Convict Rappahannock Man on Murder Charge.
William Gray is Given Prison Term.
[Special to The Times-Dispatch.] SHENANDOAH, VA., Oct. 5 – William Gray, charged with the murder last June of Ralph Beckwith, both men said to be of Rappahannock County, was found guilty of second degree murder, according to word received here from Charlestown, W. Va., where the trial took place.
Gray, who did not take the stand in his own defense, was charged with shooting Beckwith five times, and then tying his victim with rope and wire. Beckwith’s body was found in a quarry hole near Bakerton, Jefferson County.
Beckwith’s body was not found for sixteen days after he had disappeared from his home. Gray was convicted on circumstantial evidence.
Sentence for second degree murder in West Virginia carries from five to eighteen years in the penitentiary.