New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1911-08-24
BEATT|E Jury CHARGED
Judge Sets Forth Virginia Law
Applicable to Homicide.
TESTIMONY BEGINS TO-DAY
Jury Nearly All Young Men, and
ALI Farmers but Three-Pris-
oner Still Calm and Cheerful.

'n"sterneld courthouse. Va. AuC. %
Tho fury which iii decide whether Henry
Clay Beattie. ir.. of Richmond. shall go
10 the electric chair convicted Of wife
murder was completed In Chesterfield
Courthouse to-day. The battle for Beat
ties life viii begin at 10 o'clock tomorrow
morning. ~ which hour the court adj
iourned. The commonwealth then will call
fits first witness.
Bestte was locked M for the night in
the small jail here. and VIII not be re-
turned 10 the Richmond Jail during the
trial After the adjournment Of court hts
gray-haired father embraced him, and
journeyed home in dusty public CON
veyance surrounded by the curious.
Made up almost entirely Of lean, bronze
faced farmers. the jury as completed fol
lows the lines Indicated by Monday s
selections The twelve men as they re-
main after the defence exercised its four
peremptory challenges on the panel Of
sixteen are
y. ". Farley, quarryman. thirty-seven
years old; 2. l.. Wilson. thirty-eight years
old y l.. Fetteroff. contractor. thirty-tour
years old. Irving L. Bass ir.. fifty years
old Y. ". Fuqua, twenty-seven years old
". L. Burgess. ffty-two years old; NJ r.
Purdie. twenty-seven years old, VI. G.
Robinson. forty-four years old; Thomas A.
Hancock thirty-seven years old, Lewis
Robertson forty-four years old; ". r.
Rocks forty Eight years old; VI. z.
Blankenship. assistant superintendent of
a silk mill. thirty-eght years old. All are
farmers except the three otherwise speci-
fed.
Beattie conferred earnestly with his
lawyers and studied intently the faces in
the fun panel Of sixteen men before the
defence decided on It's eliminations. Then.
after a moment Of whispered conversation
with H. NJ Smith jr., his chief counsel.
the prisoner nodded his head and the clerk
announced that the names Of four farm
ers selected on Monday were dropped from
the list.
Judge lnstructs the Jury.
III charging the jurors who will be kept
during the trial at an old tavern near
the courthouse. Judge Walter \. Watson
simply set forth the law Of Virginia as
applicable TO homicide. As the indict-
ment covers all degrees from the first
degree TO involuntary manslaughter, he
explained that the defendant might be
found guilty accordingly.
IF you find him guilty Of murder In
the first degree" said The court you
shall say so and nothing more in which
event the punishment shall be death; but
Liz YOU find him guilty Of murder in the
second degree. YOU shall say 40 and shall
tx his punishment by confinement in the
pententiarv at not less than FIVE nor
more than eighteen years
After citing the penalty for lesser de
grees of manslaushter, the court con-
Guided with the words: IF you find the
prisoner not guilty Of any Of the offences
/ charged YOU shall say so and no more.
1t was hot almost 10 suffocauon in the
| courtroom to-day. None Of the witnesses
was on hand. and those who came TO see
/ Beulah Binford. the. girl in the case. %
were disappointed.
Thomas owen. an uncle Of Mrs Beattie
10 whose home Henry brought the body
with a tale OF a bearded highwaynan fir
I ing into his automobile from the road
way, probably will he the first witness
called for the commonwealth In the morn
/ ing
As usual B"at'ie spent an unbrokcn mig IL
81 sleep and dressed carefully for the trip
/ from Richmond he looked worried and a
bit pale, bur wore tho same afr Of conf
dence that impressed spectators when ne
/ pleaded not guilty at his arraignment on
Monday.
Tho automobile In which Beattie. with
| attaches Of the sheriTs Office, was maxi
| ing the trip from Richmond 10 the court
/ hotSa narrowly esCapad crashing into A
/ Seaboard Air Line passenger train. The
automobile was halted on the eastbound
| track Just I'm time 20 allow a train on
| the westbound track 20 pass. Beatuc
\ smiled al he incident