The citizen-Republican. (Scotland, Bon Homme County, S.D.) 1???-19??, 1911-08-24
YOUNG VIRClNlAN
PLACED ON TRIAL
FOR KILLING Wife:
Henry @. Beattie, Jr., Scion of
Good Family Accused in
Court of Awful Crime.

DN1N HN@'
smiling, Henry Clay Beattie, jr., ar
rived at the Chesterfield. court house in
an automobile at 10 o'clock this morn
ing to answer the charge of killing his
wife in q motor car on q turnpike nea
Richmond a month ago Judge Walter
A. Watson arrived shortly before the
prisoner to convene court.
Beattie's aged father had reached
Chesterfield half an hour earlier. In
court, father and son sat side by side
and exchanged whispers. Beattie then
began to talk with his lawyers.
Judge Watson spent several minutes
talking with the army of newspaper
correspondents and arranging seats.
Beattie leaned over the old walnut rail-
ing and talked lightly with those near
him; theo old father sat silent, stroking
ms gray hair. Dark circles Shove un-
der the prisoners eye, but he looked
trim and self possessed.
White Women Stay Away.
The tiny room was damned as the
Proceedings began and to discourage
the curious and idle, the court ordered
that all disinterested spectators stand
up ana remain standing. Two women
newspaper writers were the only white
women in the yard or court building.
The clerk formally called the case
for the commonwealth and the prose
cutlon asked hat the prisoner be ar
raigned.
A motion by the defense for post
ponement until ext Monday on the
ground that the defense was not ready
for trial was oyerruled by the court.
Judge Watson said that the matter of
c~ontlnuanc might be considered after
the trial had begun. The defense then
moved that the indictment be quashed
on the ground of error. Beattie was
arraigned and entered a plea of not
guilty.
Prisoner Sleeps Well.
His jailors say Beattie slept WE'LL
as he has done since his arrest more
thar q month ago. He dressed care
fully, glanced at the morning papers,
ate a light breakfast and sat waiting
in the Jail corridor for his first trip
IN the open air since his imprisonment.
Beulah >Binford, the pretty 17-year-
old girl in the case" n:sde no prep
arations to leave the jaIi In Richmond,
where she has been held as a material
witness, but Pau Beattie. the prison.
er's cousin. who has sworn that he
purchased the CUR with which Louise
Wexford Owen Beattie was shot, was
instructed late last night that he must
be cad to make the journey by auto
mobile to Chesterfield.
PAUL has said little since his incar-
ceration, but on his testimony the com
monwealth hopes to send his 26-year-
old cousin to the electric chair. The
Binford girl may be called as a wit
less DIS the trlal progresses.
With prospects of the actual Begin
ming of Beattie's fight for life, Ches-
tei'Ield county has a prospective spec
tator or auditor in every family with
q male member more than u years
old. To Virginia's credit it was noted
that not one white woman was in
court when the prisoner was arraigred
on the indictment
History of the Case.
The first intimation of +ba ;, ,-oGv.
came on the night of July IS, when
Beattie drove his automobile up to
his home, holding in his arms The body
of his bride of a year, with their 2
weeks-old baby safe in the bottom of
the tonneau. The wife had been killed
by a charge of shot, fred at close
range.
Beattie declared that as they were
driving down a dark part OF the Mid
lothian turnpike an unknown man
stopped them. He had made a few
profane remarks about the rights of
the road and then, when Beattie
Jumped from the car to grapple with
him, had raised his gun and fired.
Beattie said he had chased him a few
rods, not suspecting that his wife was
injured n returned to find her dead.
Evidence Against Beattie.
The story was doubted and the in
vestigations of the prosecutor almost
at once begun to develop evidence
against the young husband. The gun,
found near the scene of the crime, was
identified by a storekeeper in Rich
mond as one he had sold to Paul
Beattie, cousin of the prisoner. Paul
admitted that he had given the gun
to his cousin, though the latter denies
that he has ever seen it.
1t is also alleged, on the evidence of
the doctors, that the charge that
struck Mrs. Beattie had been fired
from within a foot or two of her head,
and not from a distance Of several
feet.
But the most startling evidence that
the state will present is the revelation
that young Beattie has been leading
a double life, caused by i~nfatuation
with Bel,lah Binford, a girl of IL,
whom he had known since she was
10. They have a son aged 2 years.
The girl was present at the Beattie
Beattie's instance, under a promise
never to return. She came back a
few weeks before the tragedy, how
ever, and Beattle had been several
times in her company. The state will
offer evidence that they had even
where She might live and be near
him"
Sensations to Come.
This. the prosecutor declares, fur
nished the motive for the crime. 1t Is
not alleged that Beattie himself fired
the shot, but that he M Paul Beattie
engaged some third mar to do it. The
details ct this Plot have as9eY beer,
brought out, and will be q part Of the
sensational developments expected at
the trial.
1t has also been learned that in
Epite of Beattie's i~nfatnaticn for the
8inford girl, she was far from being
devoted to him alone, She has told
of trips to Louisville and st. Louis
with other men, and of being much
with them in and around Richmond.
1t is ~lntinated that several of the
;cions of the local artistocracy know
TOO much about her, and she about
them. and there is general fear tina
snuch Of her life story viii be told on
ihe witness stand involving these
young men. and possibly others.
EIGHT MEET z DEATH I'M
VIC