Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1911-08-29
Miseellansons gsaains.
PROCEEDINGS IN sEATTIE CASE.
Sensational Richmond Murder Being
Threshed Out In Court Room.

Chesterfield Court House, Va, Aug
25.-R. l.. Sydnor, a dairyman, Sam
Tally, day laborer, and A. K. Briggs,
the 15-year-old son of a Richmond
contractor, took the witness stand In
Chesterfield court house today and
the most important and the most dra-
matte testimony so far introduced in
the trial Of Henry Clay Beattie, Jr.,
under indictment for wife murder.
The dairyman swore that between
sunset and dark on the night Of the
murder, he saw an automobile similar
to Beattie's halt at the roadside not far
from the scene of the crime. A lone
man stepped out he said, and this
man, the prosecution will attempt to
show, was Beattie, concealing the gun
with which It is alleged he shot his
wife.
Tally swore that about II o'clock
that night, sitting on the back porch Of
his home, not far from the roadside,
he heard the scream Of a woman, then
a shot and finally the noise of an auto
mobile starting.
The Briggs boy testified that some
time between 1890 and II on the same
night, he and number of companions
in an automobile passed a car at the
roadside, a stones throw from where
the murder was )mmitted. The man,
he said, apparently was fixing tire;
the woman was standing on the run
ming board. The boy was not asked II
the man he saw was the prisoner, but
under cross examination by the de-
fense he maintained that they passed
no other car on the remainder Of the
journey to Richmond. Some Of his
companions will be called to testify
along this line tomorrow.
Just between sunset and dark" tes-
titled Sydnor in direct examination, Il
saw a big automobile going west
along the turnpike, very slowly
who was in that carr"
"One man."
What did he do as he passed?"
He ran around and stopped ahead
of me-"
How near was the place he stopped
to the blood spot which marked the
scene Of the crime?"
mot more than thirty feet either
way" said the witness.
What did the man do?"
Beattie leaned forward in his seat
and gazed intently at the witness as
the question was asked.
when I left him." said Sydnor, he
was working in ditch at the roadside
on the machines right rear tire"
Was he an old or young man?"
He was a young man and wore a
brownish suit"
There was hush in the court room
as the sheriff unrolled the bloody
brown coat worn by Beattie on the
night Of the murder. The witness said
the color of the garment resembled
that of the coat worn by the man at
the roadside.
He was instructed to look at the de-
fendant and to state If the man he saw
was about the same size.
YES" said the dairyman slowly,
about the same size"
Have you seen the Beattie automo-
bile since the murder?" he was asked.
He said he had and that generally 1t
agreed with the car he had seen on the
roadway.
TT was a big four passenger car" he
said, "and the top was yellow"
The Beattie car has a yellow top.
Cross examined by H. M. Smith for
the defense, the witness admitted that
he was not an expert on automobiles
and might mistake four passenger
car for a five passenger car. He stuck
generally to his story, however.
Sam Tally, who said he worked in a
quarry, followed Sydnor on the stand.
"I was sitting on the back porch OF
my house about three hundred yards
from the road" Tally testified in direct
examination, when, all Of a sudden,
about IL o'clock, / heard the scream
of a woman, then a shot. In about ten
minutes more heard an automobile
start"
Did you hear anything else, the
cries of a man for help or the footing
of an automobile horn?' asked the de-
fense in support of Beattie's story that
he had tried to summon aid after the
bearded highwayman had fired into the
car.
II did not" said the witness. But on
further examination, he admitted that
he might have said on the morning af-
ter the crime that he had heard an au-
tomobile horn sounded. He recalled
having talked with Henry Beattie and
a party of officers when they visited
the scene.
= What did you say them" he was
asked.
"I said that If man had shot into
a car of mine I would have crawled
out over my wife's body, grabbed his
gun and beaten him with it until only
a frazzle was left"
Among the other witnesses at the
afternoon session were T. P. Petit
grew, to whom a negro delivered the
gun; N. H. Jacobs, a justice or the
peace of Chesterfield county; Eddie
Shepardson and James Thomas, both
negroes. who live near the scene OF the
crime.
Jacobs, who was called to the owen
home soon after the tragedy, testified
that Beattie gave him statement OF
the alleged encounter substantially as
told to others. The boy had said, now
ever. that he did not believe he could
identify the man who fired the shot.
He had examined the victims body
and had found dirt-he was not sure
II was griffin the bloody hair. He
said he had seen blood on the gun, but
under cross ss-examination admitted that
several persons who had been around
the bloody car had handled the weapon.
The negro Thomas, whose house
stands about $50 yards from where
the blood spot was found in the road