The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-09-09

with it's filthy chapters as related day after day on the witness stand. What had been generally predicted was true, their minds were we'll made up before they left the court room. w. l.. Burgess, square jawed man with an earnest face, was elected foreman.
 The jurymen prayed that they might not take life in vain, and they opened their conscience to one another for nearly an hour, so that they might go back to the courtroom firmly convinced of their duty and of one mind.
 As They Waited
 And in the courtroom sat Henry Clay Beattie. Jr., the sporting page of a news paper spread before him. But he did not read long. He folded the paper and con cealed his face in it. Those who sat near the boy of iron nerve observed a twitch- ing of his lips as though moving in prayer as he sat with closed eyes awaiting the return of the jury. He daised his head for a moment -drorped the paper again and began reading. Then he whis- pered a few words to his father and brother. It was for them he felt and to them he conseled cheerfulness.
 It was nearly dark in the courtroom when the jury returned. Three oil lamps gave meager lustre to the scene. Sunsets red rays still streaked through the win dows. On every sill rested a telegraph instrument and operators tensely waited for the announcement of the verdict. A thick mass of faces rising in an incline to the shabby ceiling stared at the jury men, Famous jurists looked down, too, from fly specked paintings. In the minds Of the gaping crowd remained the thought of the powerful speech of the prosecutor and his denunciation of the man 'who ex- changed the glow of virtue for passions feebled tapers.
 The court asked the prisoner to rise y,e drew himself up calmly and waited.
 Have you gentlemen agreed on yer dict?'' asked Judge Watson.
 'We have' said Foreman Burgess
 The prisoner had confidently expected hung jury, not acquittal nor conviction. The court requested the audience no. to msrifest its approval or disapproval whatever the verdict.
 And what is your verdict?' asked Judge Watson, turning again to Foreman Burgess.
 Guilty
 Guilty" answered Burgess, but his voice was swelled by the shout or Il others. Unversed in law or the forms of murder trial, the jurymen had not spec flied what degree of murder Asked what degree, MT. Burgess answered simply, Guilty as indicted.'
 Under Virginia practice murder is pre- sumed to be second degree unless other wise specified. It was incumpent upon the jury to fix the degree. So Juoge Watson advised the jurymen 10 confer again on the point, and seven minutes later they conformed this time wIrn a verdict of murder in the first degree. The prisoner stood erect and motionless. His face, in color a yellowish green throughout the day, was. immobie
 The light of a lamp cast a dreary shadow on his upturned chin as he faced the jury. His eyelids sagged but he did not blink In steady gaze he fastened his eyes on the faces of the 12 men who had pronounced his punishment as if to penetrate their minds and obtain the reason why. It was not a resentful ex- pression, however, and when the court asked if the prisoner had anything to say he answered. T have nothing to say" and sat down. The perfunctory motions for a new trial were made by counsel for the defense. The usual grant ing Of permission even to argue the point was denied. as Judge Watson in a stern voice declared that all rulings of the court were on comparatively unimportant detail and in no way could have influenced the verdict. A stay of execution was grant ed, however. in order to give counsel an opportunity to apply for writ of error when the court of appeals meets in November.
 Judge Arraigns Beattie
 Judge Watson delivered an impress sive speech to the prisoner. He told how the young man had stained his own life and that of the community in which he lived by his sordid acts. When the trial first began, said Judge Wat. son, he had hoped that Virginia might be cleared of the crime for which not only the state felt shame, but which the entire country deprecated. He had hoped that counsel would prove the de- fendant Innocent, but the evidence, he regretted to note, was all convincing and overwhelming.
 "The court in this trial" said Judge Watson, ''has endeavored in all it's de- cisions to lean toward the side of the prisoner and in It's charge to the jury as well attempted to give him the bene- fit of every. doubt and every oppor- tunity to establish his innocence The rulings mostly have been not on mat ters of law, but on small questions of fact.
 You have had fair and impartial trial, Mir. Beattie, and the jury has done what 1t considers it's duty. Therefore, you have been convicted of murder in the first degree and on November "A, between the hours of sunrise and sunset you must
 
 fGONTfNTED ON RAGM aN