Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-11-24

R1enInOllu, MY. -f.---h lily "i7i
nj sleamy smoke that was waited
gently from the black headmask oil
| yirginia's electric chair. marked the
| earthly end Of Henry Clay Beattie al
7:a3 o'clock this morning.
Three minutes after the condemned
wife murderer strobe with firm step
into the darkened death chamber, he
had paid his life for the life of the
girl wife that was snuffed out on the
lonely Midlothian turnpike last July
Beattie went 10 his death as he went
through life, calm. self-possessed and
seemingly Indifferent.
A driving rain brought down q
heavy mist in the early morning that
cast over all Richmond a gloom as
deep as that in the little windowleSs
chamber in the basement Of the Elr-
ginia penitentiary.
An hour after the execution, when
the morbid crowd about the peniten-
tiary had dispersed. Douglas Beattie
entered the apartments OF Supl.
Wood, and went into conference with
him.
The execution took just three min
utes from the time Beattie stepped
into the death cell until DR.. W. 7,
Oppenheimcr. prison surgeon. an
nounced that it was all over.
Richmond. Va. November "a
Life paid for life today. when Henry
Clay Beattie. jr.. was shocked TO
death in the electric chair in Virginia
state pcnitcntiary here.
Four months ago. on 4 dark July
night. Henry Clay Beattic. ir.. re-
turned from Il JOY ride on the lonely
Midlothian turnpike with the blood
stained body OF his wife held close
to his side in his auto. But an hour
before. the couple had left the home
Of the girls uncle. Thomas owen.
There the body Of the dead woman
was taken, and there Beattie told. a
story of bearded highwayman VINO
held up his machine in the road. ar
Ter The auto had nearly run him down.
Beattie said that when he started
the auto to run away from the beard
eG stranger. who was armed with a
shotgun. the man fired at the ma
chine. killing Mrs. Bcattic.
While the family of the dead girl
mourncd her death al home. Beattie,
with police officials and private detcc-
tives secured the neighborhood for
traces Of the bearded highWayman.
The blood soaked auto in which he
had carried his wife's body. was
pressed into service. and Beattie him
self ran the gruesome vehicle up and
down the Midlothian Turnpike
through the night.
Just as dawn broke. on July 10.
Luther l.. Sherer, Chesapeake and
Ohio railroad detective, brought in
to the case by the girls family.
reached the scene Of the crime with
q brace Of bloodhounds. Then The
first suspicion of Beattic himself took
root. The bloodhounds circled wide
about the place through the woods
and fields. but. baying loudly, they
invariably returned 10 the spot where
Beattie declared his auto had stood
when his wife was shot. y short .me
later negro NANNY" found Il
single barrelcd shotgun, identified
Beattie as the gun with which his
wife was killed. n railroad cross
ing about halfway between the scene
of the crime and The Owen home.
Beattie in his stories Of the killing
of his wife told widely differing tales.
He was particularly contradictory
in his description OF the man whom
he accused of the shooting. For
three days detectives worked with all
their energy without definite result,
but gathering a mass of circumstance
es that seemed to point to Beattie.
The history OF the young son Of the
wealthy merchant. as Lothario of
South Richmond, and his relations
with the beautiful 17-year-old Beulah
Binford. were discovered. The de-
tectives uncarthed the story OF Henry
Clay Beattie Trout. The child born
to Beulah Binford and Henry Clay
Beattie. ir. in 1909
Meanwhile the body Of the mur-
dered girl-wife was buried from the
church where a short year before she
had been married to Henry Clay
Beattie. jr.
On the Friday following. Coroner
Loving began the inquest into the
death Of Mrs. Beattie. On the stand.
Beattie, under instructions from his
lawyer. Harry NJ. Smith. jr. de-
clined to answer any question relat-