Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-09-09
FARMERS TO BLAME
FOR CONVICTION,
BEATT|E DECLARES
Continued from First Page)

asked them if they had reached YER
dict. There came the answer from Fore
man Burgess that they had.
What is your verdict, gentlemen!
Beattie WINGED as keenly as If he had
been struck across the eyes with
switch. 1t was not only the deadly YER
diet that was rendered against him. but
the manner of delverance that stung.
Jurors Shout Their Verdict.
The jury did not wait for their foreman
to speak Every man of them shouted
Guilty" and some repeated the cry,
Guilty. guilty guilty"
Beattie had stood up on demand Of the
clerk to face the jury when it was
rendering it's verdict. In one swift, wild
look he expressed the agony that had
struck in upon him. But the next in
slant he had braced himself and de-
termined to take the verdict smilingiy. 1t
was a weird flicker of smile, more pain
full to see than would have been his tears.
4 curious thing happened-such thing
as dramatiSt might have devised as an
effective piece of business" On the in
slant with the rendering of the verdict
breeze swept through the open doorway,
across the judges desk, and extinguished
the light Of the lamp that stood there.
Symbolically it suggested the ending of
life
There was a fault in the written find
ing of the jury. 1t had declared Beattie
guilty of murder. but had not specified
the degree. The jury was sent out again
Not that it vouchsafed Beattie any hope
The tones in which his judges had cried
forth their verdict had told him very
plainly in what degree they had adjudged
him. SO he sat and listened blindly to the
whisperings of Lawyer Smith, of his
counsel, and further Whisperings from his
brother, Douglass
His eyes were those Of a man to whom
their talk conveyed no meaning.
New Trial Denied.
The jury returned after nine minutes
entering formally their verdict of murder
in the first degree. Hill Carter. of Beat
ties counsel. asked that the verdict be
set aside on account Of the alleged IL
legal character of the evidence taken and
the instructions OF the court. In deny
ing this motion, Judge Watson said:
If there has been an error from the
bench ii has been on the side Of the de-
PENDANT and not the commonwealth. AS
a matter of law this case has involved no
new principles. In that respect 1t has
been commonplace
a stay of execution was granted in or
der to give counsel an opportunity to ap-
ply for writ of error when the court Of
appeals meets i'm November.
Then the clerk said
Henry Beattie, stand up"
The prisoner did So and the clerk asked
him if he had anything to say why the
sentence of the court should not be pass
| ed upon him.
| He stood with his left arm jauntily
crooked, his right resting lightly on the
table. But his debonair attitude was
| cruelty spoiled by the suffering in his
eyes.
Il have nothing to say" he replied
Sentence Is Pronounced.
| The sentence pronounced by Judge
Watson must rank as a most remarkable
utterance from the bench. 1t was ex-
pressed in the softest of voices by the
| fine-featured, youthful. but eminent ju-
rist. Its keynote was pity. To a sensi-
tive man 1t would have been far harder
| condemnation to hear than would have
been savage excoriation. And Beattie
is not stupid. He began to sway slight
ly soon after Judge Watson began speak
ing, and the judge paused In the sentence
to say to one of his COUNSEL
/ Mr.. Carter, your client has my per-
mission to take his seat"
i Beattie sank down quickly into the
chair. With hands clasped In front Of
| him on the table and lingering his dead
| mothers ring, he listened.
| Il have no DESIRE said the judge. Ito
| say anything to add to the anxiety of
mind or TO further disturb the peace of
| this prisoner. i desire to repeat that
| the rulings of this court, IL they have
| had any bias, have leaned to the side Of
| the prisoner, and not the commonwealth.
/ l approached this trial with a feeling
| that, / believe. was shared by the jury
and the public and by all citizens of Nir-
| sina-with the hope that this young man
would be able to produce testimony that