Show COURT OB OR CIRCUS this is is the question which forces itself upon the mind of c every very reader of the presa press reports relative to the trial of president garfielda Gar fields slayer charles guitrau Gult Guit cau in tho the criminal court of the district of columbia it is a solemn trial before the awful seat of justice attended by all tho the gravity of the situation and the enormity of the of ofie Terise nse or is it not a rattier rather a burlesque travesty a brutal buflo buffoonery onery a dia disgusting circus exhibition tho the latter definitions may read rather crude but they come far nearer the truth than the former description already a breeze of discontent is stirring among the press organs and it bids fair to swell into a decided storm of popular indignation the farce in washington be terminated abed and the court room restored from the condition of the comic opera to its time honored dignity judge cox may believe or r not that the prisoner at disbar his bar isan is an insane person but that gives no reason why tha the country should be di disgraced grac graced with the undignified spectacle of a judicial bear garden or L cock pit to such a it condition the court is being reduced by tile indecent Z I antics of the accused tho the sorn sometimes betimes ludicrous testimonies ti of witnesses the prize fighter like mutual attacks of the opposing counsels and above all things by the demonstrative manifestations fe on oil the part of the audience from the tile respectable classes of society it is fortunate that the dp dispatches asp aiches remind us daily of this J respectability of the audience at our dial distance ance from the scene of action their conduct occasionally lesem bles that of a rabble most singularly A significant but by no means flattering feature of the audience is the predominant presence of representatives senta tives of tho the gentle there is an anything ng gentle in delighting in witnessing the capers and carryings on of a caged wild beast says an 41 exchange A favorite rendezvous for ladles ladies is the court room where the ordinary attraction of seeing a man on S trial for his life is rupp demented by guiteaux Guite Guit aus calls boisterous conduct sometimes four fifths of the beats seats for the public arc are occupied by ladies who when not lunching from their lunch bas baskets keLs listen with intense eagerness occasionally enlivening the scene all this menagerie business ought to bo be stopped forthwith cro ere the bright shield of american justice bo be F dimmed byan by an ineffaceable blotch V how unlike to tho trial of gui gi which seems to be dragged along for the amusement of fashion ablo able sensation seekers was that of afa ar john bellingham Belling liam the englishman I whose crime nearest resembles that of guiteau on may 11 1812 he lie killed billed spencer percival then prime minister of england E and four days after on the of odiay may ho he was put on his trial singularly enough the defence was the same as in gui beaus case casc that lie was mad but the prisoner who took an eager r part in the proceedings delivered a short sensible speech complaining that the trial had been hurried on with indecorous speed and that the documents he lie relied on for his defence T had been taken from him tho the speech was fatal to its and although his counsel mr alley le y brought forward fort tard affidavit after affidavit to show that bellingham VON was mad tho the jury answered in the affirmative barrows Gar rows the crown prosecutor oft repeated question was the prisoner at the bar at the time he committed this crime capable of distinguishing be twe right and wrong wrong eng englishmen ishmen may be slow but in punishing criminals and vindicating the inviolability of the law they arc are just list prompt enough to be patterns worthy of imitation I |