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Show THF MimnFD Man Who Say Beattie Brutally Attack and - Kill His Wife Chestorfleld Courthouse, Va., Scot. 7. Prosecutor Wcndcnburg declared today that he had decided not to request re-quest the opening o the Beattie case on account of the discovery of an alleged al-leged eye-witness. "We have a strong enough case without It," he said. "We could not get the man here for a couple of days at least, as ho lives out wesi. But we have asked him to come here, just the same, to see what there is to his story. Of course, we have received, as is usual in murder cases, many letters let-ters from alleged eye-witnesses. This one, however, signed his name, and we find that he did once work as a farm hand at a place near the scene of the' murder. We are going to Investigate In-vestigate It further, but you can take the story now for what It is worth." Mr. Wendenburg received the In formation In yesterday's mail. Tho writer, who until a few days after the murder of Mrs. Beattle, was a farm hand employed near the scene of the crime, said that he actually saw Young Beattle kill his wife saw him knock her from the automobile with the butt of a shotgun and then ohooJ her as she lay insensible on the croiind Ho wrote that Beattle threat ened him when he found that he had witnessed the deed, and the following dny gave him a suit of clothes and money with which to go away Though he kept quiet at first because he was afraid, tho man says now he does not want Beattie to escape punishment, and is willing to testify. At the outset, the prosecution was inclined to think this was Just another an-other crank's letter, of which many have been received by both sides since the trial began. An investigation investiga-tion was started, however, and several sev-eral of the writer's statements weVe soon corroborated. The Chesterfield farmer mentioned in the letter, acknowledged ac-knowledged that a man of the name used by the writer was employed by him until a few days after the murder, mur-der, and further declared It was a fact tbaKtbe.farmhajid "was choa-. -ing a TUnaway c6won-he'iiif,ht tho-crimc tho-crimc was committed. In telling his story, the alleged witness said ho was looking for a cow when he came upon the man and woman In an automobile automo-bile on the Midlothian turnpike, after 10 o'clock. The declaration that Beattie clubbed club-bed his wife with the gun before shooting her la considered by the law-yers law-yers apd detectives for the prosecution prosecu-tion with peculiar interest It is said ' that physicians who examined Mrs Beattie's body reported that the fron tal bono on the right side of the skull probably was broken, though the charge of shot had entered the left side and penetrated to the back of the head. On account of this. It is understood, un-derstood, Mr. Wendenburg thought seriously of referring to a wound on the right side of the forehead in the Indictment drawn for the grand Jury. The murdered woman's body will now probably be exhumed and examined. Mr. Wendenburg said he would not know what to do until he heard today tho result of the man's examination. He is ptrongly inclined to believe me lariii imuu s diui, uvvm. Saw the Murder. Tho letter writer gave a detailed account of tho tragedy as he claims to have witnessed It. He said in part: "I was In the pine woods on tho right hand side of the Midlothian turnpike as ,you go out from Richmond, Rich-mond, and I saw a light. As I walked closer to the road, I saw an automobile auto-mobile standing almost in the middlo of the road, facing toward Richmond, and there were two people in it a man and a woman. They were both sitting in the front scat. "They were quarreling. I could hear them talking loud, so I did not show myself, but waited behind a tree about ten feet from the edre of the road In the thick pine woods to hoar what they said. "The woman was pleading with the man She was saying that she wanted want-ed his love back again, and she did not want tho man to be cruel to her. The maa answered roughly "At one time I heard him say, 'I am tired of all thi3, I am going to end this." Then I heard the woman say, 'How are you r.oing to end it?' The man said something I could not hoar and then 1 heard him say, 'I'll show vou how I'm going to ond it.' He I got out of the mnchlne and walked across to the opposite side of the road from where I was and after he had heon thre a minute he came back with somothlng in his hands. I could not see what It was In the dark. Tho woman was standing In the machlnp ' in front of the left han 1 seat in the front rart of the automobile when the man came back. "Just when tho man came back I heard the woman scream once Then the man, who was -Handing In the road, swung what he had in his hand and hit the woman onUhc right side of, the face She fell from the ma- ' chine to the road and she did not i make a sound. '' "For a minute the man stood looking at hor and then I heard him say 'Damn you, you're not dead yet. I'll i fix vou.' Thep he up with a gun, which was what bo ha 1 hit the woman wom-an with, and be shot her where she lay lu the road by the front seat of the automobile. I did not seo where he shot her. 1 saw him throw the gun somewhere and he began to lift his wife's body In tho front scat of the automobile and I came out from the ttces. "Tbe mac. turned around and saw me, and ho said to me, 'Did you see this?' "I told him yes, I had seen.it. . ' " 'D you J- What in h 1 are you going" to do about It?' "I didn't say a thing. Then he began be-gan to threaten me. He said he was rich and .had. lots. of .friends in Richmond Rich-mond and If I- told on .him he would have me killed somehow. He said nobody no-body would believe "my story if I appeared ap-peared In court against him, anyway, and I had 'better get out. lib said he would give me -some money and a suit of clothes if I would' go away. "I "told the man L would 'co away. Then he told me to come to Beattie's store the next day and. there would be som-o money for me. I Vent and he got some money and bought r suit of clothes. I stayed in ii South Richmond for two days then, but I was so "scared and "got 'fo nervous after af-ter that two days, I took the' train to tills place." -. ' - "M (Continued. on Pago Eight.) WITNESSED T.HE MURDER. (Continued from Page One.) i - Instructions to Jury. Court convened at 10.30 v o'clock. Judge Watson declared that counsel In the argument today might reler to portions of testimony "not fit for ladles to hear," and requested all omen in the court room to lea-ve. Judge Watson then read the ln-struqtlonB ln-struqtlonB to tho jury In part ho said- "Upon tho trial of the criminal case b a Jury, tho law contemplates tho concurrence of twelve minds In the conclusion of guilt before a conviction convic-tion can bo made. Each individual juror must bo satisfied beyond a reasonable rea-sonable doubt of tho defendant's qUIIL UCIU1U 111. villi W1IJ1-"1 ' " - consent to a verdict of guilty. Each I juror should feel the responsibility resting on hlth as a member of the jury and should realize that his own mind must be convinced beyond n reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt before se can consent to a verdict ver-dict of guilty. Therefore, if any individual in-dividual member of the jury, after having duly considered all the evl denco in the case, and after consir) tation with his fallow jurors, should entertain such reasonable doubt of de- fendant's guilt, as is set forth in tho other instructions in this case, It S3 ' his duty not to surrender his own convictions pimply because the balance of the Jury entertain different convictions." convic-tions." Argument Begun. The prisonor listened Intently to the reading of the Instructions and smiled when they had been concluded. conclud-ed. J. M. Gregory began the argument argu-ment for tho prosecution at 10.55 o'clock "The record Jn this case shows," he said, "on a dark night, July IS, tho soil of this county was stained by some high assassin with the blood of an innocent woman I believe I can show that no. other man committed the crimo but the husband of that woman, with the very gun you, gentlemen gen-tlemen of tho Jury, have examined here, "He was the only man seen on the spot that night, and he was armed with the same gun he has here identified." iden-tified." Attorney Gregory, 'after referring to the crime as "hellish," reviewed the evidence of the boys who came from a dance at Bonair on the night of tho murder,, arguing that It was the prisoner they saw and none other, crouching in front of the machine, and a woman on the running board Mr. Gregory scathingly attacked tho testimony of Charles H Kestle-berg Kestle-berg who said it was he the boys saw on thejr way from Bonair. "Here Is a man," declared Mr. Gregory, "who, on a drunken spree, 'tries to toll us the hour he was on nlhe Midlothian turnpike when he was on bcveral roads that night with n woman dresBed in white. And the boys, honest youug men, tell us it was a different make of car they saw, and a women dressed difterently standing .on the running board, and , the machine a mile nearer tho crime. They tell us, too, the exact hour, which corresponds almost exactly to the hour of the crime. I won't believe be-lieve there Is a man on this Jury who i believes a. thing Kestleberg said." i Mr. Gregory's speech tingled with religious fervor. Often ho quoted scripture, and In a trembling voice rc- I ferred to Cain as the first homicide, j "Henry Clay Beattle, jr., should have ' been tho keeper of that devoted wife," said Mr. Gregory, "but he became a traitor and forsook her. Why? We were not legally required to prove a motive, but the commonwealth has gone beyond and unlocked the door of Henry Clay Beattle. jr 's affections. He went to the redllght district for his affections while a tender babe was , on his wife's breast " Bitter denunciation of Beulah Bin-ford Bin-ford followed. "My God!" exclaimed Gregory, "I hope I never shall see as black a character as has been depicted to you by witnesses as that of Henry Clay Beattle, jr , the man who showered his affections on a notorious woman." |