The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1911-08-21
BEATTIE TRIAL BEGINS TO-DAY
MURDER CASE TD BE HEARD
~ THE WILDERNESS.
Chesterfield County Court House. Nearly
$50 Years Old. sittins In the Heart Of
. Forest. RcmOdellcd TO Accom-.
mOdatc the swarm Of RcpOrters.

Jr.. will be called to answer the charge Of
wife murder.
Beattie will fight for his life in what was
known as the Wilderness during the civil
war. The court house is nearly $50 years
old. II lies at a crossing OF two county
roads buried in the forest. The prisoner
who is now in cell in the Henrico county
Jail here in Richmond. will travel Eighteen
miles to face the jury that ia to try him.
Walter A. Watson, the presiding Judge.
will go fifteen miles through the woods
to mount the bench. Sheriff ". c. Gill
will travel FIVE miles TO his post The
nearest town. Centralia. meaning centre
of nowhere. is Ave miles from the court
house on the railroad and trains stop
there about as often as does the rural
free delivery postman.
This plunge into the wilderness ia be-
cause Beattie's lawyers count on getting
a jury of Chesterfield county men who
know the father Of the prisoner and who
might I've more favorable in their dispo-
position toward Bpattie. Jr.. on this 'ac-
count.
| Though young Beattie's home is just
, across the James River from Richmond.
| 'n' u itilf 'udi kNi kdIlrN tllui ''ph paw
in Chesterfield and no change Of venue
will take the prisoner away from the
isolated old court chouse.
! With the details of the crime for which
Beattie is to go on trial tomorrow the
country has been made familiar. At
3 o'clock on the night Of July IS Beattie
helped to lift his young wife. who had
been Miss Louise Owen OF an old Mary
land family. out Of sick bed and into
his automobile She had been a mother.
the mother Of her first child. just a week
and was still feeble. This was her first
venture out.
They drove from their home in South
Richmond out onto Midlothian turnpike.
which runs out through the almost un-
broken woods.
| An hour later Beattie guiding the
machine with one hand and holding his
wife's body with the other. drove back
to the house He screamed that they had
been held up on the road and shot Mrs.
Beattie had a Gunshot wound as big AS
half dollar in her forehead A charge
of birdshot fired AT very close range had
entered there. Beattie's lap was blood
drenched.
| Before the Coroners jury met detec-
tives brought TO light the liaison which
had existed between Beattie and a H.rl
of the village, Beulah Binford, from the
time the latter was IL years OF age down
almost to the moment Of Beattie's mar
riage TO Miss Owen on August 81. 1910
These relations. the detectives learned.
seemed TO be on the point Of being re-
newed, if they had not been renewed in
fact. at the time Of Mrs Beattie's murder
Beulah Binford was the mother Of child
! which she said was Beattie's.
| Then the detectives learned that Pau
Beattie. IA cousin Of the man under sus-
picion. had bought cheap shot gun for
Henry Clay Beattie at a pawnshop on
July Is. Paul refused TO identify the gun
found near the scene of the crime as the
one he had bought With these facts be-
fore IL the Coroner's jury brought in a
verdict that Mrs Beattie had met death
at the hands Of her husband The Grand
Jury formally indicted him on the charge
of murder week ago.
One goes eighteen miles by country
road from Richmond 10 reach the Chester
field court house all the way through
woods One rounds a bend in the road
and there is the little red brick court house
Next to it rambling farmhouse which
is converted into hotel during court
term.
The court house was built in 1894. II
is of red brick. moss grown and one story
SO small is it that the interior. given over
solely 10 the single court room. does not
cover the area of New York apart
| RahpH ,s rod iri.ly nil hn,
would not restrain an active hen.
Ten PAGES carry one from the entrance
clear through the court room TO the
Judges desk. There stands chai,
which was once upholstered in hair cloth
Now nothing much besides the frame
remains. On tho wall over the Judge.
chair are two dingy oil portraits Of severe
looking gentlemen in stocks. Judge
James H. Cox" the court clerk will ex
plain. "a most distinguished gentle
man, who sat here many years ago. Anc
the other Mr. Holden Rhodes. who
though a New Highlander was a most
estimable gentleman and brilliant law
yer who practised here before the war"
Because reporters from half a dozer
cities are going to attend tho trial the littl,
court roomhas been tortured out Of shap'
to make room for wooden benches anc
| desks. hepOTterS VIII Hdnk lurymen ant
counsel, sitting on high with the Judg
himself.
Telegraph wires have been strung from
treetop to treetop to bring the littl
court house into touch with the world
What room there is left is given over /,
!, five rows Of benches. Upon these tn
spectators will sit.
We're careful of this little old cour
house" said the court clerk to-day, be
cause it's so full Of memories" Then h
! proceeded TO unroll the scroll OF history.
. During the Revolution Baron vol
Stcuben drilled companies of volunteer
right there on the green, Then up cam
Gen. Tarleton and his Redcoats from tn
, south and he burned the little court hous
, and all the supplies Of the Virginians h
found stored therein Only the wall
stood and not until the end Of the Revo
luton was the court house rebuilt
One other famous murder trial tool
place here. That was back in the SOS
! and yet everybody who knows anythin
round about Chesterfield knows the stor,
, by note,
Thomas Ritche, fiery Tory and AZ
!. editor. was mouthpiece for all Chester
field Tories James Pleasant, a Whig
fell foul Of the militant editor The cod
stepped in TO settle the affair as the cod
always did in those old days They
fought with pistols, swords and bowl
' knives. Richie killed Pleasant in clos
. | encounter and was indicted for murder