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The trial of Czolgosz, the assassin
of President McKinley, occupied but a few hours during two days,
and without legal quibbles. Two of the leading members of the Buffalo
Bar had been requested by the Bar Association of that city to defend
the prisoner, since he was not willing to employ counsel himself.
These gentlemen, who were above any suspicion of pettifoggery, had
the defendant examined by a reputable physician and, being unable
to find him insane, simply saw to it that the proceedings and proofs
were in regular order. As a matter of fact, no legal defense was
attempted, as there was none to make. The assassin being convicted,
he was sentenced to Auburn penitentiary, to die in the electric
chair on October 28. The difference between this trial and that
of the assassin of President Garfield is so great that it is an
object lesson for the criminal courts of the country. Guiteau’s
trial began on November 14 and was not closed until January 25 following,
a period of over two months. The whole country was affronted at
the spectacle presented, by which the defendant himself constantly
interrupted counsel in court, and by which the counsel spun out
a long and wholly unsatisfactory defense. In capital trials the
time seems to have come when our courts take pains to do justice
with reasonable celerity and without that system of pettifoggery
which has been too often permitted.
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