The Mathews journal. (Mathews C.H. [Court House]) 1903-1937, 1911-09-07
.BEATTIE COOLEST
MAN IN COURT

Will SkOOu out little cnanGE
in the torrid atmosphere of the court
room at Chesterfield Saturday, and
neither the men nor women connect
J ed with the trial of Henry c. Beattie.
Jr, after the first hour or so. made
any efforts TO preserve its stiffness or
| 20 look neat.
But when the trying days work
was over at least two immaculate
rundown collars might have been
noted one adorned Harry smith. of
counsel for the accused. and the other
the young prisoner himself. And
their shirts and cuffs looked equally
as fresh, hence it may reasonably be
concluded that neither man, during
that long, wearisOme day, had expert
enced any sensation calculated to
| brlng forth perspiration.
Hin Carter, the second Of Beattie's
lawyers, Jared far differently. While
| always good humored and on occa-
sions almost playful in his tactics. he
| appeared to suffer greatly from the
| intense neat, and. although he did not
remove his thin coat, he rolled his
| sleeves up to his elbows.
SO it would seem that outward
signs do not account for much. and
that one may undergo some very try
! ing experiences without actually
looking bedraggled. That the day
smith and Beattie they themselves
would hardly deny, for the witnesses
Tor the Commonwealth offered testi-
mony that must have greatly preju-
dlced the Jurors against the accused.
In fact, there We're times when the
testimony was of such a nature that
many Of those who heard it, did not
see now the accused. 10y any POSSIBLE
| ity, could escape conviction.
Only One Side Heard as Yet.
| Yet this does not by any means
signify that his case is hopeless, Tor
! numerous as are the witnesses who
| have already been examined, the trial
Is still in its incipiency.
And 1t should never be forgotten
Tor moment that Henry G. Beattie.
Jr-, has not yet had his day in
court" Circumstantial evidence can
be very ugly and very significant with
out actually being fatal to the person
involved by il, and when analyzed bv
shrewd, thinking lawyers, it some.
\ times falls fiat as a medium for con-
Victing a prisoner.
| Ninety-nine per cent. of it may lead
70 one opinion and only 1 per cent.
OF II 10 another, Yet in such a case
| under proper instructions from the
court, the accused gets the benefit OF
the doubt.
Who is prepared to say, even to-
uay' mat some reasonable doubt"
| mas not already lodged like burr in
the mind of one or more of the in
| scrutable twelve who are to decide
the fate Of young Beattie?
remember, il takes only one man
| to hang a jury. Then. too. neoule
with human life in their hands are
apt TO be far more cautious and con-
| serNatiNe than those charged with tn,
deciding of less important matter
Personally, this writer, who has
heard and read all the evidence in
the famous Chesterfield case does not
care to venture a prediction as TO the
nnal outcome of the trial. but he could
pick out dozens who foretell a hung
Jury. These people, like everybody
else who discusses the case, are mere
suessers. but they may be guessing
right.
1t would certainly be much better
Tor the accused if none of the jurors
had read TIE newspapers before the
trial, though the twelve men swore on
their NOir dire that they could give
the accused an absolutely fair trial.
Ana in making that assertion they all
seemed absolutely sincere.
After the prisoner had brought in
the bleeding corpse of his wife, he
took occasion TO tell many how she
had met her death on the Midlothian
| Road. To all he made substantially
the same statements True. the evil
| dence has developed several contra
dictions on more or less material
points, but is il not possible that some
Of these variations are due TO defects
in the memory Of the witnesses?
Let's put the proposition differently
concerning given state of facts and
read or detained ii, without varying
a word, to twenty different people.
And suppose these twenty people af-
forwards were called upon TO repeat
what YOU had said. Is il not alto
Sether probable that each would give
a dluerent version and that there
would be wide differences i'm their rec
objection of what YOU had said2
This Is no argument in re" Beattie.
Il Is simply the statement of plain
proposition. more or less we'll known
to all.
As to Conflicting Statements.
And SO far as the prisoner is con-
cerned though absolutely innocent, ht
may unintentionally have made con-
hictinS explanations about the killing
of his wife-that is, statements ut
tered at different times, which did
not doVetail with one another. OF
course, however. the statements would
become more and more unworthy oi
belief in the ratio OF their Varia-
lions.
According to Special Agent L. /.
Scherer. Beattie at first told some
downright falsehoods about his recent
relations with Beulah BinfOrd. but
when brought to a realization of the
fact that the detectives knew a great
deal about the girl. the accused does
not appear TO have persisted in his
avoidance of the truth.
Apropos of this, one might safely
venture the surmise that a good many
of Beulah's men acquaintance would
at first be likely to repudiate her if
they were suddenly lacked up before
the minions of the law.
The prosecution on Saturday went
far towards establishing the fact that
Mrs. Beattie was on the ground when
her life was snuffed out, vet Beattie-
If those who heard his first eXplana-
lions may be relied upon-steadfastl
insisted that she was killed while in
the auto.
The bloodstain on the road-its di-
mansions were % by Il inches-cer-
tainly seems to indicate that the ac-
cused Veered greatly from accuracy
when he said his wife was shot while
in the machine.
Il And however excited he was at the
time OF the murder, he ought TO have
, had his head clear as to this point
As matters now stand. il looks as il
he did some lying in this connection
or that his memory was peculiarly
treacherOus.
Messrs. Smith and Carter. by the
way. plainly showed by their maneu-
Vering Friday and Saturday that they
intended to convince-or try to con
Nince-the jury that the detectives had
almost been consumed by their zeal e.
convict Bpattip