Milford chronicle., 1911-09-08
BEATTIE CASE
NEAR AN END
All the Evidence in Murder
Case is Now In.
PRISONERS STORY SHAKEN
Prosecution Bit by Bit With Many
Witnesses Tears Down Testimony Of
Accused.

]
Witnesses Tears Down Testimony Of
Accused.
All evidence in the case for and
against Henry Clay Beattie, Jr., al
Chesterfield Court House, Va, is now
in. On Thursday morning the lawyers
The lawyers for the commonwealth
and the defense met with Judge Wat
son in the chambers of the Virginia
supreme court in Richmond to argue
the matter of the judges charge to the
jury. Under the Virginia practice. be.
fore the court charges the jury in a
capital case both sides are given an
opportunity to urge upon him certain
clauses in his instructions, the argu-
ment in no sense being binding upon
the court, but merely advisory.
The completion of testimony came
suddenly to an end, when Henry
Owen, a brother of the woman who
was murdered, the last witness for the
prosecution in rebuttal, took the stand
This was the final surprise launched
at Beatties defense by Louis Wen
denburg, the commemorative prose
cutor. After he had denied the story
of Henry Beattie, that up to the end
his wife and he had never exchanged
a cross word, Wendenburg announced
that the prosecution rested its rebut-
tai. The defense had no sur-rebuttal
to make, and the ten days of evidence
taking were thus brought to an end.
The final day in the prosecutions
effort to bring Henry Beatie to pun
fshment for the crime of wife murder
was quite the most disastrous of all
that had passed over his head. No
great sensation was sprung, but bit
by bit the story that the prisoner had
himself told on the stand, and that
favorable witnesses had sought to SUBJ
stantiate for him, was torn down by
an overwhelming weight of evidence
in rebuttal
Accordingly, as the case stands now,
it is Beatties lone and almost unsup-
ported word against cloud of wit
nesses and almost universal suspicion
of the most horrible kind.
When Beattie testified he was un-
sparing in his denunciation of Paul
Beatie, his cousin, who one week ago
swore that Henry said to him: Il wish
to God l had not done it," He denied
absolutely and with bitter anger every
damaging sentence of Paurs testi-
mOny.
The prisoner declared he never
Paul to buy shotgun,
that Paul never delivered the weapon
to him, that, in fact, he never saw his
cousin excepting a few times when
that poor relation" came into the
Beattie store to borrow or beg, and
that then Paul always was closely
watched"
He was equally unsparing in his de-
of Beulah Binford, the girl
for love of whom the state sought to
prove he had slain his wife. He was
seemingly frank in his recital Of his
relations with her, but many and many
an answer to the queries Of his coun-
sci we're such as to infame that young
woman with bitterness and to rouse
her to 'unforgiying hatred, should the
state call her to rebut the evidence
offered by Beattie.
Leading up to the shooting of his
wife. Beattie said:
I'VE passed three cars. The last
hing | can remember before we
.urned around was a row of cedar
rees which my wife said would make (
good Christmas trees, and the gate
lear where we turned"
state what happened then about
hree-quarteTs of a mile Or a mile from
where we turned we we're going along
,asy, when a man came from the left
land side Of the road. He was so close
o me that had to put on the brake
10 as not to hit him. He asked if
we're going to hit him, and l said he
lad plenty of room and that l should
lave. l then put on the low gear and
cached over to take the brake. He
'Ointed the gun at me and said, Stop
IT I'll shoot I didn't want to aggra-
ate him, so l said nothing AS 1
ouched the clutch he fred, and my
7ife fell back of me-"
"She fell between your back and the :
ack of the seat?" Yes. In the space T
( a moment l jumped out of the car
nd started toward the man. He raised
be gun to hit me. caught the gun as
. hit me on the nose. He let loose, and
eing overbalanced, I fell back. There
as been something said about blood
n the gun Tom owen said my face
ras bloody. / picked up the gun and
he man ran up the road"
who was the first man you tOld?"
Tom Owen"