The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1911-09-07
ARGUMENT WILL
NJ NOTHING
Evident That Twelve Country
men Have Already Reached
Some Conclusion-Final Scene
May Come To-Night-Latest
Beulah Binford Story
Flatly Denied.
BY JOSEPH F. GEIs1NGER.

Henry Beattie and his fate
now lies no more than a few rackinp
hours of useless ~rangling a miehtv
warfare and clash OF words with boths
sues straining to the task and gain
ing nothing. =
Whatever is to be seems fixed i'm
mediately. Counsel may throttle one
another, scours:e and laud the smiling
BOY burst with %eloquence and wrath
and then drop exhausted from the
held with the scale set precisely as II
was before they begun. All realize
THIS now. Behind each sphinx-like
race in the box is a countryman's
placid. tenacious brain. Before each
mas been spread in all It's sordid Length
the fearful story of the murder, and
TO each has come by to-day q conyic-
tlon no mere verbal torrent can dis
torb. Where fact is plain no speech
can change 1t, and where Inference
may, two-sided. arise to stir a doubt
no help will come from attorneys OF
opposite view. Not to lawyers will
the Chesterfield farmers look for guild
ance In this crisis, but to themselves
ana nave already done 1t. To one who
mas watched the silent twelve for manv
days the signs are un~mistakable. The
Beattie jury knows It's verdict now.
and counsel may talk until doomsday
If they wish and simply beat their heads
= ia lllllG Il pTOIIlSen
to be otherwise, but even the men
within the bar admit at last that evil
denee and not argument shapes tho
result here.
OF the verdict? Throughout the CITY
yesterday the question was on every
lip and will be again to-day. WISHING
them truly no real harm many
would yet willingly have cracked
those twelve skulls open and
locked within. "A sort of fever
has seized the town. Newsboys
FEVER has seized the town. Newsboy,
shriek their extras up and down the
streets continuously. and never lack a
buyer, Bloodred sheets with a sIlly
poem sell as fast as they bore the
deliVerance of an oracle. Every word,
however inoccous, is tapped up.
Never overlooking an opportunity
cheap sports are beginning to place
bets on the verdict. Speculation is
abroad In every conceivable form, and
still nobody knows. Out Of the choas.
however. is growing ~momentarily
stronger a belief based on a careful
case. and all the incidents connected
with the trial. 1t may prove as
worthless as all the rest, but 1t Is at
all events the deliberate Judgment OF
many. There will be no hung jury:
within an hour after the twelve men
retire the verdict VIII be agreed upon,
and 1t will not be an acQuittal.
Prisoner Very Cheerful.
In his dismal cell Henry Beattie
smokes and smiles his time away. I'm
der his eyes are deeping circles and
his face seems somewhat pale and
drawn. But his eyes still glitter and
his voice carries the note OF confidence
and that has never varied
once since he went to Jail. IT expect
RI SnnpJ S,,,la,- ri,L -.
Richmond" he laughed when a dole
ful newspaper man timidly ventured n
remark. Somehow he has managed TO
figure 1t all out, and declares that
seven of the present jury Will stand
Tor conviction and five for acquittal.
Then will be freed at the De-
cember court he goes on. 81 know
ii because / am innocent.'
Through his grated window he
watched the jury spending its holiday
l"unsinE on the court green. But for
these and "A few s~trasglers. the place
was deserted. Beattic looked long ut
the twelve men who hold his life in
heart-rending scene TO those VIII
stood nearby. But the mood passed
quickly. and the boy was soon passing
jokes with his hearers again. .Beu-
lah Bintord and Sherin Gill would
make a big hit together in vaude-
Y NE ne remarked with a chuckIe.
Scornfully he laughed at the rebuttal
testimony which many believe to have
broken his defense. There's NOTHING
to it," he said.
When nieht came and he was loft
alone with the crickets and the dark
he cheerfuliy climbed into bed and
went to sleep. Members of his Gam
iiy had come during the day. and no
apparently enjoyed the visit hugely.
Pc eats heartily and rests we'll. over
his toilet he fingers still with the
care OF = dandy. y curious man seems
Henry Bcattie and certainly unafraid.
on the eve OF a verdict that means
to MIN the difference between life and
death ne looks calmly ahead. and II
he fears at all, conceais IL with mas.
tertul art II seems no longer nerye
nut nervelessness. unless indeed IL liz
the bounding faith OF innocence.
Bcuinh VIII Not BE Held.
Wild runors filled the air again yes
'orday. bringing into the spotlight,
once more the girl in the case" and
an intimate friend OF the ~prison.r. who
has recently appeared or witness stand.
For Il TINE it looSed as IL these might
also he clapped into Jail under grave
charges, but the story soon spent it's
force and Went to the junk pile Will,
many others OF It's sort. The last word
Is that the Commonwealth stiil stands
frm on the charge with which II
~started-that Henry Eeattie and no
other wrought tho deed Here the