The Lancaster news. [volume] (Lancaster, S.C.) 1905-current, 1913-02-08
BEACH AND WIFE
A HAPPY COUPLE
They Were Affectionate To-
wards Each Other After AS
sault of Which He is Accus.
ed.

ed.
Aiken, Feb. 4.-The prosecu-
tion in the case of Frederick o.
Beach today practically finish
ed the construction of it's cir
cumstantial case, by which it
purposes to show cause that the
New York millionaire assaulted
his wife and inflicted a cut on
her throat. All but one or two
OF the states witnesses were
examined.
Tomorrow Mrs. Beach will
take. the stand to tell the Jury
that it was negro and not her
husband who committed the as
sault upon her last February,
that led to the latter's indict-
ment.
Not one of the eight wit
nesses whose testimony con-
sumed the first day of the
trial, could tell just how the as
sault occurred. Four members
of the Wyman family, living al
most directly across the street,
told of hearing series of
screams from different parts of
the Beach premises about $50
o'clock on the night of February
II. Two of them swore that
the dying echo of the last
scream was quickly followed
by a loud rap on the door and
the sound of a mans voice ex-
claimed:
This is Beach; fet me in"
BEACH'S EXPLANATION.
BY one of these same wit
nesses, DR.. Marion Wyman, the
defense brought out the fact
that Beach had explained to him
the next day that after finding
his wife prostrate, the victim
of a negro assailant, and after
carrying her into the house, he
had gone out again in search of
the man. Returning, unsuc-
cessful, Beach told him he had
knocked on the door to be ad
mitted.
DIR. Wyman and his father,
DIR. Hastings Wyman, the first
outsiders to see Mrs. Beach af-
ter she had been wounded, ad-
mitted on cross examination
that the attitude of Beach and
his wife toward each other was
one of affection. They reached
the room into which Mrs. Beach
had been carried while blood
was streaming from a wound in
her neck just under the right
ca and Beach told them the
story he has stuck to ever since
that his wife was attacked
in front of their cottage by an
unknown negro while he was
outside giving her dogs an air
ing.
CONSPICUOUS FIGURE.
Mrs. Beach was the most con-
spicuous figure in court today.
She sat through two long ses-
sions, taking an occasional note
from the testimony and chat
ting with her husband and the
friends who surrounded her.
When she smiled she showed
two rows of perfect pearl teeth
and her sad brown eyes alone
betrayed whatever anxiety she
may have felt.
A jury of countrymen will de-
eide the guilt or innocence of
the wealthy New Yorker. Seven
of them are farmers, one a
merchant and the others cotton
mill men. Every man answer
ed unhesitatingly when asked
if he thought he could give the
accused a fair and impartial
trial.
Both sides expressed conf
dence tonight that the case
would go to the jury tomorrow.
JURY QUICKLY DRAWN.
Mr.. and Mrs. Beach were
chatting gaily when court was
called to order at 1920 o'clock
this morning. Only % minutes
was required to secure the jury,
of which II. P. Davis, a farmer,
was designated as foreman.
Beach was not formally ar
raigned, but was permitted to
sit with his counsel during the
reading of the Indictment
charging him with assaulting
his wife with "murderous in
tent"
The prosecutions case was
opened with the reading of tes-