The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-08-24
REHLkh BME0RB'S
CASE PlTifUL
Should Have Been Attended by
Some Other Woman-Only Fe-
male at the Courthouse Cyno-
sure of Every Male Optic.
No Surprises Monday.
RICHMOND, VA Special. =

chinery OF the law will recognize in ]
the proceedings, which took place at I
Chesterfield Courthouse yesterday, !
only sort OF cut-and-dried program, |
containing few, if any, surprises and /
nothing whatsoever that may be call /
ed spectacular.
Everybody knew weeks ago that !
Henry &. Beattie, Jr, would be in |
dicted for the alleged murder of his
wife. Had the evidence against him
been twice as weak as il is-or rather
not half so strong-a true bill would
nevertheless have been found against
the young husband.
The indictment, it should be re-
membered, only implies that the sus-
picion against him is strong enough
to merit investigation at the hands of
petit jury-that is, jury OF twelve
men. Thousands OF true bills result
in ultimate acQuittals.
With the selection of the petit jury
will begin the real fight of the case,
and from that time on, until the
! twelve men retire to ind their YER
ing-hghting such as this State has
seldom before seen at her bar.
Yes, everything came out according
| to expectations under the immemoral
| oaks and locusts at Chesterfield
| Courthouse yesterday, and there was
scarcely a suggestion of surprise in
connection with any word or any in
cident.
True it is that the grand jury deem
| ed il unnecessary to hear the state
ments Of either Beulah Binford or
| Paul Beattie, but that means little.
| 1t does not imply that they are value
| less witnesses. The grand jury dis
| pensed with their evidence because
| the testimony of others amply suf-
feed for its purpose.
| The testimony heard showed first
| that a murder had been committed.
and secondly that many signs pointed
to Henry G Beattie, Jr.. as the per-
son at whom the accusing finger Of
the law should be pointed.
Rather Rough on Beulah-
| But all things considered, the or
deal was pretty rough on the girl in
| blue who for hours sweltered in a
tightly-closed room with only men
for her companions and awaited a
! possible summons.
Beulah Binford confessedly is
| girl of seventeen, with the expert
ence of a woman of fifty but over
and above all her shortcomings, she
| is a representative Of the weaker sex
and as such deserves consideration.
Probably nobody intended TO be
unlIind to her yesterday, but the fact
remains that she ought to have been
attended by some woman-preferably
a white woman, but at any rate, by
some sort of mature woman with
kindly instincts.
For several days she has been all
ing, and therefore she did not ap-
pear with her maximum physical
strength yesterday. although she was
far from being an i'll woman when
she first reached the scone of the
prospective trial.
Excitement and vanity bouYed her
up at the outset, and, If anything.
made her appear Sprightlicr than is
her wont, but as the hours bore on,
her nerves got the better of her.
At noon DR.. j. T. Ragland, the jail
] nh NGirian found her Cnffprinrr
| from a slight cramp, but 10y o'clock
she was highly wrought up. Close
| confinement, an inSUIerablN hot room.
| the lack of nourishment and the con-
tinual society of men were too much
for her.
Bculah Did Not Faint
Had surcease not come when il did
! there might have been an utter col
/ lapse. Beulah did not faint, but her
| soul and body were aweary before her
discontinue was abated.
| And when, at the last minute, she
| was swiftly escorted to her automo-
bile by Special Agent Scherer and
| others, she once more found hersel
| the cynosure of all eyes.
The crowd, which by then had scat
tered over the court green, ran like
turkeys to get a glimpse of her. Surely
this must have grated on her sensi-
| bilities. Even q vain girl. with little
delicacy of feeling, must tire of be-
] lllE SldIGu al alltI more imam i've
/ hours of such treatment.
! And stared at she surely was for
! over five hours. In the room, which
! served as her prison, were several
windows, and through these the crowd
/ on the outside continually peered.
! After "a while the thing became irri-
! tating, and by and by. Beulah began
! to avert her head or to use her huge
| hat so as to thWart the curiosity OF
| the peeping Toms. on the whole, she
was rather patient-yes, pitifully pa
! tent-and the wonder is that her
| nerves held out so long.
Was Never by Herself.
| 1t would have been the part of
| kindness and common sense to have
| left her entirely alone a part of the
time, even though the window blinds
had to be closed and the doors guard
ed. Beulah is naturally chatty, if not
! garrulous, and under normal condi-
tons babbles along most cheerfully
and amiably, but nobody can be pleas
ant even to well-meaning friends for
over five hours.
The general public, nolens volens,
must perforce hear a vast deal here
after about this bit of feminine fiot-
sam who has drifted so pathetically
on the sea of humanity for the last
seven or eight years. And maybe the
ugly story Of the girls life, after all,
will do its part towards the uplift of
her fellow mortals.
She is heart-rendingly young, touch
ingly pretty and pitifully chicken
headed-One might almost say sim
ple-minded-and even with her hid
eous experiences, she is ingenious
ness itself.
Ugly as is her past there were few
who cared to speak disrespectfully OF
her yesterday. Her young woman
hood hushed gibes and evoked sym
pathy.
Probably there was not a man in
the court room or on the green who
would not rejoice to see the girl start
ed out anew on the path of rectitude
and safely guided into the haven OF
responsibility.
Had mother. brother, kinsman or
loyal friend of any sort been with
her instead OF the kindly officials
her case would have been less pa
thetic.
But she was alone-all alone-and
the saddest thing about it was that
she did not seem to realize her own
forlorn condition. Anything rather
than her smiling amiability would
have made her less pitiful.
! Report has it that a certain minis
ter. alluding to the Beattie case in q