The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-08-17
BEkTTIE'S FRIENDS
STILL HOPEFUL
Prosecution May Be Much Grip
pied When Paul Beattie and
Beulah Binford Undergo
Grilling at Hands of Law
yers for the Defense.

/
| defense, a subject that has so far
| been practically overlooked.
| Those who have il in charge have
| been as silent as a man at a woman's
rights cOnVentiOn-they have made
| but one definite Statement-they would
make no plea of insanity. In the logic
Of events such n plea could not be
made with sufficient strength to call
for any consideration.
Beattie's statement when he arrived
at the owen home shortly after the
murder, with his dead wife's body
leaning against his own, would easily
cOntrOVert such a claim. Beattie'S de-
meanor upon the stand during the
coroner's inquest, when he calmly de-
clined to allow the lawyers to lead him
into an eQUivOcal statement, is fur
Their proof of his sanity-that demeSn-
or was cold and Calculative. not at all
suggestive of the cunning OF insanity.
A well known and prosperous citi-
zen of Chesterfield county. said this
morning that the people had begun to
think that this case, like all other
cases, had two sides, and that they
had reached the point OF thought in
which they wished to hear the other
side"
Without expressing any view as to
guilt or innocence, he said that the
first preponderating idea-to the effect
that Beattie was hopeleSSly guilty and
would be proved so, had begun to be
thought-that no one had yet heard
his side, and that every one had heard
the other side. 1t isn't probable that
anyone will hear the other side" I'M
till the case comes to trial.
Beattie will be indicted Monday:
that is about as certain as anything
earthly can be. but the date of the
trial is another matter altogether.
POstponement Is Likely.
If either side asks for postpone
ment il will almost certainly be al
lowed; one postponement Is a mat
ter of courtesy and custom so long
followed that it has become practically
an ''unwritten law"
1t is scarcely probable that the de-
Tense will voluntarily go into a trial
when the feeling against Beattie is
so strong as it is now and when it
seems modifying each day.
Time.
That is one OF the most amelforat-
ing and effective factors for which it
can hope.
The defense has a legal and logical
right to ask for a postponement, and
the prosecution is almost without a
precedent with which to oppose it.
Therefore a postponement is alto
gether probable.
The next term Of the court will be
several months in the future-not
before the winter
In that time the ever-changing pub
lie sentiment may be less acute and
preponderating.
AS for the line of defense. It is a
problem. Neither II. NJ. Smith nor
Hill Carter, the Beattie attorneys, will
discuss II, and its character can only
be reached by process OF elimina-
ton and deduction
II mas been said that there will be
no plea of insanity, and there can
be nothing in the nature of an alibi.
The defense, so far as is known, will
make no attempt TO prove the truth Of
Beatties first story-that the shoot
ing was done by a man in the road
and as consequence IL does not seem
probable that the defense will at
tempt TO prove anything at all except
that the prosecution has not made out
a case sufficiently strong to Justify "a
conviction.
This is not so weak q procedure as
IL may at first seem.
Relies on CirCumstantial Evidence.
1t is admitted that the prosecution
relies chiefly upon circumstantial evil
dence. and while il is also admitted
that appearances are against Beattie.
ii is not at all certain that the jury
will convict upon them, particularly
when the direct evidence, which may,
in this case. be called auxiliary evil
dence, will be shattered.
The evidence Of Beulah Binford and
Paul Beattie will be torn and slashed
20 pieces. No one familiar with court
practices can doubt that. Even the
smartest of people with a weakness
for talking are helpless in the hands
Of LAWYERS 1t must be remembered
that lawyers and witnesses do not
"debate"-one answers questions the
other asks them, and the latter has
the better of il, even though the for
mer is a genius and no one will ac-
cuse either Beulah or Paul of being
a genius.
Under a ruthless. relentless pitiless
| cross eXaminatiOn, from which Mr..
Wendenburg and Judge Gregory can
not save them, they will be so COM
pletely excited and nervous that they
Will be practically if~esp 5nsible.
| With their evidencs made worth
| less before the jury, the defense will
argue that the prosecution has made
out no case that would justify the
State in sending a man to the cleo
| Jric chair.
Not many have been sent there by
circumstantial evidence alone-fewer
| still when the corroborative verbal
testimony was shattered into atoms.
Claims have been made that the
Beattie case has been prejudiced by
an antagonistic press, and, apparent
| ly. this possesses an element Of truth.
| But the public wanted news of the
Beattie case; the newspapers could
get allegations from only one side
it printed that side-while the de-
tense, prODaply unQeclQeQ upon It's
course. was silent.
Yet the fact remains that only one
side has been printed, and Mr.. Smith
Will probably not fail to make the
most of it.
Could Not Stand Analysis.
1t may also be said that some en-
phasiZed points of the prosecution
would not stand a deep analysis.
For instance, it is claimed that
Beattie carried the dead weight of
his wife's body from the road to the
automobile, but so far as is learned,
his clothing did not show the marks
Of blood that such an action would
suggest.
1t was also said that the hairpin
found at the scene of the murder could
not have belonged to Mrs. Beattie, as
it was too light in color to have match
ed her hair Oeaving the inference that
il belonged TO another woman, but
later it was claimed that this pin fell
from Mrs. - Beatties hair while she
struggled with her husband for her
life.
1t is also claimed that Beattie car
ried the gun from the automobile
twenty five or thirty feet along the
railroad tracks, but that gun sh oxys
no trace of the blood with which
Beatue's hands were naturally COW
cred.
Again, it may be argued that for
Henry Beattie to have sent Paul Beattie
to buy the gun would be little short of