The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-08-07
A SHAVE, A SONG,
AND A ROMANCE
BEAT.rIE's TONsORIAL OPERATIONS
INTERRUPTED by BULAH's
THRILLS.
SILENT JAlLER WATCHES
ACCUSED MAN AND Gagged W.T.
NESS INDULGE IN FANCIES
OF DAYS OF THEIR
CHILDHOOD.
SILENT JAlLER WATCHES

probably a cohesion of the two,
tale of shave and a song with
thread Of romance running through
was bruited about town yesterday in
the void of more interesting talk.
Its scene was laid in the Bastiie
of Henrico, grim and gloomy. a fore
boding structure in the drizzling rain
and the mantle of darkness under
the overcast skies.
Its hero was Henry Clay Beattie,
Jr., who has been accused of placing
stigma on the fair name of Virginia
by committing a foul and dastardly
crime. no less a crime than Wife
murder.
Its heroine was Bulah Binford,
girl of but seventeen summers. and
the fair object for whom the hero,
/, is said. killed his wife.
lis third character was Jailer Gar
nett. who watches over the "pris-
oners of hope" by day and night
with the unceasing vigilance of those
jailers who walked the smooth worn
passages of the first bastiie.
Whether fact or fiction, the tale
was charmingly told and might have
found lis origin in the fertile brain
OF Dorothy DIX, a Peggy Van Braam
or Some other author whose pen has
gained him fame
The safety Razor.
Beattie. the story was told, called
his Jailer and asked for a razor. soap
and brush. The request was granted,
but IT. was a safety razor given the
prisoner by Garrett.
The jailer minded Well Beattie's
alleged assertion that he would go
TO his end suicide rather than AS
a convicted murderer and the iailer
stood by Beattie as he shaved watch
ing every movement OF his arm.
Upstairs in her lonely cell. her face
between the grated bars as Charlotte
torday is pictured. Bulah Binford
listened TO the pa,ter OF the rain
on the rooftop while her thoughts
wandered affair
And the story was told that her
thoughts crept out from the dismal
prison and carried her back to child
mood, wee slip of a girl in little
white pfnafore, her black tresses
braided down her back and her face
~reathed in the sweet smiles of hap
ny and carefree innocence
From before the eyes which have
seen so much OF the world faded the
sordid surroundings OF cruel reality
and Bulah Binford strolled along
through field of vari- colored flow
ers and waving grasses knee deep and
her lips parted, trill OF sweet mu-
sic escaping and floating down the
IRON stairway to where Reattie stood.
The Song OF Childhood
As the first note reached his ears.
his hand trembled violently and the
razor fell TO the floor. The man
stood. smile gradually softening his
features as though unconscious Of
anothers presence. He turned and
walked to the far end of the cell
room corridor. leaning against the
bars in rapt attention.
Ii was childhood song that Blu
lah was singing. and she sang il as
a child her voice remarkably clear
ana true, every note distinct and
beautiful, every word enuuciated per-
fectly and prettiiy. Probably Bulah
had sung the song when first her
giriish features attracted the eye of
her first sweetheart and possibly
Beattte was that sweetheart
As he stood listening his hands
clenched tightly around the iron bars.
the girl upstairs sang Joyously. as
though her heart was happy. her
mind free and her soul the soul of a
little girl. who had just found the
happiness of song, Silver-like, and
filling all the Jail with melody the
II
girls ecstacy of happiness and Beat
tie, who they say slew his wife. stood
metionless as man in a trance, his
lips apart. his eyes halt Chased .and
his chest rising and falling rapidly.
The Watchful Jailer.
The jailer stood watching Ioath to
destroy this scene which was more
interesting because OF the contrast
to its ugly frame, the whitewashed
walls. steel-piated floors and iron
barred doors and windows of a mod
ern Jail, Possibly the jaiier felt a
thrill OF delight too as the girls song
sweiied and sank in joyous cadences
and possibly the iailer could picture
a little girl walking through a field
all covered with flowers beneath a
summers sky
And then the song stopped The
men waited eagerly, hoping the girl
would sing again, but Bulah's
thoughts had returned from their
wanderings and she found she was
not in sunht field with nature
happy around her In her innocent
childhood. but a woman in a dingy
cell. dark and still. while the rain
Npattered necessarily on the roof over
head. filling her with sadness
Reattie's head fell between his arms
and his body shook with a convulsive
throb. The jailer wondered whether
the man was weeping. He was not,
fer when he suddenly stood upright.
squaring his shoulders with an effort
for self-controf his eyes were not tear
dtmmed nor did his face show other
emotion than sort OF anger He
walked hurrfedly back to the win
dow sill. where he had left the shaw
ing mug. and resumed his common
place task without word or even a
glance at the Jailer.