Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1911-11-30
Went to the Chair without a Ire.
mor-His Last Expression
a Sheer.
CONFESSION KEPT SECRET
Told to Minister November 9 but
Murderer Would Not Sign It
till Day before the
Execution.

Richmond, Va, Nov. A.-llenrN cay
Beattie, Jr, went to his death AT dawn
to-day, the self-confessed murderer of his
young wife. although the confession was
not made public until four hours after
he had paid the toll exacted by the law.
He maintained to the end the remark
able nerve he had exhibited since first
he was accused Of killing his wife on
the lonely Midlothian turnpike last July.
His last expression was n sheer when he
observed the chair that was to launch
him into eternity.
The confession was made public in the
rotunda Of downtown hotel by the Rev.
Benjamin Dennis. one Of the ministers
who had labored with Beattie to repent.
AS a matter of fact. 1t was acknowledged
by the minister, Beattie first admitted his
guilt November Q. the day after he entered
the death cell and before the fruitless
appeal for Communication of sentence
was made to Governor Mann. It was not
until yesterday that he would agree to its
being put in writing for his signature
Then all hope that the Governor would
interfere was gone. The extraordinary
document follows:
81. Henry Clay Beattie. Jr.. DESTROYS of
standing right before God and man. do
on this 23rd day of November, 1911. con-
feSs my guilt of the crime charged
against me. Much that has been publish
pd concerning the details are not true
but the awful act, without it's narrowing
circumstances, remains. For this act |
nm truly sorry, and believing that | am
mt peace with God and am soon to pass
into His presence, this statement ia
made.' The statement was signed in the
presence of the two attending ministers.
GLOATED OVER NOTORIETY.
Realities attitude throughout the trial
and the Imprisonment that waited only
on his death was a study for a psycholo-
rist He read the newspapers aNdly.
Every reference to his iron nerve and
TO the fact that he was going to the
rhair without acknowledging his crime
In the hope of saving his aged father
further sorrow, according to those who
we're with him to the end, seemed to
afford him supreme satisfaction. Appar-
entity he glosted over the notoriety his
crime had brought him.
Even after his concession he main
tanned his ar Of bravado. What had.
since November o, been considered
stoicism now Is recognized as cynicism
His remarkable nerve now seems to
that he was being appiauded as a man
of Spartan courage ana inf1exible will.
The secret OF his confession was
held involate by the ministers until
to-day. Not even the brok en- hearted
father knew OF its existence, friends
% the family declare. Not until four
hours after he had been pronounced
dead were the murderer's attorneys
breast of his guilt. With the same
intrepidity that had marked his cor
duct from the beginning, Beattie went
to the chair.
The shock that killed Beattle was
given exactly at 7:19 o'clock this
morning. Three separate times the
current was turned on, and at 1928 il
was shut off. Doctors w. T. and ST
Julien Openheimers a minute later an
.nounced that death had been instan-
ianeous.
BODY TAKEN TO BEATTIE HOME.
When the witnesses had gone, the prise
attendants removed the body to tn
mortuary room which adjoins the deaf
chamber. There II lay for four hour
until an undertaken. authorized by III
Beattie family to prepare it for buria
removed it to his morgue Later 1t wa
taken to the Beattie home where funer;
services. attended only by the famil
will be held. Interment in Maury GEM
terry will follow Sunday.
When the funeral corSeee moves to n
cemetery Sunday the morbid will not fir
places near the grave to satisfy the
curiosity The police have received o
ders to clear the cemetery during Il
services there and to permit no one
enter the burial ground, save the Beatti
and their dead.
The acknowledgment of his crime
Peattie was nowhere received with mo
quiet 10Y than in the executive mansio
Governor Mann, who resisted all pressu
brought to bear upon him to commu
the sentence or to issue reprieve, h
worried himself into a state borderil
On nervous breakdown through entertai
ing the fear that he might he permitti
an innocent man to die, The same de
satisfaction Is shared by the jurors W
convicted Beattie. the attorneys W
prosecuted him and Ivy the witness
whose evidence sent him to the chair.
Reattie was convicted solely on crcul
stantal evidence, There could be fou
no one who had seen the fatal shot Ar
nor any person who could de
emphaucally Beattie's illogical story
the tall bearded stranger. the mythit
person whom he charged with the murd
STORY OF THE CRIME.
The crime for which Henry Clay Be;
tie Jr was executed to-day was one
the most sensational in the criminal h
tory of Virginia. Interest in the murd
was countrywide owing to its unjust
features and the swift movement of ],
ticc,
On the night of July IS last, Beat
drove his automobile into Richmol
carving with him the body Of his W
which had a gaping shotgun wound in
head. He declared that tall, beard
man had accosted him on the Midlothi
turnpike, Ave miles from Richmond. a
when he had requested the man to ma
room for him in the road the stranl
without warning had fred the shot VIII
Killed Mrs Beattie, He added that he
erappled with the man but was ov
powered and that the murderer had
leaving the gun behind. This story Of
crime was maintained by Beattis until
day.
For a brief time Beattie's story
riven some degree of credsnce but witt
"a day or two suspicion began TO point
him and he was kept under the clos