Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1911-08-28
bEATT|E WAS
DISS|PkTED
This Led to Marital Unhap.
piness and His Present
Plight
HAS SENSATION
Mother of Murdered Woman
Placed on Stand Without
Previous Notice.

Chesterfield Court House, Va,
Aug. 28.-Suddenly, and without the
faintest intimation hitherto during
the trial, the prosecution today con-
fronted Henry Clay Beattie with Mrs.
R. 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 Beat.
tie, on the night of the murder, Mrs
Owen came to Chesterfield, her pres
ence in this vicinity having been a
well kept secret by the prosecution.
Dissipation Caused Unhappiness.
Quickly, and without the usual per.
functory questions incident to the in.
PRODUCTION of new witness, Prosecu.
tor Wendenberg questioned the wo.
man as to her knowledge of the do.
nestle life of Beattie's, and brought
to the surface point intended as
relevant to the alleged motive for the
murder-namely, that Beattie's physi.
cal condition, due to dissipation, had
caused much unhappiness to his wife
The witness said that on the night
of the murder she had cautioned Mrs.
Beattie not to 60 out alone with her
husband.
The prosecutions idea for today
apparently 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.
Judge Watson Surprised.
The testimony of Mrs. Owen took
Judge Watson as well as the crowd in
the court house by surprise, and i'm.
mediately the court suggested re.
cess and a conference with counsel
of both sides, jury and prisoners to
discuss. further testimony along this
line. Mrs. Owen had come from Do
yer, Del, last night, with her husband,
who accompanied her to the court
room. She stepped from an automo.
bile into the court room and took the
witness stand without a word being
spoken, the customary announcement
of a witness by the sheriff being dis
pensed with by previous plan of the
prosecution. The prisoner raised his
head in surprise, recognized the wo-
man, and his head dropped. At first,
he endeavored not to look in her di.
rection, but she spoke so feebly that
he found it necessary to join the row
of projecting heads on the bench to
hear her testimony.
Beattie Nervous. :
Once he nervously whispered to
Lawyer Smith beside him: "Ask her
to speak louder; I can't hear" Mrs.
Owen is said to have been her daugh-
ter's confidant, and is believed to
have known of Beattie's relations
with the Binford girl. On the stand,
Mrs. Owen told of how she arrived at
the Beattie home, on May %, after
the birth of the Beattie child, on
May 81, and hinted at the tribula-
tions of her daughter, caused by Beat
ties relations with the Binford girl.
Mrs. Owen sat calmly in the wit.
ness chair, while her gray-haired hus-
band famed her..
Gowned in heavy black, thick veil
gave only a partial glimpse Of the wo-
mans features.
Whom court rncaasod eho was still
in the witness chair.
Suspected Beattie From Start
It was learned that the prosecution
expected Mrs. Owen to testify, on
cross-examination late today, that
from Henry Beattie, Jr.'s actions.
when he brought his dead wife home,
she suspected him Of the murder. Out.
side of the court room 1t was rumored
that Mrs. Owen even asked young
Beattie practically If he did not com.
NIT the deed.