The Washington times., 1911-08-22
VIRGINIA PUBLIC
GREATLY STIRRED
BY BEATT|E TRIAL
is Biggest Event Since
Civil War in Eyes
of Many.
By JULIA MURDOCH.
Over Times Leased Wire, From Ches-
ferheId Court House.

Over Times Leased Wire From Ches-
terheId Court House.
CHESTERFIELD COURT HOUSE.
Aug. 22.-Fifty years hence children of
the children who yesterday thronged
the green Of Chesterfield county court
house will talk about the Beattie muir
der trial. for 1t is the biggest event
that has happened in this quiet little
community since the civil war Tele-
pone girls at the switchboards, the
policemen on the street corners, the
chambermaids in the hotels, the clerks
behtnd the counters, the newsboys on
t2e street corners, all are discussing
Sne same topic. 1t has grown to be an
oosession with every resident Of Rich
mond and the surrounding country.
All the world is waiting for news
from this little court house of ours
A farmer, tanned almost as brown as
al Indian, spoke with the soft burr Of
the Southland, and 1t seemed as though
he took an especial pride in the fact
that the little community of which he
Is resident had leaped into the lime
hight OF publicity in such an astonish-
ing fashion.
Hamlet Prospers.
Never before in its history has the
quiet city of Richmond been so stirred
with sensation and excitement. The
trolley line to Chesterfield is asked to
carry more people than it can accom-
modRte. The little hamlet Of Centralia,
consisting of one store and a livery
stable and several houses. where pas
sengers disembark from the trolley line,
and take the< more prosaic means of
locomotion, the horse and buggy method
Of transportation, has taken on an un-
wonted activity, and the citizens, white
and colored, are reaping a harvest of
Quarters and half-dollars conveying
passengers down the sandy road that
winds in and out among the pines and
sycamores TO the court house wherein
lawyers are holding legal battle for the
life Of Henry Clay Beattie, r
IT is q picturesque, though motley
crowd that Jostles and pushes to catch
glimpse of the inside of the tiny lit
tie court house, scarcely large enough
to accommodate all those whose bust
ness calls them there. 1t is a crowd
that overf1ows the court house green
and spreads out into the dusty road
that stretches like golden ribbon from
Richmond to Petersburg. 1t is a sort of
mixing bowl of types. farmer and man
about town, black man and white, staid
respectable citizen and curiosity seek
ers of both sexes.
Women with babies in their arms
"toting" them as they say in Richmond
stood on the edge of the crowd and
craned their necks in an effort to see
what was going on about the edge of
the green. Perched perilously on the
top rail of a five-barred fence, a fringe
Of bare-legged sunburnt boys waited
for something to turn up, looking out
meanwhile for opportunity of turning
an honest nickel or dime.
1t Is. LeThaDS. characteristic of
the American temperament to invest an
occasion like the one of yesterday with
all the attributes of a GOMEZ. Real
tragedy-the sorrow of an old man
struggling TO save the life of his best
beloved son, was joke to be hailed
with laughter from a hundred thought
less minds in the crowds.
When Henry Beattie. ST.. the aristo-
cratic old Virginia gentleman. accom-
panied by members of his family, was
driven up to the court house in an
antiquated Carryall, drawn by four sleek
Virginia mules, there were many among
those assembled in front of the court
house who discovered by some unac-
countable process of reasoning, an ele-
ment of comedy in the old mans situa-
ton.
But the sight of the unhappy fathers
face, eXpressionless, but showing the
deeply carved lines of sorrow and suf-
fering, silenced even the most ire
sponsible ones in that curiously hys-
terical crowd.
Father Is Pittied.
This bowed and stricken man who
has fought the battles and smoothed
the way for the wayward and head
strong son ever since he was a baby
boy; this man who has taken the place
Of both father and mother TO the lad
who more thar once has betrayed the |
confidence repCsGd in him by the man
whose name he bears, commands the re-
spect Of every citizen or the community |
round about Richmond. Mingled with !
this. is profound sympathy and pity for |
him in the trouble that has made him |
within the past six weeks an old man, |
discouraged, broken and weIl-nigh hope |
less.
Clad all in white linen, with only a !
black string tie to relieve the absolute |
spotlessness of his attire, Judge Wat
son is a picturesque and commanding |
rgure, typical Virginia jurist of the
old school
The long and tedious business OF. Sc
Iecting the jury not having been finished |
at noon, a recess was taken, and the |
prisoner was taken into private room,
where he ate with apparent relish a
dinner of the good old-fashioned Vir-
ginia kind. Afterward he stood at the
front window of the court house and
listened with much amusement to the
spell" of patent medicine man who
was conducting brisk sale Of his
wares. He seemed to enjoy the scene,
which resembled a holiday rather than
the serious business of trying a man
for his life.
Mrs. Beattie Snapped.
During the day Mrs. Paul Beattie with
her baby was much in evidence in the
court house grounds, but she did not
enter the building. She wore a white
dress, white hat, and long floating
white veil, and the baby was comfort
ably dressed, with its feet and chubby
legs hare. She, too, was sped by the
"camerarras," who leveled their picture
machines at her. and succeeded in get |
ting excellent pictures of herself and |
baby before she realized what they
were doing.