The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1911-12-30

That a spiritualist wrote to Gov
ernor Mann, of Virginia, a full and
minute account of the Beattie MUIR
der, which was later entirely cor
roborated by Beattie's confession, be-
came known in this city during Gov
himself, while at loss to explain
the mystery. admitted that the spir-
itualist had been correct in every de-
tail Of her description of the murde
He averred, however, that her COM
munication had not Influenced him in
the least in his decision not to pardon
Beattie.
In the days after the trial, Cover
! nor Mann received an average of
from fifty to seventy-five letters
day, many of which declared that the
evidence was insufficient to convict,
while others maintained that Paul
Beattie was the guilty party. One
letter in particular caught the Gov
ernor's attention. A spiritualist wrote
to say that she had at first been
convinced that Paul Beattie was the
murderer. AS she had the power to
converse with the dead, however, in
order to satisfy her curiosity, she had
summoned a friend from the other
world and had asked her to call on
the murdered Mrs. Beattie and get
from her a full description of the
affair. This her obliging friend had
! very willingly done. Mrs Beattie
and her husband, it seemed, had been
talking about Beulah Binford The
conversation was resumed in the
automobile. Beattie stopped the ma
chine and took her into the road.
TheYet he shot her, which accounted
for the pool Of blood in the turnpike.
He then had placed her body across
ne 1r9Et on seats 81 :. the e. machiHe and,
shef head wsiie driving back.
AT the time this letter was received
the prosecution was unable to explain
the pool Of blood in the turnpike, ex-
cept on the theory that he had drag
-ed his wife from the car, and was
unable to offer any acceptable theory
as to the big spot Of blood on the
seat Of Beattie's trousers. Other de-
tails at that time clouded in mystery
were also fully stated in this remark
! able spiritualists letter.
! Governor Mann, Of course, let the
matter drop from his mind until
Beattie's complete confession was
| brought to his attention. He was then
astounded to note the accuracy Of the
letter when compared with the con-
: fession. The two dove-tailed exactly
J Tt is possible that the spiritualist
merely guessed what had happened
! If so, she ought to be in the weather
/ department., or she could easily make
living estimating the size Of the
[, crops or the status Of the future mar
'ket. 1t is noted that she did not
claim to have talked or communicated
with Mrs. Beattie herself, but sent
! friend to interview her Governor
Mann himself is one of the most prao-
tical Of men. He is too engrossed in
the present to be worrying about
| spiritualism, but he does not deny the
facts as they have been presented
here. On the CONT :, he substan-
tiates theswhole st, :. There have
been rumors Of late tEsa Detective
Burns depends for his sSsss almost
entirely on his abilit' kts samuni-
cate with the dead. He has <sp<S des;
MED or affirmed this, if, ineed, II hasss
been brought to his attention. The
| Beattie case is almost the first in
which a spiritualist has given ad-
vance information that later proved
to be accurate. Did she guess or did
she know News and Courier.