The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1911-11-30
BEATT|E ADMITS
GUILT OF CRIME
AND IS EXECUTED
Iron Nerve Remains
With Him Till Very
Last Moment
PRAYER AT LAST
Accommodates Legs to Straps
and Moment Later Dies
Under the Current
THE BEATTIE CASE
IN \ NITSllEIL.

* THE BEATTlE CASE s.
9: IN \ NUTSHELL. 81
=" July is. 19ll.-Mrs. Henry <
" Clay Beattie, Jr., murdered. s.
" July 2l, 1911.-llenry Clay =
IS Beattie, Jr.. arrested. s.
F" August 81. 19l1.-Trial be- -
* gun at Chesterfield Court House. {.
" September s, 191l.-Verdict It
j OF guilty, Beatic sentenced to 3
. death.
= November 81, 19l1,-Death Il
v sentence executed. .
Richmond. Nu.-ltcv. J. }. Fix to.
day announced the confession of
Henry Clay Bcattic, who said in IL
signed statement:
"Ecsirimg to stand right before
God ard man co on this oath day
of November. 1911, confess my guilt
OF tie crime charged against me-
New York City.-I5cmlah Binfoid.
the girl in the Hc;,ttic case, enjoyed
"a theatre party last night. After the
theatre She talked of Bcattic and
said lie would never confess. She
slept till $3.50 o'clock this morning.
Richmond, Na.-Henry Clay Beat
tie, jr., was executed this morning
for witc-murdcr. There was not a
hitch in the proceedings. The con-
demnea man was pronounced dead at
T:23 O'Clock.
Reattie walked to the death chair
without faltering, aud. though he vas
Il mere shadow of his former self. he
maintained his composure to the
last.
Prison guards marched beside
Beattie, followed by Rev. j. j. Fix
and Rev. BENZ. Dennis and Il physi-
clan. Beattie had slept well during
the night.
Beattic shook hands in farewell
with the two ministers and, murmur-
ing a word of prayer. advanced TO
the chair. lie seated himself and
moved his legs voluntarily to accom-
modatc them to the straps,
The jury leaned forward. Supt.
Wood gave the signal With his hand,
and the switch was thrown that
sent the deadly electric current
through the prisoners body. a
thread OF smoke appeared under the
death cap Heattic twisted in the
chair and then relaxed, dead.
Life Paid for Life.
Richmond, Waffle paid for life
tc1ay. when Henry Clay Beattie, Jr
was shocked TO death in the electric
chair in Virginia state penitentiary
here.
Four months 20 on u dark July
night, Henry Clay Bcat;ic returned
from Il jo.-ridc on the lonely Midlo-
THAN Turnpike with the blood-stain-
ed body of his wife held close to
his side in his auto. But an hour
before, the couple had left the home
OF the girls uncle. Thomas Owen.
There the body OF the dead woman
was taken, and there Beattic told q
story of Il beardei highwayman who
held up his machine in the road, al
ter the auto had nearly run him
down. Beattic said that when he
started to run away from the beard
ed stranger, who was armed with q
shotgun. the man fired at the ma
chine, killing Mrs. Bcattie.
While the family OF the dead girl
mourend her death at home, Beattie,
with police officials, and private de-
tectives secured the neighborlood
for traces of the bearded highway
man The blood soaked auto in which
he had carried his wife's body was
pressed into service and Bcattie HIM
self ran the gruesome vehicle up and
down the Midlothian Turnpike
through the night.
Finding Of the Gun.
just as dawn broke, on July 10,
Luther L. Shercr, Chesapeake and
Ohio Railroad detective, brought in
to the case by the girls family, reach
ed the scene of the crime with Il
brace of b~loodhounds. Then the first
suspicion of Beattie himself took
root. The bloodhounds circled wide
about the place through woods and
fields, but baving loudly they invaria-
bly, returned to the spot, where Beat
tie declared his auto stood when his
Wife was shot. \. short time later
II negro "mammy'' found a single
barreled shotgun, identified by Beat
tie as the gun with which his wife
was killed, at q railroad crossing
about halfway between the scene Of
the crime and the Owen home
Beattie in his stories of the kill
ing OF his wife told widely differing
tales. He was particularly contradic-
tory in his description of the man
whom he accused Of the shooting.
For three days detectives worked
with all their energy without definite
result but gathering u mass of cir
cumstances that seemd to point to
Beattic. The history OF the young
son Of the wealthy merchant, as Il
Lothario Of South Richmond, and his
relations with the beautiful seven
teen year old Beulah Binford, were
discovered. The detectives unearth-
ed the story of Henry Clay Beattie
Trout, the child born to Beulah Bin
ford and Henry Clay Beattie in 1903.
Meanwhile the body of the MUIR
dercd girl-wife vas buried from the
church where u short year before
she had been married to Henry Clay
Beattic.
On the Friday following, Coroner
Loving began the inquest into the