Sentenced To Penitentiary For Undetermined Period
(Special to the News)
Luray, Oct. 8.– For having tied his feet and hands together with ropes and wires after shooting him five times, W. D. Gray of Sperrysville, near Luray, has been sentenced to the West Virginia penitentiary for an undetermined time, ranging from five to eighteen years, for the murder of his friend, Ralph Beckwith, also of Sperryville.
Gray and Beckwith boarded a train at Luray not long ago for Charlestown, W. Va. They left here searching for work. Soon after reaching Charlestown the men secured employment in a stone quarry at Bakerton, Jefferson county, W. Va. A difficulty over money matters arose between Gray and Beckwith.
Near an old and abandoned quarry not far from where the men were working they came to grips, when it is alleged Gray emptied the contents of his revolver into Beckwith’s body, which he carried into the old quarry. After tying Beckwith’s hands and feet together and placing a weight on the body Gray is alleged to have thrown the body into an eight-foot pool of water at the bottom of the quarry.
