The Washington times., 1911-11-24
Staying of Young Wife Took
Place on Night Of
K. July Eighteenth.

Is July Eighteenth.
RICHMOND, va. Nov. A.-when the
Commonwealth of Virginia today took
the life of Henry Clay Beattie, jr., there
was written the last chapter in a MUIR
der case which awoke international inS
terest, which convulsed the State Of
Virginia and neighbcring sections. which
produced generally more discussion and
debate than any murder case since
Harry Kendall Thaw shot and killed
Stanford White at Madison Square Roof,
Garden, ive or six years ago.
1t was on July 10 that this discussion
ard debate began, for at about II
o'clock the night before Henry Clay
Beattie, jr., had driven to the Thomas
Owen home. in South Richmond, steer
Ing his motor car with one hand and
clasping in his other arm the lifeless
body of his wife, whom he had married
less than year before and who had
given birth to q son only q few weeks
previously.
Beattie Suspected.
Suspicion was directed toward Beattie
as soon as his extraordinary tale was
told OF the murder having been commit
tee by bearded stranger" This sus-
picion increased when he told the story
differently each time as respects ma
terial points. And the young husbands .
conduct Immediately after the murder
was scarcely normal. No visible grief
swayed him; instead, he was calm and
collected, until he had drunk consider
able whNky, which testimony at the
trial showed he eagerly sought.
sC1r In Dtnv,-
nond police, Chesterfield county detec-
tives and private investigators were all
at work. The Midlothian pike and the
bordering country had been secured for
signs OF the bearded stranger and no
sign nor hint Of him was found. None
was ever found save for some quite sus-
picious statements at the trial. intro
duced by the defense. and which Beat
ties own attorneys evidently rated as
not very convincing, for they did not
they made their pleas to the Jury.
The first day after the murder de-
veloped little positive evidence. It was
seen by Luther L. Scherer, a Chesa-
the investigation was placed. that Beat
ties story was impossible as to certain
details and on being questioned Beattie
himself admitted that the bearded
the road which he at first said he did.
The shot gun was found that morning
by colored woman on the way into
South Richmond, but there was nothing
discriminating in the gun as yet.
Binford Girl In Custody.
Unuttered suspicious existed in the
minds Of many people at this time
suspicious which people were loath to
form into words and direct accusation
was not to come for three days more
The next day Beulah Binford was taken
into custody. Beattie's relations with
this young woman were common knowl-
edge among many people in Richmond,
and Scherer and his men quietly secured
knowledge Of her whereabouts and she
was taken temporarily to the homo Of
George FARRELL, county detective Of
: The Inquest. postponed because of de-
sire to secure more evidence, began FRI
day afternoon, July q. Beattie, now
represented by Harry M. Smith, with.
him the first day, and emerged triumph
ant as respects popular opinion.
While this first inquest session was
going on E. J. Houchens, father-in-law
of Paul Beattie the cousin, appeared at
police station and told of the commits
sion which Henry had given Paul to buy
the gun. The next afternoon Paul ap-
peared in the stand. tainted. came to,
d
the story Of the purchase Of the gun at
his cousins desire, and of its delivery.
A warrant had been sworn out for
Henry Beattie and it was served on him
in the middle Of this Saturday after
noon. .'
After Paul Beattie's story, the rest of
the evidence bunting was chiefly Tor
corroborative facts. A great mass OF
Paurs story was true in respect to many
Of the details, establishing an alibl
for him on the night of the murder. and
covering Reattss das,, Mns Rea3 aar
tie, and particularly his movements
that night.
Opinion Against Beattie.
great deal Of that testimony became
public knowledge as fast as 1t was dis
covered, and this circumstance served
to strengthen the general opinion in
B Richmond and Chesterfield county that
Beattie was guilty. Among the impor-
tant items of testimony thus discov-
cred were the facts that Beattie, or at
least a young man looking exceedingly
like him, had been seen alone in his car
near the scene Of the homicide at an
earlv hour in the evening. The witness
to this was Roland sydnor. dairyman.
county JAIL declared positively he was
the man. At the trial Sydnor declined
to swear positively that II was Beattie
whom he saw. but said he felt con-
WINGED that II was he nevertheless
That testimony hSaame important in
connection with the prosecutions theory
that Beattie took the gun to the crime
scene before the homicide. hiding II be-
hind a stump. Bloodhounds given the
scent at the big pool of blood went
Immediately to that stump. This blood
hound testimony was not introduced at
Also the detectives discovered that a
party Of Richmond's gilded youth re-
I turning from dance at Bon Air. be-
yond the crime scene, saw shortly be-
fore the murder occurred an automobile
standing still where the pool of blood
was found. A young woman stood on
the step of the car, said these young
men, and a youn~ man described to re-
semble Beattie was at the front Of the
car. Beattie's own story was that he
did not leave the automobile until after
the stranger had shot and killed his
wife.
An effort was made to nullify the Bon
Air party's testimony by showing that
Charles Kastelburg, a Richmond whole
sale meat dealer, had been at the spot
on the Midlothian pike with a young
4 woman whom he had met rather casu-
ally in front of a hotel in Richmond
that evening. In rebuttal testimony,
the Commonwealth showed that Kastel-