The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1911-09-07

IheSe were upon the iacts OF MS
relations with Beulah BinfOrd and
in the matter OF the physical facts
attending the murder of Mrs Beat
tie as set forth in the prisoner
story of that fatality.
Upon both these issues the accus-
ed made admissions which fully
tally with the theory of the pros
ecution, or Numbered into stick
ing by assertions widely at variance
with physical possibility
Beattie had endeayored TO indi-
cate to the prosecutor just how he
had held the body OF his wife af-
ter she had been shot by the high
wayman. who. he says, was the as
sassin He spread out his left hand
and indicated with his right the
motion of manipulating the steer
ing wheel OF an automobile.
There, take that. little boy,
commanded Wendenburg. land show
the jury. by using his body, just
how you supported your wife in the
automobile just after she had
been shot.
A barefooted little boy. who had
been acting as copy runner for the
reporters drew away from the
young man in the chair as he
stretched out his hannd.
Then the impulse to be the cen
ter of all eyes overcame the lad s
timidity. and he allowed Beattie to
circle his wais. with his arms. Beat
ties left hand spread out across
nis back Just above the buttons on
his cut-down trousers.
so that is how you supported
your wife's body after she was
shot. / ask you now to look at the
left sleeve OF this shirt. which you
wore on the night OF the murder,
and tell me II you see any blood
on it,"
Wendenburg pcssed the shirt up
the garment gingerly and as he
turned it over the muscles OF his
cheeks kept pulsing. He found no
blood on the left sleeve.
you say that when your wife
was shot you felt her head fall
over on your left shoulder Wen
denburg drove the next question.
Look at the left shoulder of that
shirt and point out to me any blood
spot that was made when her
head touched your shoulder
Again the witness examined the
bloody relic uncertainty. There was
no blood on the shoulder
Il think | may have had my coat
on when the murder occurred,
Beattie finally said.
Wendenburg directed Sheriff Gill
to dive into the old cardboard box
and bring from it the jacket Beat
tie had worn on the night his wife
was slain. When the brown jacket
was handed TO him he stood up,
Invested himself of his neat blue
serge jacket and put on the other
Now look on the left breast
and the left shoulder OF that jack
ct" the prosecutor commanded,
"and point out to the jury the
blood spots that were made when
your wife's head fell against you,
as you have indicated"
Beattie looked at the shoulder
and sleeve. There were no dark
stains there, although one could
be seen in the middle Of his back
and another near the tail Of the
coat at the back.
The cross-questioner then wanted
to have Beattie show the jury just
how he had disposed of his wife's
body in the car after he had re-
turned from graphing with the
highwayman and had started his
machine hOmeward.
Il found my wife's body lying
over the left seat, with her head
in my seat to the right Beattle
said. Il laid her body so that her
feet we're hanging out over the
left runningboard. The middle OF
her body was on the left seat, and
my left arm was around her
Here the prisoner bent himself double
in illustrating. Her head was hanging
over in her lap, like that. he said.
you're sure her head was hanging
over in her lap?" Wendenburg asked.
Eyes, sure; and my left arm was
around her waist as | drove with my
right.
eff it should appear in evidence in
this case that there was not one bit OF
blood on the front of your wife's dress,
would you still say that her head
was hanging over her lap?'
"If you will let me put you over two
chairs, Mr.. Wendenburg, / will show
YOU what mean, Beattie answered, IN
evasion.
The prosecutor said that he would not.
Another difficult task for Beattie to
follow was that steered by Wenden-
burg. when he questioned the young
man miputely upon the relative dis
lance between the car and the bearded
lassailant who had stepped 80 suddenly
from the side of the road.
"When did you first see the gun in
the mans hand?"
after the car stopped. stopped be-
cause thought was going to run over
"And so you didn't notice the gun I'M
til after the car stopped? Where did he
get the gun from?" =,
Beattie said that he didn't know. II
was not until after the man raised the
gun and pointed it at him that he saw It
The witness could not answer satisfac-
torilv why it was that with good mar
DIN of the road still left to him he haC
not run past the intruder. Nor could h'
explain why, when he stopped sud
denly over TO release his clutch an'
start the machine the gun, which h
saws had been covering him, should
have swung up and to the right so tina
his wife received the charge designed
for him.
He asked Beatte what his wife haC
said when she saw the gun pointed a
him? Had she screamed? No, Mrs
Beattie had just sat still, uttering not
sound.
The prosecutor was merciless In un
covering the sordid facts about Beattle
relations with the girl whom he hat
first seen when she was just one montl
past l3, and in short dresses.
ain the few months before your wifi
died were not your nights with Beulal
Binford Mondays, Thursdays and Satur
days?" the prosecutor demanded.
Beattie tried to evade by saying tina
these were the nights he was not wit
his wife, but Wendenburg got him 3
confirm the fact that on the Thursda,
and the Monday before Mrs. Beatti
was murdered he had spent the nigh
with his mistress.
isn't il fact that you were in Low
with this woman?"