 
 asy!um from 1875 to 1878; was dismissed for re 
 fusing to sign a paper in a case of violence and 
 for discussing a medical subject ; Dr. MacDonald 
 was then superintendent of the asylum. 
 
 The testimony in reference to some of the pris 
 oner s relatives having been summarized the wit 
 ness was asked whether, in his judgment, that 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. I 5 
 
 evidence made out a strong hereditary taint of in 
 sanity in the blood of the prisoner. His answer 
 was: Taking all that into consideration I should 
 certainly say the case was one of hereditay in 
 sanity. 
 
 Q. Are you a disciple of the school of moral in 
 sanity ? A. Yes , I believe in moral insanity. 
 
 Q. Suppose a man told you that he had a grand 
 inspiration say to slay a ruler and suppose you 
 watched his conduct and behavior, and it turned 
 out to be that of a vulgar criminal all the way 
 through, what would you think of his statement 
 that he had a Divine commission? 
 
 Prisoner: There is no vulgar criminal in this 
 case; please leave the "vulgar" out. 
 
 Mr. Scoville objected to the question, because 
 witness opinion of what was vulgar might differ 
 from the counsel s. 
 
 Prisoner: Nothing vulgar about this case; it is 
 all high-toned. 
 
 o 
 
 Mr. Davidge, to the witness: Assume that a 
 man says to you, "I am commissioned by God to 
 slay a ruler," and you follow the conduct and be 
 havior and operations of that man for six weeks 
 and find them to be those of an ordinary sane 
 man what weight would you give to his declara 
 tion? 
 
 Witness: If I am to assume the conditions of 
 things which you state, I have to answer I would 
 not have given any weight to his declaration. 
 
^6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Various other points were dwelt upon, such as 
 the physical effects of insanity, inequality of the 
 two sides of a head, the proportion of insane per 
 sons in a community, the witness affirming that 
 it was his supposition that one in every five indi 
 viduals sooner or later become inmates of in 
 sane asylums. 
 
 After a. recess Richard T. Hinton, a Washing- 
 
 J o 
 
 ton newspaper man was called. He testified to 
 having seen the prisoner frequently last summer 
 at the rooms of the National Republican Com 
 mittee in New York ; he had also read his speech 
 "Garfield against Hancock," but not until after 
 the assassination ; he thought it ill-jointed and 
 utterly inconsequential. At the Republican head 
 quarters the prisoner was a laughing stock where 
 he was not an annoyance. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Charles H. Nicholls, 
 of New York. He stated that he is superinten 
 dent of the Bloomingdale Asylum for the Insane ; 
 he has been connected with insane asylums since 
 1844, and had during all that time made a study 
 of mental diseases ; he was first connected with 
 the New York State Lunatic Asylum at Utica, 
 then with the Bloomingdale Asylum, then with the 
 Government Hospital for the Insane for the Dis 
 trict of Columbia, and lastly with the Blooming- 
 dale Asylum. The propositions in the hypothetical 
 question, as previously given, were read to the 
 witness, and he was asked whether, in his opinion, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 3 1 7 
 
 the prisoner was sane or insane when he shot 
 President Garfield. 
 
 Witness: Taking that hypothetical case to be 
 true, I should think the person described in it was 
 insane. 
 
 The next witness was Mr. Charles Folsom, of 
 Boston, who testified that for the last nine years 
 he had given a large portion of his time to the 
 study of mental diseases ; he was in the McLean 
 Asylum for about a year and a half from 1872 ; he 
 spent a year in Berlin and Vienna, and since then 
 has been in Europe three times ; for the last three 
 years he has been instructor in mental diseases in 
 Harvard University. The proposition laid down 
 in the hypothetical question was read to the wit 
 ness, and he was asked : " Leaving out of view 
 your own opinions or anything that you may draw 
 from anywhere else, and taking the facts as stated 
 in the hypothetical question as proved to be true, 
 what, in your opinion, was the mental condition 
 of the prisoner at the time of his shooting Presi 
 dent Garfield ?" 
 
 Witness : On the assumption that those facts 
 are true, in the same way as I use language, I 
 should say he was unquestionably insane. 
 
 Mr. Davidge: That opinion is based on the 
 assumption that each of the facts stated in that 
 paper is true ? 7 
 
 Witness : Yes ; it is based exactly on that 
 paper. 
 
 27* 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Samuel Worcester, 
 of Salem, Mass. He stated that he graduated in 
 1868, but was engaged in practice previous to that 
 time in the Insane Asylum in Providence, R. I. 
 He had made a special study of mental diseases 
 for the last fifteen years. The hypothetical ques 
 tion was read to the witness, who said that before 
 answering it he should like to know the qualifica 
 tions which the prisoner s friends had for forming 
 their opinion at the time in relation to his insanity, 
 and also what interpretation was to be put upon 
 the word "inspiration/ 
 
 Mr. Scoville, to the witness: I have endeavored 
 to use plain, common words in this question. 
 
 The witness insisted on a precise interpretation 
 of the word "inspiration," and was told by Mr. 
 Scoville, with some asperity of manner, that if he 
 did not understand the question he might stand 
 aside. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. William W. Golding, 
 superintendent of the Government Hospital for 
 the Insane, of Washington, D. C., and connected 
 with insane asylums since 1875. The hypothetical 
 question was read to the witness and his reply 
 was: In my opinion he was unquestionably insane. 
 
 Mr. Davidge: You do not undertake to pass 
 upon the truth or falsity of those propositions? 
 
 Witness: Not at all; I assume them as if they 
 were proven to be true. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. James H. McBride, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 319 
 
 of the Insane Asylum of Milwaukee, and who has 
 been connected with insane asylums since January, 
 1874. The hypothetical question was read to him 
 and his answer was: Assuming these propositions 
 to be all true, I would say that he was unquestion 
 ably insane. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Walter Channing, of 
 Brookline, Mass. He had made a special study of 
 mental diseases for eight years; he had been con 
 nected with the asylum for insane criminals at 
 Auburn, N. Y., and with the State Insane Hospital 
 at Danvers, Mass. ; also with a small private asy 
 lum at Brookline, Mass. The hypothetical ques 
 tion was read to the witness and his answer was : 
 Taking all those propositions to be the exact truth 
 I should say the man was insane. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Theodore W. Fisher, 
 of Boston. He had made a specialty of mental 
 diseases for twenty years and had been connected 
 with the Boston Lunatic Asylum as Assistant Su 
 perintendent and Superintendent. The hypotheti 
 cal question was read to the witness, and his 
 answer was : " I should dislike very much to be 
 confined to that statement of facts, but if I am 
 obliged to answer that question I should say he 
 
 was insane." 
 
 The remainder of the day was spent in the 
 reading of various extracts from Guiteau s book, 
 and in sundry explanations and announcements. 
 
 Court was opened promptly on Tuesday, De- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 cember 6th, and Charles B. Farwell, a member of 
 Congress, from Chicago, was the first witness to 
 take the stand. He stated that he knew the pris 
 oner slightly ; he came to witness office in Chi 
 cago about six years ago, said his name was Gui- 
 teau, and handed him a roll of papers that he said 
 were editorials for a newspaper he proposed to es 
 tablish ; he wanted witness to lend him $200,000 
 to start the paper, and said he would make him 
 President of the United States. 
 
 Prisoner: I am very sorry to contradict you, 
 but I never said so. 
 
 Q. In that conversation did the prisoner appear 
 to be addressing you sincerely or jokingly ? A. I 
 never met him before. He said he would call 
 again, and he did so a few days after. He desired 
 me to read those leading editorials, and I did so. 
 
 Prisoner: That part is correct, but that about 
 the $200,000 is not. I wanted you to lend me 
 some money when I was trying to establish the 
 Inter- Ocean. 
 
 Witness : I examined the articles he had brought 
 and when he came back I said that I did not care 
 to engage in the enterprise; I. saw him twice since 
 that, at the Arlington Hotel, in March last ; he 
 came in with a paper in the form of a recommen 
 dation, unsigned, and asked me to sign my name 
 to it ; it was asking the President to appoint him 
 to the Austrian Mission or possibly to the Paris 
 consulship. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. * 2l 
 
 Q. Did you have any other interview with him ? 
 A. No, sir. 
 
 Q. Did you form any opinion as to his mental 
 condition ? A. I never thought him a sane man 
 in those two interviews. 
 
 The next witness was Mr. George C. Gorham, 
 editor of the Washington National Republican. 
 He stated that he had taken an interest in politics 
 ever since he had been able to read the newspa 
 pers ; he had never read the speech of the pris 
 oner entitled " Garfield against Hancock." The 
 aim was to get the judgment of this gentleman 
 upon the speech, but nothing very decided was 
 gained. Considerable discussion followed on the 
 question of Guiteau s intimacy with leaders of the 
 Republican party, and on the propriety of sum 
 moning the chief men of them as witnesses. After 
 a brief recall of John W. Guiteau, merely to fix a 
 date, and the reading of posters, handbills, etc., 
 on the prisoner s book and lecture, the case was 
 closed for the day, and Court adjourned at noon. 
 
 At the reassembling on Wednesday, December 
 7th, the prisoner and counsel indulged in a desul 
 tory discussion about the desired testimony of 
 President Arthur. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 REBUTTING TESTIMONY, ETC. 
 
 OTHER witnesses for the defense not be 
 ing present, the direct testimony of this 
 side was closed. The rebuttal on the part 
 of the government began it work by calling to 
 the stand William T. Sherman, General of the 
 Army of the United States. He identified the 
 letter of the prisoner, which was handed to him 
 at five minutes to twelve A. M., on the 2d day 
 of July at his office in the War Department. 
 The witness stated that the four companies 
 of artillery which then constituted the garrison 
 of Washington were called out by him on the 
 first intimation to him that the President had 
 been shot ; the shooting of the President under 
 the circumstances, as reported to him, had given 
 raise to an apprehension that it was part and 
 parcel of a conspiracy prevailing throughout the 
 country and therefore he had promptly called 
 out the troops. 
 
 Q. Did you make an examination to ascertain 
 the facts ? A. I did ; I went to the depot and saw 
 the Secretaries of State and War, and learned 
 from them and others the principal facts ; I then 
 sent Colonel Kidball to the depot with troops ; I 
 
A SSA SSIN OF PRESIDENT GA R FIELD, * 2 3 
 
 then went to the War Department and there 
 received the letter which I hold 
 in my hand. 
 
 Q. After you ascertained 
 that there was no conspiracy 
 did the army still remain in 
 charge of the jail ? A. The 
 army did not take charge, but 
 
 J . . ROBERT T. LINCOLN, 
 
 assisted the civil authorities in secretary of war. 
 the execution of their duties ; a guard was sent 
 to the jail at the request of Major Brock. 
 
 Cross-examination by Mr. Scoville. Q. You 
 said something about a conspiracy? A. I said that 
 when I first learned that General Garfield had been 
 shot down in the depot my mind jumped to the 
 conclusions that it must have other connection re 
 sulting from a conspiracy. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: Did you have any other founda 
 tion for that opinion than your own suspicion? 
 
 Witness: None. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: Did you ever have? 
 
 Witness: Never. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: Did you investigate the subject? 
 
 Witness: Yes. 
 
 Mr. Scoville: What conclusion did you arrive 
 at? 
 
 Witness : I came to the conclusion that it was 
 the act of one man, and one man alone. 
 
 Prisoner: I m much oblige to you, General, for 
 sending troops to my protection at that time ; I 
 
24 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J GUITEAU, 
 
 should not have been here if it had not been for 
 you and General Crocker, and Major Brock. 
 
 The next witness was Edward P. Barton, a law 
 yer of Freeport, 111., who testified to having known 
 Luther W. Guiteau very well from 1856 until the 
 day of his death ; he had the character of a very 
 reliable, honest, clear-headed, straightforward busi 
 ness man ; he was intelligent to an unusual de 
 gree, and kept posted in the current literature 
 and politics of the day ; his mind was a peculiarly 
 logical one. 
 
 o 
 
 A. T. Greene, a collector of Freeport, 111., testi 
 fied his belief in the sanity of the whole Guiteau 
 family, and the cross-examination failed to shake 
 his testimony. 
 
 Gardner W. Tandy, a boot and shoe dealer, of 
 Freeport, 111., also testified to the sanity of such 
 members of the Guiteau family as he had any 
 knowledge of. 
 
 o 
 
 Benjamin T. Buckley, a practicing physician of 
 Freeport, 111., was the next witness. For some 
 years he had been the doctor of L. W. Guiteau s 
 family ; had always regarded Mr. Guiteau as a 
 man of fine intellect, with a clear, logical mind ; 
 he was a public-spirited man, a man of benevo 
 lence, always interested in the cause of education 
 and temperance ; witness never saw the slightest 
 indication of mental trouble in the man. 
 
 Smith D. Atkins, editor of the Freeport Repub 
 lican, was the next witness, and testified as to the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. -, 2 r 
 
 sanity of the Guiteau family. He was questioned 
 as to the character of Messrs. North and Amer- 
 ling, witnesses for the defense, and stated that 
 North had been excluded from the Methodist 
 Church ;for lascivious conduct, and that Amerling 
 was such a man as Luther W. Guiteau would not 
 associate with. 
 
 At this point a recess was taken. The first 
 witness after the recess was J. S. Cochran, a law 
 yer, of Freeport, 111. He had resided there since 
 1858 ; knew Luther W. Guiteau intimately up to 
 the time of his death ; never saw in him any indi 
 cation of mental disturbance, however slight; 
 knew also Abram Guiteau ; never saw any evi 
 dence of insanity in him ; never had any reason 
 to suppose that any member of the family was of 
 unsound mind. 
 
 George W. Oiler, a Justice of the Peace, of 
 Freeport, III, was the next witness, and testified as 
 to the sanity of the Guiteaus. He was then ques 
 tioned by the District-Attorney as to Mr. Amer 
 ling, and stated that he had received a letter from 
 that gentleman before the trial asking him to look 
 up the eccentricities of the Guiteau family ; he 
 thought that the letter was written for the pur 
 pose of getting him to manufacture 
 
 District-Attorney : So I thought. 
 
 Mr. Scoville started up angrily. 
 
 District- Attorney : That is irregular; I admit 
 it. 
 
 28 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Mr. Scoville: Then don t do it. You first do it 
 and then admit it. 
 
 Anson A. Babcock, a farmer of Freeport , 111,, 
 testified that he had lived there forty years ; never 
 saw anything in L. W. Guiteau or his family indi 
 cating insanity. 
 
 Mr. David H. Sunderland, State Senator from 
 the county in which Freeport is situated, and 
 formerly a schoolmaster of the prisoner, then took 
 the stand. He had never seen any symptoms of 
 insanity in the Guiteau family. In cross-exami 
 nation he stated that when the prisoner went to 
 school to him he was six years old, and had great 
 difficulty in articulating and giving the right pro 
 nunciation to words ; L. W. Guiteau had taken 
 great interest in education, and his name was 
 inscribed upon one of the public schools in Free- 
 port. 
 
 Horace Tarbox, capitalist, of Freeport, testified 
 to the sanity of the Guiteaus, and stated that L. 
 W. Guiteau was the third smartest man in the 
 county. He mentioned the names of men who 
 were smarter, upon which the prisoner smilingly 
 said that those two men were dead and so the 
 father must have been head of the county. 
 
 At 3 o clock the Court adjourned. 
 
 On Thursday, December 8th, Julia M. Wilson 
 was the first witness called. She was a niece of 
 L. W. Guiteau and a cousin of the prisoner. Her 
 mother was Mrs. Julia Maynard, who died in 1856, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARF1ELD. 
 
 and in whose conduct there was no trace of flighti- 
 ness 
 
 Q. Did you ever hear in your father s family, 
 during your mother s life, or after her death, that 
 she was insane ? A. No. 
 
 Witness then gave a description of her sister 
 Abby s character, showing her to be imbecile 
 rather than insane, or, as witness stated it, " a 
 childish mind in an old body;" in none of the 
 family had she ever seen any indication of in 
 sanity. 
 
 On cross-examination Mr. Scoville inquired 
 whether witness had any prejudice against in 
 sanity being shown in the family. A. I may have, 
 in view of the influence on children and others, 
 not on myself; if I thought Iliad nervous children 
 I should dislike to have them constantly feeling 
 that they were subject to insanity. 
 
 Witness stated that her sister Abby was now in 
 the State Asylum for the Insane. 
 
 The testimony of this witness provoked quite 
 an animaetd family quarrel in which the lawyers 
 also joined. 
 
 The next witness was Mr. George C. Maynard, 
 of Washington (the same gentleman from whom 
 the prisoner borrowed the money with which he 
 bought the pistol and who had already testified in 
 the case). He is a cousin to the last witness and 
 knew her mother, Mrs. Maynard, very intimately 
 for years; she was his aunt ; she was a woman of 
 
228 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 intelligence and cultivation, decidedly strong in 
 character, clear-headed and even-tempered and of 
 very superior ability ; he had never seen in her 
 any indication of mental disturbance ; he also knew 
 Abby Maynard as a bright, intelligent, good-tem 
 pered amiable girl ; she was timid and diffident, 
 and appeared like a woman of thirty with the 
 ways of a girl of eighteen ; aside from that she 
 was as smart as any of them ; he also knew her 
 father, who was a man of great prominence in 
 Ann Arbor ; he never knew any indication of 
 weakness of mind in him. 
 
 The noon recess then occurred. After the re 
 cess Frank Bartlett, of Chicago, was called to the 
 stand. He knew Mr. and Mrs. Scoville, and had 
 a slight acquaintance with the prisoner. 
 
 Prisoner : You met me at Mr. Scoville s sum 
 mer resort in 1876 ; that s all you know about me. 
 It cost the Government $200 to get this man 
 down to testify to that. That is the way you 
 wasting the Government money, Corkhill 
 
 The witness stated that he knew the prisoner 
 in 1878. 
 
 Prisoner: It was in 1878. You re right. 
 
 Q. Did you see anything in his conduct that 
 would indicate that he was of unsound mind ? A. 
 Nothing whatever. 
 
 Prisoner : What has that to do with the condi 
 tion of my mind ? From the middle of May till 
 the ist of July I had a chance to go crazy a hun- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 dred times. [Laughter]. That shows the very 
 stupid work on the part of the prosecution. If 
 you had to pay the money, Corkhill, you wouldn t 
 do this, but the taxpayers have got to pay it. 
 
 Florence L. Bartlett, the wife of the last wit 
 ness, then took the stand and was questioned as 
 to the incident of Guiteau s throwing a dog down 
 stairs. The testimony was unimportant and the 
 spectators seemed to agree with the witness when 
 she said her opinion was that " it was a good deal 
 of talk about a very small matter." 
 
 The cross-examination failed to shake the wit 
 ness testimony, and the prisoner interjected the 
 remark, " We ve had enough of this dog busi 
 ness." 
 
 Howard C. Dunham, acting secretary of the 
 American Peace Society, of Boston, then took the 
 stand. The testimony was upon minor points and 
 was accompanied with considerable discussion by 
 the prisoner and counsel. 
 
 The next witness was John Palmer, proprietor 
 of the Circular Street House, Saratoga Springs. 
 The substance of his testimony was that the pris 
 oner spent a week at his house in July, 1880, and 
 left without paying his bill. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then read to the Court the answers 
 of President Arthur to the interrogatories sent 
 him. To the first and second questions whether 
 he knew the prisoner, and how often he had seen 
 him, the President replied that he knows him, that 
 28* 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 he has seen him at least ten times, and possibly 
 twenty times. To the question as to whether he 
 had ever conversed with him he replied, " Never, 
 excepting to return the ordinary salutations of the 
 day, and once or twice in answer to his request to 
 be employed in the campaign as a speaker by the 
 Republican State Committee, of which I was chair 
 man." To the question what political services the 
 prisoner had rendered to the Republican party 
 during the last Presidential campaign, the answer 
 is, " None that I know of." The fifth question 
 was, " Whether there was anything in the prison 
 er s relations to himself, or to General Grant, or 
 Senator Conkling or any other leader of the Re 
 publican party, socially or politically, to furnish 
 him with any ground for supposing that he would 
 receive any political preferment." The answer is 
 " No." 
 
 Prisoner : That is a matter of opinion. 
 
 The last question was : "Did you ever give him 
 any reason to think he could have any political or 
 personal influence with you ?" The answer is, " I 
 never did." 
 
 Prisoner: He never had occasion to. 
 
 The President adds to his answers the follow 
 ing: I have been requested by counsel for the 
 defense to produce a letter written by the prisoner 
 since his indictment. That letter was received by 
 me in October last, and was not preserved. I do 
 not recollect its contents particularly, excepting 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. * l 
 
 that it contained some claim of his having rendered 
 some important services to the Republican party 
 during the Presidential campaign, and an appeal 
 for the postponement of his trial to give him time 
 to prepare for the defense. 
 
 Prisoner : That is all that there was to it. 
 
 The next witness was Rev. R. S. MacArthur, pas 
 tor of the Calvary Baptist Church of New York. 
 As soon as he was sworn the prisoner remarked : 
 " I know Dr. MacArthur very well. He is a nice, 
 fine fellow ; very high-toned in every way. I owe 
 him $95." In answer to the question when, where 
 and under what circumstances he had known the 
 prisoner, the witness said : In the latter part of 
 June or the early part of July, 1872, the prisoner 
 introduced himself and his wife to me at the close 
 of one of the Sunday morning services ; he pre< 
 sented at the same time a letter of dismission 
 from the First Baptist Church, of Chicago, of 
 which Rev. W. W. Evarts was then pastor ; this 
 letter dismissed him and his wife honorably from 
 that church and recommended them heartily to 
 the watchful care and fellowship of the Calvary 
 Baptist Church, of which I was then and am now 
 pastor ; with the letter was also his business-card, 
 Charles J. Guiteau, Attorney and Counsellor at 
 Law, at such a number, Broadway ; he stated to 
 me at that time that in Chicago he had had a 
 lucrative practice of law, but that owing to the 
 disasters following the fire his practice had entirely 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 or in good part gone, and that now he and his 
 wife had come to New York to start life afresh. 
 I received him with cordiality. 
 
 At our first regular business-meeting, in Sep 
 tember, 1872, the prisoner and his wife were 
 received into the fellowship of our church; the 
 wife came to me one Saturday, late in July or 
 early in August, with a letter from her husband 
 stating that he was in great distress for money; 
 the money was most urgently asked for by his 
 wife ; I gave the money ; that fall we were enter 
 ing on a political campaign ; during the early part 
 of the fall the prisoner used to attend our meet 
 ings and to participate in our prayers and remarks ; 
 he was always welcome ; during this campaign he 
 was not seen at cur meetings so often, and the 
 reason assigned by him was (using the phrase 
 which he used) that he had gone to some degree 
 into politics and that he expected an office as the 
 result of these political excitements. 
 
 During the year 1872 and the early part of 1873 
 we saw him at the meetings less frequently ; now 
 and then there were remarks made in newspapers 
 reflecting somewhat on his character in the man 
 agement of some business affairs, but in conver 
 sation with me he gave what he deemed a satis 
 factory explanation, and there seemed to be no 
 sure ground on which proceedings of discipline 
 could be instituted against him. 
 
 I remember that he was" arrested and thrown 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 333 
 
 into Jefferson Market jail because of some diffi 
 culty with a hotel, and that from the jail he wrote 
 to me, saying that I was the only one to whom he 
 could apply and that he was absolutely helpless 
 I put myself out very considerably to go to the 
 jail and see him ; I saw the Judge, and the Judge 
 kindly offered to attach importance to any sug 
 gestion that I might make to him ; I informed 
 him, however, that I wished the law to take its 
 course ; in the meantime it came to the knowledge 
 of the officers of the church that he had been guilty 
 of gross immorality. 
 
 Prisoner : That was the time that I committed 
 adultery so that I might get a divorce. That was 
 all there was in it. I was not going to live all my 
 life with a woman I did not like. I had no busi 
 ness to marry her at all. 
 
 Witness, ignoring the interruption: And about 
 the 1 3th of April, 1875, ne was summoned to 
 appear before the Advisory Committee to answer 
 to the charge of gross immorality; I was chair 
 man of that committee; there were three counts 
 in the charge ; the first was that he took money 
 which his wife earned by working in a hotel in the 
 country and which was remitted to him to assist 
 in supporting him. 
 
 Prisoner, interrupting : That is absolutely false, 
 Doctor. I never heard the story before. 
 
 Witness, still ignoring the interruption : And 
 spent it in improper relations with other women. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Prisoner, with excitement: That is absolutely 
 false. If my wife told you that, she told a lie. 
 
 Witness, continuing his narrative : The second 
 and third counts charged that he had been guilty, 
 by frequent acts, of violation of his marriage 
 vows. 
 
 Prisoner, again breaking in : I only married that 
 woman on ten hours notice, and that is reason 
 enough why I could not live with her. 
 
 Witness: Those charges were recited to the 
 prisoner by myself in the presence of the com 
 mittee. 
 
 Prisoner: That is erroneous. I beg to differ 
 from you. 
 
 Witness: I recited those charges to the prisoner, 
 and he acknowledged the truth of every one of 
 them. 
 
 Prisoner, in spite of all Mr. Scoville s efforts to 
 repress him : I remember this. I take back my 
 contradiction to what the doctor said, because upon 
 thinking it over I find it is correct. The men on 
 that committee said that they had been in the same 
 boat themselves and for that reason they felt 
 sympathetic. They thought that if a man had 
 been unfortunately married he had a right to get 
 out of it. 
 
 The witness proceeded to tell of Guiteau s final 
 exclusion from the church. A decided sensation 
 was made when the District-Attorney said : We 
 present this testimony because we want to show 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 that what the defense calls insanity is nothing 
 more than devilish depravity. 
 
 The District-Attorney, to the witness : From 
 your observation and from your conversations 
 with him did you ever consider him in any sense 
 an insane man ? 
 
 Witness : It never occurred to me for a moment 
 that he was other than sane. 
 
 After cross-examination, in which the prisoner 
 was constantly interrupting proceedings, the Court 
 adjourned. 
 
 Dr. MacArthur resumed his testimony on Fri 
 day, December gth. The re-direct examination 
 was conducted by the District-Attorney, but de 
 veloped nothing new. 
 
 The next witness was W. S. Caldwell, of Free- 
 port, Illinois, a physician. He attended the pris 
 oner s father in his last illness and noticed in him 
 no indications of unsoundness of mind. 
 
 The next witness was George W. Plummer, of 
 Chicago, lawyer. As soon as he was called the 
 prisoner blurted out : 
 
 " I owe Plummer $20 and it will cost the Gov 
 ernment $100 to prove that fact." To the Dis 
 trict-Attorney : " How many more of these money- 
 men have you got, Colonel ? Public attention 
 should be called to the way you are spending the 
 public money. You will make this trial cost 
 $200,000." 
 
 The witness stated that the prisoner had ob- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 tained desk-room in his office in. Chicago and had 
 got out some business cards, on which he de 
 scribed himself as " Late of New York City." 
 
 The witness went on to speak of the Inter- 
 Ocean negotiations, which the witness did not 
 
 c> 
 
 think at all irrational, considering the first-class 
 men whom the prisoner mentioned as backers. 
 
 Prisoner: I had the brains and they had the 
 money. 
 
 The next witness was Granville B. Hawes, one 
 of the Judges of the Marine Court of New York. 
 He testified to the fact that the prisoner in 1874 
 occupied a desk in the outer room of his office, 
 and said that he had never noticed anything in 
 him indicating that he was of unsound mind. 
 
 o 
 
 The next witness was Mr. Stephen English, of 
 New York, editor and proprietor of the Insurance 
 Times. He detailed all the circumstances con 
 nected with the prisoner procuring bail for him 
 while he was in Ludlow Street jail on a charge of 
 libel. He was interrupted at every step of his 
 narrative by the prisoner ejaculating : " That is 
 not true :" " Confine yourself to the facts, Eng 
 lish ;" " He got me arrested by actual perjury ;" 
 " That is absolutely false ;" " I can convince you 
 that you are lying ;" " There is not an insurance 
 president in New York who does not know that 
 you are a first-class fraud;" "That is the biggest 
 lie you have spoken;" "Why, I would not spit 
 upon you in the street;" "You old scoundrel;" 
 
OF PRESIDENT GARF1ELD. 
 
 "The insurance presidents of New York would 
 not believe you under oath;" "You re an old 
 fraud." 
 
 In reply to the question whether he had any 
 doubt as to the sanity of the prisoner, the witness 
 said: Never; on the contrary, he appeared to be 
 a man of remarkable keenness of intellect, be 
 cause he completely outwitted me. [Laughter]. 
 
 Prisoner; He had a half dozen lawyers trying 
 to get him out and they failed. I was the only 
 man who dragged him out of that hole. 
 
 Warren G. Brown, attorney-at-law, of New 
 York, was counsel for Mrs. Guiteau in obtaining 
 her divorce from the prisoner. Witness saw and 
 talked with the prisoner several times during the 
 four months that the case was pending, and never 
 saw anything to indicate that the prisoner was not 
 as rational as any other man. 
 
 Guiteau, excitedly: I want to know, Corkhill, 
 what all this kind of evidence has got to do with 
 the real issue. Who fired the shot that killed 
 Garfield, the Deity or I? I think it devilish mean 
 to rake up my character in all its details. 
 
 Charles H. Wehle, a lawyer of New York City, 
 was then called -to the stand. He was acquainted 
 with the prisoner and had met him in 1873. Saw 
 him twice, once in prisoner s office, once in his 
 own. On those occasions the purpose was to get 
 money from him which he had collected from wit 
 ness clients and not.paid over. 
 29 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUI TEAL, 
 
 Witness presented a book, showing the contract 
 which he had with Guiteau to collect money, and 
 read a number of claims which were to be col 
 lected for Mr. Emil Haas, one of witness clients. 
 
 When he concluded the prisoner declared that 
 he would not give ten cents a bushel for all the 
 claims, and demanded to know the amount of 
 claims which he had collected. 
 
 Witness : The items collected amounted to 
 
 $585-12. - 
 
 District- Attorney : From those interviews with 
 
 him, was there anything in his actions or conver 
 sations to indicate tha the was of unsound mind ? 
 
 Witness: Nothing. On the contrary, I con 
 sidered him very sharp and keen, and as rational 
 as you or I. 
 
 Prisoner : That was eight years ago. It has a 
 great deal to do with this case, hasn t it, Colonel 
 (in an ironical tone to the District-Attorney) ? 
 You produce those notes (he shouted wildly to the 
 witness), or else get off that stand a disgraced 
 man. If you came to slobber . over me you must 
 produce those notes or you show yourself a liar. 
 
 On the cross-examination, Mr. Wehle was 
 asked: Did you ever have any conversation with 
 the prisoner on the subject of religion ? A. No.. 
 
 "No, "echoed the prisoner, contemptously ; "he 
 is a Jew, and a dirty one at that." 
 
 The next witness was Benjamin Harrison, 
 United States Senator from Indiana. He testified 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 339 
 
 that he had met the prisoner after the inaugura 
 tion in Washington, Guiteau wanted assistance in 
 his application for office. The witness saw nothing 
 that raised the question of insanity. 
 
 D. McLean Shaw, a New York lawyer, was 
 called. The prisoner rented an office-room from 
 him at 59 Liberty Street, in 1872. Prisoner had 
 declared his purpose to become notorious, even if 
 he imitated Wilkes Booth. Witness never had 
 any doubt of Guiteau s sanity. The prisoner was 
 particularly abusive of this witness. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, angrily: I would like an oppor 
 tunity to cross-examine the witness. 
 
 Prisoner: I can examine him in two or three 
 words better than you in a half an hour. 
 
 Q. Who was the first person to whom you 
 related this conversation? A. I don t recollect 
 stating it to anybody until after the assassination. 
 
 Prisoner: You kept it to yourself. That shows 
 that you are a liar, you whelp, you. 
 
 Q. Whom did you first inform of it? A. Some 
 of my friends and associates. 
 
 Prisoner: I just want to state about Shaw that 
 I went from his office to Judge Hawes office. I 
 called round to see Shaw one day and he said: 
 " You have to thank me for that," as much as to 
 say that I got into Judge Hawes office on his re 
 commendation. 
 
 W r ith the consent of the District- Attorney, Mr. 
 Scoville called to the stand Judge Granville B. 
 
340 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Hawes, who had been occupying a seat beside 
 Judge Cox. He did not recollect whether th e 
 prisoner had come into his office on Mr. Shaw s 
 recommendation or not. 
 
 The Court then adjourned until 1 1 o clock, 
 Monday. 
 
 On Monday, December i2th, Mr. Scoville called 
 to the stand, with the consent of the prosecution, 
 Dr. E. C. Spitzka, of New York City. He stated 
 that he had followed the medical profession for 
 eight years, and for six of those he had made a 
 specialty of nervous and mental diseases ; he had 
 studied in Vienna and this country ; he had been 
 called as an expert in insanity cases twenty-five or 
 twenty-six times ; he had written articles upon the 
 subject and had received the international competi 
 tive prize in 1878 for an essay on insanity. Pie 
 was questioned fully as to an examination made 
 the previous day to determine whether Guiteau 
 was insane. He pronounced the prisoner unques 
 tionably insane, and expressed the conviction that 
 he had been more or less so all through his life. 
 
 Q. State the particular phase or character of 
 the insanity in this case, as observed by you. A. 
 That would be very difficult to render clear to a 
 jury not composed of experts ; I simply say that 
 the marked feature of this man s insanity is a ten 
 dency to delusive or insane opinion and to the 
 creation of morbid and fantastical projects ; there 
 is a marked element of imbecility of judgment, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 and, while I had no other evidence than the ex 
 pression of his face for this, I have no doubt that 
 he is a moral imbecile, or, rather, a moral mon 
 strosity. 
 
 The cross-examination dealt with the definition 
 of insanity, degrees of insanity, etc. 
 
 In reply to further questions, the witness said 
 that he had never had charge of an insane asylum, 
 he had never been professor in a medical 
 school, but was Professor of Comparative Anat 
 omy at the Columbia Veterinary College. 
 
 Q. What sort of a college is that ? A. A col 
 lege where physicians are instructed in the art of 
 treating the lower animals. 
 
 o 
 
 O. Horse, mainly, I suppose? A. Yes; the 
 branch which I treat is the branch pursued by 
 such men as Thomas Huxley, Baron Huguet, 
 Haeckel and others of our most eminent scientists. 
 I have no reason to be ashamed of it. 
 
 Mr. Davidge : All these doctors, and the doc 
 tors belonging to this college are called " horse 
 doctors," are they not ? 
 
 Witness : I never have treated any lower ani 
 mal except the ass, and that animal had two legs 
 [laughter], I therefore cannot consider myself a 
 veterinary surgeon. 
 
 Q. But you are a veterinary surgeon, are you 
 not ? A. In the sense that I treat asses who ask 
 me stupid questions I am. [Laughter.] 
 
 After some questioning about his relation to the 
 
 2Q* 
 
342 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES j. GUITEAU, 
 
 pending case, the witness gave very fully his rea 
 sons for thinking Guiteau insane. 
 
 The afternoon session was opened as usual by 
 the prisoner, who, thumping the table with his fist, 
 cried : " There are a good many poodle dogs in 
 the newspaper business, and I want to express 
 my utter contempt for some of those poodle dogs. 
 I am glad to notice that the high-toned, conscien 
 tious papers are saying almost with one voice that 
 it would be a stain on the American name for the 
 jury to hang a man in my condition on the 2cl of 
 July, when I was precipitated upon the President." 
 
 Hardly had he ceased speaking, when a voice 
 from the most crowded corner of the court-room 
 exclaimed, " Shoot him now !" The prisoner glared 
 around in a frightened manner, while there was a 
 
 o 
 
 good deal of suppressed commotion among the 
 spectators. The Deputy Marshal endeavored to 
 discover the offender, but was unsuccessful. 
 
 The cross-examination proceeded upon the 
 shape of the prisoner s head and other congenital 
 evidences of insanity. 
 
 Q. You base your opinion as to his moral mon 
 strosity on the shape of his head ? A. Only in 
 cidentally; I base it upon his expression taken in 
 connection with the abnormal shape of his head ; 
 it proves the congenital character of the trouble ; 
 if the man only had the mean face he has, I should 
 say he might be a depraved man, but when I add 
 to that the defective shape of his skull I am 
 
ASS A SSI A 7 OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 strongly of the belief as strongly as science per 
 mits us to come to a conclusion that he is a con 
 genital monstrosity. 
 
 Q. You refer to the shape of the head and the 
 inequality of the facial muscles and the deviation 
 of the tongue to the left, as indicating that the 
 lack of moral sense is congenital and not ac- 
 
 o 
 
 quired ? A. Yes ; among the other physical evi 
 dences I noticed was a defect in his speech. 
 
 Q. What do you mean by an unequal facial de 
 velopment ? A. On one side the facial folds, 
 when he was laughing, rose higher than on the 
 other. 
 
 O. His smile was a one-sided smile ? A. A 
 lop-sided smile. 
 
 Q. In your practice have you met with many 
 lop-sicled smiles ? A. It is the characteristic of 
 those insane whom we term " primary monoma 
 niacs." 
 
 Q. Taken alone what would it amount to ? A. 
 Absolutely nothing. 
 
 Prisoner : Dr. Spitzka is one of the most scien 
 tific men in America. He studied in all the high- 
 toned colleges in Europe, and he is not to come 
 here and be insulted by this little bit of a scamp. 
 To the District-Attorney: Why, Corkhill, he 
 would not even condescend to spit on you. 
 
 District- Attorney : I understand that this wit 
 ness, over a month ago, wrote an opinion upon 
 the subject of this prisoner s insanity, and criti- 
 
344 TRIAL OF Off A RLE S J. GUITEAV, 
 
 cised the whole case. I want to show that he did 
 not come here with an unformed opinion. 
 
 Witness : Nor did I claim to do so. 
 
 Court: There is nothing wronof in that. 
 
 o o 
 
 On being questioned further the witness ad 
 mitted all that was asked about this printed article 
 to which the District- Attorney replied ; 
 
 So that when you came into this case you had 
 not only expressed your opinion as to the sanity 
 or insanity of the prisoner, but you had criticised 
 the law officer in charge of the case, and said 
 that it would be disgraceful to hang the prisoner, 
 and that the case ought never to go to a jury. 
 Now do you pretend to say that you came here 
 an unbiassed witness? 
 
 Witness, indignantly : I mean to say that I am 
 an honest, scientific, unprejudiced witness, and if 
 you will say restraining himself. I will not go 
 any further. 
 
 On Tuesday, December I3th, Dr. Spitzka re 
 sumed the stand, and the District-Attorney con 
 ducted the cross-examination. It elicited nothing 
 new, and a re-direct examination followed, which 
 was conspicuous chiefly for the personalities and 
 ill-temper it occasioned. 
 
 Dr. Fordyce Barker, physician and surgeon, of 
 New York, was next called as an expert witness 
 on behalf of the prosecution. He was examined 
 by Mr. Porter. He stated his professional expe 
 rience, and that he had carefully investigated and 
 
ASSASSIN- OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 345 
 
 studied the subject of insanity ; he defined insanity 
 to be a disease characterized by an alteration of 
 the mental faculties and a perversion of the 
 normal actions of the individual ; in cases of 
 insanity either a change of substance and that 
 wrought by disease or p. change in the healthy 
 performance and functions and duties that belong 
 to some part of the body is always found, either 
 one or both. 
 
 O. What is moral insanity ? A. Moral insanity 
 is wickedness ; it is a term not found in medical 
 science, as involving a form of insanity; it is a 
 term loosely used to excuse or palliate conduct 
 which is on any other theory indefensible. 
 
 Q. Is the habit of boasting of intimacy with 
 persons holding high positions and possessing in 
 fluence and power where there is no such inti 
 macy proof of an insane delusion ? A. It is not, 
 because it is not the result of disease, and insanity 
 is a disease ; it is the result of vanity and self- 
 conceit and love of notoriety, and these are vices 
 and not diseases. 
 
 Q. In your judgment as a scientist, would a 
 man s assertion that he was the chosen instrument 
 of God and was in direct and immediate com 
 munication with Him as a trusted agent be evi 
 dence of an insane delusion ? A. It would not, for 
 several reasons; it might be asserted as an ex 
 cuse for crime ; where it exists as one of the symp- 
 .toms of insanity it is susceptible of proof. If the 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU1TEAU, 
 
 act were inconsistent and contrary to the previous 
 habits and normal character of the individual it 
 would be a strong presumptive evidence of in 
 sanity. For example, if a man who has always 
 been a hard working, industrious man, of correct 
 habits, moral, affectionate, fond of his wife and 
 children, should cut the throat of his child, and 
 give as his reason that he was directed by the 
 voice of God, that would be almost a sure proof 
 of insanity; whereas, where a man has been al 
 ways a tyrant to his wife and children, utterly 
 reckless in his conduct, of bad impulses, regard 
 less of the laws of God and man, such an excuse 
 would not be a defense, and would not be any 
 evidence of delusion. 
 
 Prisoner: That suits my case exactly, Doctor. 
 I have been always a Christian man, and I have 
 been strictly virtuous for years. 
 
 Court, to the witness : State to what class of 
 subjects insane delusions generally relate. 
 
 Witness : That depends upon the existing cause 
 of the insanity. 
 
 Court: Do they always relate to something 
 affecting the individual himself or his relations 
 with other persons? 
 
 Witness : Insane delusions are false beliefs as 
 to facts ; absurd and extravagant opinions are 
 governed by differences in the intellectual powers 
 of different individuals ; some are buoyed up by 
 extravagant hope and confident belief in success, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 while others are depressed and inclined to take a 
 dark view of every question. 
 
 Court: Is an insane delusion ever the result of 
 a process of reasoning? 
 
 Witness: No. 
 
 After further questioning, Mrs. Scoville for the 
 first time ventured to take part in the examina 
 tion of a witness, against the earnest protest of 
 the prisoner, who told her to mind her own busi 
 ness. She said to the witness: " Doctor, can a 
 person be born insane from malformation of the 
 brain?" 
 
 Witness : That produces idiocy and imbecility, 
 not insanity. 
 
 Mrs. Scoville: Can it develop into insanity? 
 
 Witness: A person with a malconstructed brain 
 may be more liable to insanity. 
 
 Mrs. Scoville : That is what I wanted to know. 
 I am much obliged. 
 
 o 
 
 At the afternoon session, L. S. Gobel. of New 
 ark, N. J., testified that the prisoner had offered 
 him some life insurance applications, and had bor 
 rowed money on several occasions. 
 
 The next witness was William P. Copeland, a 
 Washington journalist, who picked out the news 
 paper scraps that were found on the prisoner and 
 indicated the various papers from which they were 
 cut, several of them being from the Brooklyn 
 Eagle. 
 
 The next witness was H. T. Ketcham, of Brook- 
 
-, g TRIAL OF CIIA RLES J. G I ITEA U, 
 
 lyn, attorney and counselor-at-law, who had been 
 law clerk to Mr. Hawes at the time the prisoner 
 had a desk in the office. He testified that he had 
 several conversations with the prisoner, and par 
 ticularly in reference to a patent which the prisoner 
 said he had for the use of rouge by jewelers ; the 
 witness father, who is a jeweler, told him when he 
 mentioned the matter that there nwht as well be 
 
 o 
 
 a patent for the application of bread to butter ; 
 the witness had occasionally lent him small sums 
 of money. 
 
 The next witness was Henry Wood. As soon 
 as he came to the witness-stand the prisoner ex 
 claimed, " That is the man who knew my wife 
 before I did." The witness testified that he is a 
 resident of Philadelphia, and a railway manager; 
 he first met the prisoner in 1872 ; the prisoner 
 called at his house at that time to thank his family 
 for some friendliness they had shown to his wife ; 
 he had subsequently seen him several times in 
 connection with his divorce proceedings ; the last 
 time he saw him was when the prisoner attempted 
 to deliver a lecture in a Presbyterian Church in 
 Philadelphia on the Second Coming of Christ; 
 the prisoner spoke for about fifteen or twenty 
 minutes and then stopped, saying that his book 
 would soon be out,- and that everybody could then 
 see what he thought on the subject; he then 
 passed around his hat for a collection, which was 
 his only compensation. 
 
ASSASSW OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Prisoner: I got fifty cents, and twenty-five cents 
 of it came from the witness. [Laughter.] 
 
 To the question whether the witness had seen 
 anything in the prisoner to indicate unsoundness 
 of mind, the witness replied, I did not; quite the 
 contrary ; he always appeared to me as a man of 
 more than ordinary intelligence, but wholly want 
 ing in principle. 
 
 The next witness was Simon D. Phelps, broker, 
 of New York. He testified that he had practised 
 law in Chicago, where he was a member of the 
 firm of Reynolds & Phelps ; the prisoner had en 
 gaged that firm to bring a suit against the Oneida 
 Community for $4,000 or $5,000, which the pris 
 oner claimed to have deposited with the Commu 
 nity; after some time he found that" the prisoner 
 had lied and he told him so. 
 
 Wednesday, December I4th, opened with the 
 Rev. Dr. John L. Witherow, of Boston, on the 
 stand. He is pastor of Park Street Church, 
 where Guiteau attended when in Boston. His 
 testimony related to Guiteau s habits in the devo 
 tional meetings of the church, and his opinion 
 was that he was " not the least " insane, but " a 
 very acute man." 
 
 The next witness was Charles A. Bryan, city 
 clerk of the Equitable Life Insurance Company, 
 of New York. He first saw the prisoner in Feb 
 ruary, 1 88 1, when he called to inquire what com 
 mission would be allowed for obtaining applica- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 tions for insurance; he brought in an application, 
 and asked for a loan or advance. He persisted 
 in his appeals and finally got an advarjce of $15. 
 
 The witness produced two letters written to him 
 by the prisoner from Washington, and said that he 
 had received quite an avalanche of letters from 
 him. He had never seen anything in the prisoner 
 indicative of unsoundness of mind, but thought 
 him a very shrewd sort of a fellow. 
 
 Henry M. Collyer was next called, who testified 
 to Guiteau s transactions in the collections made 
 for Reese Brothers & Co., after which, on account 
 of the serious illness of a juror, the Court ad 
 journed for the day. 
 
 On Thursday, December I5th, Mr. Collyer was 
 re-called. He always regarded Guiteau as "per 
 fectly sane." 
 
 J. M. Justice, a lawyer of Logansport, Indiana, 
 was the next witness. He testified to having been 
 acquainted with the prisoner in Logansport in 
 1878; saw him nearly every day for three \veeks ; 
 he was boatdinor at the house of William Tones. 
 
 o J 
 
 He was stoutly contradicted by the prisoner all 
 the way through, but his testimony was not impor 
 tant. 
 
 The Rev. Dr. Shippen, pastor of All Souls 
 Church, in Washington, was next called upon, and 
 testified that that he and the prisoner boarded at 
 the same house of Mrs. Grant, and became casu 
 ally acquainted; the question of the prisoner s 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ^s 1 
 
 sanity never occurred to him ; he (Guiteau) seemed 
 a little peculiar that is, nervous and quick of 
 speech but witness thought him as "straight" as 
 any one; there was nothing about him to suggest 
 insanity. 
 
 Dr. Wilson Noble, of Washington, physician to 
 the jail in which Guiteau is confined, was then 
 called, and testified that the prisoner had suffered 
 a little from malaria during his imprisonment, 
 but had otherwise been well ; his pulse, tempera 
 ture and respiration were prefectly normal ; some 
 time after the President s death, witness had a 
 talk with the prisoner about the " removal " of the 
 President, as the prisoner called it, and asked him 
 why he did the act ; he said he was inspired to do 
 it; but (said the witness), what was very re 
 markable was, that he qualified the inspiration by 
 saying that if the President should die he would 
 be confirmed in his belief that it was inspiration ; 
 witness had never thought of the prisoner s in 
 sanity at first, but after that question was publicly 
 agitated witness examined him in regard to it, and, 
 for the last three weeks before the trial, witness 
 was specially observant of any physical changes 
 that might occur, and he saw none. 
 
 District-Attorney: From your conversations 
 with, and your observations of, the prisoner, what 
 is your opinion of his sanity or insanity? 
 
 Witness, with a smile of incredulity : He is a per 
 fectly sane man ; as bright and intelligent a man 
 
<ic 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 as you would see in a summer day; bright, quick 
 and intelligent ; I never saw anything in him that 
 savored of insanity ; he is of nervous tempera 
 ment, a very quick, impulsive man, a little im 
 patient of restraint, sometimes demanding a little 
 more than is usually allowed to prisoners ; but 
 there never was any evidence whatever to my 
 mind of insanity. 
 
 In the course of cross-examination the prisoner 
 gave his version of the interview detailed by the 
 witness. He said : " The question came up, Sup 
 pose the President recovers? I said, If he does, 
 it is because the Lord has countermanded His 
 order, just as He did in the case of Abraham. 
 But, as a matter of fact, the President died ; 
 therefore the Lord confirmed the act." 
 
 The next witness was Joseph A. Reynolds, a 
 lawyer, of Chicago. He detailed his acquaintance 
 with the prisoner when he first came in May, 1868, 
 as a law-student in his office, and afterward, in 
 May, 1875, when he occupied a desk there. He 
 visited the prisoner in jail on the i4th of July, 
 and made a memorandum of his conversation, 
 which, after objection on the part of Mr. Scoville, 
 he proceeded to read. The memoranda of the 
 first interview covered his political work, and his 
 expectation of liberty at no distant day. In this 
 interview, Guiteau used the term " assassination" 
 and not removal." The second interview of the 
 witness with the prisoner was on July i5th. When 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 353 
 
 this point was reached the prisoner broke in ex 
 citedly, saying: 
 
 I want to ask the General if he was in the em 
 ploy of Corkhill at that time. He pretended to 
 be my friend. If he came in disguise as a detec 
 tive I want the fact shown to the American peo 
 ple. That only shows the trickery of this prose 
 cution from the start. Corkhill is the man that 
 did it and the Lord Almighty will curse him for it. 
 Mark my word for that, man ! 
 
 The second interview dealt with the political 
 situation also. The third interview was on July 
 1 8th. At this time the prisoner seemed amazed 
 that the " stalwarts " denounced him. He pro 
 nounced this fact "most astounding." He said : 
 "The idea of General Logan saying I was insane; 
 I am not any more insane than he is ;" he then 
 asked for pen and paper and wrote his Address 
 to the American People. 
 
 Prisoner, contemptuously : You were a pretty 
 sharp detective, weren t you, General ? You ll 
 probably get some more business in that line. 
 You came there as a personal friend and got that 
 information. I don t care a snap about it, gentle 
 men of the jury. 
 
 A fourth interview occurred July igth. At this 
 time he was very much more calm than the night 
 before, but he seemed dispirited and considerably 
 dejected ; he said that he thought that when the 
 President had entirely recovered, if he did recover, 
 
 30* 
 
354 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 there would be a great change in the public mind 
 in regard to his act ; he said that the people would 
 not be so violent against him, and that his friends 
 could and would come cautiously to his assistance 
 and make the people see the act in the right 
 light ; that it arose from patriotic motives, and not 
 from malice or anything else. 
 
 After considerable angry discussion between 
 prisoner and counsel, the cross-examination was 
 proceeded with. Mr. Scoville questioned the 
 witness closely as to the cause of his coming to 
 Washington, and he stated that he came here on 
 indefinite information that the Attorney-General 
 and Secretary Kirkwood desired to see him. 
 
 Prisoner : You told me you came to settle up 
 an old Treasury claim. That is the kind of a 
 man you are. Why didn t you tell me that ? What 
 did you want to sneak into my cell for ? You re a 
 nice specimen of humanity. You have proved 
 yourself a low, dirty scoundrel. You are trying 
 to hang me, if you can. You must have a high 
 opinion of yourself. A nice record you will have 
 in Chicago, Reynolds, when you get back. Not 
 one word Reynolds has said I wish to withdraw, 
 but I do not like the mean, dirty way in which 
 they got the information. It is contemptible. 
 
 In reply to further questions by Mr. Scoville, 
 witness said he made no misrepresentations to 
 the prisoner ; he was asked to go to the jail to 
 see him by the Attorney-General and Secretary 
 
ASSASSSJV OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ,r r 
 
 Kirkwood ; he went as a matter of curiosity to 
 some extent that is, to see whether the prisoner 
 had changed any since he saw him last; he re 
 ceived no pay except $83 for his expenses ; he 
 shook hands with the prisoner ; said he was glad 
 to see him and expressed solicitude for him. 
 
 O. You were admitted as a gentlemen who 
 would not betray confidence ? A. I suppose so. 
 
 Prisoner: He gave me his personal honor that 
 these conversations should never be mentioned 
 again, and he has come and blown the whole 
 thing out. 
 
 O. Did you ever act as a spy before ? A. I 
 never did, nor since ; nor at that time. 
 
 O. Have you not told persons in Chicago that 
 you considered Guiteau insane ? A. No, sir. 
 
 The Court here adjourned for the day. 
 
 At the opening of the Court on Friday, De 
 cember 1 6th, the District- Attorney called to the 
 stand George D. Barnard, Deputy Clerk of the 
 Supreme Court of Kings County, New York. He 
 produced the original record in the case of Annie 
 J. Guiteau against Charles J. Guiteau, application 
 for divorce, which was read in full. 
 
 General Reynolds being recalled to the stand, 
 was subjected to a searching cross-examination as 
 to his visits to the jail, and Guiteau continued to 
 heap upon him the vilest abuse. 
 
 The District-Attorney proceeded to read news 
 paper extracts which the last witness had brought 
 
2 -6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J, GVITEAU, 
 
 to the jail and read to the prisoner. They com 
 prised telegraphic despatches from Senator Conk- 
 ling" expressing abhorrence of the prisoner s act ; 
 also reports of interviews with Fred. Grant, Sena 
 tor Logan and others ; also editorials on the 
 assassination. The reading of them by the Dis 
 trict-Attorney was interrupted by exclamations 
 from the prisoner, of which the following are 
 types : " That is false ; General Grant was always 
 very kind and polite to me. He liked the ring of 
 my speech." " That is what Fred. Grant says. 
 He is a nice youth, is he not? He is too lazy to 
 get a decent living. He is a dead beat, not I." 
 " I used to be a member of Beecher s Church. He 
 was supposed to be a virtuous man then, and per 
 haps he is now." " I used to go up to Logan, pat 
 him on the back, and say, How are you, Gene 
 ral ? and he would say, How are you, Guiteau ? 
 He thought I was a good fellow. Then they all 
 turned against me, just as Peter did when he 
 denied the Saviour when he was on the cross and 
 in trouble. But they have got over it now and 
 they are coming up like proper men. My life 
 would have been snuffed out at the depot that 
 morning, if God Almighty had not protected me." 
 In reference to another newspaper extract, speak 
 ing of Guiteau s boast that, if he got the Austrian 
 Mission, he would fill the position with dignity, he 
 said : " That part is true." [Laughter.] 
 
 Mrs. Ellen C. Grant, of Fourteenth Street, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 357 
 
 Washington, was called as the next witness. She 
 testified that the prisoner had boarded in her 
 house forty-one days, leaving on the last day of 
 June. "That was," said the District- Attorney, 
 " two days before the murder of the President." 
 
 "The doctors did that," said the prisoner; "I 
 simply shot at him." 
 
 The witness stated in response to questions by 
 the District-Attorney that she never noticed in 
 the prisoner anything indicating unsoundness of 
 mind. X 
 
 Mrs. Annie J. Dunmire, the prisoner s divorced 
 wife, was next called to the stand. Guiteau de 
 nounced the District-Attorney in the severest 
 terms for summoning her. Her examination was 
 very brief, and her full story was but a confirma 
 tion of what is already familiar. When she was 
 dismissed from the stand Guiteau said, " I know 
 nothing against this lady s Christian character ; I 
 know her well and have much respect for her." 
 
 After an hour s recess, the Court reassembled 
 and the District-Attorney called, as an expert, Dr. 
 Francis D. Loring ; of Washington, a physician. He 
 stated that he had made a specialty of diseases of 
 the eye and ear; he has been in the habit of 
 examining the eyes of patients for the purpose of 
 determining whether or not the appearance of the 
 eye gives indication of disease of the brain ; he 
 examined the prisoner s eyes at the jail on the 3<Dth 
 of November and 5th of December, and had found 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU2TEAU, 
 
 nothing in them indicating an affection of the brain ; 
 the pupils of both eyes contracted and expanded 
 naturally; there was some inequality in the 
 strength of the muscles moving the eyes, which, 
 after constant reading, sometimes produced some 
 thing like a squint, but that had no connection 
 with disease of the brain. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Allen McLean Ham 
 ilton, of New York, physician. He stated that for 
 the past nine years he had made a special study 
 of mental and nervous diseases and had written 
 extensively on the subject. He had made three 
 personal examinations of the prisoner and pro 
 ceeded to state the points. He found him to be a 
 man of spare build, five feet five and three-quarter 
 inches in height, of nervous temperament, with 
 mixed gray hair, with no apparent physical de 
 formity, of 135 pounds weight; he found nothing 
 whatever indicating any congenital defect ; the 
 head was slightly asymmetrical or irregular, but 
 that was a very common thing ; he found an ap 
 pearance of flatness on the top of the head, but it 
 was owing to the way the hair was cut; he had 
 taken measurement of the prisoner s head (which 
 he exhibited in a diagram), and said there was no 
 irregularity of contour; the face was thin but sym 
 metrical ; the lines on either side of the nose were 
 perfectly regular; the !ips were regular, so were 
 the teeth; in cases of idiocy and imbecility it often 
 happens that the teeth are irregular ; that there 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 359 
 
 are, perhaps, two rows or some peculiar develop 
 ment and he had examined the prisoner with that 
 view ; there was nothing wrong with the roof of 
 the mouth ; the mouth was perfectly symmetrical 
 and round; the hands were regular in shape: 
 there was no trouble with the nails, as is generally 
 noticed in certain kinds of congenital trouble ; the 
 fingers were symmetrical and the hands were of 
 like size; the skin was well nourished and moist 
 and had none of the appearances which charac 
 terized the skin of insane persons ; there was noth 
 ing to indicate any trouble with the circulation ; 
 he had examined the eyes and found that there 
 was no trouble with them ; the tongue was turned 
 slightly to the left ; but he did not attach any im 
 portance to that, because the prisoner had ap 
 parently perfect control of his tongue ; there was 
 no atrophy in the tongue, as is often found in 
 cases of congenital disease ; there was no paralysis, 
 no loss of power of any kind, nothing indicating 
 any disease of the brain either that originating 
 before birth or afterward ; during the examination 
 the prisoner s manner was perfectly quiet, and he 
 answered politely and rationally the questions 
 asked him ; the whole circumference of the head 
 was twenty-two inches the measurement being 
 taken lower than it is taken by hatters ; the hatter 
 measurement of the prisoner s head was seven 
 and one-eighth inches, which is the average-sized 
 head ; the head was perfectly symmetrical with the 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 exception of a slight bulging on one side ; there 
 was no evidence of a bony growth on the skull 
 and no ridges or protuberance in the occipital 
 process ; it was a very fair-sized head. 
 
 District- Attorney: And you did not find in the 
 prisoner any external evidence of mental or physi 
 cal disease? 
 
 Witness : I did not. 
 
 The witness went on to state there was great 
 
 o 
 
 difference between the conduct of the prisoner in 
 jail and the court-room. In the jail he was 
 remarkably quiet and self-possessed, offering the 
 doctors every chance to examine him. His man 
 ner and behavior in court made witness think that 
 he was " playing a part." 
 
 I never "play a part," Doctor, said the prisoner. 
 I go " on the square." You and Spitzka do not 
 agree. Spitzka is a much bigger man than you 
 in the business. You are nothing but a " sub." 
 
 After some further unimportant cross-examina 
 tion the Court was declared adjourned till Mon 
 day. The reassembling on Monday was sad 
 dened by the fact that in the interval Mr. Hobbs, 
 one of the jurors, had lost his wife. After con 
 sulting with Judge Cox, District-Attorney Cork- 
 hill, referring to the death of Mrs. Hobbs, said 
 that, while the situation was a serious one, yet the 
 instincts of humanity demanded that the juror 
 have the opportunity to give proper attention to 
 the memory of his deceased wife. Mr. Scoville 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 361 
 
 concurred in this, and, moreover, suggested that 
 the Court grant Mr. Hobbs ample time and dis 
 pense with the attendance of an officer. The 
 Court accordingly made such an order, and then 
 adjourned until Wednesday morning. 
 
 The Court was called to order at 10 o clock, 
 Wednesday, December 2 1 st, promptly, all the 
 jurors being in their seats. Dr. A. McLean 
 Hamilton, of New York, was recalled to the stand 
 for the purpose of cross-examination. The ques 
 tioning was upon the witness training for his pro 
 fession, upon his understanding of "inspiration," 
 about " spiritual agencies," will power, etc. 
 
 Mr. Scoville questioned the witness as to his 
 acquaintance with Brown, Maudsley and other 
 writers on insanity, and whether he regarded 
 Maudsley as an authority. The reply was that he 
 thought Maudsley s views too loose in relation to 
 moral insanity; he, the witness, did not believe 
 in moral insanity; that was a term used by Mauds- 
 ley and others, to excuse acts committed as the 
 result of ungovernable anger and lust. 
 
 Dr. Worcester, of Boston, whose examination 
 on the part of the defense was commenced some 
 days ago, and closed abruptly, because he 
 insisted on Mr. Scoville defining what he meant 
 
 o 
 
 in one of his questions, by the word " inspiration," 
 was called to the witness-stand on the part of the 
 prosecution. He stated, in reply to questions by 
 the District-Attorney, that he .had examined .the 
 21 
 
362 TRIAL OF CHAR FES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 prisoner at the jail, and that he had been also in 
 daily attendance at the court-room for several 
 weeks past, and had carefully watched the pris 
 oner s conduct during that time and heard what 
 he said; he thought he was sane. 
 
 o 
 
 After a rehearsal of the prisoner s career in 
 several hypothetical questions, the witness again 
 unhesitatingly pronounced his conviction that the 
 prisoner was sane. 
 
 A little later the prisoner broke out vehemently 
 against Mr. Scoville, saying: It is an outrage on 
 justice for this man to come here. He has had 
 no experience in criminal matters, and he is com 
 promising my case. I here require him publicly 
 to get out of the case. I would rather take my 
 chances, even at this late hour, with Charlie Reed, 
 who is a first-class criminal lawyer, than with this 
 idiot, who is compromising my case all the time. 
 He has no wit, no sense, and between Corkhill 
 and him I have a pretty hard time. [Laughter, 
 which seemed to put the prisoner in better humor, 
 and in which he joined.] 
 
 After further outbursts against Mr. Scoville, 
 and some incidental testimony of no great conse 
 quence, the Court adjourned. 
 
 On Thursday, December 22d, Dr. Theodore Di- 
 mon, of Auburn, N. Y., was the first witness called. 
 He stated that he had been summoned to testify 
 for the defense ; for two years up to last year he 
 had been superintendent of the asylum for insane 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDE N T GARFIELD. 
 
 363 
 
 criminals at Auburn ; he had made a personal 
 examination of the prisoner ; had noticed the pris 
 oner in court and had heard his testimony. 
 
 O. From your personal examination and from 
 your observation of the prisoner, what is your 
 opinion as to whether he is sane or insane ? A. 
 It is my opinion that he is sane. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : Does that include the judgment 
 of the witness upon the evidence ? 
 
 Witness : It includes my examination and my 
 observation of the prisoner. 
 
 The District-Attorney then propounded to the 
 witness a hypothetical question, assuming to be 
 true all the evidence brought forward by the prose 
 cution, and asked the opinion of the witness as to 
 the sanity of the prisoner at the time of the shoot 
 ing of President Garfield. 
 
 Witness : It is my opinion that he was sane. 
 
 In the cross-examination the witness was asked: 
 What is your opinion as to whether he has been 
 playing a part in the-court-room ? His reply was : 
 I do not think he has a part in simulating in 
 sanity ; he has been acting a part natural to his 
 circumstances and character. 
 
 Mr. Scoville recounted to the witness the cir 
 cumstances attending the prisoner s attempt to 
 establish the Theocrat, and asked, assuming all 
 facts stated to be true, what would they indicate 
 as to his mental soundness or unsoundness ? A. 
 I do not think that, by itself, that would be suffi- 
 
364 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 cient to determine the question whether it was 
 fanaticism or insanity. 
 
 In reply to a further question by Mr. Scoville, 
 he stated that the fact that Dr. Rice had come to 
 the conclusion, at the time of the last incident 
 referred to, that the prisoner was a fit subject for 
 an insane asylum, was no evidence to his mind of 
 the unsoundness of mind of the prisoner; he did 
 not consider Dr. Rice as a competent observer, as 
 his only experience was in sending insane persons 
 to asylums on certificates. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then alluded to the first letter writ 
 ten by the prisoner to President. Garfield applying 
 for the Austrian Mission, and the witness stated 
 that it might be an evidence of insanity, but could 
 not say positively, as he did not know sufficiently 
 the ways of office-seekers. 
 
 After some further unimportant testimony, the 
 Court at half-past 12, took a recess for half an 
 hour. On re-assembling, the cross-examination 
 of Dr. Dimon was resumed. Mr. Scoville called 
 the witness attention to Mr. Corkhill s hypo 
 thetical question, and he, while contending that, 
 the facts tended to show that the prisoner was 
 sane, admitted that many of them taken individu 
 ally were not inconsistent with the existence of an 
 unsound mind. He said that many insane per 
 sons had good memories and were capable of lay 
 ing and following plans of action. 
 
 Q. Suppose a person acted under what he con- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 365 
 
 sidered a divine command, and, in obedience to that 
 command, he should kill the President, and sup 
 pose he honestly believed that the people of the 
 United States, as soon as they were informed of 
 his motive, would not only excuse him but applaud 
 him for the act, in your opinion would that be any 
 indication of unsoundness of mind ? A. I think 
 it would an honest belief, a sincere belief; the 
 domination of his will by that belief is what I 
 mean by this answer. 
 
 On redirect examination, the witness was asked 
 the reason for his conclusion that the prisoner was 
 sane. Mr. Scoville objected, and the prisoner 
 asked the District- Attorney to pay the witness his 
 $500 and let him go home. 
 
 The Court overruled the objection, and the wit 
 ness stated that his conclusion was based upon his 
 examination of the prisoner, and on his testi 
 mony. Witness saw nothing in the prisoner that 
 was not the result of his natural character, early 
 training and the life he had led. 
 
 The Court at 3 o clock, adjourned. 
 
 On Friday morning, December 230, it was an 
 nounced that Mr. Charles H. Reed, of Chicago, 
 would openly act as counsel for the defense. Mr. 
 Scoville then read a letter from Dr. Samuel Wor 
 cester, of Salem, Massachusetts, and also one 
 from Dr. Spitzka. 
 
 William A. Edwards, of Brooklyn, was then 
 called to the stand, and was greeted by the pris- 
 
 31* 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 oner with, "That is a clerk Shaw used to have in 
 his office ten years ago. I have not seen the fel 
 low since." 
 
 The witness testified that he was a clerk in a 
 law office; that he had known the prisoner from 
 October, 1871, up to April, 1872; saw the pris 
 oner every day. He had heard the conversation 
 to which Mr. Shaw testified as to the assassination 
 of President Lincoln. 
 
 O. What did you hear ? A. The conversation 
 was between Mr. Shaw and the prisoner ; I did 
 not pay much attention to the first part of the 
 conversation, until they talked about President 
 Lincoln; the prisoner said to Mr. Shaw, "Well, 
 what about Booth? Booth s name will be noto 
 rious as long as Lincoln s." Shaw said, " Yes, 
 notorious, but in what way? Lincoln s a states 
 man and patriot ; Booth an assassin." The pris 
 oner said that he would be notorious too. Mr. 
 Shaw said, " If you are notorious in that way you 
 will be hanged." 
 
 The cross-examination was somewhat lengthy. 
 The prisoner made frequent interruptions. " This 
 whole thing is an absolute lie," he declared excit 
 edly. "What is the use of wasting any time? 
 The whole thing is a lie. Call things by their 
 ri<^ht names. This man ^ot $8.00 or $0.00 a week 
 
 C3 O tr tr *7 
 
 in Shaw s office. The whole thing is a farce and 
 the Court ou^ht to kick this man out. We are 
 
 o 
 
 making too much of him. Give him a kick and 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 367 
 
 let him go. He was nothing but a little sub. He 
 is no lawyer. He hasn t got brains enough after 
 ten year s effort to be admitted. Let him go. It 
 only shows the extraordinary lying of the prose 
 cution. There is not one word of truth in what 
 this man says." These remarks, interjected at 
 various points gave rise to a good deal of noise 
 and confusion, which was increased by the many 
 acrimonious disputes between counsel. The re 
 direct and re-cross-examination elicited nothing 
 of importance. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. S. H. Talcott, of Mid- 
 dletown, N. Y., physician. 
 
 In reply to questions by the District-Attorney 
 the witness stated that he has made a special study 
 of insanity about seven years; he is Medical Super 
 intendent of the State Homoeopathic Asylum for 
 the Insane at Middletown ; he is a regular practi 
 tioner of medicine according to the laws of the State 
 of New York. He is a member of county, state 
 and national medical organizations ; he is president 
 of the Orange County Medical Society and of the 
 State Homoeopathic Medical Society of NewYork; 
 he is also lecturer on insanity in the Hahnemann 
 Medical College of Philadelphia ; he has been 
 chief of staff in the homoeopathic hospital on Ward s 
 Island, medical superintendent of the State Asylum 
 for Inebriates and medical officer in charge of the 
 Soldiers Retreat of New York State; he has 
 treated over a thousand cases of insanity; he has 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 had some patients who had attempted murder under 
 the insane delusion that they had instructions from 
 the Lord ; the characteristics of such persons are 
 those of great excitability ; those whom he had 
 charge of had not only insane delusions, but also 
 hallucinations of sight or hearing, and they have 
 spoken of their intentions before attempting their 
 murderous work. 
 
 Insanity is a disease of the brain, characterized 
 by derangement of the mind ; he made an exam 
 ination of the prisoner on the 3Oth of November 
 and 4th of December; he has been present in 
 court at the trial since the 2gth of November; 
 heard the testimony of the prisoner and watched 
 his movements and noted his remarks. 
 
 District-Attorney : Assuming his testimony on 
 the stand to be correct, was he not sane on the 
 2d of July, when he murdered the President? 
 
 Witness : On the assumption that he was tell 
 ing truth, so far as he knew, with regard to the ac 
 tual transaction, and on the assumption that the re 
 cord of hislife as given by himself embodied the main 
 facts of his life, I should be of the opinion that, on 
 the 2d of July, when he murdered the President, 
 the prisoner was sane. 
 
 Prisoner: That opinion will bring you $500, 
 Doctor. 
 
 After a protracted cross-examination which 
 elicited nothing of importance, Dr. Henry P. 
 Stearns was called to the stand. He had been 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GAR FIELD. 
 
 369 
 
 a practising physician for twenty-three years ; was 
 superintendent of the Hartford, Connecticut, Re 
 treat for the Insane, and from eight hundred to 
 one thousand cases had come under his care ; he 
 made four examinations of the prisoner, in jail, in 
 regard to his physical and mental condition ; those 
 examinations were made on November 26th, 27th 
 and 28th, and on one day last week. 
 
 The witness described carefully the examina 
 tions he had made of the prisoner in company 
 with Drs. Earl, Collender and others. 
 
 District- Attorney : Did he, in those interviews, 
 say anything about his having committed the 
 murder under the inspiration of the Deity ? 
 
 Witness : He did ; he said that, having done 
 the act under the belief that he was inspired by 
 God to do it, he was entitled to an acquittal if the 
 jury believed he was inspired ; I could not take 
 the statement of an individual under indictment 
 for crime, in itself and by itself, as an evidence of 
 insanity ; from my observations and examinations 
 I think the prisoner is sane ; in the propositions 
 laid down in the hypothetical case put by the 
 District-Attorney I see no evidence of insanity. 
 
 Further cross-examination failed to shake the 
 witness up to the time of adjournment. 
 
 Dr. Stearns resumed the stand on Saturday 
 morning, December 24th. Counsel at once fell 
 into wrangling. As the examination proceeded, 
 Mr. Porter spoke of Guiteau as "the crimi- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 nal," to which the prisoner replied excitedly: 
 I am no criminal. I am no more of a crimi 
 nal than you, Mr. Porter. I am more thought 
 
 J O 
 
 of on the outside than you are. The English 
 papers are saying that I am a bigger man than 
 old Porter, and it is true. 
 
 Mr. Porter: I suggest, if these interruptions are 
 continued, to have them heard from the dock. 
 
 Prisoner, defiantly: From the dock, hey! the 
 dock! Try it on. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Jamin Strong, super 
 intendent of the Insane Asylum at Cleveland, 
 Ohio. He stated that the average number of 
 patients in that asylum is six hundred and twenty- 
 five, and that he has treated, in all, over two thou 
 sand insane persons ; his definition of insanity 
 was mental disturbance from disease ; he made a 
 personal examination of the prisoner in jail, and 
 observed him closely in court since the 5th of 
 December ; in the jail examination he had found 
 the bodily condition of the prisoner good. 
 
 " I will save you trouble, Doctor," the prisoner 
 said, " I am in excellent health and am not in 
 sane." 
 
 Witness, sarcastically: Yes; I agree with you 
 in that respect, 
 
 , Here followed an extended discussion on the 
 question of placing the prisoner in the dock, but 
 the Judge held the case under consideration. The 
 witness then described the evident will-power of 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. >> 7 j 
 
 die prisoner, and pronounced it as " entirely in 
 compatible with insanity." 
 
 On re-direct examination the witness testified 
 that a delusion, in witness judgment, that would 
 culminate in an act of homicide on the 2d of July, 
 would imply a degree of profound mental disturb 
 ance which would manifest itself after the commis 
 sion of the act. 
 
 Prisoner: You and Dr. Stearns do not agree 
 on that. It was not an insane delirium. I only 
 claim that my free agency was destroyed. 
 
 Witness: A vicious propensity will neutralize 
 free agency. 
 
 Dr. Abram M. Shaw, superintendent of the 
 Middletown (Connecticut) Hospital for the Insane, 
 was the next witness. From his examination and 
 observation of the prisoner, it was his opinion that 
 he was sane, and, assuming to be true the facts 
 stated in the hypothetical question of the prose 
 cution, in his opinion the prisoner was sane on the 
 2d of July. 
 
 Witness did not think that the prisoner had in 
 Court feigned insanity, but had merely acted out 
 his natural impulses ; the fact that an overt act of 
 crime was committed by a person supposing he 
 was doing God s will would not necessarily fur 
 nish evidence of unsoundness of mind ; it would 
 indicate a delusion, but not an insane delusion. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Orpheus Evarts, of 
 College Hill, Ohio, medical superintendent of the 
 
^,- 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 " Sanitarium," a private hospital for the insane. 
 He had treated in the neighborhood of four thou 
 sand insane patients and he gave instances of per 
 sons who believed themselves inspired ; this inspi 
 ration extended to the general acts of the person ; 
 the fact that a man believed that he would live for 
 ever was no indication of insanity ; he attributed 
 no significance to the shape of the head, because 
 no two insane persons that he ever met had heads 
 shaped alike. From his examination and observa 
 tion of the prisoner, the witness had formed the 
 clear opinion that he was sane on the 2d of July. 
 
 On re-direct examination the witness said : The 
 prisoner seemed to be exaggerating his own 
 peculiarities. 
 
 Re-cross-examination. O. Suppose he, from 
 day to day, in court, does things which are entirely 
 inconsistent with what a sane man would do under 
 the same circumstances, what would that indicate? 
 A. If he had a motive and was smart enough to do 
 it, I should think it consistent with sanity ; he has 
 been exaggerating his own peculiarities. 
 
 O. What are his peculiarities? A. Egotism, 
 sharpness, smartness, vulgarity, ingratitude. 
 
 Mrs. Scoville was called to the stand for a few 
 moments on minor points, and the Court, at a 
 quarter to 3 oclock, adjourned until Tuesday. As 
 the hand-cuffs were being placed upon the pris 
 oner, he broke out with " To-morrow is Christmas. 
 I wish the Court, the Jury and the American peo- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PR ESI DENT GARFIELD. 373 
 
 pie, and everybody else, a happy Christmas. I am 
 happy." So closed the sixth week of the trial. 
 
 Proceedings were resumed on Tuesday morn 
 ing, December 27th. 
 
 Dr. A. E. Macdonald, Medical Superintendent 
 of the New York City Asylum for the Insane, was 
 the first witness called. He gave a detailed ac 
 count of his experience with insane persons, and 
 stated that more than six thousand cases had 
 come under his care. After considerable question 
 ing, he was asked about moral insanity and said : I 
 do not believe in it ; I have never seen a case of it ; 
 moral insanity is another name, and has been 
 since its invention, for wickedness or craft ; it was 
 first used at the time of the French Revolution to 
 excuse the slaughter that took place. 
 
 Telling of his personal examinations of Gui- 
 teau, the witness said : He had already told me 
 that it was the act of God. I asked him why he 
 did not leave the execution of the act to the 
 Almighty ; he hesitated for a moment but finally 
 answered that the Almighty did not make all the 
 arrangements for the execution of acts, but left 
 some of the details to be carried out by the per 
 sons who performed them ; I asked him what his 
 expectation as to the outcome was ; he said he 
 gave himself no concern, that the Almighty had 
 taken care of him so far, and would do so through 
 out the trial ; I asked him why he should have ar 
 ranged for the detailing of troops at the jail ; then 
 32 
 
374 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 again he hesitated and flushed in the face; he 
 went on to say that some details were left to him ; 
 he said he had no doubt that he would be acquit 
 ted on the ground of insanity ; he said he had 
 been looking up the subject of insanity, and while 
 he was not medically insane, he was legally in 
 sane, and would be acquitted on that ground ; I 
 asked him what disposition would be made of him ; 
 he replied that he would be sent to an asylum ; I 
 inquired whether he would like to stay there all 
 his life ; " Oh, no," he said, " I have been looking 
 up the law and find that, after being there a short 
 time, I can apply for a commission to examine me ; 
 of course that commission will find that I am not 
 insane and then I will be discharged." I found no 
 evidence of insanity in the shape of his head or 
 in the appearance of his face. 
 
 District- Attorney : From your personal exami 
 nation of the prisoner and your careful observa 
 tion of him during the trial, is he in your opinion 
 a sane or an insane man ? 
 
 Witness : I believe him to be a sane man. 
 
 District-Attorney : Do you think that he has 
 been feigning and playing a part, or that he has 
 been acting out his natural character ? 
 
 Witness : In my judgment, the man has been 
 playing a part all the time in court; I base that 
 opinion on my observation of him in the jail and 
 his conduct during my visits to the jail, as con 
 trasted with his conduct here. 
 
ASSASSW OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 As to his conduct in court, I think that, an insane 
 person showing" such excitement and making such 
 interruptions, would not have so much method or 
 so much deliberation in the selection of the time 
 and nature of these interruptions ; they would be 
 made simply when the impulse came upon him, with 
 out reference to what particular phase of the trial 
 was in process, and without regard to whether the 
 evidence that was being was for or against him ; 
 the prisoner has not the same frankness as you 
 find in insane persons; I notice that when the evi 
 dence was in his favor he made no interruptions 
 whatever ; for instance, on the direct examination 
 of his brother, when the evidence appeared to be 
 in his favor, there were no interruptions ; but on 
 the cross-examination of his brother as to the 
 question of his father s sanity, when some testi 
 mony was given that told against the prisoner, he 
 broke out in interruptions. In a general way, I 
 would say that the conduct of the prisoner in court 
 was not such as my observation of insane persons 
 would lead me to expect as the couduct of an in 
 sane person ; in short, witness believed the prisoner 
 to be sane now, and to have been so on July 2d. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, December 28th, the 
 cross-examination of Dr. Macdonald was re 
 sumed. 
 
 Q. You said yesterday: "In. my judgment the 
 man has been playing a part all the time in court." 
 Do you mean feigning insanity? A. I believe 
 
376 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 that he has been feigning what he believes to be 
 insanity not insanity really. [Applause.] 
 
 Q. Your opinion is that he has been attempting 
 to the extent of his ability to appear insane ? A. 
 Yes, sir. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. Randolph Barksdale, 
 physician-superintendent of the Central Lunatic 
 Asylum of Virginia, located near Richmond. He 
 has made insanity a special study since 1873. He 
 visited the jail and made a careful examination of 
 the prisoner ; he had also observed him in court 
 since the 2ist of November ; from his observation 
 and examination, his opinion was that the prisoner 
 was sane. To the question whether the prisoner 
 w r as acting out his natural character in court or 
 was feigning, the witness replied that he was 
 fei^ninof ; he thought so from the marked contrast 
 
 o o o 
 
 between the prisoner s behavior in court and his 
 behavior in jail. To the first and second hypo 
 thetical questions, the witness replied, that in his 
 opinion the prisoner was sane on the 2d of July. 
 
 The next witness was Dr. John H. Collendar, 
 of Nashville, Tenn. He has made insanity the 
 subject of special study some twelve years. He 
 is, and has been for the last twelve years, superin 
 tendent of the Tennessee Hospital for the Insane. 
 He made a personal examination of the prisoner 
 in the jail on the 25th of November. His opinions 
 as to the prisoner s sanity were the same as those 
 of his immediate predecessors. An exciting discus- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. <, 77 
 
 o / / 
 
 sion here arose between counsel, in which the pris 
 oner took an active and abusive part. The prose 
 cution thereupon insisted that he be placed in the 
 dock. After considerable controversy and strong 
 language, Mr. Porter closed the appeal of his 
 side most pungently, saying: "The assassin of 
 the President will assassinate no more forever, 
 and the voice which is not silenced now will be 
 as dumb as that of his victim when the end of the 
 law is reached. [Applause.] No man, sane or 
 insane, is permitted to say that the arm of the 
 law in his presence is nerveless." 
 
 Judge Cox then rendered his decision, consign 
 ing the prisoner to the dock, and to the dock he 
 was at once removed. Proceedings were then 
 resumed and the plaster cast of the prisoner s 
 head was handed to the witness, and he was 
 asked whether there was any marked peculiarity 
 in the head. 
 
 He replied that the cast presented a more 
 shapely and symmetrical head than he had ex 
 pected it would, but placed no importance on the 
 shape of the head as indicating sanity or insanity. 
 
 On re-direct examination, the witness stated that 
 he did not think the prisoner had been feigning 
 insanity in the court-room; he had merely been 
 exaggerating his characteristics of self-conceit, 
 impudence, audacity and insolence. 
 
 Prisoner : In other words, when I am assaulted 
 I talk back. 
 32* 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 The court then, at 3 o clock, adjourned, the pris 
 oner, as he was passing his counsel, expressing" 
 his contentment with his new position as afford 
 ing him more pure air. 
 
 Thursday morning, December 29th, the prisoner 
 was placed in the dock, which is simply a railed 
 enclosure on the south end of the room, in which 
 criminals are seated awaiting trial. It is about 
 eight feet long by four wide, and its furniture con 
 sists of three chairs two cane-seated chairs for 
 the bailiffs, one wooden-seated for the prisoner. 
 
 Dr. Collender was recalled and cross-examined 
 on incidental points, one being the appeal of 
 Guiteau to Senator Cameron for money, which 
 the witness did not think indicated unsoundness 
 of mind. 
 
 Dr. Walter Kempster, of Winnebago, Wis., 
 was the next witness. He testified that he is the 
 superintendent of the Northern Hospital for the 
 Insane, and has been for nine years ; for five 
 years he had been associate editor of the Ameri 
 can Journal of Insanity ; he was satisfied that 
 there is no special form or shape of the heads of 
 the insane ; he had examined the head of the 
 prisoner, and had thought that the deviations in 
 it were more marked than was shown by the plaster 
 cast ; there was a slight deviation in the head of 
 the prisoner from a symmetrical head. 
 
 Q. Did you ever find an insane man who said 
 that he had a command from God to do a certain 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 act, but that the details of the act were left to 
 him ? A. No ; that would be utterly preposter 
 ous ; the details of the killing are matters of no 
 consequence to him ; he seizes the first object he 
 can put his hands on to do the act ; no one can 
 realize the intensity, vigor and zeal which insane 
 men put into their acts ; it is proverbial among 
 those having charge of the insane that a stroke of 
 a madman is like a stroke of lightning it cannot 
 be avoided. 
 
 Q. Have you ever met an insane man who 
 paraded in public his insanity as an apology for 
 the commission of a crime ? A. No, sir, I have 
 not ; I have had under my care quite a number of 
 persons who had committed murder; as a rule 
 they are not apt to talk about it, but when spoken 
 to they would talk of it in a bold and fearless 
 way. 
 
 Q. Suppose you should hear a man state that 
 there was no question of right or wrong in his act, 
 but the only question was whether the Deity fired 
 the shot or not, would you consider him as labor 
 ing under an insane delusion ? A. I should not ; 
 it would lead me to the conclusion that nothing of 
 
 o 
 
 the kind existed in his mind. 
 
 The witness did not believe in "moral insanity." 
 It was a term applied to a person who had com 
 mitted an outrageous act of some kind, and for 
 whose behavior there was no other excuse. 
 
 In answer to the hypothetical questions of the 
 
2 go TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 prosecution, the witness gave it as his opinion that 
 the prisoner was sane on the 2d of July. 
 
 District-Attorney: From your observation of 
 the prisoner in court, do you think that he is acting 
 out his character naturally or that he is feigning ? 
 
 Witness : My impression is that he is feigning. 
 My reasons for that belief are these 
 
 Prisoner: I am not feigning, so you need not 
 give your reasons. I go straight. 
 
 A serious and extended disagreement between 
 counsel occurred at this point, which was finally 
 stopped by the Court. 
 
 Dr. Kempster resumed the witness-stand on 
 Friday morning. The prisoner was so noisy that 
 proceedings were slow, and nothing of special im 
 portance was elicited. Some aspersions having 
 been cast upon the medical experts who had testi 
 fied for the prosecution, the District- Attorney said: 
 They are men who adorn their profession in the 
 States where they live. They are men who are 
 recognized throughout the Christian world as au- 
 
 o o 
 
 thorities on the question about which they speak. 
 They are men whose counsel and advice are taken 
 by representative men of their States on that 
 question. They are men to whom are intrusted 
 the unfortunate insane of their States. It comes 
 with poor grace from the gentleman (Mr. Scoville) 
 to say, in the presence of these distinguished men, 
 who must be silent, that they have been meeting 
 nightly to weave meshes around the criminal. He 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ~> g j 
 
 has woven them around himself, and it comes with 
 still poorer grace when it is known that the only 
 two men in this country who dared to go on the 
 stand and say that the criminal is insane were two 
 spawns of the profession, who were unable to say 
 that they believed in a God. 
 
 Dr. John P. Gray, of Utica, N. Y., the last of 
 the expert witnesses for the prosecution, was then 
 called to the stand. He stated, in reply to ques 
 tions by the District-Attorney, that he is medical 
 superintendent of the New York State Lunatic 
 Asylum, and has been connected with that insti 
 tution since September, 1850; he has had under 
 his immediate control and observation an ao-o-re- 
 
 oo 
 
 gate of about i 2,000 insane persons, embracing all 
 classes of society, all occupations and professions; 
 he defined insanity as a disease of the brain, in 
 which there is an association of mental disturb 
 ance, a change in the individual, a departure from 
 himself and from his own ordinary standard of 
 mental action, and a change in his way of feeling, 
 thinking and acting. Here the witness was inter 
 rupted by the prisoner shouting out: " That is my 
 case; I shot the President on the 2d of July, and 
 I would not do it again for a million dollars." The 
 witness went on to define and illustrate the dis 
 tinctions between delusions, illusions and halluci 
 nations, and was again interrupted by the prisoner 
 shouting out: "You are a very learned man, doc 
 tor, but you forget the Abrahamic class the class 
 
382 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 that I belong to." The witness said he did not 
 believe in moral insanity and had not for years; 
 that term was intended to signify a perversion of 
 the moral character, leaving the intellectual facul 
 ties still sound. 
 
 District- Attorney: If a man is a habitual liar 
 and cheat would these qualities indicate insanity? 
 
 Witness: No, sir; they would indicate de 
 pravity. 
 
 District-Attorney: Has insanity any tendency 
 to make men criminals ? 
 
 Witness: No; no more than neuralgia or dys 
 pepsia, or anything else ; it is only a disease ; it 
 does not put anything new in a man ; it only per 
 verts what is there. 
 
 Witness described fully his personal interviews 
 with the prisoner, conversations, examinations, 
 etc., occupying the time till the adjournment. 
 
 On Saturday, December 3ist, Dr. Gray was on 
 the stand all day. Nothing new was elicited. The 
 witness was of the opinion that the prisoner was 
 sane at the time of the shooting. The cross- 
 examination extended up to the hour of adjourn 
 ment. The Court adjourned till Tuesday, Jan 
 uary 3d. 
 
 Court reassembled on Tuesday morning, Janu 
 ary 3d. Dr. Gray was again called to the stand. 
 Witness did not believe in what is termed by some 
 writers " emotional insanity," or " moral insanity. * 
 " Kleptomania " he considered simply thieving ; 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 383 
 
 "dipsomania," drunkenness, and " pysomania," in 
 cendiarism. Their designations were simply con 
 venient terms which had been invented to cover 
 certain crimes. 
 
 Insanity (said witness) is never transmitted 
 any more than cancer. I never knew any one to 
 be born with a cancer. A susceptibility to. insanity 
 is undoubtedly transmitted from parents to chil 
 dren, but insanity does not necessarily follow, ex 
 cept from some profound physical disturbance. 
 
 The examination progressed with tedious de 
 tail. In the effort to extract something favorable 
 to the defense, counsel renewed the attack upon 
 the witness again and again ; the prisoner mean 
 while had observed a marked decorum, at intervals 
 gazing out of the window, but most of the time 
 he appeared to be busily engaged in writing his 
 autograph upon cards, which were handed up to 
 him from the audience by the attendants. 
 
 Mr. Scoville desired to put in evidence certain 
 tabulated statements from the annual reports of 
 the witness. From these it appeared that, of the 
 fifty-four cases of homicide by insane people, seven 
 of them were by persons acting under the insane 
 delusion of divine authority for their acts. At 
 the request of the District-Attorney, witness de 
 scribed briefly these cases, and added, " each case 
 was one of marked insanity independent of the 
 homicidal act." 
 
 After recess, Dr. Gray was asked a few more 
 
384 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAb, 
 
 questions by Mr. Scoville, when the District- 
 Attorney announced the conclusion of the evi 
 dence on the part of the Government. 
 
 Dr. Bowker, of Kansas City, was then called 
 by Mr. Scoville, in sur- rebuttal for the defense. 
 Witness met Mrs. Dunmire at Leadville, Col, and 
 conversed with her. She said she had entertained 
 grave doubts as to the mental condition of Gui- 
 teau at the time she obtained her divorce, and 
 thought at the time, perhaps, she had better defer 
 the divorce proceedings, and await some further 
 developments in his mental condition 
 
 Clark Mills, the sculptor, was called to identify 
 the plaster cast of Guiteau s head. 
 
 John W. Guiteau was again put upon the stand, 
 and questioned in relation to Guiteau s letter to 
 Senator Cameron, and after some discussion on 
 technical points the Court adjourned. 
 
 On reassembling on Wednesday, January 4th, 
 Mr. Scoville presented a petition to be allowed 
 to introduce new witnesses. Permission being 
 granted, Dr. Beard, of New York, took the stand 
 but the admission of his testimony was objected 
 to and he was set aside. 
 
 The next witness called by Mr. Scoville was J. 
 J. Brooks, Chief of the Treasury Secret Service. 
 Witness visited the prisoner at the jail the night 
 after the shooting. Guiteau was in bed at the 
 time. tie arose in great anger and excitement, 
 and wanted to know what I meant by disturbing 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 385 
 
 his rest and quiet at that hour of the night. I 
 said it ill became him, a murderer, to speak in 
 that manner ; that he had disturbed the rest and 
 quiet of a whole nation. He replied that he was 
 no murderer, but a Christian and a gentleman ; 
 that he had been moved to do the act as a politi 
 cal necessity, and for the good of the country. 
 
 Witness detailed at some length his conversa 
 tion at that time, but without disclosing anything 
 new or important. 
 
 Mr. Scoville introduced a letter written by the 
 prisoner s father, in which he expressed an opin 
 ion that the prisoner was insane. 
 
 Guiteau called out sneeringly, "Was the object 
 of reading that letter to show that my father was 
 a crank, or that I am ? You are the biggest jack 
 ass, Scoville, I ever saw. If you can t learn any 
 sense, I shall have to rebuke you in public." 
 
 Mr Davictge, on behalf of the prosecution, 
 then requested that the defense make known the 
 law-points upon which they desired the ruling of 
 the Court. 
 
 Mr. Scoville replied, that his time had been so 
 occupied he had not been able to arrange them in 
 proper form. If, however, it was the practice in 
 this Court to settle the points of law before going 
 to the jury, he would like a little time for the proper 
 preparation of this part of the case. 
 
 33 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ARGUMENTS OF COUNSEL, ETC. 
 
 MR. DAVIDGE, on behalf of the prosecu 
 tion, here presented the law-points on 
 which that side relied. He read them 
 as follows : First, The legal test of responsibility, 
 where insanity is set up as a defense for the alleged 
 crime, is whether the accused at the time of com 
 mitting the act alleged knew the difference be 
 tween right and wrong in respect of such act; 
 hence, in the present case, if the accused at the 
 time of committing the act charged knew the 
 difference between right and wrong in respect of 
 such act, that is, if he knew what he was doing, 
 and that what he was doing was contrary to the 
 law of the land, he is responsible. 
 
 Second. If the accused knew what he was do 
 ing, and that what he was doing was contrary to 
 the law of the land, it constitutes no defense, even 
 if it were true, that when he committed the act he 
 really believed that he was thereby producing a 
 public benefit or carrying out an inspiration of 
 Divine origin or approval. 
 
 (386) 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELV. 
 
 Third. Insanity would, however, constitute a 
 defense, if, by reason of disease, the accused at 
 the time of committing the act charged did not 
 know what he was doing, or, if he did know it, 
 that what he was doing was contrary to law. 
 
 Prisoner : I had no choice in the matter. 
 
 Fourth. The only evidence in the present case 
 tending to show an irresistible impulse to com 
 mit the homicide is the claim of the accused that 
 bis free agency was destroyed by his alleged con 
 viction that the death of the President was re 
 quired for the good of the American people, and 
 was divinely inspired, but such conviction, even if 
 it really existed, could not afford any excuse when 
 the party knew what he was doing, and that it 
 was contrary to law. No mere delusion or error 
 of judgment, not even a fixed belief that what is 
 prohibited by the law is commanded or approved 
 by Divine authority [Prisoner: " God s law is 
 higher than man s law"] can exempt the accused 
 from responsibility for breaking the law. To have 
 such effect, the commission of the act charged 
 must have been the result of an insane delusion, 
 which was the product of disease and of such force 
 as to deprive the accused of the degree of reason 
 necessary to distinguish between right and wrong 
 in respect of the act, so that at the time of com 
 mitting the act he either did not know what he 
 was doing, or, if he did, that the act was wrong, or 
 contrary to the law of the land. 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 At Mr. Scoville s suggestion, the Court was 
 then adjourned until Saturday morning. 
 
 The time of the Court was occupied on Satur 
 day, January 7th, in the presentation and argu 
 ment of the legal instructions which the two sides 
 respectively, wanted the Judge to give to the jury. 
 The presence of the jurors was not necessary and 
 after the usual recess they took a carnage drive 
 instead of returning to court. 
 
 Messrs. Reed and Scoville were early at their 
 desks in consultation, but the Government counsel 
 were somewhat tardy in entering. The Judge 
 himself was late and it was not until 10:15 that 
 the crier announced the arrival of his Honor. 
 When the prisoner was conducted to the desk 
 Mr. Reed stepped over to talk to him and an ani 
 mated colloquy ensued, emphasized by the pris 
 oner by blows of his fist upon the dock rail. 
 
 The Judge soon announced that he was ready 
 to hear arguments as to the prayers on the part 
 of the prosecution and defense, and Mr. Davidge 
 opened on the part of the prosecution. He re 
 called the fact that on Wednesday last he had 
 submitted to the Court four simple, brief prayers 
 for instructions to the jury. 
 
 The first of those prayers asked his Honor to 
 declare that the test of responsibility in respect of 
 human intelligence is the power to distinguish be 
 tween right and wrong. 
 
 The next prayer declared that if any human 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 389 
 
 being, possessed of that degree of intelligence, 
 commits a crime he is responsible for it in other 
 words, that degree of intelligence makes him re 
 sponsible for the control of his own moral nature, 
 his passions, his emotions, his intellectual nature, 
 his beliefs whatever they may be, in short, for his 
 entire conduct. 
 
 In the third prayer he asked his Honor to de 
 fine just what legal insanity is to wit, that it is the 
 pfbduct of a diseased mind, and in the last of these 
 instructions he asked his Honor to lay down for the 
 guidance of the jury what is the law in respect of 
 what is called delusion. In the present case the 
 only irresistible impulse was the so-called inspira 
 tion. 
 
 In this last prayer he asked his Honor to say 
 that, if the inspiration was the product of the 
 man s depraved and wicked nature, it afforded no 
 shadow of excuse ; and that, to be an excuse, it 
 must be the product of an insane delusion. In 
 order to shut the door upon controversy in re 
 spect of those prayers, he proceeded to read 
 them again. He then argued the points with 
 great fullness. During the argument, counsel 
 had several tilts. At one time the following pas 
 sage occurred: 
 
 o 
 
 Mr. Davidge: There is a man (indicating the 
 prisoner) who, it is contended for the defense, is 
 imbecile. 
 
 " Is what ?" said the prisoner, Mr. Davidge hav- 
 
 33 
 
390 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 ing laid the emphasis on the second syllable of 
 "imbecile." 
 
 " Now listen to him," continued Mr. Davidge, 
 " and see what a farce has been acted here for 
 these many weeks. He not only knows the differ 
 ence between right and wrong, but he knows the 
 law of the case." 
 
 "I do not pretend to be any more insane than 
 yourself, Mr. Davidge," said the prisoner, "and I 
 have not been insane since the 2d of July. It was 
 transitory mania that I had ; that is all the insanity 
 that I claim." 
 
 Mr. Davidge: He knows the principles of law 
 applicable to the case as accurately as any lawyer. 
 
 Prisoner : I do not pretend that I do not. My 
 head is as good as yours or as Porter s. I am no 
 fool. The Lord does not employ fools to do His 
 work. 
 
 Mr. Davidge: Mr. Scoville has said that this 
 man was a fool for three weeks. 
 
 Prisoner: Scoville is a fool himself. (To the 
 Deputy Marshal) Keep quiet. Let me alone. 
 I repudiate entirely Scoville s theory of the de 
 fense. I do not even want him to address that 
 jury. I will do that business. Two hours speech 
 to the jury will settle the question. 
 
 Mr. Porter: The Court has heard the prisoner 
 long enough. Now let Mr. Davidge be heard. 
 
 After summing up the law asserted by the 
 prayers of the prosecution, Mr. Davidge said: Such 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 I understand to be the law in the District of Colum 
 bia. I submit the prayers of the prosecution, merely 
 adding that those propositions of law ought to be 
 read together, and when so collated I think your 
 Honor will come to the conclusion that they com 
 pletely cover the legal requirements of the case. 
 
 After a recess, Mr. Reed addressed the Court 
 in reply to Judge Davidge, and confined his argu 
 ment to the consideration of two questions, first, 
 the definitions laid down in the revised statutes of 
 murder and manslaughter, under which, if malice 
 be not proven, he contended the crime would be 
 manslaughter; second, the application to this case 
 of the question of reasonable doubt in connec 
 tion w r ith the plea of insanity. 
 
 Colonel Reed concluded his argument at a 
 quarter past 2, with a peroration, in which he made 
 a glowing allusion to the latitude of liberty and 
 the far-reaching impartiality of the law under free 
 institutions. It would be monstrous and shocking, 
 he said, to the sense of justice of any man that 
 an accused person should be condemned to the 
 gallows about whose sanity any reasonably fair 
 man man could have any question. Send a luna 
 tic to the gallows in America? Whether he is a 
 lunatic or not is a question to be decided by the 
 jury. When they consider the evidence in the se 
 clusion of the jury-room they may say: Well, 
 this man committed an awful crime, atrocious, in 
 describable, unparalleled in history. Yet we are 
 
-202 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUI1EAU, 
 
 not quite certain that he knew that he was doing 
 wrong. Is it not the doctrine of humanity to give 
 the man the benefit of that doubt and hesitation 
 and for the Court to say to the jury, if you have a 
 reasonable doubt, it is your duty to give the benefit 
 of it to the accused ? 
 
 Mr. Scoville arose to close the argument in sup 
 port of the prayers asked by the defense, but first 
 commented on the absence of the jury, which had 
 availed itself of the privilege given by Judge Cox 
 this morning, and had not returned to the court 
 room after the recess. He said that he did not 
 complain of it, but it was one of the incidents of 
 the trial which he could not help noticing. The 
 jury had heard the arguments of the prosecution 
 and it was hardly fair not to hear the defense. 
 
 A lively tilt between the opposing counsel fol 
 lowed this remark, but Mr. Scoville denied casting 
 any reflections. It was only one of the accidents 
 by which the defense suffered. He then went on 
 to argue that the Court should not take from the 
 jury the right to pass upon the question whether 
 the prisoner would have committed the act if he 
 had been of sound mind. 
 
 Without concluding his argument, the Court at 
 3 o clock, adjourned till Monday. 
 
 The ninth week of the Guiteau trial opened 
 Monday, January Qth, a crowded room giving 
 proof of the interest still existing. The prisoner 
 appeared rather nervous and his countenance in- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 dicated anxiety. When he had taken his seat in 
 the dock he glanced around stealthily over the 
 audience and immediately began a harangue, evi 
 dently intended for the jury. 
 
 " I have received," he said, " some eight hun 
 dred letters, a great majority of them from ladies. 
 When I oret time I shall attend to them. I want 
 
 o 
 
 to send my greetings to the ladies of America 
 and thank them for their sympathy. They don t 
 want me to be hanged. Public opinion is fast 
 changing. I received Saturday a check for $1000 
 from the Stalwarts of Brooklyn, and another for 
 $500 from the Stalwarts of New York. I want this 
 jury to understand how public opinion is on this 
 case." 
 
 Mr, Scoville resumed his argument in support 
 of the prayers for the defense, taking it up at the 
 point where he left off on Saturday. He pro 
 ceeded without interruption for one hour, and his 
 remarks were listened to with marked attention. 
 He laid stress upon the propositions that insane 
 men often know the difference between right and 
 wrong, and for that reason conceal their plans ; 
 that the benefit of the doubt should attach to the 
 plea of insanity, when raised, with the same force 
 as when urged in connection with the commission 
 of the crime. His allusion to the decision of Judge 
 Davis, " who went out of his way," he said, " to 
 pass upon something not involved in the case he 
 was then considering," brought Judge Porter to 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUJTEAU, 
 
 his feet with an indignant reply that the charge 
 was false. 
 
 Mr. Scoville retorted that the opinion of a man 
 who sat on the same bench with a Barnard and a 
 Cardozo should not be received with much con 
 sideration. 
 
 Judge Porter, with even more vehemence, re 
 iterated that the charge of counsel was absolutely 
 false ; that Judge Davis never sat on the bench 
 with either of the gentlemen named. 
 
 Mr. Scoville insisted that, when the style of pro 
 ceedings best suited to a police court was intro 
 duced here by the prosecution, he should com 
 ment upon them as he deemed fitting. He should 
 not be frightened by the tragic utterances of 
 Judge Porter. He had heard the same notes 
 years ago from the owls at night in the woods of 
 Ohio. 
 
 Mr. Davidge protested that not five minutes 
 had been devoted to the proper scope of the argu 
 ment, and the Court warned counsel that they 
 must abstain from personalities. 
 
 Mr. Scoville concluded his argument at 12 
 o clock, and in conclusion desired to make a few 
 remarks of a personal character. Alluding to his 
 controversies with Judge Porter, he disclaimed any 
 intention of transgressing the bounds of propriety 
 or the rules of practice, but he should criticise the 
 conduct of counsel when it merited criticism, and 
 the threats of the prosecution would not intimidate 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 him. Citing the custom of counsel upon the other 
 side of bowing to the Jury upon entering, Mr. 
 Scoville said: Sometimes it is three bows all 
 around: sometimes more, never less than three. 
 It has never been done by counsel upon this side, 
 and I do not hesitate to criticize its propriety." 
 
 Judge Porter: The gentlemen is simply instanc 
 ing his lack of politeness. If he has no apology 
 to offer, I shall certainly not apologize for him. 
 
 Recess was then taken. 
 
 After recess, Mr. Corkhill stated that he had not 
 expected to speak on the legal points, relying upon 
 the assurance of the defense that the question of 
 jurisdiction would not be raised ; but as the last 
 two prayers of the defense distinctly made that 
 issue, he felt it to be his duty, as the prosecuting 
 officer of the Government, to address the Court 
 upon a question to which he had devoted much 
 careful consideration. He then proceeded to read 
 from printed slips an exhaustive argument upon 
 the subject of jurisdiction. The argument occu 
 pied the attention of the Court for one hour. 
 
 Mr. Davidge then addressed the Court upon 
 the general propositions contained in the prayer. 
 
 He discussed seriatim the prayers of the de 
 fense and pointed out " their sophistries and in 
 consistencies." "The object of the prosecution," 
 he said, " is to obtain from your Honor, a plain, 
 clear and direct ruling upon four distinct propo 
 sitions. The apparant object of the defense has 
 
3Q 6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 been to befog all that may be clear in this case, in 
 the vain hope that they may get to the jury with 
 some uncertainty attached, in some way, to the 
 case upon which to build up a plea for acquittal." 
 
 Mr. Davidge concluded his argument at five 
 minutes to 3 o clock. The Court then adjourned. 
 
 On Tuesday morning, January loth, the court 
 room was densely crowded. Mr. Porter pro 
 ceeded at once with the argument of the prosecu 
 tion upon the prayers presented by the defense. 
 His opening was a keen reply to some strictures 
 upon himself, after which he addressed himself to 
 the question of malice. He said his friend, Mr. 
 Davidge, had planted himself solely and squarely 
 in regard to the question of malice on a statute 
 of the United States which assumed the fact 
 that there might be a homicide without malice. 
 There had been many such homicides, but the 
 murder of Garfield was not one of them. 
 
 Four days after he formed his decision of 
 murder he gave Mr. Garfield one last chance, and 
 wanted to know whether he was or not to have 
 the consulship at Paris. Elaine had rejected his 
 application with contempt. 
 
 Prisoner: He never rejected it. 
 
 Mr. Porter: He demanded of the President the 
 removal of Mr. Elaine, and added that if the Presi 
 dent refused it, "you and your administration will 
 come to grief." He did; his administration -did 
 not. The President died; the government lives. 
 
ASSASSnV OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ^gj 
 
 It is under the control of a President who will do 
 illustrious honor to the long line of Presidents, 
 and the man who murdered his predecessor is 
 brought to justice by him under the law by him 
 and by his authority and we demand in behalf 
 of the o-overnment that this assassin shall not be 
 
 o 
 
 spared under false pretenses. 
 
 Prisoner: You \vere employed by Mr. Arthur 
 under a misapprehension, and you had better get 
 off, Mr. Porter. 
 
 Mr. Porter : Under the misapprehension that 
 the law was stronger than the prisoner. The 
 prisoner thinks that Guiteau is stronger than the 
 law and Scoville thinks with him. 
 
 Prisoner: I think the Almighty mightier than 
 the law. 
 
 Mr. Porter: He will come directly before the 
 Almighty and he had better postpone his argu 
 ment, if he has any, until then. He will feel soon 
 what he never has felt before, a divine pressure 
 and in the form of a hangman s rope. 
 
 Prisoner : We will see about that. The Lord 
 has the law fixed. 
 
 Mr. Porter, continuing his argument : Guiteau 
 
 o o 
 
 through Mr. Scoville, asks you to charge that the 
 question is whether he was unsound in mind ? He 
 then proceeded to cite from the case of the Queen 
 vs. Davis, already cited by the defense, to show 
 that it was not a parallel case to the present. 
 Mr. Porter, passing on to the question of " rea- 
 34 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sonable doubt," presented a compilation of author 
 ities on that point which showed, he said, that in 
 the eighteen States from which the authorities were 
 collated, the courts had reached the conclusion that 
 the burden of proof was on the prisoner to estab 
 lish insanity ; and not only that, but if it be left in 
 reasonable doubt, that does not avail the prisoner. 
 He must demonstrate that he could not distinguish 
 between right and wrong. But let us suppose 
 that he really believed that the Almighty Father 
 of us all, in looking for an appropriate agent to 
 perform a mission such as he gave to the Apostle 
 Paul, though that was no mission of murder, had 
 gone to the stalwart committee rooms in the city 
 of New York to hunt out some worthless vaga 
 bond like him, and that on examining him He found 
 
 o 
 
 that he had qualified himself for the crime by a life 
 of imposture, of swindling, of beggary, of breach 
 of trust, of wrong, of adultery and of syphilis ; 
 and that He had selected him in the interest 
 of the great Republican party, in which he would 
 represent the firm, to which he claims to belong, 
 of Jesus Christ & Co. Suppose that to the junior 
 member of that firm there had been committed 
 by divine authority the power and duty of mid 
 night murder, of church murder, of depot murder, 
 of murder everywhere. Suppose that he was in 
 spired. He was inspired in both ways. He was told 
 by the written commandment of God that to do the 
 act would be to do murder ; and he swore in his 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 399 
 
 answer to my last question that he did feel per- 
 1 sonal remorse. Now what is the law of irre 
 sponsibility ? First, the jury must be satisfied by 
 the oath of an honest man that he believed he 
 was inspired. Every man on that jury knows that 
 there is no honest man s oath to lead him to that 
 conclusion, and that the only oath they have in 
 support of it is the oath of the murderer strug 
 gling for his life against the scaffold which is his 
 doom. 
 
 "Struggling for truth and vindication" exclaimed 
 the prisoner. " It is for vindication that I am 
 struggling." 
 
 Mr Porter went on to argue that even St. Paul, 
 with his Divine inspiration, had no immunity from 
 stripes and scourges and death, but that he bowed 
 his head to the Roman sword and suffered that 
 doom by the permission of that same being whom 
 this man impiously invoked as his protector and 
 in whose name he had menaced even the Court 
 and jury. 
 
 Mr. Porter concluded his argument by reading 
 President Garfield s letter complimenting the 
 Judge who laid down the doctrine of responsibility 
 in connection with the defense of insanity in the 
 Jones-Gallatin case. He added that Mr. Garfield 
 little thought that that letter would first make its 
 appearance in black lines expressive of the popu 
 lar grief at the act of the muderer who was now 
 before this Court for justice. 
 
TRIAL OF CHAXLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Judge Cox, at 11.45, began the reading of his 
 decision. 
 
 He occupied fifty-five minutes in reading that 
 portion touching the question of jurisdiction. He 
 reviewed the progress of opinion, and cited all 
 the important rulings from the early days of the 
 common law in England, and decided against the 
 
 <-> O 
 
 prayer of the defense. He summed up the ques 
 tion : "The jurisdiction is complete in the place 
 where the wound is inflicted ; consequently this 
 Court has full cognizance of the offense." 
 
 o 
 
 Judge Cox then proceeded to consider the first 
 and second prayers of the prosecution in connec 
 tion with the third, fifth, sixth and eighth prayers 
 of the defense. 
 
 The first instruction asked for by the prose 
 cution, namely, that " the legal test of responsi 
 bility, where insanity is set up as defense for 
 alleged crime, is whether the accused at the time 
 of committing the act charged, knew the difference 
 between right and wrong in respect of such act," 
 he regarded as correct. He said : If the jury find 
 that the defendant committed the act charged, and 
 at the time thereof knew what he was doing, and 
 that what he was doing was contrary to the law 
 of the land, it constitutes no excuse, even if it is 
 true that when he committed the act he really be 
 lieved that he was producing a great public bene 
 fit, and that the death of the President was 
 required for the good of the American people ; 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 nor would such excuse be afforded by the fact 
 that in the commission of the act he was con 
 trolled by a depraved moral sense, whether innate 
 or acquired, or by evil passions or indifference to 
 moral obligations. 
 
 At the reassembling of the court on Thursday, 
 January 1 2th, Mr. Davidge took a position in front 
 of the jury, and opened his argument. 
 
 Whatever disorder or levity might have charac 
 terized the trial there was but one sentiment in 
 respect of the conduct of the jury. All com 
 mended their dignified deportment and close and 
 patient attention to the evidence, and he could not 
 doubt that, as they had received the commenda 
 tion of all in the past, they would continue to 
 deserve it in the future by their decision of the 
 question before them. 
 
 There is here, gentlemen, he continued, but a 
 single point for discussion and consideration the 
 subject of insanity. The Court will tell you that 
 in this land of law it is not allowable for a man 
 coldly and deliberately and treacherously to slay 
 another and then to say he had no malice. The 
 Court will tell you, when it comes to charge you, 
 that to constitute the crime of murder the exis 
 tence of malice is wholly unnecessary, and that, 
 indeed, the crime committed is infinitely worse in 
 the absence of that element than if it was present. 
 
 In the progress of the trial very many vague and 
 general expressions have crept into the cause. 
 34* 
 
402 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES GUITEAU, 
 
 We have heard of crazy men, of men off their 
 balance, of insane men, and hence it was neces 
 sary to apply to the Court for a clear and per 
 spicuous definition as to what is insanity in a legal 
 sense. The medical experts have defined insanity 
 from the standpoint of medicine and it was neces 
 sary to have it defined from the standpoint of law. 
 Even if a man be deficient in intelligence it does 
 
 o 
 
 not follow that he shall be permitted to commit 
 murder with impunity. It takes one degree of 
 intelligence for a man to make a contract, another 
 
 o 
 
 to make a will and another to do any other act. 
 But when you come to crime, such a crime as we 
 have here, murder "murder most foul and most 
 unnatural" the law requires a very slight degree 
 of intelligence indeed. 
 
 Here Mr. Davidge read Judge Cox s instruc 
 tions, No. i and No. 2. In comment on these 
 Mr. Davidge said : That is, gentlemen of the jury, 
 if any human being has any degree of intelligence 
 which enables him to understand the act he is 
 doing, and if he has sense enough to know, and 
 does know that that act is in violation of the laws 
 of the land, or wrong, then no frenzy, no passion 
 will afford any excuse whatever; then no disease 
 of his moral nature will constitute any excuse 
 whatever; then no belief, however profound, 
 though a man through reason and reflection may 
 reach the conclusion that the act is the suggestion 
 of and commanded by Almighty God, will afford 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 any excuse whatever for the perpetration of 
 crime. 
 
 Thus you will see that a man may be here who 
 has been, styled a crank or off his balance and 
 even partially insane and yet may be abundantly 
 responsible for crime. What is the act committed 
 here? Murder, murder, murder by lying in wait 
 what is commonly called assassination. How 
 great a degree of intelligence does it take to in 
 form a man that that is w r rong ? What degree of 
 intelligence was necessary to make a lawyer know 
 that it was in violation of the law of the land to 
 kill ? What degree of intelligence was necessary 
 to make a religious man to know that the everlast 
 ing edict had gone forth from Almighty God 
 " Thou shalt commit no murder ?" 
 
 My learned brethren on the other side do not 
 assert that this man did not know what he was 
 doing. The defense is two-fold. Mr. Scoville 
 says that the intelligence of this man was of such 
 a low order that he did not know that it was wrong 
 for him to commit the murder. The prisoner sup 
 plemented that assertion with another equally 
 false, and he acted wisely. He said he was no fool 
 and we all know he was no fool. He knew per 
 fectly well that no defense could stand before this 
 or any other jury resting on the foundation of his 
 counsel, Scoville, so he supplemented it with 
 another to the effect that he had the degree of in 
 telligence required by law, but that he acted under 
 
404 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 an insane delusion, the product of disease ; that 
 he was commanded by Almighty God to slay the 
 President of the United States. He says that in 
 consequence of this pressure from above he per 
 petrated this vile deed. Scoville acted for the 
 best and did all that could be done, though Heaven 
 knows that all was not much, but that was the fault 
 not of him, but of the material that he had to use. 
 I have no doubt that Scoville did his best, but in 
 this case the shrewdness and intelligence of this 
 prisoner showed a full appreciation of the situa 
 tion. He knew that it was impossible to run the 
 gauntlet of this trial as an imbecile, but that he 
 would be stripped both in respect of his intel 
 lectual and moral character. Then he had his 
 choicest invention the so-called inspiration. 
 
 I have said it was murder. It is more than 
 murder. It is the murder of the head of the nation 
 the chief magistrate of 50,000,000 of people. 
 It is said that there is a divinity that doth hedge in 
 a king. We have no king, but we have a Re 
 public presided over by a President, who, without 
 royal robes or trappings, would inspire respect 
 equal to that inspired by king or kaiser. That is 
 the crime the political crime the murder of the 
 head of a great Republic. * * * I have told 
 you the crime. I have told you the victim. Now, 
 who is the prisoner? In the beginning we did 
 not know who he was. We could not have enter 
 tained a very good opinion of him. In the begin- 
 
ASSASShV OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. Bo 
 
 ning, but for a little while, he passed quite current as 
 an imbecile a fool. He has since been uncovered. 
 Indeed, he readily uncovered himself. He went 
 on the stand. After that nobody any longer 
 doubted the degree of intelligence of this man. 
 What has been shown about the prisoner ? It has 
 been shown that this man, who has been repre 
 sented to you in Mr. Scoville s opening speech as 
 weak, incapable of talking coherently, imbecile, is 
 a man, one of the vilest of the human race, of 
 gigantic schemes, all his life showing a tendency 
 in the direction of schemes that would startle the 
 ordinary mind. 
 
 As a mere boy, entering the Oneida Community, 
 he wallowed in the filth of that association for six 
 years a lawless enterprise leaving it to estab 
 lish a paper in New York called the Tkeocrat, 
 which was to overturn all religions, all churches 
 and, it may be, all governments. Then he em 
 barked in the Inter- Ocean enterprise, of which 
 you have heard so much. He was a man prone 
 to all those great and daring undertakings that are 
 so fascinating to those who possess the profound 
 love of notoriety which distinguishes so lament 
 ably this prisoner. He is no longer a fool, an 
 imbecile. Nor can it be doubted that he possesses 
 the nerve and resolution to execute as well as the 
 mind to conceive. If I were to sum up the moral 
 and intellectual qualities of this man I would say 
 that he had the daring eye of the vulture com- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 bined with the heart of the wolf. Such is the crime, 
 such is the victim, such is the slayer. 
 
 Mr. Davidge then took up the history of the 
 case, beginning with the prisoner s coming to 
 Washington in pursuit of the Paris consulship, 
 and coming down to the 1 6th of May, when, after 
 being ordered by Mr. Elaine never to speak to 
 him again about the Paris consulship, this man lay 
 in bed canvassing in his own mind what would be 
 most for his interest. The thought then flashed 
 across his mind, that the death of the President 
 would solve all the difficulties in the Republican 
 party. 
 
 Now look at the political situation. Two war 
 ring factions and a little political life a little life 
 between one of these warring factions and power ! 
 What a thin partition it was ! The idea occurred 
 to this man, why should I not extinguish that little 
 life. Why should I not batter down that partition 
 and make myself the great benefactor of the stal 
 wart element of the Republican party? Hell- 
 born, awful, I admit, but, before God, the truth! 
 
 He tells us when this conception came. It 
 came, gentleman, in the night, for I do not think 
 that in the sunshine such an idea could enter the 
 soul even of this wretch. The next day it oc 
 curred to the prisoner again, and he went on from 
 day to day, and absolutely devoted two weeks to 
 the constant contemplation of this new scheme. 
 For two weeks he carried in his breast this viper. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 He lay with it at night, he ate with it, he drank 
 with it, he moved about among men with it. He 
 lived and moved and had his beinof with that awful 
 
 o 
 
 sin his constant companion. He carried it, he 
 nursed it, he dallied with it for two weeks. On the 
 23d of May he felt that it would perhaps be better 
 for him to forego this wicked scheme. He said to 
 himself, " Perhaps I can get this office, and if I 
 can, how much better it would be to keep my 
 hands clean and not incarnadine them." He made 
 another effort on the 23d of May with a view of 
 getting that office. 
 
 Listen to this letter, which this man wrote to 
 General Garfield on the 23d of May. Mr. Dav- 
 idge here read to the jury the letter in question, 
 in which the prisoner spoke of Mr. Elaine as being 
 a vindictive politician and the evil genius of the 
 President, and said : You ought to demand his 
 immediate resignation, otherwise you and the Re 
 publican party will come to grief. Does not every 
 man know that when he wrote that letter he was 
 agitating in his own mind the subject of secret 
 assassination ? He got no answer to the letter. 
 He goes on considering this fearful subject. 
 
 Prisoner: I was praying about it, to find out 
 the Deity s will. I was praying for two weeks prior 
 to the ist of June. 
 
 Mr. Davidge : He went on balancing, this man 
 without intelligence, but who had intelligence 
 
 
 enough to stop as this terrible flower was unfold- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 ing its petals ; intelligent enough to stop to give 
 his victim a chance. He got no reply, and on the 
 ist of June he made up his mind that he would 
 put out that little light, which no man in the world 
 could ever relight the light of life. 
 
 Mr. Davidge then went on to refer to the pur 
 chase of the pistol, the fact of the prisoner s prac 
 tising by the river side and to his dogging of the 
 President. * * * He contemplated the pro 
 priety of turning the house of God into a house 
 of slaughter, of spilling blood, as it were, on the 
 very altar of the great God of us all. He was 
 armed that day. Referring then to the prisoner s 
 visit to the jail and to his apprehension of the 
 mob, Mr. Davidge said : He did not fear you or 
 the ministers of the law. He thought : " I will 
 break through the meshes of the law as if they 
 were so many threads, but I fear that terrible 
 thing, the mob." * * * Referring to the state 
 ment that the prisoner had attempted to kill the 
 President two weeks prior to the time of the 
 shooting, and had been deterred by the presence 
 of Mrs. Garfield, Mr. Davidge remarked that the 
 only thing, so far as he knew, that could be said 
 in favor of the man was that at the sight of a 
 woman his heart failed him. He could not shoot 
 the President in the presence of so much weak 
 ness and love and tenderness. 
 
 Mr. Davidge then quoted from "Macbeth" the 
 lines setting forth that Duncan 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Hath borne his faculties so meek, hath been 
 So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
 Will plead, like angels trumpet-tongued, against 
 The deep damnation of his taking off; 
 And pity, like a naked new-born babe, 
 Striding the blast, or heaven s cherubim, hors d 
 Upon the sightless couriers of the air, 
 Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye, 
 That tears shall drown the wind. 
 
 As Mr. Davidge recited these lines, the trag 
 edian Rossi, who occupied a seat at the Govern 
 ment table, nodded approvingly. 
 
 Let us hope, continued Mr. Davidge, that a simi 
 lar sentiment to that attributed by the great master 
 of moral nature to Macbeth stirred, to some ex 
 tent, the heart of this devil. 
 
 Mr. Davidge then described the efforts of Gui- 
 teau to nerve himself up to the act. This lunatic 
 had to screw up as with a jackscrew " his courage 
 to the sticking point." He fired, continued Mr. 
 Davidge, at the back of your chief and my chief. 
 He fired at the back of that man, from his British 
 bulldog pistol, the bullet that went clear through 
 the spine. "The falcon, towering in his pride of 
 place, was, by a mousing owl hawked at and killed." 
 This gentle, kindly, illustrious chief, who had 
 bared his breast to the bullets of the enemy, lived 
 to die by a bullet fired treacherously into his back. 
 The prisoner was afraid of the mob. What is a 
 mob ? It is simply the outward expression of the 
 passion and sentiment of the people. I am no 
 mob man, but I never yet knew the mob, however 
 35 
 
4io 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 much to be apprehended, that had not behind it 
 the highest form of human passion and human 
 sentiment. 
 
 Prisoner ; I went to jail to protect myself until I 
 had a hearing. I am getting a hearing now, and 
 
 O O O O 
 
 the people are satisfied. 
 
 There never was a time, continued. Mr. Davidge, 
 when, if the sentiment of this country and of other 
 civilized countries had been given full- vent, it 
 would not have torn this wretch into shreds and 
 atoms. 
 
 The Court at this point took a recess. 
 
 After the recess Mr. Davidge continued his 
 argument. He claimed that he had established 
 beyond controversy the sanity of the prisoner. 
 He claimed to have established such sanity by the 
 consideration which the prisoner had shown for 
 Mrs. Garfield, by his preparations for the execu 
 tion of the crime, by the execution itself and by 
 the measures adopted by the prisoner himself to 
 secure his personal safety, first in respect of the 
 mob, and next in respect of the tribunal of justice 
 by the interposition of the defense of insanity. 
 
 It seemed to him almost a mockery to discuss 
 the question of insanity in respect of the prisoner, 
 but he wished that in the future when this man 
 had met his doom, no human being should be able 
 to say that there was any question in respect of 
 his guilt or of the propriety of the punishment in 
 flicted upon him. He then proceeded to criticise 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ^ j 
 
 in detail and ridicule the evidence offered by the 
 defense to prove the existence of insanity in mem 
 bers of the Guiteau family. He commented on the 
 fact that in jail the prisoner was quiet and well 
 behaved the exception being that when a man 
 went there who was to become a witness in the 
 case the prisoner founvd it convenient, in view of 
 of the exigencies of the case, to appear to be a 
 madman. 
 
 Prisoner : I never appeared to be a madman. 
 I never claimed to be any more insane than you 
 are, I never have been since the 2d of July. 
 
 In the course of his further argument, Mr. 
 Davidge alluded to the prisoner s wonderful mem 
 ory, saying that he had a memory of brass, of 
 which metal his other qualities seemed also to be 
 composed. 
 
 Prisoner: That is the first pun you have made 
 to-day, Davidge ; you had better repeat it. 
 
 Mr. Davidge proceeded to analyze the testi 
 mony connected with the prisoner s attempt to 
 deliver a lecture in the Paine Memorial Hall, at 
 Boston: also that in connection with the prisoner s 
 dropping a little dog over the stairway at Mr. 
 Scoville s summer house; also as to the opinions 
 expressed by some witnesses that the prisoner 
 was crazy or was a fool, and he asked whether a 
 man was to be excused for crime, and such a 
 crime, because somebody thought him a fool or 
 crazy? Then he came to what he called the family 
 
4! 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 branch of the testimony, referring to the raising of 
 the axe by the prisoner upon Mrs. Scoville and 
 connecting that with the prisoner once striking his 
 father on the back. A more uniform life had 
 never come under his observation. Its last crown 
 ing and culminating act of wickedness was but the 
 verification of what the Scripture says: "As thou 
 sowest so shalt thou reap." 
 
 Extended discussion followed at this point upon 
 permitting the prisoner to address the jury in 
 closing his case, in the progress of which Guiteau 
 interrupted saying : The American people will 
 read the speech, and they are greater than this 
 Court and Jury. Do not forget that, Mr. Court 
 and Mr. Jurymen ! The American people are 
 trying this case, and will, I think, do me justice. 
 The American people will get my speech from 
 the Herald. It reads like an oration of Cicero s. 
 It will go thundering down the ages. 
 
 Judge Cox: I would have no objection to the 
 prisoner s being heard if he would conduct him 
 self as any other man or counsel would, in conform 
 ity to the rules of propriety. The prisoner has so 
 abused his privileges heretofore, that I do not 
 anticipate that he will confine himself to the rules of 
 propriety. 
 
 Prisoner : That is because I have been abused, 
 I had to defend myself. I could not lie down and 
 allow these men to trample on me. 
 
 At this point the crier, by order of Judge Cox, 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 announced the adjournment of the Court; but the 
 prisoner continued to shout, "I stand here as a 
 man. I am here as the agent of the Deity. Do not 
 forget that God Almighty will take care of me too." 
 
 As soon as the prisoner had been placed in the 
 dock, on Friday morning, January I3th, he broke 
 out with the following speech: "In justice to the 
 Court, to myself and to Mr. Davidge, I want to 
 say that I was mistaken in my remarks against 
 him. I received a letter severely denouncing Mr. 
 Davidge, but on inquiry I find that Davidge is a 
 high-toned Christian lawyer, and I withdraw any 
 injurious remarks I made against him. I still 
 maintain my opinion of Corkhill. I am told that 
 I am right about Corkhill and wrong about 
 Davidge." 
 
 Mr. Davidge then arose and proceeded with his 
 address to the jury, first referring to the testimony 
 as to the purchase of the pistol. Passing on to 
 the question whether the prisoner, at the time of 
 the act had intelligence enough to know that mur 
 der was against God s law, nature s law and the 
 law of the land, he analyzed the testimony as to 
 the eccentricities and peculiarities of the prisoner. 
 He might comment upon the testimony of Mrs. 
 Scoville with some degree of severity, but he was 
 not capable of it. He recognized her relations to 
 the prisoner, and he therefore passed her testi 
 mony as he had passed it by when he declined to 
 cross-examine her. 
 35* 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 He proceeded, however, to analyze the testi- 
 money of John W. Guiteau. He testified that the 
 prisoner was so bereft of reason that he was ac 
 tually unable to draw up a chattel mortgage. If 
 that were a test of reason he, Mr. Davidge, could 
 not pass it, for, after his long practice of the law, 
 he would also have to ask guidance in the draw 
 ing up of a chattel mortgage in Richmond or New 
 York. He quoted some of the answers of this 
 witness in cross-examination ; that he believed the 
 prisoner s case was one of demonism, that he was 
 possessed of the devil, that before God he was 
 responsible for his acts. He also read and com 
 mented upon the testimony as to the quarrel be 
 tween witness and the prisoner in the witness 
 office, in Boston, and brought out again with great 
 effect the explanation given by the witness, in 
 reply to Mr. Scoville, of what he meant by saying 
 that he believed his brother was possessed by 
 the devil. 
 
 This Guiteau family is a respectable family, a 
 family of tone and character. They have made 
 their mark wherever they have gone. The mis 
 take committed by the family is in undertaking to 
 protect and defend this man. All families are 
 liable in the course of nature to produce bad men 
 and wicked men, and bad women and wicked 
 women, and the course the Roman course that 
 this family ought to pursue would be to denounce 
 this wretch as having sinned against law, against 
 
ASSASSAV OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD, 
 
 God, against nature itself, and offer him as a sac 
 rifice on the altar of his country. 
 
 Mr. Davidge characterized the evidence of the 
 defense as vague and sloppy rubbish, but declared 
 that some strange beams of light had filtered 
 through the darkness in respect to the prisoner s 
 moral nature. It had crept in incidentally that he 
 had, at the age of eighteen, struck his father 
 behind his back, and that at the age of thirty-five 
 he had raised an axe against a woman, and that 
 woman his sister, and that sister his hostess, whose 
 hospitality he was enjoying at the time. 
 
 Right here the most remarkable incident of this 
 trial took place. The prisoner was put upon the 
 stand because the theory on which I have been 
 commenting had absolutely broken down. What 
 was the result? No man in this court-room and 
 no man out of this court-room who read his testi 
 mony entertains any longer, if he entertained 
 before, the slightest doubt in respect to the abso 
 lute sanity and responsibility of this man. There 
 is no longer any darkness. 
 
 Mr. Davidge, in the course of his address, 
 speaking incidentally of the horror, disgust and 
 loathing with which the assassination of the Presi 
 dent had been regarded by all Christendom, the 
 prisoner exclaimed: That was true in July, sir; 
 but it is not true now. It is just the other way." 
 So an allusion to the prisoner s lecturing for 
 money brought out the denial : " That is false. I 
 
4i 6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 took to lecturing to serve the Lord." And a 
 reference to Moody as a theologian led him to ex 
 claim : " Moody was an evangelist and I was a 
 theologian. There is no connection between the 
 two offices." Referring to the testimony of Rev. 
 Dr. MacArthur and to the incident of the pris 
 oner s being supplied with money by his wife, who 
 was then at service, the prisoner said : " That is 
 false ; she was never worth a cent." He also con 
 tradicted several other points in Dr. MacArthur s 
 testimony, which led Mr. Davidge to say to the 
 jury : This rascal says he did not do this. Which 
 do you believe, the man of God, the minister of 
 the Holy Gospel, or the prisoner in the dock ? 
 
 Mr. Davidge went on in the further analysis of 
 the testimony and said : He was sane enough for 
 all purposes. It is only when his hand is red, 
 when his fingers are dripping with blood, and 
 when the law claims him as a sacrifice on the altar 
 of justice that we first hear any claim whatever 
 of his insanity. 
 
 Alluding to Shaw s testimony as to the conver 
 sation about Wilkes Booth and the assassination 
 of Mr. Lincoln, Mr. Davidge said that the prisoner 
 had the ambition of the youth who fired the Ephe- 
 sian dome, and who outlived in fame the pious 
 fool who reared it. 
 
 This wretch, too, he said, was after immortality, 
 and he had secured for himself an evil eminence 
 and an evil immortality. Referring to the pris- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ,j ~ 
 
 oner s Inter- Ocean scheme Mr. Davidge treated 
 that as a proof of his sanity. 
 
 " Yes," said the prisoner, " they have been run 
 ning that paper on my brains ever since, and they 
 have got rich on it, too. The paper was not worth 
 a cent until I put my brains into the concern." 
 
 Mr. Davidge continued : What we have mainly 
 to do with in that enterprise is the audacity of the 
 undertaking. This crime is in keeping with 
 the Inter- Ocean enterprise ; in keeping with the 
 Oneida Community ; in keeping with the Theo- 
 crat; in keeping with the idea that he could 
 " star " the country as a lecturer, because Moody 
 and Sankey could do the same thing ; in keeping 
 with the idea that Providence specially protected 
 him when the Narraefansett was burned on Lonof 
 
 o o 
 
 Island Sound ; in keeping with the idea that he 
 was led by inspiration to go to the Oneida Com 
 munity ; in keeping with the idea that the great 
 God inspired him to leave that Community ; in 
 keeping with the grand idea that on this earth 
 there is but one errand central figure, and that his 
 
 O C!> 
 
 name is Charles J. Guiteau. 
 
 "Thank you, sir," shouted the prisoner; that is 
 the best thing that you have ever said. That is what 
 the American people are beginning to say too." 
 If you saw some of the letters I am receiving you 
 would say so too. I am the brain of this business. 
 I am running this thing here. And I say that, 
 too, without any egotism at all." 
 
4i 8 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Mr. Davidge then adverted to the testimony of 
 Mrs. Dunmire, the divorced wife of the prisoner, 
 commenting on the fact that the defense had not 
 cross-examined her as to the incidents which led 
 her to the belief that the prisoner was sane. 
 
 Mr. Davidge then referred to the testimony of 
 the medical experts, first taking up the evidence 
 of Dr. Spitzka. Spitzka, the moral insanity man, 
 had said that the prisoner was a moral monstro 
 sity; but, further, that he had no doubt that the 
 prisoner apprehended the difference between right 
 and wrong. Spitzka s testimony brought the 
 prisoner within the reach of law and punishment. 
 
 In alluding to Dr. Spitzka s statement that the 
 prisoner s tongue deviated to one side, Mr. 
 Davidge related the fact that the medical experts 
 at a meeting at Willard s hotel examined each 
 other s tongues, and it was found that of the half- 
 dozen present only two could put their tongues 
 out straight. 
 
 There had been upward of twenty medical ex 
 perts summoned on the part of the defense, men 
 whose names were household words, who were 
 noted in the particular department of science to 
 which they had elevated themselves. They had 
 come here, had stayed here day after day, and ex 
 amined the prisoner in the jail and had sat in the 
 Court-room with note-book and pencil to hear him 
 testify. Strange as it may appear, all these experts, 
 after the examination of the prisoner, had vanished 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 419 
 
 like ghosts before the dawn of day. Not one of 
 them had taken the stand to testify that this man 
 was insane. But as the failure to call any of 
 them would have been too glaring a confession 
 of weakness, the defense had resorted to the very 
 transparent device of putting some of them on 
 the stand and interrogating them in respect to a 
 hypothetical case which meant nothing. 
 
 He commended the testimony of the expert 
 witnesses for the prosecution and predicted that 
 for all time that testimony would be resorted to 
 as indicating the character of the disease of in 
 sanity. 
 
 Mr. Davidge continued: We have uncovered 
 his moral nature. We have shown that in religion 
 he is a hypocrite, in law a pettifogger and a 
 shyster, and in all things a swindler, an impostor 
 and a cheat. Then came the light of science, and 
 science brands on his forehead, so that the whole 
 world may see it, and read it, and know it, the 
 word "Sane." I have now done with the first de 
 partment of this case. The second department is 
 that it was in consequence of what this prisoner 
 calls a Divine pressure that he committed this act. 
 Where he writes the word "God" we know that 
 the word "Devil" ought to be written, and 
 where he writes "Divine," if we write what his 
 own brother says ought to be written, " Santanic," 
 it is true. Let me read from James I., 14, 15, 16: 
 "Let no man say, when he is tempted, I am 
 
420 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with 
 evil, neither tempteth he any man ; but every man 
 is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust 
 and enticed. Then when the lust has conceived, 
 it bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, 
 bringeth forth death." This is a sufficient com 
 ment ! 
 
 Mr. Davidge went on to quote from the pris 
 oner s own testimony bearing on his so-called in 
 spiration, prefacing it with the remark that it was 
 enoup-h to make a man s blood curdle. "At the 
 
 o 
 
 end of two weeks," the prisoner had testified, "my 
 mind was thoroughly fixed as to the necessity of 
 the President s removal and the divinity of the 
 inspiration." 
 
 Prisoner : Making up my mind was the result 
 of my prayers. 
 
 Mr. Davidge: Let me go on. I will hang him by 
 his own .testimony. The doctors have all told you 
 that an insane delusion does not come from within, 
 but from without ; that the insane person hears a 
 voice or sees a spectral finger on the wall, but here 
 you have the germ of crime within the mind of 
 the man. You have the act originating within and 
 not forced upon the party from without. 
 
 Mr. Davidge went on to quote from the testi 
 mony of Mr. Reynolds, narrating his interview 
 with the prisoner in the jail on the i4th of July. 
 He dwelt particularly on the use by the prisoner 
 of the word " assassination." This the prisoner 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 denied, as Mr. Davidge was reading it, and said 
 he had always spoken of it as a " removal," not an 
 "assassination." When Mr. Davidge read the re 
 mark by the prisoner to the effect that Conkling, 
 and Grant, and Logan, and such men would make 
 themselves known as his friends, the prisoner said, 
 " Yes, and they are my friends to-day." 
 
 Another quotation was : " I thought my friends 
 would come to see me by hundreds." When that 
 was read the prisoner added : " Yes, and they are 
 coming to-day, sir." 
 
 In concluding his comments upon his testimony, 
 Mr. Davidge said : Now, one word, and a very 
 short word. I told you in the beginning that I did 
 not come here to make a set speech; I told you 
 that I came here to help as far as I could, and to 
 help honestly, a jury of my country in the dis 
 charge of an important and solemn duty. I be 
 gan my remarks without an exordium, and I close 
 them without peroration, except to say to you that 
 your countrymen and Christendom are waiting for 
 your verdict. I thank you, gentlemen, for the at 
 tention you have given me." 
 
 Prisoner: And I thank you, Mr. Davidge. That 
 is a very light speech. I hope Porter will go light, 
 too. You had better see General Arthur, Mr, 
 Porter, before you begin to talk. I wrote him a 
 note on this matter the other day. 
 
 The Court at 5 minutes past 3 o clock adjourned. 
 
 The morning s proceedings on Saturday, Janu- 
 
422 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 ary i4th, were opened by the prisoner, who, as 
 soon as he had entered the dock, exclaimed : " I 
 signed twenty-five checks yesterday made payable 
 to my order representing $15,000. I suppose that 
 some of them are good. I do not wish any one 
 to send checks that are not good. We have re 
 ceived two or three that are worthless. Let the 
 people send good checks or none. I do my own 
 banking business, and I want the checks made 
 payable to my order. 
 
 The Court stated that he had been informed 
 that the prisoner was preparing an address to the 
 jury. He would be loath, in a capital case, to deny 
 any prisoner an opportunity to present a proper 
 argument in his own behalf. But he was per 
 suaded that any address from this prisoner would 
 partake of the character of his former testimony 
 and interruptions ; that it would be a rehash of 
 his testimony. No person had a right to do that. 
 It would be grossly improper to permit such testi 
 mony to go before the jury. 
 
 Prisoner, wildly : I represent myself, and I take 
 exception to that ruling. Let the record show 
 that I appear as my own counsel, and I propose 
 to address the jury. I say it is an outrage on 
 American jurisprudence, and after I have been 
 heard and my speech published your Honor will 
 see that it is. I have an encomium upon your 
 Honor in my address to the jury. I hope that it 
 will not be necessary to withdraw it. If it is neces- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 423 
 
 sary your Honor will go down to future ages with 
 a black stain upon your name, and I tell you so to 
 your face. 
 
 Mr. Reed then rose to address the jury on behalf 
 of the prisoner. He commenced by paying a com 
 pliment to the jury for the seriousness, solemnity 
 and care which had characterized it during this long 
 trial a trial unparalleled in the history of crimi 
 nal jurisprudence. He should not endeavor to 
 make any statement of the evidence or to draw a 
 gilded picture of any scene, but he would simply 
 talk with them as between neighbors. 
 
 The story of this awful offense, this offense, un 
 paralleled for atrocity could have been told to the 
 jury in ten minutes. No one connected with the 
 defense, no friend of the prisoner and he had 
 two or three friends left on the face of the earth 
 
 "Yes," the prisoner broke in, "and the Ameri 
 can people are coming over solidly every day. Do 
 not forget it." 
 
 would dispute or had disputed, Mr. Reed con 
 tinued, the fact that he fired the fatal shot. The 
 story could, therefore, have been told to the jury 
 in ten minutes, and yet Mr. Davidge had occupied 
 two days trying to convince the jury that when 
 the prisoner fired the fatal shot, reason was 
 enthroned on her accustomed seat. 
 
 When, on that dread morning of the 2d of July, 
 a bein^ in human form, having ears to hear and 
 
 o o 
 
 eyes to see, lounged about the depot waiting for 
 
424 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU2TEAU, 
 
 his victim, got behind him and fired two bullets 
 into the President s back, the country was startled 
 nay the civilized world and the first expression 
 was " Horrible!" The next thought was, "The 
 man cannot be sane ; it must be the act of a 
 lunatic." 
 
 The dead President was his Mr. Reed s 
 friend. He knew him well, and loved him well. 
 No eulogy of him could be too glowing, no pane 
 gyric too great. He would say " Amen" to it all, 
 for he knew him and he loved him. Mr. Porter 
 had read to the jury very impressively the letter 
 written by Mr. Garfield to Judge Payne, of Cleve 
 land, complimenting him on his charge in the trial 
 of a case where insanity had been set up ; but he, 
 Mr. Reed, believed that if the spirit of the dead 
 President could appear before the jury to-day he 
 would tell them in language more glowing and 
 more eloquent, because it would be from above, 
 " Set him free ; he cannot have been sane." 
 
 He reminded the jury of the act of Charlotte 
 Corday in poniarding in his bath Marat, then the 
 chief man of the French nation, and how she was 
 guillotined in four or seven days afterwards. The 
 picture of that fair French girl could be seen in 
 the Corcoran Art Gallery, looking through the 
 bars of her prison, appealing to posterity, insane. 
 Her execution had disgraced the name of the 
 French nation. He also referred to the cases of 
 Lawrence who had fired at President Jackson; 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 Hadfield, who had fired at George III. of Eng 
 land, and Oxford, who had fired at Queen Vic 
 toria ; in all of which cases the prisoners had been 
 found not guilty by reason of insanity, and had 
 been sent to insane asylums. He drew a parallel 
 between the case of Oxford and the present 
 case. Oxford, like Guiteau, had bought a pistol 
 and practised with it. He had been deliberate, 
 his intention had been fixed, yet he had been 
 acquitted. He also pointed out the similarity ex 
 isting between this case and the case of William 
 Lawrence, who shot at President Jackson. 
 
 Branching off to the discussion of the instruc 
 tions of the Court, Mr. Reed called the attention 
 of the jury to the wording of the instruction defin 
 ing the test of responsibility for an act to be 
 "whether he knew the difference between right 
 and wrong in respect of that act." Mr. Davidge, 
 he asserted, had repeated and repeated that the 
 test was "whether he knew the difference between 
 right and wrong," and had failed .to quote the 
 remainder of the instruction. 
 
 You twelve men, continued Mr. Reed, sitting 
 there to day on the facts and the evidence are 
 superior to all powers on the earth. * * You 
 and you alone are supreme on the question of 
 fact. You and you alone are to say what the evi 
 dence is, what witnesses shall be believed, what 
 disbelieved and what weight shall be given to the 
 testimony of one witness or another. Your con- 
 
426 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sciences, under your oaths to your God, are to be 
 your only guide. If any one man among you, 
 when he shall have seriously and solemnly con- 
 side-red this case in the jury-room, shall feel within 
 himself, " I have a fair, honest doubt whether this 
 man was sane at the time," it is the duty of that 
 juror before his Maker to say, "I cannot find him 
 guilty." If one man so feels the other eleven 
 have no right to dictate to him. 
 
 Lunatics were found in Jerusalem eighteen hun 
 dred years ago. It is no new thing to find a man 
 a lunatic, to find him an object of the deep, con 
 tinuing pity of his fellow-men. When your 
 Saviour and mine was on earth to save men, they 
 brought to him those who were sick of all manner 
 of diseases lunatics, those possessed of devils. 
 What did he do? Did he say, "Hang him, kill 
 him, put him to death ?" No, but the Divine com 
 passion took them to Him and healed them. He 
 healed them, but this prosecution would say, "Put 
 him to death." 
 
 Mr. Reed then went into an exhaustive review 
 of the prisoner s life, picturing him as a good, 
 Christian youth. He referred to the testimony 
 of Mr. North as to the quarrel between Charles 
 Guiteau and his father, when the former, who was 
 eighteen years of age, struck the old man in the 
 back. That striking of his father in the back, Mr. 
 Reed proceeded, was not from depravity, but from 
 disease for which he was not responsible. That 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 427 
 
 was the only instance of violence on the part of 
 the prisoner down to the incident of raising the 
 axe on his sister. 
 
 " And that does not happen to be true," said 
 the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Reed: Even his own sister 
 
 " That is all bosh, too," said the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Reed: When she testified that he raised 
 the axe at her it was charged by him, while she 
 was on the stand, as being in substance a lie. 
 Why was that? Because at that time memory 
 had strayed away and left him for the moment. 
 It came kindly back again. Does any man, liv 
 ing to be thirty-seven years of age, leading a 
 blameless, irreproachable life, become bad, violent, 
 immoral, corrupt, depraved, unless from disease 
 here? (tapping his brow). 
 
 Mr. Reed went on to quote from the testimony 
 of Hubbard, who knew the prisoner at the Oneida 
 Community, and who said that when anything was 
 said which he, the prisoner, did not like, it would 
 "rile" him, and he*would gesticulate wildly, talk 
 in a mysterious manner and sit for hours alone. 
 Mr. Reed argued that this was one of the com 
 monest forms and evidences of insanity. 
 
 Mr. Reed then proceeded to read and comment 
 upon the letter written by the prisoner to his father 
 when he left the Oneida Community sixteen years 
 ago, in which he says: "I came to New York in 
 obedience to what I believe to be the will of God, 
 
428 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 * * * with the Bible for my text-book and the 
 Holy Ghost for my schoolmaster, I can pursue 
 my studies. * * * I will do all that in me lies 
 to extend the sovereignty of Jesus Christ by 
 placing at his disposal a powerful daily paper. 
 
 * * * I claim that I am a member of Jesus 
 Christ & Co., the very ablest and strongest firm in 
 the universe. * * * Therefore I say boldly 
 that I claim inspiration." Such expressions as 
 these are to all candid men unmistakable evi 
 dence of insanity. 
 
 He went on to argue that, since the prisoner 
 shot the President, he had daily declared that the 
 power of God was around him and would protect 
 him from harm. Was that a new idea in his mind, 
 was it manufactured for this case? No; he wrote 
 it sixteen years ago. 
 
 The Court then at half-past 1 2 took a recess for 
 half an hour. 
 
 After the recess Mr. Reed proceeded with his 
 argument, reading the letter written by the pris 
 oner to the Oneida Community, at the time he 
 separated himself from it, and calling the jury s 
 attention to the expression made use of in the 
 document, that he was "driven by God." What 
 sane man, asked Mr. Reed, would make use of 
 that expression ? Suppose that letter had been 
 presented to the gentlemen composing the jury 
 when the man was not on trial for any crime, and 
 their opinion had been asked, would not every one 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 of them have said that the man was crazy to have 
 written such a letter? 
 
 Mr. Reed, then passing on to a review of the 
 expert testimony, commented on the fact that the 
 government experts had disagreed on the very 
 vital point as to whether the prisoner had been 
 feigning or not. If the experts differed on so vital 
 a point as that, what was their opinion worth as to 
 whether there was derangement in the brain ? 
 
 Visit the State prisons of this country and you 
 cannot find in the entire number of convicts one 
 such face as he has; one such eye. If you can, 
 then it is not the eye of a criminal, but the eye of 
 a wreck along the pathway of life, which he cer 
 tainly is. It needs no expert to prove that he 
 is insane to-day. Brain gone! gone! gone! 
 gone! reason leaving him never to return. I 
 predict that if he is put into an insane asylum 
 within twenty-four months he will be a miserable, 
 driveling idiot. [A laugh from the prisoner.] 
 
 The impression has gone abroad that he is one 
 of the keenest men on the face of the earth a 
 marvel of keenness and intelligence. I tell you 
 that he is a total intellectual mental wreck on 
 every other subject except this. All the faculties 
 of reason that are left to him are centred in the 
 one idea that he is the agent of God, and when 
 ever anything touches his case it is like applying 
 a match to a powder magazine. He goes off. He 
 explodes like a rocket. He cannot talk connect- 
 
430 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 edly. If you turn him from that one subject, that 
 he is the agent of the Almighty, he is a failure and 
 a wreck. 
 
 Mr. Reed went on to argue that, after all, the 
 matter of the prisoner s sanity was only a guess 
 or an opinion of the doctors, and that, after what 
 the public had learned of the value of such 
 opinions when the President was lying wounded 
 and dying, no man should be sent to the gallows 
 on their opinions. He also quoted from the letter 
 of the prisoner s father, written in 1875 to Mrs. 
 Scoville, in which he says, speaking of the pris 
 oner, " to my mind he is a fit subject for a lunatic 
 asylum." Mr. Reed then proceeded to review the 
 testimony of the witnesses who had considered 
 the prisoner insane. Taking the testimony of 
 John A. Logan and Charles B. Farwell in connec 
 tion with the appearance of the prisoner, could the 
 jury under their oaths say that they had no fair, 
 reasonable doubt of his sanity at the time he shot 
 the President? Mr. Reed then proceeded to com 
 ment upon the fact that Detective McElfresh had 
 been summoned by the prosecution, but not ex 
 amined, and that Bailey, the District-Attorney s 
 stenographer, who had taken down the utterances 
 of the prisoner had destroyed his notes. These 
 facts gave ground for grave suspicion that McEl- 
 fresh s testimony and Bailey s notes would have 
 spoken in thunder tones in behalf of this man. 
 
 Mr. Davidge said, continued Mr. Reed, that the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. * j 
 
 prisoner s family ought to have deserted him as a 
 wretch that they should have cast him aside as a 
 rotten branch. A sister desert a brother whom 
 she believed, years before, to be a weary, wander 
 ing boy ! Desert him and let him go to the gal 
 lows ? Never ! Shame on you (alluding and point 
 ing at Davidge) for such a statement ! I say that, 
 not only in this life but in the life to come, God 
 will bless her for her sisterly love and fidelity. 
 Desert him ! Would you ? Would any man of 
 you desert the brother or sister who was in trouble, 
 whom you believed to be insane ? The propo 
 sition is simply monstrous and inhuman. 
 
 Mr. Davidge the day before yesterday praised 
 the sentiments of a mob. He said that the mob 
 generally represented the best of human passion 
 and sentiment. I deny it. The most illustrious 
 incident in history is one with which you are all 
 familiar, when the meek and lowly Jesus was on 
 trial before Pilate, and to the mob Pilate said, " I 
 find no fault in the man ; I wash my hands of this 
 innocent man s blood," but the mob cried, "Away 
 with him ; away with him ; crucify him ; crucify 
 him." 
 
 A sane man would have reasoned that if he 
 killed President Garfield his successor would cer 
 tainly not give him any office. What motive could 
 he have had? No man committed crime without 
 a motive. Did the prisoner have any motive that 
 could make a sane man think of such a thing? 
 
43 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Mr. Reed then referred to the evidence given 
 by Special Agent Brooks. Mr. Brooks stated 
 that, when he visited the prisoner on the morning 
 after the shooting, the prisoner declared that he 
 had enjoyed the best night s rest he had had for 
 weeks. Was that the declaration of a sane man? 
 The poor, weary soul, who had been struggling 
 between reason and insanity up to the commission 
 of an act, had committed it and then been at rest. 
 Referring to the testimony of Mr. Reynolds, who 
 had visited the prisoner in his cell on the I4th of 
 July, he spoke of his insinuating himself there in 
 the character of a sneak and a spy as a Judas, 
 coming and kissing him as a friend. And he 
 asked whether any sane man would say that he 
 expected Senator Conkling, General Grant and 
 General Lo^an would interfere and save him from 
 
 O 
 
 the gallows, especially for the murder of a Presi 
 dent? 
 
 Mr. Reed also referred to the fact that the 
 prisoner still believed that he would be acquitted, 
 and he said that, if he were sane, it would not be 
 possible for him to believe it. 
 
 In conclusion, Mr. Reed said : Gentlemen of 
 the Jury, you all said when you were sworn that 
 you would be governed by the evidence and stand 
 up to it without regard to the effect it might have 
 upon you and your business. I adjure you keep 
 that oath. Falter not in the performance of a 
 duty which shall save you and this fair land from 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 eternal disgrace. I assert that the conviction of 
 this man to the gallows, and his execution, would 
 be an infamy beyond description an indelible 
 stain on American jurisprudence and American 
 juries. Think of the scene if you condemn him 
 to the gallows. Though not present in body to 
 see the sight, you cannot but be there in mind. If 
 such a day shall ever come, and I do not believe 
 it ever can come under this evidence, think of this 
 man brought out from his cell, with the same pale 
 face and the same weary, wandering eyes, the 
 officers of the law gathering around him, pinion 
 ing him, binding him with cords, so that his mus 
 cles stand out, covering him with the black hood, 
 shutting out the light of day from him and lead 
 ing him to the scaffold. 
 
 Prisoner: I would rather go that way than be 
 smashed up in the railroad cars, as some poor fel 
 lows were last night. 
 
 Mr. Reed, continuing: Think of him, a lunatic 
 condemned to the gallows a lunatic whom the 
 Saviour, if he were on earth, would heal. The 
 picture is not overdrawn. I am very much obliged 
 to you for your attention. I only ask you, pray 
 clo that which shall not in after years bring the 
 blush of shame to your cheeks. 
 
 Prisoner: Reed is a good fellow; but I would 
 not give a cent a bushel for his rubbish. If I 
 could only have a talk with that jury I would give 
 them the right theory. 
 
 37 
 
434 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 The Court then, at 10 minutes past 3 o clock, 
 adjourned. 
 
 Under date, January i5th, Guiteau gave to the 
 Associated Press his speech, the delivery of which 
 to the jury was refused by Judge Cox. It is a 
 lengthy document, much of it being a repetition 
 of former publications. 
 
 The first part of it is almost identical with his 
 Christmas address to the people. He says he is 
 a. patriot. Washington and Grant were patriots. 
 By their valor and success they won the admi 
 ration of mankind. " To-day," he continues, " I 
 suffer in bonds as a patriot because I had the 
 inspiration and nerve to unite a great political 
 party. Admitting that the late President died 
 from the shot, which I deny as a matter of fact, 
 still the circumstances attending the shooting 
 
 o o 
 
 liquidate the presumption of malice either in law 
 or in fact. Without the Deity s pressure I never 
 should have sought to remove the President. 
 This pressure destroyed my free agency. In 
 shooting the President I deny that I violated any 
 law, human or divine." 
 
 Guiteau says he is pleased with Arthur, and 
 quotes from the New York Herald that, if the first 
 two months of Garfield s administration under the 
 inspiration of Elaine, be compared with the first 
 two of Arthur s, the comparison is in Arthur s 
 favor. He speaks of the attempts made upon 
 his life, but the Deity protected him. He then 
 
ASSASSW OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 sketches his life, using the sketch contained in his 
 Christmas greeting, and says : " I have always 
 been a lover of the Lord, and whether I live one 
 year or thirty I am his." 
 
 " I presume I shall live to be President. Some 
 people think I am as good a man as the President 
 now. General Arthur is a good man every way. 
 I happen to know him well. I was with him con 
 stantly in New York during the canvass. So with 
 General Grant, Conkling and the rest of those 
 men. They have not taken an active part in my 
 defense because it would not be proper." 
 
 The speech next sketches the life of the Saviour 
 and St. Paul, and adds: "For eighteen centuries 
 no men have exerted such a tremendous influence 
 on the civilization of the race as the despised 
 Galilean and his great Apostle. They did their 
 work and left the result with *the Almighty Fath 
 er. And so must all inspired men. * 
 Take my own case. When the pressure to re 
 move the President came on me, I spent two 
 weeks in prayer to make sure of the Deity s will. 
 Thus far the Deity has fathered the act to my 
 entire satisfaction. I put up my life on the Deity s 
 inspiration, and I have not come to grief yet, and 
 I have no idea I shall, because I do not think I am 
 destined to be shot or hung. But that is a matter 
 for the Deity to pass on, and not me. What 
 ever the mode of my exit from this world, I 
 have no doubt but my name and work will go 
 
A -> . TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 thundering down the ages ; but woe unto the men 
 that kill me privately or judicially." 
 
 Guiteau then goes on to tell of the hard time 
 he had in serving the Lord and preaching the 
 gospel and continues : " I spent three years in 
 this business and received nothing but poverty 
 and contempt for my services and trouble. But I 
 expect the Deity will take care of me hereafter on 
 that account." 
 
 Taking up the political situation, Guiteau details 
 his well-known views about the danger of civil 
 war. Things seemed to be going from bad to 
 worse under Garfield s leadership, and Guiteau 
 foresaw another civil war. After two weeks of 
 earnest prayer, he decided that the Deity called 
 him to remove the President, and he began prepa 
 rations. An opportunity came and he shot him. 
 There was a special providence in his dying in 
 New Jersey, for, says Guiteau : " Should this jury 
 condemn me to be hung, which is hardly possible, 
 in view of the facts appearing in this trial, the 
 Deity has probably fixed the law so that their 
 verdict cannot be legally enforced." 
 
 " Providence and I saved the nation, and why 
 should not I be a hero and the equal of Washing 
 ton and Lincoln and Grant? 
 
 "If there be in this assembly any dear friend of 
 Garfield s, to him I say that Guiteau s love to Gar- 
 field was not less than his. If, then, that friend 
 demand why Guiteau removed Garfield, this is 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 437 
 
 Guiteau s answer : Not that Guiteau loved Gar- 
 field less, but he loved his country more. Had 
 you rather that Garfield were living and die in 
 war than that Garfield were dead to live in peace ? 
 No ; as Guiteau loved Garfield, Guiteau weeps for 
 him ; as he was fortunate, Guiteau rejoices at it ; 
 as he was a good man, Guiteau honors him ; but 
 by the Deity s inspiration Guiteau removed Gar- 
 field for the good of his country. 
 
 " The prosecution have introduced certain dis 
 reputable witnesses to wit., one Reynolds ; to 
 wit, one Shaw ; to wit, one English, and others 
 like them." These witnesses, Guiteau says, are 
 hardly worth his notice. He then goes on to re 
 view some of the evidence, and calls the interview 
 with Detective Brooks a special providence in his 
 favor. "The issue is: Who fired that shot the 
 Deity or me ? Had I fired it on my own personal 
 account, no punishment would be too quick or too 
 severe for me, and this is why I protected myself 
 by going to jail and having the national troops 
 ordered out." 
 
 The prosecution, Guiteau says, made a great 
 flourish with their experts. "The only insanity in 
 this case was what these experts call transitory 
 mania, i. e., the Abraham style of insanity. There 
 are thirty-eight cases of Abrahamic insanity in the 
 Bible, i. e., of illegal killing resulting from the pos 
 session of transitory mania by Divine authority. 
 
 "I am in receipt of a large mail," Guiteau con- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU> 
 
 tinues, " representing the progressive thought of 
 the nation." He then gives selections from his 
 correspondence, leading off with a telegram from 
 Boston : 
 
 "All Boston sympathizes with you. You ought to be Presi 
 dent. 
 
 " A HOST OF ADMIRERS." 
 
 A Chicago lawyer, under date of December 30, 
 writes: "The American people delight in so striking 
 an evidence of pluck and sagacity, and will surely 
 sustain you." A letter from South Pueblo, Colo 
 rado, contains this sentence: "Ten thousand citi 
 zens of the Centennial State hail you as a martyr to 
 the cause of human freedom." One from Wisconsin 
 says: "What a pity that a republican form of 
 government allows you to suffer for an act you 
 surely intended for its benefit." 
 
 " On June 1 6th, two weeks before the President 
 was shot, I used these words in an address to the 
 American people: 
 
 " In the President s madness he has wrecked the 
 once grand old Republican party and for this he 
 dies. When I wrote these words I had been in a 
 mania for thirty days. I was in a reverie or trance. 
 In the same address I used these words : I cannot 
 render my feelings as Booth or Jefferson could, 
 but I will do it in my humble way. I am supposed, 
 for the moment, to recover from the mania. I think 
 what the public will say when they find the Presi 
 dent is shot, and I reel and stagger under the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 thought I am about to remove the President. But 
 God s will, and not mine be done. 
 
 "On June 2Oth, in the same address, I used these 
 words: The President s nomination was an act of 
 God. The President s election was an act of 
 God. The President s removal is an act of God. 
 And now I say I expect Him to vindicate me. 
 
 "I now call attention," says Guiteau, "to a re 
 markable letter, entitled A Genuine Christian on 
 the Guiteau Case. The letter calls upon Mr. 
 Scoville to abandon the theory of insanity, and 
 continues in this way: That it was His will Gar- 
 field should die is already proven. Had the bullet 
 missed would it not have been providential? As 
 it hit, was it not equally providential? Who but an 
 infidel would say God had not the power to stop 
 the leaden messenger? All Christians agree, if God 
 willed it otherwise, it would have been otherwise. 
 
 " Rev. Mr. Morgan, in Church of Heavenly 
 Rest: God had refused to prolong the life of our 
 beloved President. He had refused it deliberately 
 and because it was best to refuse it. Let Christ 
 ians be sure of that. Let them know that God 
 was always right. 
 
 "Henry Ward Beecher, in prayer: Thou, Lord, 
 hast laid Thy hand heavily upon this nation. Thy 
 servant Thou hast taken to Thyself in a way that 
 fills us with shame and horror. We believe that 
 Thou art anointing this great people, and by this 
 great sorrow raising us to a higher plane. 
 
440 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 " Rev. Dr. Crawford, Forty-second Street M. E. 
 Church : * Garfield s loss was a great one to the 
 nation, but the wisdom of God could not be ques 
 tioned, as He did all things for the. best. 
 
 "Dr. Talmage: * Garfield s death accomplished 
 more than his life in setting forth the truth that, 
 when our time comes to go, the most energetic 
 and skillful opposition cannot hinder the event. 
 
 "Rev. Dr. Bellows : Already blessings manifold 
 had followed the shooting of the President and 
 the effect of that good influence was seen through 
 out the whole nation. Sublime confidence in God 
 was reached when we could say from the heart : 
 Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him. 
 God did not permit His ways to be placed under 
 our microscopic inspection/ 
 
 "Beware, ye nations of the earth who incur the 
 wrath of the Almighty ! The French nation in 
 curred the wrath of the Deity and it came to 
 grief. The bloody French revolution devastated 
 that nation like a tornado of fire and blood. The 
 old Roman Empire, the greatest government on 
 earth for centuries, incurred the wrath of the 
 Deity and it, too, was swept out of existence. The 
 Jewish nation, God s favored nation for two thou 
 sand years, incurred the wrath of the Deity when 
 they crucified the despised Galilean and it, too, 
 went down in war and desolation. Beware, ye 
 Americans, that you do not incur the wrath of the 
 Deity by dealing unwisely by me, for I tell you 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 441 
 
 truth, and lie not, when I say I am here as God s 
 man. He inspired the President s removal ajid 
 has taken care of it, and I expect He will vindicate 
 me, even if this nation rolls in blood. Put my 
 body into the ,ground if you will; that is all you 
 can do ! But thereafter comes a day of reckon 
 ing. Beware, ye Americans, beware! American 
 slave owners put John Brown s body in the ground, 
 but they paid for it during the war, in blood and 
 desolation ! 
 
 " John Brown s body lies mouldering in the grave, 
 But his soul went marching on. " 
 
 Guiteau says he is fortunate that his case has 
 been tried before so able a Judge. " In general," 
 he says, " I am satisfied with your Honor s pro 
 posed instructions, but I would humbly suggest 
 that the jury be charged as follows: That if they 
 believe that I believed it was right for me to 
 remove the President, because I had special Divine 
 authority for so doing, they will acquit on the 
 ground that I was overpowered by the Deity, i. e.> 
 that I was suffering from transitory mania." He 
 asks the jury to give the case the most solemn 
 and prayerful attention and he has no doubt that 
 the verdict will be "not guilty," as found in the 
 indictment. "To hang a man in my mental con 
 dition on July 2nd, when I fired on the President, 
 would be a lasting disgrace to the American peo 
 ple, and I am sure you so understand it." 
 
 The mothers and daughters of the Republic 
 
442 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 are praying that you will vindicate my inspiration 
 and their prayers, I expect, will prevail. A 
 woman s instinct is keener than man s, and I pray 
 you listen to the prayers of these ladies. How 
 would your mother and wife and daughter vote 
 on this case ? Have you any doubt but they 
 would vote for an acquittal? And why should 
 you not do likewise ? 
 
 " Physical death has no terrors for me. Sup 
 pose it possible that I should be sentenced to be 
 hung in thirty days ? I may die in twenty-four 
 hours. I have always been a praying man, and I 
 think I stand well with the Deity. I am sure I do 
 in this case. And now, gentlemen, I leave this 
 case with you. At the last great day you and all 
 men will stand in the presence of the Deity crying 
 for mercy and justice. As you act here so will be 
 your final abode in the great hereafter. I beg 
 you to not get the Deity down on you by med 
 dling with this case. I beg, for your own sakes, 
 and for the sake of the American people, and for 
 the sake of generations yet unborn, that you let 
 this case alone. You cannot afford to touch it. 
 Let your verdict be that it was the Deity s act, not 
 mine. When the President was shot, his Cabinet 
 telegraphed to foreign nations that it was the act 
 of a madman, and it will be far better every way 
 that it be officially decided that it was the act of 
 a madman. " 
 
 On the opening of the Court on Monday, Janu- 
 
ASSASSM OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 ary i6th, Mr. Scoville proceeded at once with his 
 address to the jury. He thanked them for the 
 patience with which they had listened to the evi 
 dence. He appealed to the jurors to divest their 
 minds wholly of any preconceived opinions on the 
 case. That was all that the defense asked. He 
 would not attempt to appeal to the sentiments of 
 the jury ; if the question was to be decided by 
 emotion, by passion, by prejudice, by fear, then 
 the defendant was lost the defendant would be 
 hanged. 
 
 What was the issue ? It was whether or not the 
 prisoner was insane on the 2d of July last when he 
 shot the President. He characterized Mr. Davidge 
 as a fair, honest man, but stated that insensibly he had 
 not in all cases given the jury a fair, full, strict, honest 
 statement of the evidence. Neither had he given 
 them a full, fair, honest statement of the law. 
 He had not, as Mr. Davidge told the jury he 
 had, characterized the prisoner as a fool. He 
 charged that in this case there had been a con 
 spiracy on the part of the District-Attorney, Mr. 
 Porter, Mr. Davidge, and the expert witnesses, 
 Drs. Hamilton, Macdonald, Kempster, Gray and 
 Worcester, and the object of the conspiracy was 
 to hang the defendant. 
 
 Mr Scoville proceeded to criticise some of Mr. 
 Davidge s propositions in his argument to the 
 jury, complaining of misrepresentations of the 
 law. One of these propositions was that the case 
 
444 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 must turn on "the iron rule whether the man 
 knew the difference between right and wrong." 
 That was not the rule here, Mr. Scoville said ; it 
 had been the rule in England 250 years ago, 
 where, if a man had sense enough left to know 
 more than a wild beast, he must be executed. It 
 had been well termed " the wild beast rule." As 
 to the power to discriminate between right and 
 wrong: he argued that, from the prisoner s stand 
 point, from his diseased view of it, the act was 
 not wrong; it was right, and so Mr. Davidge s 
 proposition was not a correct proposition of law. 
 The inmate of an insane asylum, when he at 
 tacked another inmate or an officer of the institu 
 tion, knew that he was committing a crime, knew 
 the difference between the right and the wrong of 
 the act ; but nobody ever heard of one of these 
 insane people being held to account in a court 
 under this "iron rule of law." If the prisoner was 
 on that morning overpowered by the consciouness 
 (coming through his diseased mind) that the Lord 
 was requiring him to do an act for the good of the 
 country and to save the nation from war, then it 
 was the result of a diseased mind, and the act 
 was, in the prisoner s view of it, right. 
 
 Commenting upon the fact that the prosecution 
 had raked up every little act in the prisoner s life, 
 on which the jury were asked to convict and hang 
 this man, he said there was only one thing in his 
 history for which he should hide his head, and that 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. **? 
 
 was the crime of adultery. But clearly, even that 
 crime was not one which would justify the hang 
 ing of this man ; and he recounted the incident of 
 the woman taken in adultery, and how Christ 
 treated her. 
 
 At this stage the Court took a recess for half 
 an hour. 
 
 After the recess, Mr. Scoville proceeded with his 
 argument, pointing out several places in Mr. 
 Davidge s address in which he alleged there was 
 a misapprehension of the testimony. 
 
 Referring to the testimony of Shaw and his 
 clerk as to the conversation in which the prisoner 
 said he would imitate Wilkes Booth, Mr. Scoville 
 declares his belief that in that matter both these 
 witnesses had perjured themselves. Shaw wanted 
 to bring this man to the gallows. He, Scoville, 
 could honor Mason, McGill and Jones as com 
 pared with Shaw. They were willing to take 
 their lives in their hands, if necessary. They were 
 willing, at least, to stake their personal liberty on 
 the issue. But Shaw sought to hang this man 
 without assuming even the risk of a prosecution 
 for perjury. 
 
 Then, as the Court was declared adjourned, at 
 3 o clock, Guiteau said, "I ask Your Honor to 
 read my speech this evening, because I want -to 
 talk to you about it to-morrow morning." 
 
 At the opening of Court, on Tuesday, January 
 i yth, Guiteau addressed the Court in a brief stilted 
 
 38 
 
446 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU1TEAU, 
 
 speech, concluding as follows: "I ask your Honor, 
 in the name of justice, in the name of the Ameri 
 can judiciary r , in the name of the American people, 
 to allow me to address that jury of my country 
 men, in a case where my life may be at stake. If 
 a man upon that jury has a doubt as to his duty to 
 acquit me, my speech will probably settle it in my 
 favor. Therefore, in ; the interest of justice, it is 
 of the greatest importance that the jury should 
 hear me in my defense." 
 
 Judge Cox: I will take the matter into con 
 sideration. 
 
 Prisoner: Thank you, sir. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then proceeded with his argument. 
 He criticised very severely the conduct of the 
 District-Attorney in sending experts to the jail to 
 make up a case for the goverment. When the Dis 
 trict- Attorney knew that the question was as to the 
 condition of the prisoner s mind on the 2d of July, 
 it was his duty as an officer of the law to make such 
 an investigation of the mental condition of the pris 
 oner as would satisfy a jury on this subject. He 
 complained that the District-Attorney had sup 
 pressed all the evidence of the state of the pris 
 oner s mind for the first two weeks since his con 
 finement. 
 
 The District- Attorney denied the statement, and 
 reminded Mr. Scoville that the prosecution had 
 put upon the stand Dr. Young, the physician of 
 the jail, who had seen the prisoner on the 2d of 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 July, and every day thereafter. He also said that 
 Mr. Scoville himself was at the jail on the 4th of 
 July and subsequent days. 
 
 Mr. Scoville admitted the fact, but complained 
 that the short-hand notes of the conversation with 
 the prisoner, which had heen taken by the Dis 
 trict-Attorney s stenographer, had been purposely 
 destroyed. He complained also that Mr. Davidge 
 had misrepresented the testimony of Dr. Spitzka, 
 and that all the counsel for the government had 
 sought by ridicule to belittle Dr. Spitzka and to 
 do away with the effect of his open, manly, scien 
 tific statement. 
 
 Referring to the failure of the prosecution to 
 put on the stand Detective McElfresh, who accom 
 panied the prisoner to the jail on July 2d, and to 
 the subsequent objection of the District-Attorney 
 to allow the defense to call McElfresh, he said that, 
 while calling him at that point of the case might 
 be contrary to the rules of law, it was not con 
 trary to the rules of eternal justice. 
 
 Mr. Scoville then ran on in a long string of 
 personalities concerning Mr. Porter and the Dis 
 trict-Attorney, after which he proceeded to give 
 the theory of the defense. He thought that the 
 prisoner was affected with chronic insanity and that 
 the commencement of it was when the prisoner 
 was a boy of about nineteen years of age, or be 
 fore that. The incident related by Thomas North 
 of the prisoner s striking his father in the back, 
 
448 TRIAL Ol< CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 was perhaps the first instance of the cropping out 
 of the disease. He believed that he had the seeds 
 of the disease at his birth. He believed that it 
 was only the regular, systematic, continuous labors 
 of Luther W. Guiteau as County Clerk and 
 cashier that had saved him from a madhouse, and 
 that if he had been left, like his unfortunate son, 
 a wreck and a waif, without anything to occupy 
 his mind, he might have had such an inspiration 
 as the son had. 
 
 Here the Court took a recess for half an hour. 
 
 After the recess Mr. Scoville resumed his ad 
 dress to the jury. He attributed to transitory 
 mania the incident of the prisoner s raising an axe 
 against his sister, and the circumstance of his 
 denying it, because such sudden attacks of trans 
 itory mania were frequently accompanied by total 
 forgetfulness. He spoke of his intense study at 
 that period of his life to keep up with his lectures, 
 to make up for lost time, while at the same time 
 he was studying the Bible and the works of the 
 Oneida Community, with which his father sup 
 plied him, and said that at that time the prisoner s 
 reason tottered on its throne. 
 
 Mr. Scoville proceeded with his review of the 
 prisoner s career until he came to 1875, the time 
 of the Inter- Ocean scheme, at which time, he said, 
 the prisoner was a fit subject for an insane asylum. 
 Then he traced him through his lecturing period 
 in 1877-8-9, and declared his belief that during 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 that period the man was insane. He was simply 
 a peripatetic madman. Coming down to the 
 prisoner s connection with the political canvass of 
 1880, he adverted to his egotism as a proof of his 
 unsoundness of mind. 
 
 Referring to the speech prepared by the pris 
 oner with the title of " Garfield against Hancock," 
 and remarking that it had first been prepared with 
 the idea that Grant would have been the Repub 
 lican candidate for President, the prisoner said: 
 "I had to work it over and make it fit Garfield." 
 Mr. Scoville spoke of the prisoner s application 
 for the Austrian mission, and of his letter to Mr. 
 Garfield saying that he would marry a New York 
 lady, and that between them they would repre 
 sent the United States in Vienna with dignity and 
 grace. If the man wanted the Austrian mission, 
 and if he had the sense of a child would he have 
 undertaken to act in that way? 
 
 Mr. Scoville read to the jury some portions of 
 the speech "Garfield against Hancock," although 
 the prisoner tolcl him that, in doing so, he was 
 killing his theory, because it was a good speech. 
 Mr. Scoville characterized it as the idle vaporing 
 of a diseased imagination. 
 
 o 
 
 Mr. Scoville reviewed the political situation in 
 the spring of 1881, and the effect of it upon the 
 prisoner s mind, leading him to believe that the 
 Republican party would be defeated at the next 
 election, that the Democratic party would seize 
 38* 
 
450 
 
 TPIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 the government and that civil war would ensue. 
 He had got the idea from a man high in party 
 council Senator Chandler, of Michigan that 
 another civil war would come, in which millions 
 of men would be sacrificed, and the thought came 
 to him, " Can that calamity be averted ?" That 
 thought was supplemented by another, "Yes, it 
 can be averted by the removal of the President. 
 If the President were out of the way these troubles 
 would cease." His next idea was, " Perhaps I am 
 the divinely appointed agent to accomplish it." 
 Then, entirely consistently with his whole life, he 
 immediately goes to the Lord in prayer to find out 
 whether the suggestion was a good one or an evil 
 one; whether it came from God or whether it 
 came from the devil. 
 
 Of course a sane man would have known that 
 the Lord would not prompt him to kill another 
 man ; but no one could judge as to the workings of 
 an insane mind. After two week s prayer he had 
 become convinced that the Lord required him to 
 do this act. And then he went on day by day 
 deliberately to do what he believed the Lord re 
 quired him to do. 
 
 On Wednesday morning, January i8th, Mr. 
 Scoville proceeded with his address, commenting 
 on the testimony of Dr. Gray, of the Utica Asylum, 
 and citing cases of insanity, stated in tables made 
 out by him as superintendent of that asylum, to 
 show that persons committed homicide under in- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. ,c i 
 
 sane delusions and soon afterward sustained a re 
 action and could converse intelligibly. 
 
 Dr. Gray was hired to come here to help to 
 hang this man. He was one of the co-conspirators 
 of which the District-Attorney was chief, and his 
 part of it was to swear as to his opinion ; and he did 
 it boldly, but fortunately he has left the footprints 
 here by which I can contradict him out of his own 
 mouth. Mr. Scoville then proceeded, undertaking 
 to show by Dr. Gray s tables that in cases of 
 homicidal mania the patient was not always past 
 recovery. Dr, Gray had testified that it might be 
 the delusion of an insane man that he was lost for 
 ever. Was it not a delusion for the prisoner to 
 believe that instead of being condemned of God, 
 he was placed on a par with the Deity, and was 
 selected by Him as the special instrument to carry 
 out his will ? The opinion of the experts was 
 substantially that the prisoner was not feigning in 
 the court-room. It was true that Dr. Hamilton 
 had stated it to be his opinion that the man was 
 playing a part. The rest of the experts had 
 stated substantially the same thing. They had 
 evidently talked it over, and come to the conclu 
 sion as to what they would say. 
 
 Mr. Scoville here turned again to the question 
 of politics as connected with the case. He said: If 
 there were no reasons back of this prosecution, 
 this man arraigned here before you, gentlemen, 
 would never have been brought into this Court. 
 
452 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 I say, and I say it without fear, that the movers 
 of this prosecution are those politicians who seek 
 to hide their own infamy by casting the blame on 
 this insane man. I say that such men as Conk- 
 ling and Grant and Arthur those who made war 
 without justification on that dead President whom 
 they have since lauded to the skies instituted 
 that state of things and manufactured that degree 
 of public excitement, and political feeling, that 
 preyed on this insane man until reason left its 
 throne and he did that which he considered to be 
 perfectly in accordance with their counsel and 
 their conduct. 
 
 I have come to the conclusion that I shall not 
 spare these men who fomented this strife, and 
 permit them to make a scapegoat of this insane 
 man, so that they shall be still revered and honored 
 in public estimation. Do you believe that this 
 crime would ever have been committed if Conk- 
 ling and Platt had not resented the nomination by 
 President Garfield of Judge Robertson to be Col 
 lector of the Port of New York ? Here is a Presi 
 dent whom since his death all say to be one of 
 the noblest of the land. I say it because I believe 
 it and because I had that opinion of him before 
 his death. But these men, who since his death 
 have been so profuse in their admiration of him, 
 who have said so many things in laudation of his 
 character and his high motives, were ready before 
 the 2d of July last to trample him in the dust if 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 they had had the opportunity. They were ready 
 to degrade and disgrace him with his country. 
 They were ready to see him go down in obscurity 
 and disgrace to the grave if it could be done with 
 out the aid of an assassin s hand. 
 
 I admit that Mr. Conkling is (imitating Mr. Por 
 ter s style of declamation) " one of the first Parlia 
 mentarians of the age ;" that he is a great states 
 man, I admit also ; and Mr. Conkling, with those 
 qualities, had no right, had no business, to engage 
 in a petty squabble about a petty office. He waged 
 a war on the chosen representative of the Ameri 
 can people in the Presidential chair. Mr. Conkling 
 shall not shirk, shall not avoid, shall not escape 
 the condemnation of the American people, if I can 
 fasten it on him, for that disgraceful conduct. 
 
 Neither shall General Grant, honored as he is 
 by his country, honored as he has been by the suf 
 frages of the people, honored as he has been for 
 twenty years in my own heart neither shall Gene 
 ral Grant escape that condemnation to which he 
 ju stly subj ected himself when, coming from Mexico, 
 leaving his duties and coming with undue haste, 
 he threw his own name and influence into that 
 petty quarrel about a small office in the Republi 
 can party, and sought to foment the difference 
 which had sprung up. General Grant stands a 
 nobleman only as he stands in the hearts of his 
 countrymen. We have no Lord Grant ; no Duke 
 of Galena ; we have only General Grant, and as 
 
454 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 long as he maintains his high character, his devo 
 tion to his country, so long and no longer will he 
 maintain that place which he has obtained in the 
 hearts of his countrymen. It is more noble for 
 General Grant to say what he has lately said in re 
 lation to General Porter that his conduct toward 
 him eighteen years ago was a mistake ; that he 
 did a wrong, and that it should be corrected it 
 was more noble, more manly in him to take that 
 position than to do anything which he has accom 
 plished during, the course of his long life. But 
 there is another step for him to take and another 
 step for the President to take if they would redeem 
 themselves in the opinion of their countrymen. 
 
 When the Vice-President of the United States 
 left his high position and went to Albany and pros 
 tituted his place and his talent and his influence 
 toward the fomenting and spreading of this quar 
 rel and controversy in the Republican party, he 
 deserved the condemnation of ever} citizen of this 
 Republic. And that conduct sticks to him yet, 
 and will until he and General Grant and Senator 
 Conkling, in all their pride, in all their ambition, 
 shall come out openly and plainly before the pub 
 lic, through a letter or declaration of some kind 
 and say that this warfare, which they waged on 
 President Garfield, was unwarranted, and was dis 
 graceful to them as citizens of the Republic, hold 
 ing the high positions which they held. I am not 
 going to see the shortcomings and the misdeeds 
 
ASS.4SSAV OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 455 
 
 of these men, though high in place and power, 
 visited on the head of this insane man, if I can 
 help it. And I tell you it would be done, if you 
 find a verdict of guilty. This is the reason which 
 has prompted all this expenditure of pow r er and 
 force on the part of the adminstration to hang this 
 man. It is not for the purpose of vindicating Presi 
 dent Garfield. It is not for the purpose of doing 
 justice. But if it can be made to appear by the 
 verdict of a jury that this act was the act of a 
 sane man, a man \vho was responsible for his con 
 duct, by a man who could control his action, a 
 man who should be judged by the same standard 
 by which we judge ourselves what then ? Why 
 these men can say and will say, " We are not re 
 sponsible for what a sane man has done; we are 
 not responsible for that. It is true we had a 
 quarrel. It is true we had a difference, but no 
 sane man had a right because of that to shoot 
 the President." And that reasoning is perfectly 
 correct. Therefore if you find this prisoner guilty 
 these men are sheltered, secured, almost vindi 
 cated from public opinion. 
 
 But, on the other hand, suppose you find this 
 man not guilty by reason of insanity, what is the 
 result ? The people say : " This is the man whose 
 mind was preyed upon by supposed impending 
 evil, who was led to believe that there was another 
 war coming, and that a million lives were to be 
 sacrificed. Under that delusion he shot the Presi- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 dent of the United States." That will be the first 
 conclusion. What will be the next step? 
 . Somebody must be to blame when an act of this 
 kind has been done. Who induced this poor luna 
 tic to do this act ? Recollect those slips cut from 
 the newspapers and stating what Conkling said, 
 what Conkling did ; what Arthur said, what Arthur 
 did; what Grant said, what Grant did. When 
 the people make up their minds they will fix the 
 blame somewhere. Where will it rest but upon 
 the heads of, and hearts of, these men who waged 
 this unjustifiable war against the dead President, 
 and these men will rest forever with that oppro 
 brium upon them ; forever, and they will go down 
 to their graves with the contempt and reproach of 
 their fellow citizens, unless they do the only thing 
 that can be done what Grant has done in rela 
 tion to Fitz John Porter come out and say as 
 American citizens, " We did wrong." Let them 
 write a letter to the desolate widow at Cleveland, 
 and say to her : " It is true we are sorry, it is true 
 we mourn with you, but we feel that this terrible 
 calamity was in some degree the outgrowth, the 
 legitimate result of this unjustifiable war which 
 we waged against your dead husband, and we 
 pray you to forgive us." When these men do 
 that, they will show their claim to the regard of 
 the American people, and it is the only thing they 
 can do to save their names from merited obliv 
 ion. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 457 
 
 The Court then, at 1 2 o clock, took a recess for 
 one hour. 
 
 After the recess Mr. Scoville commented upon 
 the fact that the prosecution had objected to Dr. 
 Beard, of New York, testifying in sur-rebuttal. 
 He then resumed his review of the evidence, as 
 serting that the testimony of Secretary Elaine must 
 lead every mind to the conclusion that the pris 
 oner was either a fool or a crazy man. He re 
 ferred to the interviews which General Reynolds 
 had with the prisoner, dwelling at some length on 
 the statement made by the latter that "when the 
 President died he would go abroad." 
 
 Mr. Scoville, continuing, stated that in any or 
 dinary case, while possibly not sufficient to con 
 vince the jury that the man was insane on the 2d 
 of July, the testimony presented by the prosecu 
 tion would be sufficient to bring them into that 
 condition where they would be obliged to say, 
 "We have a reasonable doubt whether he was 
 sane," and on that "reasonable doubt" a verdict 
 of acquittal must be brought in. 
 
 The Court then, at 5 minutes past 3, adjourned. 
 
 The prisoner opened the proceedings of Thurs 
 day, January iQth, by a flattering reference to 
 a recent decision of the New York Court of 
 Appeals, whereby the burden of proof in an 
 insanity case is declared to rest upon the prose 
 cution, which must prove that a criminal is sane 
 at the time of committing the deed charged. 
 
458 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 Mr. Scoville then resumed his position opposite 
 the jury-box, and again addressed the jury in be 
 half of his client. He quoted from the testimony 
 of Officer Kearney, who arrested the prisoner, to 
 show the incidents which followed the shooting 
 of the President. These incidents, Mr. Scoville 
 claimed, showed that the prisoner was perfectly 
 composed at the time of the arrest, and entirely 
 free from excitement a state of mind which was 
 inconsistent with the idea of sanity. He also 
 quoted from the testimony of Officer Eckloff, who, 
 with Detective McElfresh, had taken the prisoner 
 from police headquarters to the jail, in order to 
 call attention to the statement of the witness that 
 during the ride the prisoner had held a whispered 
 conversation with Detective McElfresh. Mr. Sco 
 ville then read the letter addressed by the prisoner 
 to General Sherman, and asserted that it could 
 not have been written by a man of sane mind, 
 neither could a sane man have written the letter 
 to the White House. Mr. Scoville, after extended 
 and bitter controversy between counsel as to the 
 affirmed mutilation of a letter, asserted that there 
 was not a minute from the time that the prisoner 
 had been nineteen years of age up to the 2d of 
 July last that he had not been an insane man, but 
 his allusion to the prisoner s brain as " feeble" 
 drew forth the ironical remark from the latter, " I 
 know my brain is very feeble, Scoville." 
 
 Mr. Scoville further said that he was speaking 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 not so much for the purpose of saving this man s 
 life, as for the purpose of preventing an injustice 
 being done here that should stand forever a lasting, 
 permanent, unendurable disgrace to the American 
 people and the American judiciary. 
 
 The Court, at half-past 12, took a recess for 
 three-quarters of an hour. 
 
 After the recess Mr. Scoville held a whispered 
 conversation with the prisoner, and then resumed 
 his argument. If the prisoner had planned in his 
 own mind that he would feign insanity as a defence 
 he would have manifested his intention while in 
 jail. It was perfectly absurd to suppose that 
 he had it in his mind to feign insanity, and yet 
 that he had not attempted to carry out the feign 
 ing at the jail. Coming down to the time of the 
 killing, Mr. Scoville argued that in the circum 
 stances connected with the shooting, the prisoner s 
 former life, his life in jail, the facts clustering 
 around that fatal 2d of July, the facts that had 
 been discovered immediately following the shoot 
 ing, there was an abundance of evidence to show 
 that the act was that of an insane man. But when 
 the prisoner s own evidence was added to these 
 facts could not the jury see without leaving the 
 box that that man was insane on the 2d of July ? 
 Could the prisoner s motive have been revenge ? 
 He (Scoville) went on to argue that the prisoner 
 had no possible ill-will toward the late President, 
 and had no motive for shooting him. It might be 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 claimed that the prisoner had committed the act 
 for the purpose of gaining notoriety ? He defied 
 Judge Porter to show the jury a single case where 
 a sane man had committed such a crime merely 
 
 J 
 
 for the purpose of notoriety. A sane man would 
 know that he would go down to posterity steeped 
 in infamy and iniquity, and would be classed with 
 those who had crucified the Saviour and with no 
 others on earth. 
 
 The Court then, at a quarter past 3, adjourned. 
 
 On Friday, January 2Oth, Mr. Scoville resumed 
 his address, this being his fifth day. He an 
 nounced his purpose to confine himself to the tes 
 timony of the experts. He began with the evi 
 dence given by Dr. Hamilton, in order to show 
 that the witness was strongly prejudiced against 
 the defense. He read from the testimony of Dr, 
 Hamilton that the prisoner s head was perfectly 
 symmetrical, and declared that it was not often 
 that a compass and rule could demonstrate that 
 in giving his opinion a man was telling a lie. But 
 Mathematics show that the difference between the 
 two sides of the prisoner s head is three and a 
 half cubic inches, 
 
 Mr. Scoville then referred somewhat at length 
 to the shape of the prisoner s head, illustrating 
 his remarks by an examination of the cast which 
 had been placed in evidence. 
 
 District-Attorney once or twice interrupted Mr. 
 Scoville, and on one of these occasions Mr. Dav- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT CARFIELD. 
 
 461 
 
 idge sarcastically exclaimed : " Don t interfere with 
 Mr. Scoville. I am afraid he will stop if you do. 
 Don t stop, Mr. Scoville." 
 
 Mr. Scoville resumed his argument, criticising 
 the testimony given by Dr. Gray, of the Utica 
 Asylum, whom he characterized as the big gun 
 which the prosecution had reserved until the close 
 of the case, supposing that he would carry the 
 jury by his grand, round, well-proportioned, over 
 whelming declarations. Quoting the case of an 
 insane man who was thriftless in his family affairs, 
 Mr. Scoville said he supposed that Colonel Cork- 
 hill would call it a case of devilish depravity. 
 "Yes," cried the prisoner, "Corkhill is authority 
 on the devil. Gray is a big gun with a big mouth. 
 I will mark him." 
 
 The Court then, at fifteen minutes past 1 2, took 
 a recess for forty-five minutes. 
 
 After the recess, Mr. Scoville, addressing the 
 jury, said that he would dwell no longer on the 
 facts of the case, but would simply mention some 
 considerations which should be called to their at 
 tention. Human laws were made for sane peo 
 ple. Laws were enacted to reward or punish 
 people who were clearly of sound mind. It was 
 true that a man who committed murder ought to 
 be punished even if he were over the border line 
 that separated sanity from insanity; but it was 
 not true that he should be punished precisely as 
 the man who stood on the right side of the line. 
 39* 
 
462 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU1TEAU, 
 
 Mr. Scoville predicted that Judge Porter, in his 
 closing address, would lay stress upon the fact 
 that the prisoner had refrained from shooting the 
 President when he was accompanied by Mrs. 
 Garfield, and would attempt to show by that fact 
 that the prisoner could not have acted under an ir 
 resistible impulse. Mr. Scoville contended that the 
 very fact of the prisoner s restraining his hand 
 went to prove that he was acting under delusion; 
 for, had his act been one of depravity, as the 
 prosecution claimed, he would not have needed 
 another night to allow that depravity to be de 
 veloped in his heart. He would have acted at 
 once, without hesitation. 
 
 Mr. Scoville next entered upon a flattering dis 
 cussion of the jury system and its benefits, and 
 closed his address by saying: It is requisite that 
 you have honest hearts, cool heads and a disposi 
 tion to do what is right. But above all, you should 
 have moral courage, stability of character, moral 
 stamina to determine that what may come, what 
 may be said, you will do what is right and just 
 toward your fellow-men, and in the sight of your 
 God. You should not be influenced by any per 
 sonal motives, by any motive outside of a sincere 
 desire to decide this case according to law and 
 evidence; and, when you have reached a conclu 
 sion in your own mind, I ask that you will render 
 a verdict without fear or without hope of favor or 
 reward, and I believe, gentlemen, that you will do 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GAKFIELD. 
 
 463 
 
 it. I leave the case with you, thanking you for 
 your careful attention. 
 
 The District-Attorney then arose and called the 
 Court s attention to the desire of the prisoner to 
 address the jury. At the time that the application 
 was made he had opposed it very earnestly. The 
 case had now occupied seventy days, and he did 
 not desire a repetition of it. He did not intend 
 that any error should get into the record upon 
 which there was any possibility that a new trial 
 should be allowed, and he, therefore, on behalf of 
 the government withdrew all objection to the pris- 
 soner s beinor heard. 
 
 o> 
 
 As to the question of the prisoner s right to 
 speak that was a matter, Mr. Reed said, to be de 
 cided by the Court. That he might make a poor 
 speech was no reason .that he should not be heard. 
 Many lawyers made poor speeches, many lawyers 
 made rambling speeches; some made speeches 
 outside of the record. [Laughter.] 
 
 Judge Cox stated that some of his brethren 
 had very serious doubts whether, in a capital case, 
 the prisoner could be denied the right to address 
 the jury. He, therefore, would permit the pris 
 oner to speak. 
 
 After further parley about the time to be con 
 sumed by the prisoner s speech, the Court ad 
 journed for the day. 
 
 The announcement that Guiteau would address 
 the jury on Saturday, January 2ist, drew an im 
 
464 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 mense crowd to the court-room. He was placed 
 in the witness-stand where he sat down saying: 
 "I am going to sit down because I can talk better. 
 I am not afraid of any one shooting me. Shoot 
 ing is on the decrease." Then, adjusted his glasses 
 and taking up a roll of manuscript, he read the 
 speech already published, prefacing it with a para 
 graph on the question of his insanity, another 
 parading himself as "the greatest man of this 
 age," and a third expressing his thanks to his 
 counsel and his keepers generally. 
 
 He read his speech in a declamatory manner, 
 holding the paper in one hand and with the other 
 gesticulating and emphasizing his utterances. The 
 words "Rally round the flag, boys," he repeated 
 in a sing-song tone, waving his arm in the air 
 above his head. "And for this I suffer in bonds 
 as a patriot," he quoted in an oratorical manner, 
 and then repeating the sentence, allowed his voice 
 to tremble so that the words were nearly inaudi 
 ble. The trembling in his voice continued till he 
 spoke about his mother and declared that he had 
 always been " a lover of the Lord," when he broke 
 down completely, and applying his handkerchief 
 to his eyes wiped away the tears which, naturally 
 or forced for the purpose of exciting sympathy, 
 coursed down his cheeks. He immediately re 
 covered, however, and in his usual tone of voice 
 proceeded with his address. 
 
 When he came to his description of the attempts 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 465 
 
 made upon his life by Mason and Jones he stood 
 up for the purpose of more vividly pointing out to 
 the jury the narrow escapes which he had had. 
 With something of pride he held up his arm and 
 showed the rent made in his coat by the bullet 
 fired by Jones. A laugh ran through the audience 
 as the prisoner read and re-read his declaration 
 that it would be perfectly safe for him to walk 
 the streets of Washington and New York. 
 
 Reaching that portion of the speech where an 
 abstract from his address to the American people 
 is inserted, he folded up the paper, took off his 
 glasses, and squaring himself in his chair, pro 
 ceeded to repeat the extract from memory. In 
 doing this he assumed his most oratorical style, 
 modulating the tones of his voice and using both 
 arms to aid him in emphasizing his dramatic utter 
 ances. When he reached the quotation from 
 " John Brown s body," he threw back his head and ** 
 sang a verse from that old song, much to the 
 amusement of the spectators. He read from his 
 speech : " Put my body in the ground if you will ; 
 that is all you can do ; but thereafter comes a day of 
 reckoning. The mills of the gods grind slow, but 
 they grind sure, and they will grind to atoms every 
 man tbat injures me," and supplemented it with 
 the remark : " As sure as a hair of my head is in 
 jured, this nation will go down in the dust, and 
 don t you forget it." He then read his speech 
 to its conclusion without any noteworthy inci- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE AU, 
 
 dent, and at 12.10 the Court adjourned until 
 Monday. 
 
 An immense crowd gathered at the court-house 
 on Monday morning , January 23d, the opening of 
 the eleventh week of the great trial. After a few 
 words of self-laudation and of warning to oppos 
 ing counsel from Guiteau, Mr. Porter proceeded 
 to address the jury. He was evidently quite ill. 
 After a few apologetic words, he said : Thus far 
 in this case the trial had been practically con 
 ducted by the prisoner and his counsel, Mr. Sco- 
 ville. Everybody had been arraigned, everybody 
 denounced, everybody interrupted and silenced at 
 their will. 
 
 The jury had heard the evidence much of it 
 over two months ago. They had heard it amid 
 clamor, objections, interruptions, vituperation and 
 blasphemy. The jury were compelled to rely 
 upon their memory for the points of that testi 
 mony, which covered two thousand five hundred 
 pages closely printed in double columns, equal in 
 ordinary print to five thousand pages. Of course 
 the jury could not recall every point made at the 
 time. In the address of Mr. Scoville, there had 
 been an attempt to carry out the plan of misrep 
 resentation and perversion of testimony. It was 
 deliberate, designed, cunning, done by subterfuge 
 and indirection. He (Mr. Porter) wished to recall 
 the jury to the case as it really was. 
 
 My relations to this case, he continued, are 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 467 
 
 simply those imposed on me by the Government, 
 and most cordially accepted by me, because I be 
 lieved that the interests of public justice demanded 
 that the colc^-blooded and deliberate assassin of 
 President Garfield shall not leave this dock until 
 he is under sentence of death. He in the mean 
 time invokes the mercy of that God who spares 
 even him who spares not. He did not spare Gar- 
 field, though he said he was a good man whom he 
 was transferring to Paradise ; he did not spare 
 that wife who, by her leaning on Garfield s arm, 
 saved his life on one occasion. He swears that 
 if she had leaned on the President s arm on the 
 2d of July it would have saved him. He did not 
 spare that aged mother whom the son so loved. 
 He spared no one. 
 
 This man who appeals to you in tears and with 
 such pathos through his counsel for dew-fallen 
 mercy this man showed his idea of mercy to 
 others when on one occasion he turned to you 
 and said that that God whose name he has so often 
 blasphemed would interfere to strike down one of 
 your number before you should be able to con 
 vict him. This is the man who invokes the tender 
 and merciful consideration of his case. A man 
 brutal in his instincts, inordinate in his love of 
 notoriety, eaten up by a thirst for money which 
 has gnawed at his soul like a cancer, a beggar, a 
 hypocrite, a canter, a swindler, a lawyer who, with 
 many years practice, never won a case. A man 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 who has left his trail in various States, a man who 
 has lived on other people s funds and appro 
 priated them to his own use in breach of every 
 trust, a man who is capable of aping the manners 
 of a gentleman, a man who, as a lawyer, had this 
 notion of morality, that when he had taken debts 
 to collect and collected them by dunning the debtor 
 held them against his client and chuckled over the 
 success of his scheme, a man who sold oroide 
 watches or pawned them to get money through 
 falsehood and misrepresentation. A man who 
 was capable of endeavoring to blast the name of 
 the woman whom he acknowledged as a virtuous 
 wife, who was capable of fawning himself off on 
 Christian committees and Christian churches as a 
 pure and moral man, who spent six years in for 
 nication at the Oneida Community. A man who 
 afterward, when he wished to get rid of that wife, 
 consulted the commandments of God and read, 
 " Thou shalt not commit adultery," and went out 
 straightway into the public places and committed 
 it with a street prostitute. 
 
 Proceeding with his speech he eulogized Mr. 
 Garfield as a soldier, a lawyer and a statesman, 
 and said that so high was his reputation he had 
 been elected to the Presidency by a vote so clear 
 aud so strong that all the people said " Amen." And 
 that was the man, he said, against whose life this 
 prisoner had been plotting for six weeks, plotting 
 (without malice, as he said), plotting, with no 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 counsel except the fiend of darkness, who had 
 prompted the crime. 
 
 "Praying is the word!" the prisoner exclaimed. 
 
 Mr. Porter: This man professes to believe that 
 the God who spoke to Moses and the Christ who 
 spoke to Paul in order to replace Judas, who had 
 been false to his trust, inspired this murder. But 
 he tells you on his own oath that he (Guiteau) 
 meditated the means, contrived the vindication, 
 prepared the papers which were to vindicate him 
 before God and man. Mr. Porter then reviewed 
 the history of the case, the purchase of the pistol, 
 the prisoner practising- by the river side, the vari 
 ous occasions when he was deterred from the 
 murder, etc. 
 
 As to his being restrained from the murder by 
 the presence of Mrs. Garfield. He had been re 
 strained by nothing but cowardice on all such 
 occasions. He knew that if he had murdered the 
 President in his wife s presence no military force 
 could have prevented the people who were around 
 tearing him limb from limb. 
 
 Mr.* Porter also referred to the spirit of vanity 
 which made the prisoner choose a white handled 
 pistol rather than a black one, that it might bear 
 his name and fame "thundering down the ages" 
 and be more conspicuous in the Patent Office. 
 He rehearsed the scene at the railroad depot and 
 said that after Guiteau fired the bullet he turned 
 to run. Run where? Run to the jail? He was 
 40 
 
470 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 carefu!, in the very last moment, of his own saiety. 
 He held aloft his letter to General Sherman, ask 
 ing him to summon instantly to his (Guiteau s) 
 protection that military force which had not been 
 present to protect the murdered President. This 
 man had appealed to the Court to give him every 
 right, every constitutional right, freedom of speech, 
 perfect impartiality (which would consist in making 
 all decisions in his favor.) He had been dictating 
 to the Judge the charge which he proposed the 
 Judge should make to the jury. He had shown 
 himself averse to sitting in the dock, which was a 
 disparagement to a lawyer, a theologian, a poli 
 tician, a man of God, a man of prayer, a patriot, a 
 man whose name is to go on through the ages. 
 
 Commenting on the intimations in the press 
 that there would be a disagreement of the jury, 
 he remarked that all the struggle of counsel for 
 the defense had been to lead one of the twelve 
 jurors to differ with his fellows. If there should 
 be such a division it would be very unfortunate. 
 
 How would the case stand if there were such a 
 division of the jury? It would stand about thus: 
 Here is a man who swears he is guilty, and here 
 is a juror says, "I swear that he is not." The 
 prisoner calls it an assassination over his own 
 signature, and the juror says it is no assassination. 
 Oath to oath opposed. Prisoner, "guilty." Juror, 
 "not guilty." Prisoner, "sane." Juror, "insane." 
 The only consequence of that disagreement, gen- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 471 
 
 tlemen, would be (under the charge which the 
 Judge will deliver to you) to call the attention not 
 only of this country, but of mankind, to the only 
 human being who is ready to stand by and shield 
 the cowardly assassin of the President of the 
 United States. But what would be accomplished 
 by it ? Is it supposed that the government is not 
 strong enough to press the case to a conclusion? 
 There are in our government only two repre 
 sentatives of the American people. The one is 
 the head of the government, the President of 
 the United States ; the other is the jury of 
 twelve men to whom, in the last resort, all rights> 
 whether they be of life, liberty or property, come 
 for protection. For that purpose, and under 
 the operation of our law, you twelve men stand 
 to-day as the representatives of the American 
 people. In such a case I deny that any man can 
 ignore the fact that, just as all other men loathe 
 and abhor such crimes, so should you. This pris 
 oner has been blatant in claiming from day to day 
 that the people of this country were on his side; 
 that he was receiving letters and telegrams and 
 contributions expressing sympathy with him ; that 
 the newspapers which he professed to be reading 
 (while he was looking over the top of them and 
 watching the progress of the case) were contain 
 ing expressions in his favor. While all this has 
 been going on, you might very well have wondered 
 how it was that neither of the counsel for the de- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAL, 
 
 fense dared to refer to the general judgment of 
 the city of Washington, of the District of Col 
 umbia, of the United States or of manhood. 
 They had yet to see the first newspaper published 
 in America that ventured to defend this criminal. 
 
 Extended discussion followed at this point, upon 
 the propriety of permitting statements as to the 
 contents of papers and letters, pending which the 
 Court adjourned at i o clock, because of Mr. 
 Porter s evident illness. 
 
 Mr. Porter, seemingly in much better health, 
 resumed his speech to the jury on Tuesday morn 
 ing, January 24th. After some preliminary re 
 marks, he said : I endeavored to show you yester 
 day that this defense was one founded on shams 
 and impostures ; on brazen falsehood, which was 
 supposed to acquire force and strength by per 
 petual reiterations, The disciples of the school 
 of Guiteau have great confidence in a maxim of 
 Aaron Burr that falsehoods are to be verified by 
 persistency and reiteration. I showed you how 
 the prisoner had belied, by his acts, his profes 
 sions; the character given to him by his counsel; 
 how this gentleman, this prayerful man, this moral 
 and Christian man, was a liar, a swindler and a 
 murderer in heart from the beginning. That this 
 man has grown worse every year that he has lived, 
 we ail see and know. That he was a disobedient 
 child, that he was lawless and ungrateful to his 
 father, that he was an unkind brother, that he 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. * * ? 
 
 stung every man who was a benefactor to his 
 youth, that he had inordinate desire for unholy 
 notoriety, that his vanity was boundless and that 
 his malice was still more unbounded, we all know. 
 All this he was in early life. And I shall now call 
 your attention to some of the evidences that he was 
 growing worse and worse until his career culmin 
 ated in cold blooded assassination. There is a 
 self-propagating property in sin and vice and 
 crime until the man becomes (not by disease, but 
 by culture) what Dr. Spitzka calls a " moral mon 
 strosity." 
 
 That is bosh, and you know it, Porter," the 
 prisoner exclaimed. 
 
 After some further discussion Mr. Porter went 
 on with his argument. He asked who it was that 
 killed President Garfield. 
 
 "The doctors," shouted the prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Porter : " The doctors," responds the pris 
 oner. 
 
 Prisoner: That is what most people think 
 about it. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Has not the defense that the 
 doctors killed him been abandoned? 
 
 Prisoner: The Lord allowed them to confirm 
 my act: They were the immediate cause of his 
 death. 
 
 Mr. Porter: I am afraid the prisoner has not 
 the latest intelligence from heaven, for he said 
 that the inspiration left him an hour after he killed 
 40* 
 
474 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 the President. Who killed Garfield ? The pris 
 oner says "Secretary Elaine." He says, in his 
 testimony, " Secretary Elaine is responsible for 
 the murder of President Garfield." 
 
 Prisoner: I said, morally responsible," sir. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Who else is responsible for the 
 death of Garfield? Mrs. Garfield; because the 
 prisoner swears that when he saw that honored 
 lady leaning on her husband s arm her presence 
 on that occasion saved his life ; and so if she had 
 been with him on the 2d of July the prisoner 
 would not have shot President Garfield. 
 
 Referring to Mr. Reed s suggestion about Mrs. 
 Garfield praying in behalf of the prisoner, Mr. 
 Porter said : Imagine what sort of scenes these 
 are that counsel thus brings up. Imagine the aged 
 mother of the President coming before you draped 
 in black. Imagine, according to the old custom 
 of the English laws, this trial taking place in the 
 presence of the corpse of Garfield, mutilated by 
 the murderer, wrapped in white linen, through 
 which it was supposed the mere approach of the 
 murderer would start the blood to flow. Imagine 
 Garfield lying there, not one of the sections of 
 his backbone, but the whole man, cold in death, 
 with the death-sweat not yet dry on his brow, 
 with the expression of agony which this prisoner 
 put there and with the cowering assassin yonder 
 shrinking from approach to the body which was 
 required by the old process oi bier-rite. Im- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 a^ine the ao-ed mother, who had looked to that 
 
 *^> o 
 
 son to close her eyes in death, bowing with grief 
 at the coffin head with Mrs. Garfield, whose lips 
 were the last that touched the cold lips of the 
 President, sitting at his feet in dust and ashes. If 
 in such a scene Mr. Charles H. Reed stood up 
 and said, "The woman who seems to you to be 
 kneeling only to God in her sorrow is kneeling to 
 God in prayer that this murderer shall be dealt 
 with leniently," what would you think of it? 
 
 Who else killed Garfield ? John H. Noyes, says 
 the prisoner. He killed Garfield. Who else 
 killed Garfield? The prisoner s father? that 
 father whom he struck from behind when he was 
 eighteen years of age? Who else killed Garfield? 
 The mother of this prisoner, who was guilty of 
 the inordinte atrocity of having a temporary at 
 tack of erysipelas just before he was born and 
 leaving him an inheritance of congenital monstro 
 sity. Who else killed Garfield? This prisoner s 
 drunken and dissolute uncle Abraham who, al 
 though he was never insane himself, transmitted 
 insanity to the prisoner, though he was not his 
 father, nor his mother, nor his grandfather, nor 
 his grandmother. Who else killed Garfield ? The 
 prisoner s cousin, Abby Maynard. 
 
 Prisoner : If all these people killed General Gar- 
 field you had better discharge this indictment. 
 
 Mr. Porter: Who else killed Garfield? All 
 these do not seem to have been enough to kill 
 
476 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 him. Who else killed Garfield ? The Chicago 
 Convention which nominated him for the Presi 
 dency. The prisoner says: "His nomination was 
 an act of God, and if he had not been nominated 
 and elected I could not have killed him." The 
 prisoner claims that he was appointed by God to 
 kill him he, with his swindling record he, a liar 
 from the beginning he who struck his father, 
 who lifted an axe against his sister, who struck his 
 brother he was commissioned to correct the act 
 of the Convention and of the people by murder 
 ing the President. These are the defenses put 
 forward by this praying prisoner, and by his pray 
 ing counsel in order to divert your attention from 
 the fact that the man who killed Garfield sits there 
 (pointing at the dock), and although Garfield is 
 dead, the prisoner speaks and has spoken on the 
 witness-stand those words which prove him to be 
 not only the assassin, but the meditating, delib 
 erate, sane and responsible assassin of the Presi 
 dent. 
 
 But that is not enough. The press killed Gar- 
 field. The press is solemnly indicted by the mur 
 derer and his associate counsel indicted without 
 the formality of a grand jury, accused by the oath 
 of the murderer, found guilty by the murderer, 
 charged with responsibility by the murderer. But 
 fortunately he no longer holds the "bull-dog" 
 pistol in his hands, and the press is only to be 
 convicted of the murder of Garfield by the bad 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARF1ELD. 
 
 tongue of a murderous liar. This man slaught 
 ered Garfield as he would have slaughtered a calf. 
 
 " The doctors did that," said the prisoner, and 
 having disposed of him in that way, in comes his 
 counsel and charges with the crime those who 
 occupy too lofty a position to notice the vipers that 
 said it, and who would have degraded the dignity 
 of their office by noticing it. One of them is a 
 distinguished American Senator, who, at this mo 
 ment, (except that he was too proud and too lofty 
 to accept the office), would be sitting as the Chief 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the United 
 States. Such a man is to-day arraigned before 
 an American jury, and arraigned not by the crim 
 inal, but by the criminal s defender ("Without my 
 knowledge," interposed the prisoner), as responsi 
 ble for the murder of Garfield. 
 
 Another of those whom he arraigned is a man 
 .more honored in the Confederate States than any 
 American, save their own cherished leader, Gen 
 eral Lee; a man who is honored in the Northern 
 States for services rendered first in war and af 
 terward in reconciling the difficulties which grew 
 out of the war ; a man elevated to conspicuous 
 position, the successor of Washington and Jeffer 
 son, Jackson and Lincoln ; one who, after he left 
 that place, was welcomed in every European and 
 Oriental land as one of the noblest men of the 
 Nineteenth Century. That man is arraigned by 
 the lawyer of Guiteau (" But not by Guiteau," in- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 terruptcd the prisoner) as responsible for the 
 murder of General Garfield. More than that, we 
 have the President of the United States - 
 
 Prisoner : Made so by the inspiration of Gui- 
 teau. Don t you forget that, Mr. Porter. You 
 do not represent him here either. 
 
 Mr. Porter: The successor of Garfield and 
 Hayes and Lincoln and Jackson and Jefferson and 
 Adams and Washington, elevated to that position 
 not by an assassin, but by the voice of his count 
 rymen. And when this creature says, " I made 
 Arthur President," he forgets that General Arthur 
 was made President by the voice of his country 
 men, by that very voice which made Garfield Presi 
 dent. This man told you in his speech last 
 Saturday that Garfield might have died from any 
 other cause ; that he might have trod on an orange 
 peel and received an injury which might have 
 caused his death, or that he might have trod upon 
 a rattlesnake whose fangs might have pierced his 
 heel. Was it the orange peel or the rattlesnake 
 that made Arthur President? ("Neither," said 
 the prisoner). Both because the prisoner has 
 shown himself all his life as slippery as the orange 
 peel and as venomous as the rattlesnake. 
 
 Prisoner : That is false and you know it. 
 
 Mr. Porter: But in one respect meaner than 
 the rattlesnake, for Providence has provided in 
 respect of that reptile that there shall be a warn 
 ing at one end, but the venom at the other. This 
 
BRA R r p 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 481 
 
 was a rattlesnake without the rattle, but not with 
 out the fangs, and when he tells you that he made 
 General Arthur President of the United States he 
 made him President in just the same sense in 
 which the rattlesnake might have done it by in 
 troducing into President Garfield s veins that 
 venom which in eighty days would bring him down 
 to the grave. 
 
 Passing on to criticise Mr. Reed s argument 
 and his illustration as to Christ casting out devils 
 and healing lunatics. Mr. Porter said: The 
 Saviour made a distinction between the sick, the 
 lunatic and those possessed of devils. The claim 
 here is that this man was so enormously wicked 
 as to be, in the language of Dr. Spitzka, a moral 
 monstrosity. He represents the class of which 
 the Saviour spoke, not lunatics, but possessed of 
 the devil. A man who was possessed by the 
 devil once came to the Saviour and prayed to be 
 delivered. The Saviour granted his prayer and 
 commanded the devil to say who he was. " My 
 name," said the devil, "is Legion." And he 
 prayed to be allowed to go into a herd of swine, 
 because even devils go through the form of 
 prayers. 
 
 "Then it is time for you to pray," said the 
 prisoner. 
 
 Mr. Porter: The Saviour consented. What be 
 came of the swine after Legion had entered the 
 herd ? " They rushed down a steep place into the 
 
4g 2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sea and were choked." Whether the devil that 
 possesses this man is or is not to be choked by 
 the law you are to determine. But the destina 
 tion of diabolism such as his, was thought by the 
 Saviour to be fittingly the swine, and the ultimate 
 destination even of the swine was to be choked 
 in the water. 
 
 Prisoner : If you don t stop drinking wine the 
 devil will choke you. You will go into a drunk 
 ard s grave yet. 
 
 Mr. Porter : I shall not further discuss these col 
 lateral issues. I desire you to recollect though, that 
 it is a mistake to suppose that you are (as in one of 
 those weak and feeble arguments you have been 
 told you were in a spirit of obsequious flattery) 
 twelve kings and emperors. You are no more 
 kings, gentlemen, than Messrs. Scoville and Reed 
 are kings. If that had come from Scoville, I would 
 say it had a cheating purpose ; but as it came from 
 Reed, I will only say that they did not teach him 
 his lesson well. What was the purpose? The 
 purpose was to lead you to suppose that you can 
 override the Judge and the law ; that you are at 
 liberty to override the instructions of the Court 
 and to find your verdict, or refuse to find it, on 
 the ground of speculative doubts not warranted 
 by the evidence, but based on your own view of 
 the prisoner, or on evidence which has not been 
 submitted. 
 
 Here the Court took a recess for half an hour. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 483 
 
 After the recess Mr. Porter resumed his argu 
 ment. Referring to the prisoner s desire for 
 notoriety he said that he had made himself illus 
 trious by having his hand stained by illustrious 
 blood. That man undertook to award immortal 
 ity to the jury, or immortality to the Judge, and 
 he had, through his counsel, told them that their 
 names would go down blackened unless they 
 violated their oaths, and that his (Mr. Porter s) 
 name was to go down blackened unless he came 
 to the rescue of the prisoner. 
 
 Prisoner : I never said so. 
 
 Mr. Porter: He tells you that even the Presi 
 dent and the great men of the country must take 
 heed, that even God Almighty must take heed 
 how He acts towards him. He tells you that, at 
 all events, he is satisfied so far with what the Al 
 mighty has done, and that he expects before the 
 trial is done that if it is necessary the Almighty 
 will take one of you, gentlemen, or will take me, 
 or will take each one of us rather than that he 
 shall be struck down. The drama is well played, 
 gentlemen. This man is an actor. While in jail 
 he has borne his natural part, but here he has been 
 constantly on the stage posing for you and carry 
 ing out the suggestions of his counsel. This man 
 is neither a crowned nor an uncrowned king. 
 Although he has sworn to you repeatedly that 
 he was prepared to meet his God there is not 
 a soul in this vast assemblage who shrinks 
 
434 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 with such abject cowardice from confronting the 
 Deity. 
 
 Prisoner: That is absolutely false, Porter, and 
 you know it. You are an infernal scoundrel, and 
 God Almighty will put you down below, too, with 
 Corkhill (snappishly, to the bailiff at his side: 
 "You mind your own business, sir.") Such a mis 
 erable, stinking whine as that is ! 
 
 Mr. Porter then went on to discuss the points 
 of law as laid down by Judge Cox. After that he 
 took up again the question of the responsibility 
 of the prisoner. What household, he said, would 
 be safe, what church would protect its worship 
 ers, if this man were to escape on the plea of 
 irresponsibility? Is it true that any man who has 
 had an insane cousin, an insane uncle, an insane 
 aunt, or an insane ancestor, and who is not him 
 self insane, but knows perfectly that murder is 
 legally and morally wrong, is to escape punish 
 ment? May he stab, or shoot, or waylay, or 
 murder in any form by day or by night, and then 
 claim in his vindication, not that he is insane him 
 self, but that somebody else was? If so what is 
 human life worth? 
 
 Nay, more, if it were true that every insane 
 man, no matter in what degree, no matter whether 
 from melancholia, or from any of these casual or 
 occasional aberrations of mind, is at liberty to 
 commit burglary, to fire your dwelling houses, to 
 set the city of Washington on fire when the frost 
 
ASSASSM OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. * g * 
 
 shall stiffen the water and when fire is destruction, 
 to ravish your daughters, what security is there? 
 
 Nay, more. The insane of this country (I mean 
 the undoubted insane, who are inmates of lunatic 
 asylums) are to learn from the verdict in this case, 
 if the theory of the defense shall- be sustained, that 
 each of them is at liberty to murder the keeper 
 who restrains him ; that they are all at liberty to 
 confederate to open the gates of the asylums and 
 to go out, knife and torch in hand, and spread ruin 
 and conflagration in every direction, and although 
 the law forbids it an American jury can be found 
 that will sanction the act. 
 
 Prisoner : That is very fine, but it is all bosh. 
 
 Was this man insane on the 2d of July? If he 
 was not you have but one duty, and that is to con 
 vict him. I aver that he never was insane, and 
 certainly not on the 2d of July. On that point 
 the principal claim by the prisoner and his counsel 
 is the atrocity of this particular act. I do not deny 
 his claim of being the most cold-blooded and sav 
 age murderer of the last six thousand years, But 
 he is not alone, as he will find when he comes to 
 those realms where murderers are consigned. 
 The first born of the human race murdered the 
 second born. 
 
 Murder has existed in all ages. Four thou 
 sand years ago there was inscribed on tables of 
 stone the command to all people: " Thou -shalt not 
 kill." But Guiteau sas that life is of small con- 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sideration. He says in one of his letters of con 
 solation to the widow: "Life is but a fleeting 
 dream. His death might have happened at any 
 time." As he told you the other day Mr. Garfield 
 might have trod on an orange-peel or trod on a 
 rattlesnake. But the Lawgiver of the universe 
 entertained different views on the value of human 
 life when he said, " Whoso sheddeth man s blood, 
 by man shall his blood be shed." 
 
 Prisoner: That was three or four thousand 
 years ago. We have new laws since then. 
 
 Mr. Porter: And that man in the dock tells 
 you that the same God that placed that value on 
 human life placed no value on the life of James 
 A. Garfield, and that as to that life, it was but of 
 small value it was a "fleeting dream." We 
 have had the gospel of Guiteau, and he thinks 
 that jury will indorse his gospel. 
 
 I do not deny that there are hereditary ten 
 dencies to insanity. There is one order of insanity 
 called by this prisoner "Abrahamic," called by him 
 at other times "temporary mania," and called by 
 Dr. Spitzka "moral insanity." That moral insanity, 
 according to Dr. Barker, consists in wickedness, and 
 is inherited, not from a natural parent, but from 
 another source. That is the insanity which this 
 man has inherited. The man is a liar as well as 
 an assassin and he was instigated not by the 
 Almighty, but by the devil. 
 
 Mr. Porter went on to refer to the prisoner s 
 
OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 487 
 
 life In Washington, living at first-class boarding 
 houses at the expense of the keepers of the house, 
 punctual at breakfast, at dinner, at tea; careful to 
 take baths, punctual at night, sleeping well, eating 
 heartily, rising early and spending the day at 
 Lafayette Square, or in making preparations to 
 murder the President when he should have a fav 
 orable opportunity. Was this, he asked, temporary 
 mania ? Gentlemen, if I went no further, do you 
 believe this man s brain was diseased? I deal 
 with nothing else now. Was his brain diseased? 
 
 o 
 
 And did the disease come and go according to 
 whether President Garfield went out alone, or went 
 out with his wife, or went out with his children, or 
 went to the Soldier s Home, or went to the railroad 
 depot ? Do you believe that the right remedy for 
 a disease of the brain is to make six weeks pre 
 paration for an assassination, and that shooting 
 another man through the spine is a cure for the 
 disease? That is the case as the prisoner makes 
 it out. 
 
 Prisoner: If I were the President of the United 
 States and had ruined the Republican party as 
 Garfield had I ought to be shot. That is my 
 opinion about that, and it is the opinion of a great 
 many people, too. 
 
 Mr. Porter went on to argue against the claim 
 of the prisoner s insanity. Referring to the testi 
 mony of Mrs. Scoville, he paid her a compliment 
 as a sincere woman and said that she had never 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES 7 GUI7EAU, 
 
 noticed insanity in the prisoner until the time when 
 he raised the axe upon her, when he was thirty- 
 five years of age. 
 
 Prisoner: That never occurred. 
 
 A further reference by Mr. Porter to the inci 
 dent of the axe brought from the prisoner this 
 remark: "It was a very stupid thing for Scoville 
 to bring in that axe matter at all. He might have 
 known the use the prosecution would have made 
 out of it. That is about as smart as the Scoville 
 family are. The whole thing is bosh from begin 
 ning to end." 
 
 Mr. Porter went on to criticise the testimony 
 of Reed, of Amerling and of North. He said that 
 it would take a thousand Norths to make him be 
 lieve that Luther W. Guiteau, that calm, quiet, 
 religious man, ever said to an old father and 
 an old mother who had an only son that did 
 not want them to go to the Oneida Community, 
 "Take a knife and slay him, as Abraham did 
 Isaac." 
 
 Wednesday, January 25th, was the third day of 
 the eleventh week of the famous trial, and it was 
 conceded to be the stormiest day, so far as inter 
 ruptions and brutality on Guiteau s part were 
 concerned. He made an opening statement as 
 usual, after which Mr. Porter proceeded with his 
 address. He touched upon the testimony of Dr. 
 North and of John W. Guiteau as of no weight in 
 determining an insane condition of the . prisoner. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT CARFIELD. 
 
 489 
 
 During much of this discussion Guiteau was 
 answering Mr. Porter, sentence by sentence in the 
 most insolent manner, as for example : 
 
 Mr. Porter, referring to a copy of a handbill of 
 one of Guiteau s. lectures, read therefrom " Hon. 
 Charles J. Guiteau." 
 
 Prisoner : That is the way my letters come 
 now. 
 
 Mr. Porter: I pass that with no words of 
 comment. 
 
 Prisoner: You haven t brains enough to com 
 ment on it. 
 
 In the course of his review of John W. Gui 
 teau s testimony Mr. Porter exclaimed, sarcasti 
 cally, quoting a remark of the prisoner, "The 
 Lord murdered Garfield !" 
 
 Prisoner: Yes, and he will murder you. 
 
 Mr. Porter then went into an exhaustive review 
 of that portion of J. W. Guiteau s testimony which 
 refers to a quarrel between his brother and him 
 self. 
 
 Prisoner, excitedly: Porter thinks I am a man 
 of depravity, who fought with my brother and my 
 father and tried to kill my sister. That s all bosh. 
 It only shows the mean, dirty spirit of this man 
 Porter. A saint from heaven could not stand it 
 to be abused by this man Porter, and I can t stand 
 it. I will relieve my mind and tell what I think 
 about it. I have always been a peaceable man 
 and I never quarrelled with anybody. It is a 
 
490 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 perfect outrage for you to come and bulldoze 
 that jury by saying I am a fighting man. It is 
 a lie. 
 
 Mr. Porter : It is on the authority of his brother s 
 oath. 
 
 Prisoner : He is no brother of mine ; we were 
 not on speaking terms. It is mean for you to 
 come and put that man up as my brother. I 
 would not have spoken to him at the Fifth Avenue 
 Hotel last spring. I don t like his style or my 
 father s style. My sister sympathized with me 
 and my brother sympathized with my father. 
 
 Comments on the trial, by the English press, were 
 next touched upon, also the prisoner s fight with 
 his father and his objection to his father s second 
 marriage, during all of which there were constant 
 interruptions, the prisoner finally shouting to Mr. 
 Porter : You do not represent the Attorney-Gen 
 eral. He was on the bench yesterday and he did 
 not condescend to notice you. He has nothing 
 but the utmost contempt for you, Porter. He 
 thinks you a low, dirty dog, and that is the opinion 
 of the American people, and mine, too. 
 
 Mr. Porter, alluding to an insulting reflection 
 on one of the witnesses as a Jew, said ; It is no 
 dishonor to any man to be the countryman of the 
 Redeemer of mankind. The one w T ho sin^s from 
 
 o 
 
 week to week in the church the songs of David 
 of Israel, the one who consults the wisdom of Solo 
 mon, the man who honors the name of Saul, the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 one who professes to reverence as this man does 
 Abraham, the progenitor of Christianity - 
 
 Prisoner, interrupting : That is very fine. But 
 the Lord and the Jews had a falling out at the de 
 struction of Jerusalem, and He has been down 
 upon them ever since. True, nowadays they are 
 a good sort of people. The Jews are all right. 
 
 Mr. Porter : But it is convenient for the pur 
 poses of the defense in this case to cast discredit 
 on this witness Edwards, and so Mr. Scoville, with 
 the decency of his client, circumcises Edwards in 
 the presence of this court. 
 
 After further exciting discussion on unessential 
 
 o 
 
 points, Guiteau cried out : Porter has kept up an 
 extraordinary storm of abuse against me, and a 
 saint from heaven would swear at the unmitigated 
 abuse which he has put forward this morning. He 
 does not represent the President or the Attorney- 
 General, or anybody else except Porter. He is 
 here for blood-money, and he is trying to fool the 
 jury, but he cannot do it. 
 
 The testimony of Drs. Kiernan and Spitzka 
 were then reviewed, Guiteau constantly interject 
 ing the most abusive remarks. 
 
 o 
 
 Commenting on Mr. Reed s allusion to Char 
 lotte Corday Mr. Porter said: The world had 
 lived since the year of the French Revolution in 
 ignorance of the fact that the beautiful Charlotte 
 Corday was insane. It was left to Mr. Reed to 
 announce that fact. She cannot turn in her grave 
 
492 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 to belie it; but there are some of us who know 
 something of the history of that wonderful woman s 
 true patriotism, which led to an assassination that 
 was justified if ever an assassination was justified. 
 
 Prisoner : You would have hung her if you had 
 been there. 
 
 Mr. Porter: She was no sneaking coward. She 
 left the house in which she was reared to deliver 
 France, to stay the hand of revolutionary slaughter, 
 to lay her own head beneath the guillotine, in 
 order to save the effusion of blood. She believed 
 it to be her duty to the France she loved, and she 
 made her way with deliberate preparation, sane in 
 mind and devoted in purpose, ready to die that 
 others might live, and she succeeded in finding her 
 way to the man who had in his right hand the lives 
 of millions of Frenchmen, and who by jotting a 
 mark of blood opposite the name could hurry men 
 into a dismal, dark dungeon, from which there 
 was no escape except through the guillotine. She 
 devoted herself to the work, not after providing 
 for her own safety, not with the idea of securing 
 rewards from others 
 
 Here the prisoner broke out into wild exclama 
 tions, of which only the following were intelligible: 
 " God Almighty will follow you up, Porter. Those 
 are my sentiments about this murder; I am not 
 afraid to die. God Almighty will smite you and 
 curse you. You are a liar." 
 
 Mr. Porter: This prisoner and his counsel made 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 493 
 
 the discovery at the Corcoran Art Gallery that 
 Charlotte Corday, who will live immortal in his 
 tory as one ready to give her own life for the 
 country 
 
 Prisoner, interrupting: That is me and don t 
 you forget it, you old whelp. 
 
 Mr. Porter (finishing the sentence) was insane. 
 Forsooth, Mr. Reed would place this murderer by 
 the side of that girl who gave her life that others 
 might live. 
 
 Prisoner, ferociously: God Almighty will curse 
 you, Porter; (to the Deputy Marshal, who at 
 tempted to restrain him) Sit down and mind 
 your own business. If you lay a finger upon me 
 a pistol will fix you. I will talk as much as I 
 please. Porter knows that he is lying every word 
 he says. He is trying to make out that I am not 
 a patriot. I am willing to die to-morrow if neces 
 sary, and. God Almighty will revenge my death. 
 This nation will roll in blood if a hair of my head 
 is harmed, and that man Porter will be ahead of 
 the crowd down below. 
 
 Mr. Porter, to the jury: Do you think that that 
 was the way that Charlotte Corday talked ? 
 
 Prisoner : You know nothing about it, you old, 
 dirty whelp. 
 
 Mr. Porter: When she was called to execution 
 she rose from her knees with a crucifix clasped to 
 her breast. The case of Booth was next re 
 viewed by Mr. Porter, who concluded as follows : 
 42 
 
404 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAL, 
 
 True, Booth shot from behind, but he felt that 
 he was putting his life in peril, for he was in a 
 crowded audience, and yet with the instincts of 
 manhood and believing or feeling that he might 
 be justified by his countrymen, he leaped upon the 
 stage, mounted his horse and rode for life or for 
 death he rode to death and within the blazing 
 flames of the building in which he was penned, as 
 God pens murderers, he still presented the lion 
 front of a brave man, and although crippled in 
 body he died like a stag at bay. But this man 
 
 Prisoner : I shot my man in broad daylight. 
 
 Mr. Porter, continuing : This coward, this dis 
 appointed office-seeker 
 
 Prisoner : You are a liar and you know it. 
 
 Mr. Porter, finishing the sentence : This malig 
 nant, diabolical, crafty, calculating, cold-blooded 
 murderer, providing for death to his victim, and 
 for safety to himself; would you compare him 
 with Wilkes Booth ? 
 
 Prisoner: I should not. The comparison is in 
 my favor. You are a nice orator. Booth and 
 you will go down together, both of you below. 
 
 Mr. Porter : The leading spirit of the man has 
 been, first, greed of money and the greed of repu 
 tation. When Horace Greeley was a candidate 
 for the Presidency this man was at his heels, an 
 applicant for the mission to Chili. 
 
 Prisoner : That is false. 
 
 Mr. Porter: If Mr. Greeley had been elected 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT CARFIELD. 
 
 495 
 
 and the Chilean mission had been refused to this 
 man he would have got a bulldog pistol and sent 
 a cartridge into the back of Horace Greeley. 
 
 Prisoner: You know that that is an absolute, 
 wicked, venomous, devilish lie. 
 
 Mr. Porter next dwelt upon the opinion of 
 the experts that the prisoner never was insane. 
 
 The Court here took a recess, and after reas 
 sembling, Mr. Porter resumed his argument. He 
 proceeded to analyze the testimony, the various 
 interruptions and the speech of the prisoner to 
 the jury, commenting on various sentences as he 
 went along. He was met by constant interrup 
 tions and virulent remarks by the prisoner. At 
 times counsel and prisoner were both speaking at 
 the same time. Mr. Porter quoted from some 
 scenes in " Othello," between lago and Roderigo, 
 in order to show that the prisoner had found in 
 Shakespeare the idea of softening down the name 
 of murder into " removal," but the prisoner re 
 peatedly denied that he had ever consulted Shake 
 speare on the subject. 
 
 Passing on to the theory of transitory mania, 
 Mr. Porter read from one of the prisoner s ex 
 clamations : " I repudiate the theory of Mr. Sco- 
 ville. I am not insane now, and I never pretended 
 that I was." Here the prisoner shouted, " I was 
 insane on the 2d of July." 
 
 Almost every other sentence that was uttered 
 by Mr. Porter was retorted to by the prisoner, 
 
496 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 until finally Mr. Porter proceed to close his argu 
 ment, which he did as follows : 
 
 Gentlemen, the time has come when I must 
 close, The government has presented its case 
 before you, and we have endeavored to discharge 
 our duty to the best of our abilities. His Honor 
 has endeavored to discharge his. I know that you 
 will be faithful to your oaths and discharge yours. 
 So discharge it that, by your action at least, 
 political assassination shall find no sanction to 
 make it a precedent hereafter. He who has 
 ordained that human life shall be shielded by hu 
 man law from human crime preside over your 
 deliberations, and the verdict which shall be given 
 or withheld to-day will be recorded where we all 
 have to appear. I trust that that verdict will be 
 prompt, that it will represent the majesty of the 
 law, your integrity and the honor *of the country, 
 and that this trial, which has so deeply interested 
 all the nations of the earth, may result in a warn 
 ing to reach all lands that political murder 
 shall not be used as a means of promoting party 
 ends or political revolutions. I trust also that the 
 time shall come, in consequence of the attention 
 that shall be called to the considerations growing 
 out of this trial, when, by an international arrange 
 ment between the various governments, the law 
 shall be so strengthened that political assassins 
 shall find no refuge on the face of the earth. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 CHARGE OF JUDGE COX. 
 
 JUDGE COX, at fifteen minutes past three, 
 p. m., proceeded to deliver his charge to the 
 jury. He commenced by saying that the 
 Constitution provides that in all criminal prosecu 
 tions the accused shall enjoy the right of a speedy 
 and public trial ; that he shall be informed of the 
 cause and the nature of the accusation against 
 him; that he shall be confronted with the wit 
 nesses against him ; that he shall have compulsory 
 process to obtain witnesses in his favor and that 
 he shall have assistance of counsel in his defense. 
 Those provisions were intended for the protection 
 of the innocent from injustice and oppression. 
 With what difficulty and trouble the law had been 
 administered in the present case the jurors had 
 been daily witnesses. It was, however, a consola 
 tion to think that not one of those sacred guaran 
 tees had been violated in the person of the ac 
 cused. At last the long chapter of proof was 
 ended, the task of the advocate was done, and it 
 now rested with the jury to determine the issue 
 between public justice and the prisoner at the bar. 
 Before proceeding further he wished to notice an 
 incident which had taken place pending the recent 
 
 (497) 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. QUITE A U, 
 
 argument. The prisoner had frequently taken 
 occasion to proclaim that public opinion, as evinced 
 by the press and correspondence, was in his favor. 
 Those declarations could not have been prevented 
 except by the process of gagging the prisoner. 
 Any suggestion that the jury could be influenced 
 by such lawless clattering of the prisoner would 
 have seemed to him absurd, and he should have 
 felt that he was insulting the intelligence of the 
 jury if he had warned them not to regard it. 
 Counsel for the prosecution had felt it necessary, 
 however, in the final argument to interpose a con 
 tradiction to such statements, and an exception 
 had been taken on the part of the accused to the 
 form in which that effort was made. For the sole 
 purpose of purging the record of any objection 
 able matter he should simply say that anything 
 which had been said on either side in reference to 
 public excitement or to newspaper opinion was 
 not to be regarded by the jury. 
 
 The indictment charged the defendant with hav 
 ing murdered James A. Garfield. Murder was 
 committed where a person of sound memory and 
 discretion unlawfully killed a reasonable being in 
 the peace of the United States with malice afore 
 thought. It had to be proved, first, that the death 
 was caused by the act of the accused, and, further, 
 that it was caused with malice aforethought. That 
 did not mean, however, that the Government had 
 to prove any ill-will or hatred on the part of the 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 accused toward the deceased. Wherever a homi 
 cide was shown to have been committed without 
 lawful authority and with deliberate intent it was 
 sufficiently proved to have been done with malice 
 aforethought, and malice was not disproved by 
 showing that the accused had no personal ill-will 
 to the deceased, and that he killed him from other 
 motives as, for instance, robbery or through mis 
 taking him for another, or (as claimed in this case) 
 to produce a public benefit. If it could be shown 
 that the killing occurred in the heat of passion, or 
 under provocation, then it would appear that there 
 was no premeditated attempt and therefore no 
 malice aforethought, and that would reduce the 
 crime to manslaughter. It was hardly necessary, 
 however, to say that there was nothing of that 
 kind in the present case. The jury would have to 
 say either that the defendant was guilty of murder 
 or that he was innocent. 
 
 In order to constitute the crime of murder the 
 assassin must have a reasonable sane mind in 
 technical terms he must be "of sound mind, mem 
 ory and discretion." An irresponsibly insane man 
 could not commit murder. In the first place 
 every defendant was presumed innocent until the 
 accusation against him was established by proof. 
 In the next place, notwithstanding this presump 
 tion of innocence, it was equally true that a de 
 fendant was presumed to be sane, and to have 
 been so at the time the crime was commited. As 
 
500 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 insanity was the exception, and as the majority of 
 men are sane, the law presumed the latter condi 
 tion of every man until some reason was shown to 
 believe to the contrary. The burden was, there 
 fore, on the defendant, who set up insanity as an 
 excuse for crime, to produce proofs in the first 
 instance to show that that presumption was mis 
 taken, so far as it related to the prisoner. 
 
 Crime, therefore, involved three elements the 
 killing, malice, and a responsible mind in the mur 
 derer. After all the evidence was before the jury, 
 if the jury while bearing in mind both those pre 
 sumptions th^t is, that the defendent is innocent 
 till he is proved guilty and that he is sane till the 
 contrary appears still entertained what is called a 
 reasonable doubt on any ground or as to any of 
 the essential elements of the crime, then the de 
 fendant was entitled to the benefit of that doubt 
 and to an acquittal. 
 
 It was important to explain to the jury what is 
 a resonable doubt. As to the questions relating 
 to human affairs, a knowledge of which is derived 
 from testimony, it was impossible to have the 
 same kind of certainty that is created by scientific 
 demonstration. The only certainty that the jury 
 could have was a moral certainty, depending on 
 the confidence which the jury had in the integrity 
 of witnesses and in their capacity and opportunity 
 to know the truth. If, for example, facts not im 
 probable in themselves were attested by numer- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 ous witnesses, credible and uncontradicted, and 
 who had every opportunity to know the truth, a 
 resonable or moral certainty would be inspired 
 by that testimony. In such a case doubt would 
 be unreasonable or imaginary or speculative. It 
 ought not to be a doubt as to whether the party 
 might not be innocent in the face of strong 
 proofs of his guilt, but it must be a sincere doubt 
 whether he had been proved guilty. Even where 
 the testimony was contradictory and where so 
 much more credit should be given to one side 
 than the other, the same result might be pro 
 duced. On the other hand the opposing proofs 
 might be so balanced that the jury might justly 
 doubt on which side, under all the circumstances, 
 the truth lay, and in such case the accused party 
 was entitled to the benefit of the doubt. All that 
 a jury could be expected to do was to be reason 
 ably and morally certain of the facts which they 
 declared to be their verdict. 
 
 With reference to the evidence in this case, 
 very little comment was required by the Court, 
 except upon one question. That .the defendant 
 fired at and shot the deceased President was 
 abundantly proved ; that the wound was fatal had 
 been testified to by the surgeons, who were com 
 petent to speak, and they were uncontradicted ; 
 that the homicide was committed with malice afore 
 thought if the defendant was capable of criminal 
 intent or malice could hardly be gainsaid. It 
 
502 
 
 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 was not necessary to prove that any special or 
 express hatred or malice was entertained by the 
 accused toward the deceased. It was. sufficient to 
 prove that the act was done by deliberate intent, 
 as distinct from an act done under a sudden im 
 pulse, in the heat of blood and without previous 
 malice. Evidence had been exhibited to the jury 
 tending to show that the defendant admitted in 
 his own hand-writing that he had conceived 
 the idea of " removing the President/ as he called 
 it, six weeks before the shooting; that he had de 
 liberated upon it, and come to a determination to 
 do it, and that about two weeks before he accomp 
 lished it he stationed himself at certain points to 
 do the act, but for some reason was prevented. 
 His preparation for it by the purchase of the pistol 
 had been shown. All these facts come up to the 
 full measure of the proof required to establish 
 what the law denominated malice aforethought. 
 
 The jury would find little difficulty in reaching 
 a conclusion as to all the elements that made up 
 the crime charged in the indictment, except, it 
 might be, as to the one of sound mind, memory 
 and discretion, but that was only a technical ex 
 pression for a responsible, sane man. The de 
 fense of insanity had been so abused as to be 
 brought into great discredit. Nevertheless, if in 
 sanity were established to a degree necessary, it 
 was a perfect defense for an indictment for mur 
 der, and must be allowed full weight. It would 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 be observed that in this case there was no trouble 
 with any question about what might be called total 
 insanity, such as raving mania, or absolute imbe 
 cility, in which all exercise of reason is wanting 
 and where there is no recognition of persons or 
 things or their relations. But there was a debat 
 able borderline between sanity and insanity; and 
 there was often great difficulty in determining on 
 which side of the line a party was to be put. There 
 were cases in which a man s mental faculties gen 
 erally seemed to be in full vigor but where on one 
 single subject he seemed to be deranged. Those 
 were cases which for want of a better term were 
 called partial insanity. The jury would bear in 
 mind that a man did not become irresponsible by 
 the mere fact of his being partially insane. Such 
 a man did not take leave of his passions by be- 
 coming insane. He might retain as much control 
 over them as in health. He might commit of 
 fences, too, with which his infirmity had nothing 
 to do. He might be sane as to the crime he com 
 mitted, might understand its nature, and might be 
 governed by the same motives in relation to it as 
 other people, while on other subjects having no 
 relations whatever to the crime he mi^ht be the 
 
 o 
 
 victim of delusion. Whenever this partial in 
 sanity was relied on as a defense, it must appear 
 that the crime charged was a product of the de 
 lusion or other morbid condition and connected 
 with it as effect with cause, and that it was not 
 
504 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 the result of sane reasoning which the party might 
 be capable of, notwithstanding his limited and cir 
 cumscribed disorder. Assuming that that infirmity 
 of mind had a direct influence on crime, the dif 
 ficulty was to fix the character of the disorder 
 which fixed responsibility or irresponsibility in law. 
 It would be well to say a word to the jury as to 
 the kind of evidence by which courts and juries 
 were guided in this difficult and delicate inquiry. 
 That subtle essence called mind, defied, of course, 
 ocular inspection. It could only be known by its 
 manifestations. The test was as to whether the 
 conduct of the man and his thoughts and emotions 
 conformed with those of persons of sound mind, 
 or whether they contrasted harshly with it. By 
 that a judgment was formed as to a man s sound 
 ness of mind. And for that reason evidence was 
 admissible to show conduct and language that 
 would indicate some morbid condition of the intel 
 lectual powers. Everything relating to his mental 
 and physical history was therefore relevant, be 
 cause any conclusion on the subject must often 
 rest on a large number of facts, and letters spon 
 taneously written afforded one of the best indi 
 cations of mental condition. Evidence of insanity 
 in the parents was always pertinent, but juries 
 were never allowed to infer insanity in the accused 
 from the mere fact of its existence in the ancestors. 
 When, however, there was evidence tending to 
 show insane conduct on the part of the accused 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 evidence of insanity in the ancestors was admis 
 sible as corroborative of the others. Therefore 
 it was that, in this case, the defense had been 
 allowed to introduce evidence covering the whole 
 life of the accused, and reaching also his family 
 antecedents. The true test of criminal respon 
 sibility, where the defense of insanity was inter 
 posed, was whether the accused had sufficient 
 use of his reason to understand the nature of the 
 act with which he was charged, and to understand 
 
 o 
 
 that it was wrong" for him to commit it. 
 
 o 
 
 As the law assumed every one at the outset to 
 be sane and responsible, the question was, what 
 was there in this case to show the contrary as to 
 this defendant ? Perhaps the easiest way for the 
 jury to examine into the subject was first to satisfy 
 themselves about the condition of the prisoner s 
 mind for a reasonable period of time before any 
 conception of the assassination had entered it, 
 and also at the present time, and then consider 
 what evidence exists as to a different condition of 
 mind at the time of the commission of the act. He 
 should not spend any time on the first question. 
 It was enough to say that, on the one side, this 
 evidence was supposed to show a chronic con 
 dition of insanity before the crime, and, on the 
 other side, to show an exceptionally quick intelli 
 gence and decided powers of discrimination. The 
 jury would have to draw its own conclusions. 
 
 Was the prisoner s ordinary, permanent, chronic 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU2TEAU, 
 
 condition of mind such that he was unable to un 
 derstand the nature of his actions, and to distin 
 guish between right and wrong in his conduct? 
 Was he subject all the time to insane delusions 
 which destroyed his power so to distinguish, and 
 did those continue down to and embrace the act 
 for which he is on trial ? If so, he was simply an 
 irresponsible lunatic. 
 
 On the other hand, had he the ordinary intelli 
 gence of sane people, so that he could distinguish 
 between right and wrong as to his actions ? The 
 jury must consider these questions. If the jury 
 were satisfied that his ordinary and chronic con 
 dition was that of sanity at least so far that he 
 knew the character of his own actions and how 
 far they were right or wrong, and that he was not 
 under any permanent insane delusion which des 
 troyed his power of discriminating between right 
 and wrong then the remaining inquiry was 
 whether there was any special insanity connected 
 with this crime. The reliance of the defense was 
 the existence of an insane delusion in the pris 
 oner s mind which so perverted his reason as to 
 incapacitate him from perceiving the difference 
 between right and wrong as to this particular 
 act. 
 
 The subject of insane delusions played an im 
 portant part in this case and demanded careful 
 consideration. The subject was treated, to a lim 
 ited extent, in judicial decisions; but more was 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 learned about it from works of medical jurispru 
 dence and from expert testimony. Sane people 
 were sometimes said to have delusions, proceeding 
 from temporary disorders and from mistakes in 
 the senses. Sometimes they speculated on mat 
 ters beyond the scope of human knowledge, but 
 delusions in sane people were always susceptible 
 of being corrected and removed by evidence and 
 argument. On the contrary, insane delusions, 
 according to all testimony, were unreasoning and 
 incorrigible. Those who had them believed in the 
 existence of facts which were either impossible 
 absolutely or impossible at least under the circum 
 stances of the individual. A man might, with no 
 reason for it, believe that another was plotting 
 against his life, or that he himself was the owner 
 of untold wealth, or that he had invented some 
 thing which would revolutionize the world, or that 
 he was- the President of the United States, or 
 Christ, or God, or that he was inspired by God to 
 do a certain act, or that he had a glass limb and 
 those were cases of insane delusions. Generally 
 the delusion centered around the patient himself, 
 his rights or his wrongs. It came and went inde- 
 
 o o 
 
 pendently of the exercise of will and reason, like 
 the phantasm of a dream. It was in fact the wak 
 ing dream of the insane in which ideas presented 
 themselves to the mind as real facts. The most 
 certain thing was that an insane delusion was 
 never the result of reasoning and reflection. An 
 
 o 
 42* 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 insane delusion was the coinage of a . diseased 
 brain which defies reason and ridicule and throws 
 into disorder all the springs of human action. 
 
 Before asking the jury to apply these considera 
 tions to the facts in this case he wished to premise 
 one or two things. The question for the jury to 
 determine was, what was the condition of the pris 
 oner s mind at the time when this project was 
 executed. If he were sufficiently sane then to be 
 responsible, it mattered not what might have been 
 his condition before or after. Still evidence had 
 been properly admitted as to his previous and 
 subsequent condition, because it threw light pros- 
 pectively and retrospectively on his condition at 
 the time. Inasmuch as these disorders were of 
 gradual growth and of indefinite continuance, if 
 he were insane shortly before or shortly after the 
 commission of the crime, it was natural to infer 
 that he was so at the time. But still all the evi 
 dence must centre around the time when the deed 
 was done. 
 
 Naturally the jury would look first to any ex 
 planation of the act that might have been made 
 by the defendant himself at the time, or immedi 
 ately before or after. Several papers had been 
 laid before them that had been in the prisoner s 
 possession and that purported to assign the mo 
 tive for the deed. From these papers the Judge 
 quoted the familiar claim that there was a political 
 necessity that Garfield should die. His verbal 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 disclosures to Brooks, Reynolds and others, were 
 to the same effect. 
 
 Judge Cox proceeded to quote from the address 
 to the American people, which was written and 
 given to Mr. Reynolds, "I now wish to state dis 
 tinctly why I attempted to remove the President. 
 I had read the papers for and against the adminis 
 tration very carefully for two months before I con 
 ceived the idea of removing him. Gradually, as 
 the result of reading the newspapers, the idea 
 settled on me that if the President were removed 
 it would unite the two factions of the Republican 
 party and thereby save the Government from 
 going into the hands of ex-rebels 3nd their 
 Northern allies. It was my own conception, and, 
 whether right or wrong, I take the entire respon 
 sibility." 
 
 The jury had now, His Honor said, before it 
 everything emanating from the prisoner about the 
 time of the shooting. And now he would pass to 
 consider the import of all this. The jury would 
 consider, first, whether this evidence fairly repre 
 sented the feelings and ideas that governed the 
 prisoner at the time of the shooting. If it did, it 
 represented a thing which he (Judge Cox) had 
 not seen characterized in any judicial utterance as 
 an insane delusion. They would consider whether 
 it was evidence of insanity, or whether, on the con 
 trary, it showed an ample power of reasoning and 
 reflection on the arguments and evidence for and 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 against, resulting in the opinion that the President 
 had betrayed his party, and that, if he were out of 
 the way, it would be a benefit to his party, and 
 would save the country from the predominance of 
 their political opponents. 
 
 When men reasoned the law required them to 
 reason correctly, so far as their practical duties 
 were concerned. When they had the capacity to 
 distinguish between right and wrong they were 
 bound to do so. Opinions, properly so-called, 
 that is, beliefs resulting from reasoning, reflection 
 and the examination of evidence, afforded no pro 
 tection against the penal consequences of crime. 
 A man mio-ht believe a course of action to be 
 
 o 
 
 right, and the law might forbid it as wrong. 
 Nevertheless he must obey the law, and nothing 
 could save him from the consequences of the vio 
 lation of the law except the fact that he was so 
 crazed by disease as to be unable to comprehend 
 the necessity of obedience. The prisoner seemed 
 to have gotten the idea that, in order to unite the 
 
 o 
 
 Republican party and to save the Republic, what 
 ever means were necessary would be justifiable ; 
 that the death of the President by violence was 
 only a proper and necessary means of accomplish 
 ing it, and was therefore justifiable ; and that, 
 being justifiable as a political necessity, it was not 
 murder. 
 
 There was undoubtedly a form of insane delu 
 sion, consisting of a belief by a person that he 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. c i j 
 
 was inspired by the Almighty to do something 
 to kill another, for example and this delusion 
 might be so strong as to impel him to the com 
 mission of crime. The defendant in this case 
 claimed that he labored under such a delusion at 
 the time of the assassination. The law allowed a 
 prisoner to testify in his own behalf, and therefore 
 made his sworn testimony on the witness-stand 
 legal evidence, to be received and considered and 
 given such weight as it deserved. No verdict, 
 however, could be safely rendered on the sole 
 evidence of an accused party under such circum 
 stances. Otherwise, a man on trial for his life 
 could secure his acquittal by simply testifying that 
 he had committed the crime under a delusion or 
 inspiration or irresistible impulse. 
 
 He would say a word about the characteristics 
 of that form of delusion. The idea of being 
 inspired to do an act might be either a sane belief 
 or an insane delusion. A great many Christian 
 people believed not only that events were provi 
 dentially ordered, but that they themselves re 
 ceived special providential guidance and illumi 
 nation in respect both to their inward thoughts 
 and their outward actions. But this was a mere 
 sane belief. On the other hand, if a man sincerely, 
 though insanely, believed that, like St. Paul, on his 
 way to Damascus, he had been smitten to the 
 earth and had seen a great light and had heard a 
 voice from heaven warning and commanding him 
 
 43 
 
r I2 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 to do a certain act, that would be a case of imagi 
 nary inspiration amounting to an insane delusion. 
 The question was whether the case of this defend 
 ant presented anything analogous to that. 
 
 The theory of the government was that the de 
 fendant committed this homicide in full possession 
 of his faculties and from perfectly sane motives ; 
 that he did the act from revenge, or perhaps from 
 a morbid desire for notoriety ; that he calculated 
 deliberately on being protected by those who 
 were to be benefitted politically by the death of 
 the President ; that he made no pretense of inspi 
 ration at the time of the assassination, nor until he 
 had discovered that his expectations from the so- 
 called stalwart wing of the Republican party were 
 delusive, and that then, for the first time, he 
 broached this theory of inspiration and irresistible 
 pressure to the commission of the act. Whether 
 this was true or not the jury must determine from 
 the evidence. 
 
 Judge Cox went on to say that the question for 
 the jury was, whether, on the one hand, the idea 
 of killing the President first presented itself to 
 the defendant in the shape of a command or in 
 spiration of the Deity, in the manner in which in 
 sane delusions of that sort arose ; or whether, on 
 the other hand, it was a conception of his own, 
 and whether the thought of inspiration was not 
 simply a speculation, a theory, or theoretical con 
 clusion, of his own mind. If it were the latter, it 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. r l 
 
 was nothing more than one of the vagaries of 
 reasoning, which he had already characterized as 
 furnishing no excuse for crime. He had dwelt 
 upon the question of insane delusion simply be 
 cause the evidence relating to that was evidence 
 
 o 
 
 touching the defendant s power or want of power 
 (from mental disease), to distinguish between 
 right and wrong as to the act done by him. 
 
 There were a great many things in the defend 
 ant s conduct which could not be expected of a 
 sane man, and which were only explainable on the 
 theory of insanity. Whether they were really in 
 dications of insanity or could be accounted for by 
 his ignorance of men, by his exaggerated egotism 
 or by his bluntness of moral sense, it might be 
 difficult to determine. The only safe rule, how 
 ever, was for the jury to direct its attention to the 
 one test of criminal responsibility, namely 
 whether the prisoner possessed the mental ca 
 pacity, at the time the act was committed, to know 
 that it was wrong ; or whether he was deprived of 
 that capacity by mental disease. There was one 
 important distinction which the jury must not lose 
 sight of, and they must decide how far it was ap 
 plicable to this case. That was the distinction be 
 tween mental and moral obliquity, between the 
 mental incapacity to distinguish between right and 
 wrong, and the moral insensibility to that distinc 
 tion. 
 
 In conclusion he said : From the materials pre- 
 
^4 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 sented to you, two pictures have been drawn to 
 you by counsel. The one represents a youth of 
 more than average mental endowments, sur 
 rounded by certain immoral influences at the time 
 his character was being developed, commencing 
 life without resources, but developing a vicious 
 sharpness and cunning, conceiving "enterprises of 
 great pith and moment" that indicated unusual 
 forecast, although beyond his resources, consumed 
 all the time by insatiate egotism and a craving for 
 notoriety ; violent in temper, selfish, immoral and 
 dishonest; leading a life of hypocrisy, swindling 
 and fraud, and finally, as a culmination of his de 
 praved career, working himself into the resolution 
 of startling the world with a crime which would 
 secure him a bad eminence. 
 
 The other represented a youth, born, as it were, 
 under malign influences the child of a diseased 
 
 o 
 
 mother and of a father subject to insane delusions, 
 reared in retirement and imbued with fanatical 
 religious views; subsequently his mind filled with 
 fanatical theories, launched on the world with no 
 guidance save his own impulses, evincing an inca 
 pacity for any continuous employment, changing 
 from one pursuit to another now a lawyer, now 
 a religionist, and now a politician, unsuccessful in 
 all, full of wild, impracticable schemes for which 
 he had neither resources nor ability, subject to 
 delusions, his mind incoherent and incompetent 
 of reasoning coherently on any subject, with a 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. r l j 
 
 mind so weak and a temper so impressionable 
 that he became deranged, and was therefore im 
 pelled to the commission of a crime the seriousness 
 of which he could not understand. 
 
 It is for you, gentlemen, to determine which of 
 the portraits is the true one. And now, gentle 
 men, to sum up all I have said to you, if you find 
 from the whole evidence that, at the time of the 
 commission of the homicide, the prisoner was 
 laboring under such a defect of his reason that he 
 was^incapable of understanding what he was doing, 
 or of seeing that it was a wrong thing to do as, 
 for example, if he were under the insane delusion 
 that the Almighty had commanded him to do the 
 act then he was not in a responsible condition 
 of mind, but was an object of compassion and 
 should be now acquitted. If, on the other hand, 
 you find that he was under no insane delusion, but 
 had the possession of his faculties and had power 
 to know that his act was wrong, and if of his own 
 free will he deliberately conceived the idea and 
 executed the homicide, then whether his motives 
 were personal vindictiveness, political animosity, a 
 desire to avenge supposed political wrongs or a 
 morbid desire for notoriety; or if you are unable 
 to discover any motive at all the act is simply 
 murder and it is your duty to find a verdict of 
 guilty as indicted. Or (after a suggestion from 
 Mr. Scoville to that effect) if you find that the 
 prisoner is not guilty by reason of insanity, it is 
 
^6 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU. 
 
 your duty to say so. You will now retire to your 
 room and consider your verdict. 
 
 The delivery of the Judge s charge was com 
 pleted at twenty minutes to 5 p. m. The jury 
 immediately retired and many of the spectators 
 left the room. 
 
LEAVING THE COIJRT-HOUSE AFTER THE VERDICT. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE FINDING OF THE JURY. 
 
 AFTER the jury had been out about twenty 
 minutes a recess was taken until half-past 
 five o clock. The prisoner, at his request, 
 had been allowed to retire to the little room he 
 has occupied since the trial began as a waiting- 
 room. 
 
 Within ten minutes after the recess had been 
 taken the jury called to the bailiff in waiting that 
 they were ready with their verdict. They were 
 informed that a recess had been taken and that 
 Judge Cox had left the court-room, so they re 
 mained in their room until the court re-assembled. 
 
 The musty, antique court-room is devoid of 
 gas, and the score or more of candles which had 
 been placed upon the desks of the Judge, counsel 
 and reporters, imparted a weird and fancifully un 
 natural aspect to the grim, old place. The shadows 
 thrown upon the dark background of the walls 
 seemed like flitting spectres to usher in the sombre 
 procession of those who held in their hands the 
 destiny of a human life. 
 
 First came the prisoner with quick, nervous 
 steps, and as he seated himself in the dock the 
 
 (517) 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GVI7EAU, 
 
 light of a solitary candle fell full upon his face and 
 disclosed its more than usual pallor. Not a tremor 
 of the limbs or a movement of the muscles of the 
 face was observable as he threw back his head and 
 fixed his gaze upon the door through which the 
 jury were to enter. 
 
 Judge Cox soon afterward took his seat. The 
 crier called "Order!" and the jury at twenty-five 
 minutes to six filed slowly into their seats. 
 
 Every sound was hushed save the voice of the 
 clerk as he propounded to the foreman the usual 
 inquiry as to whether the jury had agreed upon a 
 verdict. 
 
 Clear and distinct came the reply, " We have." 
 
 "What is your verdict, guilty or not guilty?" 
 
 With equal distinctness came the reply, " Guilty 
 as indicted." 
 
 Then the pent-up feelings of the crowd found 
 expression in uproarious demonstrations of ap 
 plause and approval. 
 
 " Order," " Order," shouted the bailiffs. 
 
 Mr. Scoville and counsel for the prosecution 
 were simultaneously upon their feet. Mr. Sco 
 ville attempted to address the Court, but the Dis 
 trict-Attorney shouted, "Wait till we have the 
 verdict complete and in due form of law." 
 
 Order was at length restored, and the clerk 
 again addressing the jury said : " Your foreman 
 says Guilty as indicted. So say you, all of 
 you?" 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 519 
 
 " We do," they all responded. 
 
 Another demonstration of approval followed this 
 
 GUITEAU IN THE CORRIDOR OF THE JAIL. 
 
 announcement, but not so prolonged as the first. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, still upon his feet, demanded a 
 
 poll of the jury, which was granted, and each 
 
 43* 
 
- 2O TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU1TEAU, 
 
 juror was called by name, and each in a firm voice 
 promptly responded " Guilty." 
 
 As the last name was called the prisoner 
 shrieked : " My blood will be upon the heads of 
 that jury ; don t you forget it." 
 
 After some words of inquiry from Mr. Scoville 
 and reply from Judge Cox, Guiteau called out in 
 desperation, " God will avenge this outrage." 
 
 Judge Cox then turned to the jury and said: 
 Gentlemen of the jury, I cannot express too many 
 thanks for the manner in which you have dis 
 charged your duty. You have richly merited the 
 thanks of your countrymen, and I feel assured 
 you will take with you to your homes the approval 
 of your consciences. With thanks, gentlemen of 
 the jury, I dismiss you. 
 
 With this announcement the Court was de 
 clared adjourned, and the trial which has absorbed 
 the public interest and attention for more than ten 
 weeks was ended. 
 
 The crowd quickly left the court- room, and the 
 prisoner gesticulating with his manacled hands 
 was led out. As he passed the reporters table 
 he leaned over and called out to an acquaintance, 
 " The court in bane will reverse this business." 
 
 As the prisoner was conducted to the van, an 
 immense crowd of men and boys shouted them 
 selves hoarse crying after him, "All America is 
 with you," and other jeering expressions. 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. r 2 1 
 
 NEW TRIAL ASKED. 
 
 As was expected, counsel for the defense were 
 prompt in filing a bill of exceptions, and asking 
 a new trial. This appeal wa s argued on Friday, 
 February 3d, and the next day was fixed for the 
 decision and sentence. 
 
 At a few moments past 10 o clock on Saturday 
 morning, February 4th, the prisoner was brought 
 in and took his seat at the counsel table and the 
 Court was formally opened. 
 
 Judge Cox then proceeded to render his de 
 cision upon the appeal made for a new trial. He 
 said that the motion to set aside the verdict and 
 grant a new trial had been based on various 
 grounds, only two of which were made the sub 
 jects of discussion and needed to be considered by 
 the Court. The first ground in substance was 
 that certain newspaper matter calculated to preju 
 dice the minds of the jury against the prisoner was 
 found in one of the rooms assigned to the jury 
 and passed under their examination and inspec 
 tion. The first testimony relied upon in support 
 of this alleged ground was the affidavit of Snyder 
 to the effect that a certain paper was found by him 
 in one of the rooms occupied by the jury. To 
 the mere fact that in the absence of the jury a 
 paper, of whatever character, was found in the 
 vacant room, the Court could attach no signifi 
 cance or weight, for the reason that it was within 
 
 o 
 
 the power of anybody to place the paper there. 
 
r 22 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 It was in the power of any friend of the prisoner 
 to do so. It was in the power of the affiant him 
 self to do so. He might have placed it there and 
 afterward found it, and that fact would not be in 
 consistent with the truth of the affidavit. As for 
 the handwriting there were circumstances that 
 made it improbable that the jurors wrote their 
 names on the paper. The jurors swore that they 
 did not do so, and that no such paper was in the 
 room at all. They swore that they had not read 
 any paper. He had not the slightest ground for 
 suspecting the integrity or veracity of these gen 
 tlemen, who made the statement. 
 
 So far as the discovery of new evidence is con 
 cerned, the evidence to be introduced is as to the 
 prisoner s manner and appearance prior to the 
 assassination. If there had been no evidence in 
 troduced upon this subject, there might be some 
 force in the request, but a dozen or more wit 
 nesses testified on the trial as to his manner and 
 appearance covering the period of time from 
 March until the commission of the act. The evi 
 dence now sought to be introduced would be 
 merely cumulative and would not affect the verdict. 
 
 It was further alleged that the defense might be 
 able to prove that one of the expert witnesses 
 had admitted since the trial that his opinion was 
 different from that which he had given at the trial. 
 It was a general rule that newly-discovered evi 
 dence going to impeach a witness was not a 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 523 
 
 ground for a new trial under any circumstances, 
 but least of all when it went to admissions of a 
 witness after the conclusion of the trial. That 
 would place it in the power of any witness to set 
 aside a verdict founded upon his own testimony 
 after the trial was over. No evidence of that 
 kind could be considered by the Court in regard 
 to a new trial. He had considered all the matters 
 which had been presented and was compelled to 
 overrule the motion for a new trial. 
 
 Prisoner : I don t desire any advantage shall be 
 taken of me. I expect to have my lawyers pro 
 cured in ten days, and they will come and take 
 hold and pull me through in the court in bane. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : I have till the first of March to 
 file my bill of exceptions ? 
 
 Court: Yes. 
 
 Mr. Scoville : If I can do it in a week I will. 
 (To the prisoner). Keep quiet. 
 
 Prisoner, violently : I am going to talk, too, and 
 I don t propose to leave this matter to you. I 
 have my opinion of you as a lawyer. You have 
 been doing well, but your theory is wrong. Your 
 theory is too small. You convicted me with your 
 jackass theories and consummate nonsense. I 
 don t propose to have your theory prevail. (To the 
 bailiffs, who were endeavoring to suppress him), 
 I will not be still for you nor for anybody else. 
 
 Mr. Scoville, angrily : Keep quiet. 
 
 Prisoner, wildly : You keep your mouth still. I 
 
c-24 TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 am doing this matter myself. You convicted me 
 by your wild theory and consummate asinine 
 character all through. If the case had been kept 
 entirely away from you I would have had two of 
 the best lawyers in America, and there would 
 have been no conviction. I had letters from them 
 and could have had them last October. I care 
 nothing about your intentions, I want brains and 
 experience. ITour intentions were good, but you 
 are deficient in brains and theory. Let me alone 
 and I will pull out of this. You got me into this 
 trouble. 
 
 District-Attorney: The duty is now imposed 
 upon me to ask the Court to pass sentence in 
 accordance with the verdict. 
 
 Prisoner : I ask your Honor to defer that as 
 long as you can. 
 
 Court, to the prisoner: Stand up. (The pris 
 oner rose.) Have you anything to say why sen 
 tence should not be pronounced ? 
 
 Prisoner: I am not guilty of the charge set 
 forth in the indictment. It was God s act, not 
 mine, and God will take care of it, and don t let 
 the American people forget it. He will take care 
 of it and every officer of the Government, from 
 the Executive down to that Marshal, taking in 
 every man on that jury and every member of this 
 bench, will pay for it, and the American nation 
 will roll in blood if my body goes into the ground 
 and I am hung. The Jews put the despised Gali- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 lean into the grave. For the time they triumphed ; 
 but at the destruction of Jerusalem, forty years 
 afterwards, the Almighty got even with them. I 
 am not afraid of death. I am here as God s man. 
 Kill me to-morrow if you want ; I am God s man, 
 and I have been from the start. 
 
 SENTENCED TO DEATH. 
 
 Judge Cox then proceeded to pass sentence, 
 addressing the prisoner as follows: 
 
 You have been convicted of a crime so terrible 
 in its circumstances and so far-reaching in its 
 results that it has drawn upon you the horror of 
 the whole civilized world and the execrations of 
 your countrymen. The excitement produced by 
 such an offense made it no easy task to secure for 
 you a fair and impartial trial, but you had the 
 power of the United States Treasury and of the 
 government in your service to protect your per 
 son from violence and to procure evidence from 
 all parts of the country. You have had as fair 
 and impartial a jury as ever assembled in a court 
 of justice. You have been defended by counsel 
 with a zeal and devotion that merit the highest 
 encomium, and I certainly have done my be-st to 
 secure a fair presentation of the defense. Not 
 withstanding all this you have been found guilty. 
 It would have been a comfort to many people if 
 the verdict of the jury had established the fact that 
 your act was that of an irresponsible man. It 
 would have left the people the satisfying belief 
 
TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GUITEAU, 
 
 that the crime of political assassination was some- 
 thing entirely foreign to the institutions and civili 
 zations of our country; but the result has denied 
 them that comfort. The country will accept it as 
 a fact that that crime can be committed, and the 
 Court will have to deal with it with the highest 
 penalty known to the criminal code to serve as an 
 example to others. Your career has been so ex 
 traordinary that people might well at times have 
 doubted your sanity. But one cannot but believe 
 that when the crime was committed you thoroughly 
 understood the nature of the crime and its conse 
 quences [Guiteau: I was acting as God s man] 
 and that you had moral sense and conscience 
 enough to recognize the moral iniquity of such an 
 act. 
 
 Prisoner: That s a matter of opinion. 
 
 Your own testimony shows that you recoiled 
 with horror from the idea. You say that you 
 prayed against it. You say that you thought it 
 might be prevented. This shows that your con 
 science warned you against it, but by the wretched 
 sophistry of your own mind you worked yourself 
 up against the protest of your own conscience. 
 What motive could have induced you to this act 
 must be a matter of conjecture. Probably men 
 will think that some fanaticism or a morbid desire 
 for self-exaltation was the real inspiration for the 
 act. Your own testimony seems to controvert 
 the theories of your counsel. They have main- 
 
ASSASSIN OF PRESIDENT GARFIELD. 
 
 tained, and thought honestly, I believe, that you 
 were driven against your will by an insane impulse 
 to commit the act, but your testimony showed that 
 you deliberately resolved to do it, and that a de 
 liberate and misguided will was the sole impulse. 
 This may seem insanity to some persons, but the 
 law looks upon it as a wilful crime* You will 
 have due opportunity of having any error I may 
 have committed during the course of the trial 
 passed upon by the Court in bane, but meanwhile 
 it is necessary for me to pronounce the sentence 
 of the law that you be taken to the common jail 
 of the District, from whence you came, and there 
 be kept in confinement, and on Friday, the 3oth 
 of June, 1882, you be taken to the place prepared 
 for the execution, within the walls of said jail, and 
 there, between the hours of 1 2 M. and 2 p. M., you 
 be hanged by the neck until you are dead. And 
 may the Lord have mercy on your soul. 
 
 As the last solemn words fell from the Judge s 
 lips the prisoner echoed them, but in a far different 
 tone of voice, for it was in a voice of passionate 
 hatred that he cried out: And may God have 
 mercy on your soul. I had rather stand where I 
 am than where that jury does or than where your 
 Honor does. I am not afraid to die, Confound 
 you, (he cried, violently struggling with the 
 Deputy Marshals, who .were endeavoring to re 
 press him), leave me alone. I know where I 
 stand on this business. I am here as God s man, 
 
c 2 g TRIAL OF CHARLES J. GU1TEAU. 
 
 and don t you forget it. God Almighty will curse 
 every man who has had anything to do with this 
 act. Nothing but good has come of General Gar- 
 field s removal and that will be posterity s idea of 
 it. Everybody is happy here except a few cranks. 
 Nothing but good has come to this nation from 
 his removal. That is the reason the Lord wanted 
 him removed. 
 
 Mr. Scoville took an exception to the judgment 
 and sentence of the Court; and while this was 
 being noted the prisoner sat tapping nervously 
 with the tips of his fingers upon the table. Then 
 he broke out again wildly : 
 
 I d rather a thousand times be in my position 
 than to be with those devils who have hounded 
 me to death. I will have a flight to glory, and I 
 am not afraid to go. But Corkhill and the others 
 are. There is no let up on Corkhill, the scoundrel. 
 He has a permanent job down below. I will go 
 to glory whenever the Lord wants me to go, but 
 I will probably stay down here a good many years 
 and get into the White House. I know how I 
 stand on this business, and so does the Lord, and 
 he will pull me through with the help of two or 
 three good lawyers, and all the devils in hell can t 
 hurt me. 
 
 The Court then, at 11.45, adjourned, and Gui- 
 teau was hurried into the van and off to the jail. 
 
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