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Show JUIIY SAYS BEATTIE I8JJILTY Cenricted Nan Sentenced to Die in Electric Chair November 24. JURY UNANIMOUS ON FIRST BALLOT New Trial Denied; Stay Is - Granted and Prisoner Will Appeal. IHKSTKRrlrXD COrRTHOlSK. Va., Sept. . Twelve Virginians, most-It most-It farmera, knelt at duak last night in tne obscurity of the email jury room ot ' bmterneld courthouse prayed fervent-Iv fervent-Iv that they alight in judgment aright on Henry Clay rVattt. Jr.. indicted in-dicted for the murder of kia wife, arose from their kneea. deliberntednearly as hour and aJdenttrron by en! e corded a verdict of guilty. After weighing earefullv the meaning mean-ing of their verdict and one more on . beaded kneea beeeeehiag divine neeuJt-aace neeuJt-aace against possible error, at the end of Iftv-eight miautee the jurora tiled into the bushed and crowded courtroom and with atartling suddenness twelve Ho calmly stood up and waited. "Hav you fntlmn aareod on verdict?" ver-dict?" aattod JinliTf Wataon. "Wo havs," ashl Foreman Burgee, and a I mnt at ths hid Instant that J tide Watson asked "what la your ver-dirt?' ver-dirt?' all twslvs men yelled "guilty." Vnvaraed In law and th forma of a murder trial, the Jurymen had not !-1 elfled what 6rt of murder. Asked what degree. Mr. Purges ana we red aim-ply, aim-ply, "guilty ai IndiriM." Under Virginia practice, murder la presumed pre-sumed lo be second riegre unleas otherwise other-wise specified. It waa Incumbent on the Jury to fix the degree, ao Judge Wataon advised the Jurymen to confer again on the point, fteven minutes later they returned re-turned with the verdict of "murder In tba first degree." Th prisoner stood erect and motionless. motion-less. Ills face. In color a yellowish green throughout the dsv, waa Immobile. The light of lamp cast a drearv shadow on his unturned chin aa he faced the Jury. Hts eyelids aaed, hut did not blink. In stesdv gaae he held hts eyes en the faces of the twelve men who had pronounced h-a punishment as If to penetrate their minds and determine deter-mine the reason whr. It waa not a resentful re-sentful eipresalon, however, and when the court asked If the prisoner had anything any-thing to sav he answsred: , "I have nothing le say Ha then sal down, irtw Trial Danlad. Tks perfunctory motions fr a new trial were made by counsel for the defense. de-fense. The usual granting of pesmls-atoi pesmls-atoi to argue the point waa denied, as Judge Watsng. In, a stem voice, declared de-clared that all trial niHnaa of Ijvo court had been on comparatively unlniDoriMtit details and H-no way could have Influ- ented the verdict. A stay of execution waa -armnied. howevetv In order to air coiuisel ao oonortuait fo sddIA for A writ uf error when tba oaurt of appeals meets In November. Judge Wataon delivered an Impressive speech to the prisoner. He told how the young man had stained his own life and that of the community in which he lived by hla sordid acta. When the trial first started, said Judas Wataon. he had honed that Virginia might be cleared of the crime for which not only the state felt shame, but which the entire country deprecated. He had boned that the counsel coun-sel would prove ths defendant In nor en t. but the evidence he regarded aa onva-lng onva-lng and overwhelming. "The court In this trial" said Judare Wataon, "has endeavored In lis derisions to lean toward the side of the ortooner. and. In Ita chance to the lurv aa well, attempted to gUe him the benefit of every doubt and every opportunity to establish es-tablish hts Innocence. The rullnaa mostly most-ly have been not on matters of law. but on small questions of fact, ftsnsanca ' You have had a fair and Imoartlal trial, Mr. Beat t la. and the Jury ha a done what It considers its duty. Therefore, vou have bean convicted of murder in the first decree, and November 14. between be-tween the huurs of sunrise and e unset, you must forfeit your Itfe to the community. com-munity. May God have mercy oa your soul." A moment later, by the side of bis father fa-ther and hla brother. Doualas. their heads bowed In vrtef, walked voum Seattle Seat-tle In the darkness toward hla coll. Just then a sharp reoort and a flash rent the thick Meekness outside the oourtbouse. "Mv Ood!" exclaimed Judas Watson, as throua-h hla mind flltttv. f har .n. Veicea, iaatearl of tae usual one of the foreman, spoke the word ".uilty" in ckerue. It waa almost a shout. Beam TJanered. The aneetr f death that stalked en Midlothian turnpike on July 10, when Mra. Louise Owen Beattie waa alam, atared hard at the voun husband, ready to claim Its victim bv electrocution electrocu-tion en Friday, November 24. But the prisoner returned the gaze, uaswerv-' uaswerv-' tne aad nnafraid. , , - The court of appeals will he asked to put a writ of error and a new trial. Youne; Beattie, conirnnt ot the local weapons yet ttt kia diepoeaj; did not surrender. Instead he consoled hla broken-hearted father and comforted him as he whla-4re. whla-4re. "I have not loot yel, father." I'nueual aa waa the tragedy, the jurymen jury-men aid not h rttsis to edmtt to their trleode that they stood Mi JiideTiient not only over the cold-blooded murder, but on Xeattle'a matrimonial Infidelity aa well. It perhapa waa a draatlu .continuation of Virginia Juslli-e. wliUh In the but half-renturr half-renturr has sent to death aiirh similar murderers aa rblllpa and McCue. Intereet Intenee. At tlx close of 4 powerful addreee by t O. - Wendenhurn. the voluntary aaalst-ont aaalst-ont of the commonwealth In the caao. the puspeneo waa felt not alone In the courtroom, court-room, but In Richmond, where ihnueande of people awalled the eutrome. The Jury had Un eleven daya heard evidence; for . two dare, speeches, hut the words of ht'endenbtira ranf In their eara aa they left tho courtroom to And their verrllH. "It that man go freer' he cried. ''What, let that man o free? Why. the motlrhoed of Virginia, the womanhood pf thla nation will atrudder-Hi terrur aa the serurKvnf its life la threatened. . I,ei this mil (re? The man who beaked In the degraded aunehlue of another woman whiTe at hla home a oun wire pursed his child? Oentlemen. I merely ask you In the name of Justice to do your duty.1 In vivid detail the prosecutor pictured the wife aa alio startsd on her journey tnto the coot air of a summer night. To the Jury waa port re m the automobile In which she rode beside bor bushand. bow rlesltle stepped Into the dnrkneee of the . tkkhet. found the shotgun, which he bsd earlier concealed, and dellberauly alew hts wife. ytvU forteayal of Crime. . The desperate rule home with a bleed -lng end lifeless body crushed Into the email place In the front part of the machine, ma-chine, end the husband coldly sitting against' the blood -covered head of his wife, wero graphh-ally detailed to the Jury. Only taxing attention wee given by Mr. Wentienburg to the purchase of tho gun by Paul (kettle. cousin of the accused. The defense bed aeserted. be aaid. that en Paul s story alono wea built the case of the promutlna, but be held aloft the blood-etaJned clothing of the prisoner. aa the mute evidence of tae crime " and esked: "Ho you want any other evidence?" . rlleod Becked the lower part of the shirt, la deep. Mack blots; not a nark nee en either sleeve . of shirt or coat The prteoner had declared thet be held ble dead wife with one hand and steered his car with the other, but the ebaenoe of blood on the arms, the proeecutor de-lared, de-lared, gave th II to hie story. Not a o with th clothing did the prosecutor prosecu-tor dteentanele what he termed the "cheapest fabrication of the cheapest Bsureec." bet he shouted sham at the prisoner for hie relation with a girl of to eg of It yeare until within hla own arned life end held her forth aa the SnaKlv for the crime. " Sua to Wicked Feaeloa. "And the prisoner admits thai It waa hts passloa." aaid Wendenburg. "Tee It was paaeion. but paaslon born of th d-vll, and passion that sont to death hie wife so that h mrght continue hie VK-loue pleasure." Mr. Wendenburg con. eluded hi a duress a few minute nfur I o'clock. A brief resplu waa given the Jury and at :: o'clock It began eonalderauoa of too ease. rer arty-elght minute th juror were together In deep consultation and prayer, men f simple life, who each morning . during the trial sng hvmna and etrove t forget the story of dissipation ae related re-lated on the witness stand. W hat had been generally predicted waa true, nemely, their mlnda weee well made up before they left the courtroom. W I- Burge, a equare-Jewrd man with an enrnet fa.-e. wa elected foreman. They balloted and It waa no aurpriee. aa they aftranrd declared, that all voted alike They preyed that they might not take a lUe wrongfully and they opened their ' conscience to one another for nearly aa hvur. ao that they might go ba lo th courtroom Srmly convinced of their duly nnd of one mind. Awaltlsf tka Verdict. .In th courtroom, meantime, eat Henry Day Beattie. Jr.. lb sporting pag of a nenspepr spread before him. But he did; not red kmg. He folded th paper and concealed hie face In It. Tho ho aat near th bey of Iron nerv observed a twitching of hla Hp as though moving In prayer aa he sat with loed eve , awaiting the return of the Jury. H taiaed tots head for a moment, dropped lb paper again and began reading. Then he whtapered a few word to his father and brother. II waa for them he felt and to tbem he counseled cheerfulne. It was Denny dark In the courtroom when the Jury returned. Three oil lamp ndded gloom to the scene The red raye of the Betting sun streamed through the wlndowe. On vry tll rested a telegraph Instrument and operator oper-ator tensely welted for the verdict. A the mee of feces rising In an Incline' to th .hahhy ceiling statej at the Jury i men. rlmou Jurists looked down from ' soiled painting. In the mind of thai gerxng crowd remained the ring of th ' I -o erf ul -oec of th prosecutor wh denounced the nun "who exchanged rhel ww of .virtue fur paeston a feouia ta-I per" I The eoi. asked the prisoner le rue, thought that startled hundreds around the convicted uxoricide. But It waa not another Iraredv. The prisoner waa teen walking calmlv on. Th dlonntlon wee an unusttallv heavy cuarg of a photogreDher'a flashlight. Th crowd lingered at th 111 and peered into th call. Illuminated bv a single la mo. On the bed. with hla head In hi bands, est Beattie, hla father and brother beside him. Jailer -owlll sent th curiou away. Onlv n tew prisoner prison-er aw the prisoner break down and ween In the solitude of th rll. An hour later th hamlet waa deertd. A few hundred yards from th Jll. In a small Jiotel. twelve men gthrd their belongings belong-ings m allenc and on by on thev drove way Into the darkaeae to their elmple home. |