The Washington herald., 1911-11-25

Continued from Page One.
but he went to the chair in a fashion
that the religious of the community may
call sanctifed and the worldly may call
game" He satisfied every one.
No Longer FIippant.
Beattie was aroused from tossing, fit
full sleep at $50 o'clock this morning. He
seemed to realize, as soon as he arose.
that he was facing his last hours, for
there was a peculiar gentleness, all
agreed. In the voice which greeted first
his guards, then his spiritual advisers.
He was far different from the fiippant,
grinning Henry of old. Already he had
picked out his costume. He donned
white tennis shirt, open V-shaped at the
neck and cuts of at the elbows; pair OF
light colored flannel trousers, turned up
at the bottom, and black silk stockings,
with low shoes.
To the last guard on duty he said:
"Good-by, Frank. and good luck to you.
wish you would say that l hope God
will bless every one who has sympa-
thized with me-"
Then he gripped the keepers hand and
began praying with his clergymen. They
arose after fifteen minutes and sat one
on each side of him, reading the Bible
keeper brought in a cup of coffee, which
the boy drank.
II was said-and was perhaps true
that this contained the merciful opiate
which is usually given to a condemned
man nearing death, to dull his agony.
Meanwhile outside twelve witnesses of
the execution had gathered in the home
of Supt Wood, of the penitentiary. and,
after a few words of instruction had
1t-lr IN
the death chamber, a room twenty-five
feet by twelve feet, in the basement OF
the prison.
Automobiles containing the newspaper
correspondents pulled up in front Of the
prison. A few men and women drove
along in horse carriages. couple of
hundred of curious folk lined. up on the
sidewalks and waited in a slashing rain
for they knew not what
starts on Last Walk.
After a final bAndshake with his min
listers, young Beattie at 7:19 O'Clock, start
ed on his short twenty-foot walk from
his cell to the death chamber. The cler-
Cymen. with heads bowed and prayers
on their lips, preceded him. Two guards
held his arms lightly, but apparently he
needed no assistance.
In a corner of the room. diagonaIy
from where he entered, sat the twelve
witnesses They were in darkness be-
cause the only light shining was one over
the chairs of the prison physicians.
At the door the guards relaxed their
clasp and each minister patted fare
well upon the boys shoulders, tnen
stepped back and out.
Beattie walked steadily forward for a
few feet, then caught sight of the chair,
and-whether 1t was from bravery or
from an opiate none could tell-stopped
for an instant, smiled in the direction OF
the doctors and the witnesses, and seated
himself in the big oak chair with its
CHASTITY arm and leg clutching devices.
He did not smile again. His lips made
no movement either of prayer or fare
well. His left hand seemed to clutch
the chair arm fiercely, while the right
extended in limp fashion over its end.
Strapped to Chair.
At 7:2o o'clock, Just a minute after he
had left his cell, he had been strapped
fast in the chair and the electrodes had
been adjusted by three guards.
The lower part of the headpiece COW
cred his eyes. He could see nothing.
The witnesses could only see that the
rest of his face was immobile.
His last gaze was upward and his last
vision was that of a cold rain drying
against the panes of the death rooms
one window.
A few seconds, the full voltage-about
2OOO-was turned on by a shadowy figure
which slipped in noiselessly behind the
chair. The body lurched forward alb
ruptIy against it's combining straps. Then,
as usual, the current was lowered to the
minimum of 200 volts and alternately in
creased and decreased for about two
minutes.
At 7:22 the physicians examined the
linn form in the chair and at 7:24 pro-
nounced Henry Clay Beattie. jr., dead.
Makes Announcement to Crowd.
AS soon as the official announcement
was made, Supt. Wood, or the peniten-
tiary, stepped to the front door and an
nounced to the rain-soaked crowd out
side:
The men and women dispersed in ST.
At 9 o'clock the body was claimed on
behalf of the Beattie family by Rev.
Mr.. Fix.
James Morrissette, the undertaken, who
took II in charge was, curiously, a play
mate and chum of Henry Clay Beattie
in his boyhood days. 1t was taken nrst
to the undertaker's shop, then later to
the Beattie residence in South Richmond.
The news of the execution and con-
fession was received with a feeling OF
general relief.
out In remote Chesterfield County,
where Henry was tried. the twelve farm
er-jurors, who convicted him OF murder.
were the most relieved persons of all.
II was said that severai days ago,
through letters sent to each other. they
agreed to pray for Henry Beattie at the
time Of his electrocution-to pray for his
souls salvation and to pray likewise
that they had made no error. And they
did pray. Thsy win meet on sunday. It