Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-08-22
AN UNKNOWN WRITER
G0NFESsES THE MURDER.
Beulah Binford Asks for an Auto.
mobile Trip...Viglance of
Beatie's Counsel.

outlying districts of Chesterfield county
today for the sixteenth. veniremer
from which the four remaining tenta
tive jurors will be chosen to try Henry
Clay Beattie for his life.
Close behind the deputy sheriff:
worked thesscore ofdetectives employ.
ed By the defense. Everw precautior
knowu to the law is being taken by
Harry h. Smith and Hill Carter,
Beattie's attorneys, and if they car
help it no man who has ever expressed
an opinion as to their clients guilt will
take his place in the jury box.
Even the records of the twelve men
chosen yesterday we're scrutinized by
detectives for the defonse today and il
any OF them prove unsatisfactory the
precious peremptory challenges of the
defense will be used.
Henry Beattie's excursion to the little
brick courthouse fourteen miles away,
frightened him up more than anything
since his arrest and he hummed popu-
, lar songs in his cell at Henrico county
Jail today with great zest. But the
strain OF confinement is telling on his
nerves and the prison pallor has yel-
lowed his face.
Beulah Binford today pleaded for an
auto ride. She grew restless under the
strain Of her confinement, and begged
for fresh air.
You wouldn't let me go to Chester
field yesterday. she complained to her
jailer, when all those people were out
there to see me. I think you might
get permission to take me for an e.,.>- ;.,.;
mobile ,ide, ue-=T- CID Dreatn llCtle
fresh air.
But the iailer Eas too busy.
Detectives employed by the defense
today searched for the author OF an
anonymous letter receivsd recently.
The writer, man, says be bought the
gun with which Mrs. Beattie was MUIR
dered, and declared be can prove it.
He wrote detailed history OF the
weapon, and Closed his letter viii. the
confession that he killed the woman.
The remarkable detail exhibited in the
confession-such as the distance from
which the man says he shot Mrs.
Beattie-interested counsel for the de-
fense.
The writer asserted that at the
proper time he would take the stand
and make public confession" and that
he would have done so before, except
that he desired to wind up his affairs
before giving up his liberty q
Richmond, Va, Aug. ga Wit
ness that may break down entirely the
story OF Paul Beattie upon which the
olnnonwealth Of Virginia depends to
send Henry C.Beattie, ,jr.,t to the electric
chair for the murder of his wife was
discovered today.
r. F. Ellington, an engineer on the
Southern Railway, turned up today
with the declaration that on the night
Louise Owen Beattie was murdered be
saw Paul Beattie, on the Belt line rail.
road tracks, within mile OF the scene
OF the killing and almost at the exact
spot where the gun with which the
murder was committed was found.
This will totally destroy the we'll
planned story Of Paul Beattie whose
| wife and mother in law have
| sworn that be was at home in
bed the night of the killing. Ever
since the arrest of Beattie the lawyer:
for the defense convinced that Paul
had not told tho whole truth, have
sought to find the weak point in his
story. They we're confident today that
they can absolutely nullify his alibi.
With much OF Paul Beattie's story
discredited it will not be hard for the
defense to attack his reliability and
utterly nulliiy the effect of his tale ot
buying the gun for his cousin.
Ellington, the engineer, declared to-
day that he knew Paul Beattie we'll
and had known him when he worked
on the Southern Railway. He said he
saw the young man walking beside the
railroad tracks, on the night OF tht
killing. :.
The prosecution denies emphaticallJ
that it is worried at all by the defense
| calling its star witness.
Snyder will tell what he knows
said Luther L. Scherer and we con
slider him one our most important wit
neeses, if it wants to-
PaulBeattie, who is feeling fairly we'll
asked newspaper reporters this morn.
| ing to deny statement he said he had
seen printed to The effect that be had
sent for priest.
II am not Catholic" said Paul, !
have not sent for priest. I have moth
ing to confess. l hope you will give
this statement of mine wide circula'
ton"
Attorneys prosecuting Henry Clay
Beattie, jr., went into conference thi;
afternoon with Roland Snyder, promi
nent witness, also present. Sydnol
who is the dairyman who saw Beattit
on the Midlothian pike two hours be
fore the murder, suddenly burat into
prominence this morning when it wa'
announced that the defense had sum
moned him. His testimony, it ha:
been declared many times will besr ou
the CommoaTealth's theory that Beat
tie took the gun to the spot where th'
murder was committed long before h
appeared at the Owen home, the nigh
of July 18th.
Sydnor came out this morning Will
q statement which reads as follows:
| / was surprised, shocked and in