Perth Amboy evening news., 1911-09-09
ME CALM -
X AFTER VERDICT
(ContInu, 4 from page IL

Sheriff" the court directed. before
they retire to the jury room to deliber
ate upon this important matter"
Out Fifty-ssven Minutes.
Judge Watson had whispered to
Clerk Clogbill that he did not want to
have the jury retire Immediately upon
the closing Of the prosecutors speech
If by any chance they should return a
quick verdict their action might ap
pear to be too precipitate and possibly
Influenced by the passionate perora-
tion that had concluded W~endenburg's
speech.
Fifty-seven minutes passed. Then
above the low hum of conversation In
the still crowded courtroom three
knocks on the foor of the room over
head sounded-three muf1ed knocks.
Just after the door closed on the
last Juryman, N. w. Farley, the fore
man, spoke to the other eleven. Sher
if Gill had his eye at the little glass
pane inserted into the door, and when
someone asked him what it was that
had caused that low sound Of voices
in unison to come out of the open
windows to the green where the
crowds fingered, the sheriff answered
readily enough.
"Why, sir, that was the foreman
leading in prayer before the first bal
lot was taken. Gentlemen OF Chester
field county when they have to sit In
q case that has a human life at stake
always begin their deliberations with
prayer, sir"
The jury has Knocked" The excit-
ed whisper spread through the court
room. A deputy ran downstairs from
the cubbyhole up under the caves
where the jury sat behind a locked
door and told Sheriff Gill that the jury
had knocked.
Back In 1854, when the old court
house was built, that custom was es-
tablished. The jury knocked when 1t
had reached its decision.
For many long minutes there was
not a sound In the packed room. A
few benches away from the bar where
the lawyers sat were close packed
rows of faces, all streaked and shadow
ed Enthusiastically.
Beattie Expected the Worst.
Henry Beattie sat with his hands
folded on the table before him, per
fectly immobile. His face was to-
ward the judges seat. 1t was sharpen
ed In outline and the peculiar feline
expression about his eyes was height
ened by the Wilderness of the pupils
and the thin, draw lines that stretched
straight up from the bridge of his
nose. Excitement glittered in the eyes.
The mouth was drawn in so that only
q slight, dark smudge marked its po
sition.
Henry Beattie knew, az did every
body in the courtroom, that when
the jury had knocked off ffty-seyen
minutes nothing but the worst was 10
come.
Judge Watson instructed the CHI TX
to call the roll of the jury. He did 30.
Then Mr.. Beattie. stand up" sle
court directed. and Beattie arose In
his place. He rested one hand on his
hip, arm akinbo, and the other hand
he put, fist clenched. on the table be-
fore him. The lamp oVer his head
showed that all the blood had fed
from those frightened knuckles, but In
the face not a CULVER, and the eyes
were steady.
Prisoner Fees Jury.
Gentlemen of the jury, look upon
the prisoner. Prisoner, look upon the
jury" the clerk chanted in the old
formula of dread. Then "Gentlemen
of the jury, have you reached a YER
dtct?" the clerk asked.
A single .muf1ed voice answered
Yes"
what is that yerdictY'
Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty"
No foreman spoke, but all Of the
! twelve nearly In unison.
The succession Of their short chop
ped iterations smote the silence pom
derously.
When the son took his seat he look
ed not at his father or at his coun-
sci. The father sat with eyes tight
shut. His hand slipped over the back
of the prisoners chair and the fingers
wavered as if undecided whether to
touch the back of an adjudged muir
derer. They did not.
Harry Smith, who had talked four
hours to save his clients life, had a
| paper over his eyes. Hill Carter, the
other lawyer, simply pulled his lips
in and out.
Then Hill Carter got himself to-
gether and stood up to move for the
| setting aside Of the verdict on the
grounds that it was contrary to the
law and the evidence In the case and
of misdirection of the jury by the
Judge.
Sentences Beattie to Death.
Judge Watson said In his slow, con-
else speech that new legal principles
had arisen to be a~djudicated; those
adiudicated have been entirely ele-
mentary ones and had been done with
more or less assurance by the court.
The court had been scrupulous, he
said, to give the prisoner every legal
safeguard. 1t finds itself, he declared,
therefore forced to decline to entertain
the motion.
That was almost the last prop gone
from under Beattie's chair. But Car
ter still had recourse to the old final
| shadow. He asked for a stay Of execu-
ton of the sentence of the court for
ninety days, pending the filing Of a
writ Of error before the court of an