The Great Guiteau Trial: with life of the cowardly assassin : A full account! A complete history! The judge's charge to the jury. Speeches of counsel on both sides. Likenesses of all the parties concerned. Guiteau as a theologian, a politician, a tramp lawyer, a society beat, and as a member of the Oneida community.

Date:
[1882], [©1882]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The Great Guiteau Trial: with life of the cowardly assassin : A full account! A complete history! The judge's charge to the jury. Speeches of counsel on both sides. Likenesses of all the parties concerned. Guiteau as a theologian, a politician, a tramp lawyer, a society beat, and as a member of the Oneida community. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    or not my free moral agency was de- stroyed when I was impelled upon the President. That's the point, Judge, and it knocks the bottom out of your theory. After a short pause he broke out again, and with increased vehemence : I'm not here to save my neck from the gallows; I'm here for vindication, for justice, and for right. Judge Cox—Well, that will do; now suspend your remarks. Guiteau—All right; when I get to the jury I'm going to talk to them on this subject. This is just a little inci- dental speech to put in the time. The weight of testimony was conclu- sively against the prisoner during the week, but nevertheless he kept up his clowning and his Merry Andrew antics with grimaces and grins that could not conceal the desperation and terror which supported him in his acting—for acting it evidently was. The divorced wife of the assassin and her husband visited him in his cell be- fore leaving Washington for the West, and a remarkable leave-taking and inter- change of good wishes occurred. Really this case brought out not only more cranks but more of the queerest speci- mens of humanity and the strangest codes of honor and morality from the remote corners of the land than the wildest opium dreamer could ever have imagined had an existence. We shall now continue to give our readers an account of each week (after the style of the foregoing reading mat- ter) up to the really important parts of the trial. Then we will give you the case in detail. Guiteau's Head. About this time many interesting fea- tures were the order of the day, but a new feature was the taking of a plaster cast of the assassin's head by Theodore Mills. The pampered villain was per- suaded to shave off his beard in order that the full effect of his physiognomy might be given by the artist's work. At first he objected, but his vanity being touched by the assurance that his fea- tures would come out stronger without than with the beard he consented. The measurement of the assassin's head showed that the circumference was 23'; inclies, while a phrenological expert got his hand in among the mob of manipu- lators of the villain's head and detected that his self-esteem was 62 inches and his firmness 61 inches. Mr. Mills said that in his examination of the pris- oner he found the faculties on the left side of the head appeared to be normal and well developed, but the right side of the head was almost flat, as though depressed by a heavy weight. The front of the head was also found to be one inch shorter than behind, and take it for all in all, he says, the assassin's head is the most curiously shaped of any he has ever examined. Guiteau seemed to revel in the delightful contemplation that he had a top-sided head and that his facul- ties on one side seemed to be almost en- tirely lacking. He was more cranky than ever during the trial after this ex- amination had been made, and made much fun for the mob by his arguments in favor of the theory of his own insan- ity and by quarreling with his brother- in-law and counsel, Mr. Scoville, occa- sionally even turning upon his sister and giving her a dressing down to the de- light of all observers. D. McLean Shaw, who had testified that in a talk he had with Guiteau the latter had said he would imitate Wilkes Booth, was recalled by Mr. Scoville. When the assassin saw him he said ex- citedly: This is the man who told the lie about Booth. We have your record, Shaw, over there in New Jersey, where you were indicted for perjury. In answer to Scoville's questions, Shaw said he had been indicted and tried for alleged perjury in New Jersey, but had been acquitted. The assassin here burst out with: There is not a word of truth in this Booth story, and you know it! God Almighty will curse you for it. You are marked for life. It is not likely I would wait ten years to kill some great man. It's the most outrageous thing ever con- cocted by human being. Guiteau never ceased his tirade till the end of the day's session, and as he was led out, he was still denouncing Shaw and hurling defiance and sarcasm at Corkhill. The testimony of Dr. A. McLane Hamilton was to the effect that Guiteau