Newark evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1909-1916, 1911-08-26
DAMAGING STORY
TOLD BY BOYS IN
BEATT|E TRIAL
Three Tell Tale of Seeing Man
and Woman in
Auto.
MACHINE WAS STANDING
In MIDDLE OF ROAD
Driver Was on Ground and Fe-
male Companion on Rum
ming Board.

Va, Aug. 26.-Muddy roads and balky
automobiles delayed the arrival of the
court officials and witnesses, and the
days session did not begin until 1926
o'clock
Judge Watson rose from behind 4
big vase of flowers which adorned his
desk, smelled them a moment and
raped shortly with his gavel. He ap-
pealed to the Virginia gentlemen pres
ent to be tolerant of the heat and keep
their coats on in Difference to the
women present"
Henry Clay-Beattie, jr.. seated beside
his father. eagerly read a morning
papers verbatim account of yesterdays
testimony. e. X. Mosely, 1s years old.
the second of the eight High School
boys who claim on the night of the
tragedy to have passed a machine sim
liar to that in which Beattie and his
wife were supposed to have been. was
the first witness of the day.
A. K. Briggs, one of the group of
boys, testified yesterday that he saw
man tinkering with a machine on the
road and that woman was standing
on the running board. He gave no de-
tailed description of the persons he
saw. The eight boys had attended a
dance at Bon Air and were returning
in two machines over Midlothian turn
pike to Richmond.
Did you pass a machine on your
way to Richmond" Mosely was asked
by the prosecution.
Yes one with lady and man in
it. 1t was standing still"
What was the man doing?"
"Fooling with the hood.
Did you offer. any assistance?"
Yes, we asked If we could do any
thing for them, but the man said no."
Where was the lady?"
Standing on the left-hand running
board"
The defense then took the witness,
Hill Carter, asking him IL he remem-
bered the exact hour of the trip from
Bon Air
1T was after 10 when we left Bon
Air." said Moseley
Was your machine running rap
idly?"
We'll, ] reckon it was moving a lit
tie, for we got home about H."
when you later visited the scene
of the blood spots was 1t near where
you remember seeing the machine stop
that night?"
Yes, somewhere round there
w. b. Sydnor, another boy Of the
party, who said he was no relative of
Roland Sydnor, the dairyman, who tes-
titled yesterday, corroborated Moseley's
story, adding that the woman he saw
standing on the running board wore a
brown raincoat or duster.
Previous testimony had established
that Mrs Beattie was attlred similarly
on the night of the murder
Beattie listened intently to the decla-
rations of the boys, leaning over the
bench While he nervously fingered some
papers. All the youngsters were we'll
dressed and between the ages of IS and
II, sons of some of the best known fam
lies in Virginia. Each bore up well
under cross -examina ton, telling prac-
tlcally the same story in answer to q
profusion of questions from both sides
Rolan Lassiter, who followed Nose
ley and Sydnor on the stand, said he
was running his fathers car and was
quite familiar with the various makes
of machines. He declared the lone car
with the woman on its running board
and man somewhat obscured by the
hood WAS of a make similar to the
Beattfe automobile.
The prisoner continually prompted
Harry M. Smith, jr., his counsel, par
ticularly directing a line of question
ing which might Indicate that the
boys machines were running too fast
to remember stores or buildings along
the road by which the youths claim to
have later located the scene of the
murder as identical with the position
of the machine they passed on the
road
Would you know the buildings you
saw If you went there the next morn
ing?" asked M Smith.
Sure, If the buildings were there"
snapped Lassiter
H. NJ. Smith. jr., chief counsel
for Henry Clay Beattie, jr., made
a hurried trip last night to the
scene of the murder of Louise owen
Beattie, on the Midlothian turnpike,
with a view to taking measurements
to refute the testimony of witnesses
who told yesterday Of hearing a wom-
ans scream. the starting of an auto
mobile and gun shot. without having
heard a mans cries or the footing of
motor car horn.
Although the case mas now been in
progress six days, neither Paul Beat
tie the cousin who has sworn he pur-
chased for Beattie the gun with which
Mrs. Beattie was killed. nor Beulah
Binford, 'the other woman In the
case, has been called to the stand, and
spectators were guessing today which
would testify first The prosecutor re-
fused to say when Beulah Binford
would be called.
Since the trial started the Binford
girl has remained in jail at Richmond
with fifteen miles between her and the
man who stands accused of commit
ting the crime for ner sake. She said
in an interview recently that she never
hoped to see him again, and Beattie
has not spoken her name since the in
dictment.