Las Vegas optic. (East Las Vegas, N.M.) 1908-1921, 1911-08-28
PRISONER NEVER FLINCHED
HE WAS APPARENTLY TAKEN UN.
AWAREs BY MoTHER-lN-
LAWS APPEARANCE.
GOOD WITNESS FOR STATE
MRS. OWEN TELLS OF SoN-IN.
LAWS DISSIPATION AND
PHYSICAL DEFECTS.

o Chesterfield Court House, Va, Aug
2S.-Suddenly and without the faint
est intimation hitherto during the
trial, the prosecution today confront
4 ed Henry Clay Beattie, Jr., with Mrs
: K. V. Owen, mother of the woman he
is alleged to have murdered.
In a taxicab, whose arrival was
' timed to coincide exactly with the mo.
ment Sheriff Gill exhibited in the court
room the clothing worn by Beattie on
: the night of the murder, Mrs. Owen
came to Chesterfield, her presence in
: this vicinity having been a well kept
secret by the prosecution.
Quickly and without the usual per-
functory questions incident to the in
PRODUCTION of a new witness, Prose
cutor Wendenberg questioned the wo-
man as to her knowledge of the do
mestic life of the Beatties and brought
to the surface point intended
as relevant to the alleged motive |
for the murder. namely that Beattie's |
physical condition. due to dissipation.
had caused much unhappiDess to his
wife, The witness said that on the
night of the murder she had caution
ed Mrs. Beattie not to go out alone
with her husband.
The prosecutions idea today appar-
emily was to prove that Beattie killed
his wife because of his fear that his
father might learn of his condition
and cut him off from the family The
testimony of Mrs. Owen took Judge
Watson as we'll as the crowd in the
court room by surprise and immediate
ly the court suggested recess and
a conference with counsel of both
Sides Jury and prisoner to further con-
slider testimony along this line.
Mrs. Owen had come from Dover,
Del, last night with her husband, who
accompanied her to the court room.
She stepped from an auto into the
court room and took the witness stand
without word being spoken, the Gus
tomary announcement by the sheriff
being dispensed with by previous
plan of the prosecution.
The prisoner raised his head in sur
prise, recognized the woman, and his
head dropped. At first he endeavor-
ed not to look in her direction but
she spoke so feebly that he found it
necessary to join the row of project
ing heads on the bench to hear her
! testimony. Once he nervously whis-
pered to Lawyer Smith beside him:
."Ask her to speak louder; l can't
hear"
Mrs. owen is said to have been her
daughters confidant and is believed
to have known of Beattie's relations
with the Binford girl. On the stand
Mrs. Owen told how she arrived at
the Beattie home on May 22, of the
birth of the Beattie child on May 81
and hinted at the tribulations of her
daughter caused by Beattie's rela
tions with the Binford girl.
3 Mrs. owen sat calmly in the wit
!. ness chair while her gray haired hus
hand famed her. Gowned in heavy
black, a thick veil gave only a partia
glimpse of the woman's features
!, When court recessed she was still ii
: the witness chair.
e II was learned that the prosecu
tion expected Mrs. Owen to testify OF
cross-examination late today that from
: Henry Beattie Jr's. actions when HI
: brought his dead wife home, she sus
g pected him. of the murder. Outside
n the court room it was rumored tha
t Mrs. Owen even asked young Beatti
practically if he did not commit th
deed.
3 4. Kline leaves tonight for New