The New York Herald Newspaper, September 19, 1874, Page 4

4 NEW YORK HERALD. SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER 19, 1874.—TRIPLE SHEET, INTERWENABLE TILTON | Further Revelations in Reference to the | Plymouth Church Scandal. ADULTERY AND BLACKMAIL. More of Mr Written by Herself. TWO IDEAL HOMES.| Mr. Beecher Arraigned for Se- duction and Falsehood. Damaging Extra from the Church Records. | Mr. Tilton opens his | statement with the oduction:— following Throw the put the tru Ward anim y, 1 rightly interpret against the Rev. Henry But many iair-minded persons, charitable doubvt, have asked me for some {urther contirmation of the one chief allegation in this controversy. My sworn state- ment, published in the Brooklyn Argus of July 20, was n0t written Jor publication, otherwise [ would have cited in it @ greater number of facts and proofs, The only use which I designed jor that statement was Simply to read it to the Investigaung Committee, peiore whom L expected to confirm its charges by’ such additional testimony as the investigators (if such they could be called) should require. But the committee, ting Of siX trusted friends of the accused, inted by him tor the sole purpose, not ol dis- covering his guilt, but of pronouncing his acquit- tal, resented my dccusation against their popular lavorite, and, to punish me {or making It, c verted their tribunal into a star chamber for try- ing, not him, but me. The questions which they asked me were mostly irrelevant to the case, ana the only part of my testimony that bore directly on Mr, Beecher’s adultery they cancelled irom their report oi my eXamibation. “One of the com- mittee’s attorneys said to me, “If Mr. Beecher ts Be co guilty, | prefer not vo know i whole com- Mittee acted on this predetermined plan. The chief witnesses who could testify against Mr. Beecher—notably Francis D. Moulton, Joseph H. Ricnards, Martua B. Bradshaw, Susan B. Anthony, Francis %. Carpenter, "Emma R. Moulton, Henry C. Bowen, Thomas Kinseila and others—were ejther not willing to testily or their evidence was set aside as na being officially before a tribunal that dia not wish to receive it. Accordingly, my indictment against Mr. Beecher was left by tie Committee to stand without other proof than that which my statement of July 20 aforded, unassisted by other witnesse When the committee asked me if tbe statement contained my whole case I answered no; lor it Was simpiy a succinct narrative, giving only such dates and documents as1 thought sufficient tor the committee’s private inquiry, and yet more than suMicient to put an impartial committee on the to the whole truth. Since right road the date of its publication several coun- ter statements have appeared, including Mr. Beecher’s denial, closely followed by Mrs. Til- ton’s—both of which were untrue—then by the committee’s numerous publications of one-sided testimony, and last of al) by a verdict based solely on these untruthful denials, to the neglect of ail the positive allegations on the ocher side; so that the committee accepted the silly Hctions of Bessie Turner, but rejected the serious facts of Mr. Moul- ton, nor did they even invite Mr. Bowen to appear before them; all which untair proceedings ana un- canaid publications require Of me, for the sake of some hesitant minds, a reply which the larger portion of the community have already made jor themselves. I, thereiore, submit the following facts and evidences, arranged, a8 iar as con- venient, in chronological order, and making a harrative when, as it progresses step by step, ‘will aim to correct and counteract, one by one, the untrue denials of Mr. Beecher and Mrs. Tilton and the unjust deductions of the committee. He then proc»eds, quoting from his own letters to various persons and Mr. Beecher’s letters to him, to show the kindly natuve of his personal re- lations to the Plymouth pastor down to July 3, 1870, the date of tne alleged confession to him by Mrs. Tilton of criminal intimacy with Mr. Beecher. He says the charge of malice against Mr. Beecher which Mrs. Tilton avers he frequently displayed during “the last ten years’ is a pure invention, and arraigns the conclusion of the commitiee based upon it as an unjust accusation, saying that even nowhe bears no “heated and malicious mind” toward him. Mr. Tilton continues by quot- ing from a score of Mrs, lilton’s love letters to him and an equal number of his to her, written during thelr several separations between 1865 and May, 1870, to show the har- mony and affection between them. He adds @ note from Oliver Johnson, alluding to @ kiss from a little woman who smiled through ber tears as she spoke of the long season before her of separation from “Dear Theodore,” and also , quotes Mr. Beecher as saying, “She seemed to me an affectionate and devoted wife, looking up to fer husband as one far above the common race of men.” Mr. Tilton asserts that his old mother de- clares she has never heard him speak a harsh word, says he never struck one of bis children, and as God is his witness never laid hand on nis wie except caressingly, nor ever threatened her with violence or subjected her to privation, and that all bis earnings have been spent for his iamily. MRS. TILTON’S CONFESSION. After stating that for several weeks prior to July 3, 1870, Mrs. Tilton had been away irom home in a spirit of alienation, during which time only a slight correspondence ensued, on the 3d of July she came home, and alter their greetings said she had a wite’s secret, which she had long kept in her heart in connection with that event—a secret which she had several months before, while on a Sick bed, resolved to tell me, but lacked the courage. Since then the tone of her mind, she gaid, had improved with her health, and, naving prayed for strength to tell me the truth witnout fear, she had now come on purpose to clear her mind of a burden which, if longer concealed, she felt wouid by and by grow too great for her to bear. What the secret was which she was about to Gisciose I could not conjecture, Before disclosing it she exacted from me a solemn pledge that I would not injure the person of whom she was about to speak, nor communi. cate to him the fact of her making such a revela- tion, for she wanted to inform him in her own way that she had divulged to me the facts of the case. After exacting these conditions, to which I pledged myself, she narrated with modesty and diMidence, yet without shamefacedness or sense of guilt, a detailed history of her long acquaint ance with Mr. Beecher—of a growing iriend- ship between them—of a passionate fondness which he at length began to exnibit towards her— of the imadequacy of his home iife and his consequent need that some other woman than Mrs, Leecher should act the part of a wife to him—ot the great treasure which he found in Mrs, Tilton’s sweet and tender afection—o! his pro- testation of a greater homage jor her than for any other woman—of her duty to minister to his mind and body—and of the many specious arguments by which he commended these views to her, in order to overcome her Puritan repugnance to them; and ste said that finally, im an interview between herself and Mr, Bee long alter little Paul's death, and as a recompense for the sympathy which her pastor had shown her during that bereavement, she then and there yielded her person to his sexual embrace, This event, she stated, occurred October 18, 1868, during my in New €ngland, and she showed me 4 memorandum in her diary marked at ‘that date with the words, “A day memorable.” She further said that on the next Saturday even- tng (while I was still absent) Mr. Beecher visited her at her home in Livingston street and consum- absence mated with her auother act of sexual intimacy. She furtuer coniessed that at intervals during the ensuing {ail and winter, and in the spring fol- lowing, she repeated with’ him certain. acts of criminal intercourse though solicited oiten. Furthermore, wis! great particularity, she men. tioned the several places of these ihterviews, which 1 cannot bring mysel{ to chronicle here, This Coniession was made by Mrs. Tilton volun- tarily, and nol in response to any accusation by me, fori had never accused her o! guilt etuner with Mr. Beecher or with any other person, nor had I ever suspected ber of such wrongdoing, yielding to er at his house, not | him seldom, | | Woman's Tights have Killed you, Neither was her confession made In sickness, but im unusual Pealth. It was the tree act of a sound mind under an accumulating pressure of con- science no longer to be resisted; her sin, as she described it to me, consisting not so much of her | aduitery as of the deceit which she was tuereby compelied to practise toward Ler husband. * * * . * * This confession, stripped of its details but in- ciuding its principal fact, was made by Mrs. Tito! not only to me, but to several other persons, t- | cluding Mr, Mouiton and his wife; aud A SIMILAR CONPESSION WAS MADE BY MR. BEECHER, not only to me, but to Mr. Moulton and his wie. Some ofthe confidants to whom Mrs. Tilton tne trusted this secret were lady iriends of hers, whose names | am not williug to be the first to drag into this unhappy controversy. But as Susan B, Authony has already been named Mr, Tiltou reproduces extracts Irom a letter pur- porting to be written by that lady to Mrs, Hooker, dated ) mober 16, 1872, referring to the public tion by Mrs, Woodhull, and concluding: “No, Mrs. Hooker, I cannot now, any more than t winter, comply with your request to reveal Mrs. Tilton’s whole story.’? ee a SL ae “Your brother will yet see bis way out; aug let us hope he will be able to prove himself abové the willingness that others shali suiler lor weakness or wickedness of his. “if he has no new theories, then he wil! surely be compelled to admit either that he has failed to iive or to preach those he has; and, whichever horn of the dilema be may choose, ' will acknowledge either weakness or wickedness, or bout.” The above letter trom Miss Anthon, Tilton, pot only indicates that Mra, fessed her ual intimacy wito Mr. B 8 also that this intimacy was broug' not because (as Mr. Beecher dishonorably charges In bis statement) Mrs, Tiiton “thrust her agection on him unsought,” but because he bimsel! was the aggressor upon her love, honor and good nam I know iuli well from Mrs, Tilton’s trathrul story told me at a time when she could have had no pos- sible motive to deceive—that Mr, Beecher made the advances, whic she lor along time repelled. It Was he, not she, Who instigated and achieved the criminality between them. It was he, the rev- eread pastor, who sougot out his trustful parish- toner and craftily spread his tolls about ber, en- suaring her virtue and accomplishing her seduc- tion. Mrs, Tilton was always too much of a lady to thrust her affection upom Mr. Beecher or any otter man “unsought.’? And yet Mr, Beecher, alter having possessed himseli of @ woman at Whose jeet he liad Kneit for years belore her sur- render, has finally 'urned upon her with the false says Mr. ton Cun- her, but out, accusation that she was his tempter, not he hers; for which act on bis part I brand him as a coward of uncommon base- ness, whom ali manly men, both good and [shall never permit bad, should equally despise. “she is him to put the blame on this woman. guiltless,’? hi take back that word, He well knew that the mo- tive to guilt did pot come from this gentle lady's pure and cleanly mind, Lrepeat here what I said before the committee—and wnat I shail believe to the end of my lile—that Ehizabetn Tilton ts a Woman of pure heart and mind, sinued against rather than sinning, yielding ouly to a strong man’s triumph over her conscience and will, and through no Wautonness or lorwarduess of her own. I have been told that I endanger my success in the batsle which [am now fighting by maxing this coicession to my wife’s goodness of motive. But LT um determined in ali this controversy to speak the | exact truth in al: points; and L know that no in- delicacy in Mrs, Tilfon’s Dehavlor ever proceeded trom her own voluntary impulse or suggestion; but that, on the contrary, her highly emotional religious nature was made by her pastor the means whereby he accomplished the ruin of his coniiding victim. THE MOTHER-IN-LAW. After along explanation of the il! will between | himsel! and Mrs, Tilton’s mother, Mrs. Morse, to | whom Mr, Tilton asserts his wife confessed her guilt with Mr, Beecher, the state nent gives some | lady, whom Mr, | xtracts from letters irom that ‘Tilton partly excuses on the ground of Une of these reads thus:— “You infernal villiin! This night you shonid be in jai. * * * Why your treacherous tongue insanit, has not ere this been taken out by the roots is a | wonder,” “Your slimy, polluted, orawny hand curses everything you touch. A perlect type of Urian Heep. This not original. It 18 well understood why T bave been turued out of your rotcen house.” “4 nave said you were not worth the time and paper, and I would never Waste either on you; but the hypocrisy and villany of your course has of late been so apparent apd the sight of your base and perfidious person so revolting, 1 can tell you my opinion better this than any other way.” “IL can with the stroke of my pen bring you to your knees and brand you for life. * * * The world would be better for the riddance of such a Villain and wink no more of putting you aside than killing the meanest cur which runs the strect. You diabohcal, infernal, | would have killed you,” | kc, &C., &C. ou told Carrol Thit you. You fool, Carroil Kuew you deserved it.” ~Retrioutive justice has partially overtaken you, The remark I made three years ago last summer, ‘It you nad gone for your family instead of looking alter woman's rights meetings, you would not be obliged to look up your lost trank.’ was told to leave the house and never enter 1t. For this you were made a beggar suddenly. Just asi predictea. And this I call retributive justice.” “Tnever associated my child’s name in the most distant manner with Mr. B. (Mr. Beecher), The nearest I ever came was when Joseph (Mrs, Morse's Son) questioned me how much | knew of ter—u | thought B. was implicated. | said, n say 18, I will tell you all my darling told »—she bowed her head” just as she did on that “dark and dreadiul night when you, with your fist in her face, compeiled her to acknowledge this sacre/ secret. And that act, with all its sickening details, will haunt me to my dying day.’’? ‘ poor, dear cliid never answered your bestial want—t0o religious by nature and grace for such as you, and this want he answered, ‘ill this hour I can swear that the only comiort I have taken las been In the fact that he was a comfort and did sympatuize with her.’? “Mr M. * sorrow Oi his life, and he now in asmall measure understands my suffering.” “Do you suppose aiter your vile tongue has en permitted to wag to E, D, that I will be silent’ No, I will not. My poor distracted child said, nota week since, ‘Ma, I fear Elien Dennis wiil ‘ruin me and my chilaren forever.’ “You retaliate by exposing the only deed which poor deluded bi my martyred child ever did which was not God- like, and this was brought about by the love and sympathy that man had for her wretchedness; and how she ever came to expose him or herself to one she knew So well could not be trusted, eternity Will uot be long enough to reveal the mystery.” THE PLOT POR A DIVORCE. Mr. Tilton details the doings of his mother-in- law, and proc 3 tans The eccentric, uncoutroilable and miscnief-mak- ing wor whose pecullarities are sufficiently set forth in the above extracts, devised a plan in 1870, as L have already said, to divorce Eitzabeth from me in order to prevent my supposed design to divoree myself from her. In furtherance of this plan, Mrs, Morse, during Mrs, Tilton’s absence in the West, not y circulated among my neighbors ATROCIOUS TALES ABOUT MB, sneh as kicking my wife while pregnant, knocking her with b fist to the floor, coming home drunk at night, &c.; butshe furthermore undertook to win Elizabeth to tnis plan of divorce by plying her With letters Ailea with other equally false reports | of my bevavior—for example, that I was holaing orgies in my house with strange women, making myvella sot, and uttering drunken accusations against my wife, by Vililying ber with Mr. Beecher as one of his many mistresses, &c. abet#, although sne was heedful to Mrs. ign of divorce, could not be converted Nevertheless, under the powertul influence to it. of her mother’s slanders concerning me, my wile becaime alarmed at the prospect of my using her ruin asa prelude to my own, She seemed to re- flect motier’s idea that I was taking a sudden plunge to perdition, drinking to drown my sor- rows, illing my hara working daily life with more sins tuan I had time to commit, hoping for my wi her infamy to the world a8 soon as sie shoald be under the sod. Accordingly Mrs. Tilton wrote me an earnest letter, 1ull of aijusions to her own previously con- fessed criminalicy with Mr. Beecher, begging me to be merciful to ber im her brokenness o1 spirit, and remonstrating with me for the bad state of mind into Which Mrs. Morse bad descrived me to have fauen. This letter L received at the oMceof the Brook- lyn Union in November, 1870. I well remember reading it twice over and then destroying it on the spot. Ihave since come into possession of a copy of it Which Mrs, Titon made at ‘he time, in- corporating it in @ letter to her mother. It was written from Marietta, Ohio, to chide me for the Supposed recklessness into Which she had been in- formed by her mother thatl had lapsed ever sin. the ume ot Mrs. Tilton’s confession of adultery, Tue letcer ts as foliows MRS, TILTON TO MRS. MORSE. ritten frow Marietta, Ohio, to Brooklyn.) Novemuen, 1870, to you, my dear inothe which I this morning have I insist that you destroy This—vecause of y now and love I'm wure, Pupay Monniy! ir what shall | say to your My uinb and powerless, bat I must aching heart to protest against your crueity. L Tsutler most when I discover to Oh, Theodore, Theod tongile and pen force ms do not willingly chide, you my teelings. Do you not kuow that you are fulfilling your thre that “I shail no longer nsidered the saint?” My life is beiore you aspired to nothing save to do, through manitoid infirm: my best, aud that not for human praise, but for the gratetul love 1 teel toward Jesus Christ, ny God. you not know, also, Lh that when in any circie you blacken Mr. B.'s ‘nai 1 soon after couple wine with it—you blacken mime as well? When, by your threats, my mother cried out in ago: tome, "Why, what have you done, klizabeth, my ehildt? hor worst suspicions were aroused, and [iad bare ny heart then—that from my lips and not yours she might receive the dagger into her heart! Did not my dear child [Florence| learn enough by insinuation, that her sweet, pure soul agonized im secret, bil she broke out with the dread/ul question? 1 know not but it hath been her death biow When you say to my beloved brother—"Mr. B. preaches to forty Of his m—s every Sunday,” then follow with the reinark that after my death you have @ dreadtul secret (0 reveal. need he be told afly more ere the sword pass into Ais soult - After this you are my indignant champion,” are you? It is now too late; you have blackened my character, and itisfor my loved ones that I suffer; yea, tor the agony, Which the revelation has caused you, my cries ascend to Heaven night and day that upon maine own head all the anguish Way (alle * *knows all, and ithas been the | ‘s speedy death, and threatening to puolist | would thrust alike dart into your Believe you that "s heart wore there oecasion? No, no, sister s or mot | Twoula not, indeed. | So after my death vou will, to the bereaved hearts of those who love me, add the poisoned balm! In heathen lands the sins of our beloved are buried, and only their | virtues are remenbered | Theodore, away never various Lue. children their detenc Would you sufler were I to cast a shadow on any lady | whom vou love ¥ Certainly, if you have avy manliness you would. Even so every word, look, or intimation Against Mr. B., though [be in no Wise brought iD. 1s a0 agony beyond the pierding of mysolt a hundred times. His position and his good name’ are dear to me; and | even thus do I agonize—yea, agony 1g the word—for your good name. and if you-will only value it yourself to keep m ind always will be your helper. | Once'again implore you tor your children’s sakey to whom you have a duty in this matter, that my Past be buried—lert with me’ and my God. He is merciful. Will you, His son, be like Ham Do not be alarmed about mother; you are not responsi- ble tor her revelations. Do not tink or say any more that my ill-health 1s on account of my sin and tt covery, [tis not true, indeed, My sins and record Ihave carried to my Saviour, and His del | and tenderness towards me passeth even a mother’s love | or “the love of women." rest in Mim, I trust in Hon, and though the way ts ‘darker than death, ldo h he still small voice” which brings to me a peace ite experience has never before brought me. | tration is owing (othe suffering I have caus witl cause those I love in the future if the spirit of tor 4 jess does orcise the spirit of hace. And add to this the revelations condition, Wit which Tain daily! This it 1° that breaks my he How can I but "linger at my pray- | Ing” at thougntofyour * * * YOUR DEAR WIFE. | ¢ POSTSCRIPT. Dear mother, I will now ad¢ a lime to you T should mourn greatly if my lite was to be made yet Kuown to fe with me, rolled up. pat hough itis big with stains of unless yon force tne for the sake ot. IY nd friends to discover it, in seli-deience or father. “His head would be bowed Indeed to the grave. 1 love him very much, and it Would soothe my heart could you be restored to him. I. was greatly touched by his sa¥ing to you that you were still his wite W hot his sympathizing heart comtort you in | wt and Theodore’s came together, con- iter views With Joseph. y reading or showing this letter to anyone you ‘iscover my secret, It is because 1 trust you, dear mother, that'I send you this, that you may know my spirit completely toward you both. Thave been toid, Condde not in your mother; but I reply, To whom on earth can I confide? think itp ninently wise tor us to destroy our let ters respecting this subject, lest Flory or some ono shoula pick them up. DARLING. What a letter! ‘The briet contession which Mrs, Tilton wrote of her criminal imtimacy with Mr, Beecher, and which was referred 0 by Mr. Mouiten as heid oy tim until | procured it from him and returned to her to be destroyed, has been falsely called a con- lession wrung from a wife at her husband’s com- mand, But no such accusation cap hold against | the avove letter, which a daughter wrote to her | cerning your You will see that mother, and which contains as plain a confession | | of Mrs, Tilton’s guilty intimacy with Mr. Beecker | as language can express; a confession all the said in bis apology, He shall never | more veritable because made without design, and | 1n the absence of any other controlling influence upon the writer save the pressure of her own con- science and sorrow, a8 evinced in her melancholy | contemplation of the calamity which had faien upon her honor and her home, | . In further expianation of Mrs, Tilton’s feelings | towards him Mr. Tilton coptes her note aster the publication of his “Complaining Friend” car DECEMBER 23, 1872, “THEODORE “{ have had one of my selfish days. They are | rare mdeed. But your note im the Zagte of last | night was so heartless. { did not hear it when you read it—only realized it ov seeing it in print. | “You shouid have sheitered me (a noble man Would) al! the more because the truth. | “Innocence demanded nothing from you. | “To you 1 owe this great injustice of “EXPOSURE, | such as has never befure velallen a woman, “Biow after blow, ceaseless and unrelenting these three years! ~O, cruel spirit, born of the devil of anger and revenge! You know what I am. “Yel, now that exposure has come, my whole nature revolts tO join with you or staudiug with | you.” TILTON’S FALL. Mr. Tiiton then takes up Mr. that “four years ago Theodore | of the proudest editorial chairs in America.” He | Btates the high esteem in which he was held by Mr. Bowen until December 26, 1870, He had been transferred Irom the editorship of the Independent | to that of the Brooklyn Union, with a salary of | $14,000 a year, including his contributions to the | Independent, On the day named Mir. Bowen had elicited trom Mr. Tilton @ statement that be knew of Mr. Beecher’s immorality, whereupon Mr. | Bowen, he says, made similar disclosures and eecher’s assertion urged him to write the demand /or Mr. Beecher to | 1 STEP DOWN AND OUT, | which Tilton did on the spot. Bowen was to bear it to Beecher, and to entorce the demand witn | proois of guilt, Bowen's last words, Tilton says, were:—"Henry Ward Beecher 1s a wolf in the foid, and I know it. He ought never to preach another sermon nor write another word fora re- He endangers families and He should be blotted out.” | ligious newspaper. | disgraces religion. | [nis interview | presence o! Oliver Johuson. Mr. Moulton was ap- prised o1 this action. Mr, Tilton further states :— 1 also informed Mrs. Tilton, wno, as she was | then just recovering from a recent miscarriage, received the inieligence with great distress. Sne For this I | Poke alarmingly of Mr. Bowen's long hatred of Mr. Beecher, which now seemed to her tobe aboutto break forth afresh, and said that it Mr. Bowen and I should thus combine against Mr. Beecher, ste would run the risk of AN EXPOSURE OF HER OWN SECRES, | She wept and reminded me of the pledge which I had given her six months before, to do her pastor | no wrong. She said, moreover, that Mr. Beecher might not altogether understand my letter to him demanding his retir ment, ‘Jor reasons which he explicitly knew, because she bad not yet informed him that she had made her confession tome. I was sur- prised at this inteiligence, for in the previous | August she told me that she had communicated to Mr. Beecher the fact that she liad told me the story of their sexual association. She went on pleturing to me the heartbreak which she would suffer if ii the coming collision between Mr. Bowen and Mr. | Beecher her secret snould be divulged, I weil re- member the pitiiul accents in which, FOR THE CHILDREN’S SAKE AND HER OWN, she pleaded ber cause with me, and begged me to be gentle with Mr. Beecher and to protect him | from Mr. Bowen’s anger; ulso, to quench my own. | Lying on her bed, sick, she said that unjess I | could stop the battie which seemed about to open, and could make peace between Mr. Bowen and Mr. Beecher—if not for their sakes, at least for hers—and could myself become reconciled to the mana who had wronged me, sne would | PRAY GOD THAT SHE MIGHT DIE, | _ She then begged ine to send for Mr. Beecher, de- siring me to see him in her presence, to speak to | him without malice when he came, and to assure him that I would not proceed in the matter of his expulsion from the pulpit. | terview as not comely ior a sick woman's chamber, nor was I willing to subject her to tue morttfica- | tion of conierring with her paramour in the pres- | ence of her husband, |. After this conversation with Mr. Tilton I noti- fied Mr. Bowen that I intended to see Mr. Beecher Jace to face. In response to this imtellgence Mr. Bowen came into my editorial room at the Union ofmice, and without asking or giving me bee ex: planation, but exhibiting 1 passion such asl had never wituessed iv him belore, and speaking like one who was in tear and desperation, echer the story of his numerous adulteries as he (Mr. Bowen) tad narrated them, he (Mr. Bowen) | would interdict me irom ever again entering his pee or his house. He then suddenly re- tired. | _ ‘This unexpected exhibition on Mr. Bowen's part | Icould not comprehend; for I did not dream that Mr. Bowen, who was so determined an enemy of | Mr. Beecher, had meanwhile entered into sudden league with the object of his hate, in order to overthrow, not Mr. Beecher, but myself! ; Linformed Elizabeth at once of Mr. Bowen's ex- cited interview: She believed that his excitement | was only a further evidence of his ancient malice | against Mr. Beecner. She said that Mr. Beecher had often told her how greatly he feared Mr. Bowen, She was now appalled at the prospect | of Mr. Bowen’s violent assault on her pastor, She renewed her entreaty to me that I would prevent the coming conflict be- tween the two men. Elizabeth’s distress, in view of this expected conflict, it would be impos- Bible to exaggerate, as it was heightened by her still enfeebled condition, Sie begged me to seo Mr. Beecher without delay, and, for her sake, to put him on his guard against Mr. Bowen, and to explain to him that, though | had written tne let- ter demanding his retirement irom the pulpit, yet that I had atcerward listened to my wife’s en- treaty and had promised her that would not press the demand to execution. At her own suggestion she wrote a note to Mr. her, and gave it to me, stating therein that she was distressed at the prospect of trouble, and begged, as the best mode of avoidjng It, that @ reconciliation might be had between Mr. Beecher and myself, She tniormed him in this letter that SHE HAD MADE TO ME & CONFESSION six months betore of her sexual intimacy with him, and that she had hitherto deceived her hus- | band into believing that her pastor knew of this coniession having been made, She said she was | distracted at having caused so much misery, and tha that Mr. Beecher and her husband might | Instantly unite to prevent Mr. Bowen from doing the damage which he had threatened in instigating | Mr, Beecher's retirement from the cburch, | _ This letter of Mrs, Tilton’s was written on the 29th of December, 1870, I carried itin my pocket | the remainder of that day and all the next until evening, and then resolved that 1 would accede to | my wife's request and for her sake would prevent Hd threatened exposure of Mr. Beecher by Mr. owen, cordingly went to Mr. Moulton, as he has stated, and patinto his hands my wile’s letter, | which conveyed to tim | 118 FIKST KNOWLEDGE of her adnitery. He then, as he has descrited, brought Mr, Beecher to me on Friday evening, De- Sember 29; wasongn 4 violent wintry storm, pas r. Beecher referred to om the way as ropriate to the disturbed hour, manera The mterview which followed Unilin Mr. | Beecher and me I shali relate somewhat in detail, | because his recent distorted description of it is mainly @ pretence, and not the truto, Mr, Beecher | fills his false account with Invented particulars of | What he Cails my complaint to him of my “busi- bess troubies,”’ ‘ioss of place and salary” and the Jixe; with cogent complaints rt him for his supposed agency in bringin, about these results; whereas he forgets that 1 ha not yetiost my “place and salary,” and had not yet come into my “business trouvies.” wor did I then ‘ou have nade of your fallen ‘iiton fell from one | Tilton states, was ‘riendty, in | I declined such an in- | ex. | claimed in a high key that i I aivuiged to. Mr. | | dream that he had conspired with Mr. Bowen to | | displace me from the /ndependent or the Union, or | that any such disaster was then pending over my head—particularly as I had only a few days bejore | Signed two hew contracts securing to me a lucra- | tive connection with tuose two journals lor years to come! lt was not because I hed first that | held this interview with Mr. aid not ‘lose » place’ until alter this interview was held. Mr. Beecher coniesses to au “imperiect memory of dates.” This IMPERFECTION OF MEMORY | has betrayed uim here. My interview with him, as be ackbowledges, was on Friday evening, De- cember 30, 1570, This 13 correct, | until Saturday, December 31, at nine o’clock at | night, during the closing hours of the year, that | Iny notification of dismissal came from Mr. Bowen, | See the Graphic’s {ac-simile of my letter to Mr. | Bowen, January 1, 1871, in which I said:;— | “T received last evening (that is, not December | 30, but 31) your sudden notice breaking my two | contracts, ‘one with the Independent, the other with the Brooklyn Union." It is thus plainly proved, as by mathematics, | that my interview with Mr, Beecher—which be says occurred on account of my having “lost my lost my place’? Beecher, for L piace and salary’’—occarred bvelore | “lost my | place and salary,” and beiore | imagined that my | two contracts—since both were new and iresi, | ' and hardly a week old—were to be summarily broken, | As to Mr. Beecner’s allegation that Tilton’s | enmity proceeded from his advice to Mrs, Tilton | is as yet ignorant tout Mr. Beecher ever gave her such advice. He continues:—*Mr, Beecher’s state- Batit wis nos | to separate irom her husband, Mr. Tilton says he | ment that at this interview of December 30, 1570, | J charged him with making impure proposals to | Mrs. Tilton is (as I have said) true so lar as it | goes, but is only a part of the truth, for I charged him wita adultery. It was this last topic, namely HIS CRIMINAL RELATIONS with Mrs. Tilton, and not at ali my financial troub- | les, Since these had not yet come upon me; vor his | | advice to my wile to separate irom me, of which I , had not then heard; it was bis criminal association | with Mrs, Tilton—this, and this only—that cousti- | tuted the basis of my interview with him on that memorable night. This interview, 1 repeat, was | heid at Mrs, lilton’s request, and my object in | holding 1t was to quiet her apprehension concern- | tug the possible exposure of her secret through what botn she and 1 then supposed to be | a imminent assault upon Mr, Beecher by Mr. Bowen. To this end 1 imiormed Mr. Beecher of the contession which Mrs. ‘Tilton had made | to me six months before, and which it had be- come necessary for her peace—perhaps even for her life—that Mr. Beecher should receive from my lips in order that he should so manage his case with Mr. Bowen that no danger wouid arise ther | {rom of Mrs. Tiiton’s exposure to the worid. ‘This | Was my purpose, and my only purpose, in that ine terview, as | well. Now, in the light of these facts, thus proved, note Mr. Beecher’s false statement of them, ag | follows:— “It was not until Mr, Tilton,’ he says, “nad fallen into disgrace and lost his salary that he which he pretended to have had in his mind for six montiis.’? Against the above fallacious assertion I have | set the counter testimony of iucuntrovertubie facts. | As God is my judge I solemnly aver that that in- terview did not descena to points of tnance, but, | on the contrary, touched only two points—frst, Mrs. Tilton’s ruin, whick bad come through Mr. Beecher, and, second, Mrs. ‘Tilton’s satiety, which must come through Mr. Beecher and myself. In that interview, irom a little memurandum in my baud, giving dates and piaces, I RECITED TO MR, BEECHER Mrs. Tilton’s long story as she had given it to me in the previous July, and which she had on the previous day reauthenticated ip her note of De- cember 29, which | had put into Mm Moiiioa’s hands to be the basis Of his summons to Mr. pescaer to meet me for the conference. No ex- Traneous mubigee gid I introduce into that single- minded recital, for only one theme was in my | wmterrupt’ me or that Mr. Beecher should retire | before hearing me, 1 locked the door and put the | Key into my pocket. Alter I detivered my message I unlocked the | Goor and said to Mr. Beecher. ‘‘Now that we under- stand each other you are free to go. If an: or disgrace comes to Eiizabetn or the cnildren shall hold you responsible. For her sake I spare / you, buttif you turn apon her I will smite your | Dame dead belore the whole worid.” When | ceased speaking ne hesitated to leave his chair, but sat with bowed head, and with eyes rivetted to the floor. At length, looking up into face, be said: ‘Theodore, I am in a dream—tr am in Dante’s Injerno.” | L pointed to the door and sald again, “You are free to retire.” In going out he stopped on the threshold, turned, looked me in the face, and asked with quivering lip whether or not 1 WOULD PERMIT HIM TO SEE ELIZABETH once more for te Jast time. 1 was about to an- swer, “No, never,” but remembering my wile’s grief and her expressed wisn that this interview couid have taken place in ler presence, 1 ielt that she would be vetter satisfied 11 I gave him the per- | mission he asked, and so | said, “Yes, you may ge at once, but you shali not chide Elizabeth ior con- jessing the truth to her husband, Remember what 1 say; MM yeu reproach that sick woman for her | confession, or utter to her a word to weigh heavily upon her broken heart for betraying you, I wiil visit you with vengeance. I have sparéd your life during the past six months and am able to spare it again; but 1 am able, also, to destroy it. Mark me,” | added, “Elizabeth is prostrate with grief; she must hear no word o/ blame or reproach.” “Ob, Theodore,” he said, “I am in a wild whirl!” Aiter these words he retired irom the room, and almost immediately (as Mr. Moulton has narrated) | accompanied that gentleman to my house, where (as Mr. Beecher admits) he tell upon Elizabeth With “strong language’—that is, tull of reproach— and procured Jrom her g retraction which | HE DICTATED TO TER, and which she wrote at his command—her tremor and ‘ear being plainly visible in her handwriting, as shown in the fac-simile, On my return home that evening [ found my wile far from being in a condition Mr, Beecher described when he styled hera marble stacue or carved monument; but, on the contrary, she was lull of tears and misery, sayimg that he had called upon her, had reproached her in violent | terms, had declared that she had “struck him | dead,” and that unless she would give him a writing for lus protection, he would be “tried by @ council of ministers.” She described to me his manner as full of min- gied anger and grief, in consequence of which she | Was at one moment so terrified by the look on Lis face that she thought he wouid kill her. She grew nearly distracted at the thought that her womanly and charitable e/fort to make peace had only resulted in making Mr. Beecher her enemy and mine. I beleve that if he had | entered a second time ito her presence that night she would have shuddered ana fainted at his approach. Her narrative to me of we agony which he expressed to her, of the reproaches Which he heaped upon her, ando/ the bitterness With Which he denounced her tor betraying her pastor to her nusband—all this tale sull lngers im my mind like a remembered horror, THE CONSPIRACY. In reference to the finding of thecommittee that till within a short time no adultery haa been charged by Tilton against Mr. Beecher, and that that charge was the result of a recent conspiracy between tim and Mr. Moulton, Mr. Tilton repro- duces irom the records of Plymouth church as 1oliows :— MR, TALLMADGE TO MR. TILTON. Brooxtyn, Oct. 17, 1873, Mr. Turoporr Triton :— Deaw Sin—Ata mecting of the Examining Committee of Plymouth church, held this evening, the clerk of the committee was instructed to forward to you a copy of the complaint and specifications made against you by Mr. Williain F. West, and was requested to notlty you that any answer to the charges that you might deskre to offer to the committee may he sent to the clerk on or be- fore dias ata} Oeteber 23, 1873, Enclosed { hand you a copy of the charges and specrfl- cations referred to. Yours, very respectiully, No. 943 Batpck Street, D. W. TALLMADGE, Clerk. COPY OF THE CHARGES AND SPECIFICATIONS MADE BY Wile LIAM F. WEST AGAINST THEODORE TILTON. I charge Theodore Tilton, a member of tnis church, with haying circulated and promoted scandals deroga- tory to the Christian integrity of our pastor and injuri- ous to the reputation of this church. SPECIFICATIONS, First—In an interview between Pheodore Tilton and the Rey. &. L. L. Taylor, D. D., ut the ottice of the Brooke lyn Union, in the spring of 1871, the said Theodore Triton stated that the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher preached to several seven or eight) of his mistresses every Sunda, evening. Upon being rebuked by Dr. Taylor, he reite ated the charge, and said that he would make it in Mr. echer's preseiice if desired. Witness, Kev. & L. L. Taynon, D. D. Second—In & conversation with Mr. Andrew Bradshaw, in the latter part ot November, i873, Iheodore Tilton requested Mr. Bradshaw not to’ repeat certain state- nents which had previously been made to him by Mr. Tilton, adding that he retracted none of the wocusations which he had formerly made against Mr. Beecher, but that he wished to hush the scandal on Mr. Beecher's | account; that Mr. Beecher was a bad man, and not a safe person to be allowed to visit the families of his church; that if this scandal ever were civared up he (Titon) would be the only one of the three involved who would be unhurt by it; and that he was sileudy suffering for Mr. Beecler's sake. Witness, ANDREW KKADSIAW, Third—At an interview with Mrs. Andrew Bradshaw, in Thompson’s dining rooms, on Clinton street, on of about the 8d day of August, 1s7y, Theodore Tilton stated that he had discovered that a criminal suMmacy existe tweem his wite and Mr Beecher. Afterward in Noven ber, 1872, referring to the above conversation, Mr. Tilton id to Mrs. Bradshaw that h cusations which he had formerly made against Mr Beecher. Witness, Mrs. Axprew Brapsuaw. it will be seen irom the third specification in the above document that I was indicted by Piymoutn church, and that an attempt was made to bring ine to trial because J had said on the 3d of August, 1870, that I had discovered a criminal intimacy be. tween Mr. Beecher and Mrs. Tilton, The date men- tioned tn this specificasion—namely, the 3d of Au- gust, 1870—was only thirty days afler Mrs, Tilton’s confession of July of that year! What shall be thonghe of the report of the so-called investigating committee of Plymouth church, which, in order to Mainiain and upiold the pastor's jalse dental of my true charge against him, is compelled, in his defence, to falsify the records of his own church? In order that I may not need to refer again to Mr. West’s charge and specifications | may as well append in this place my proper comment on Mr. Beecher’s extraordinary claim that I owe tim gratitude for having kept me, as he says, from a “public trial by the chureb.’” Why dia Mr. Beecher keep me from a public trial by the church? It was to save not me, but him | self, It was not I, but he, who feared to be tried, | and wao put forth the labors of a Hercules to pre: vent trial, And with good reason: ior, unless | thought it necessary to assall me with charges | thoughts; and in order that no intruder should | harm | retracted nore of the ao- | ts, Tilton and Mr. Beecher knew right | | hunself from that ruin, | names, dates and witnesses, | Present “a square issue?” | know whereof | aflirm | and some of them have uot entered her house tor | daious to reproduce bere. es, Mr. Beecher’s case in that perilous hour had been conducted bs bar novel plan of acquitting at all hazards, the rl WOULD HAVE PROVEN HIM GUILTY. With wise Sagacity, therefore, Mr, Beecher sought to keep me froin that trial in order to save Uhat time, he spoke of his anxious and sleepless nights, Juil of fear and apprehension at the poss: ble tailure of 18 canning attempt to prevent the coming cn of @ trial which, at the same time, he had to pretend to invite, Furthermore, Mr, Beecher, evidently sharing the conviction of the committee that I possessed no omicial copy of Mr, West’s charges and sp ca tions, ventured to speak of Mr. West’s feariul in- dictment as follows, namely, that 1t “Presented no square issues upon which his (Mr. Beecher’s) guilt or innocence could be tried,” And yet what issues could be more pointed and direct? If a clergyman is openly accused of adul- tery, and the tndictment re Ss specifications, does not the case when I say that MR. BEECHER FEARED AND DREADED the prospect of that trial, not because the ‘issues were not square,” but, on the contrary, because the issues Were so sharp and clear cut that be dared not cast bimself on their “rough and ragged | edge.’? Mr, Tilton criticises Mr, Beecher’s treatment of Mrs. Tilton in making her virtually the subject of @ church investigation by his seil-appointed com- mittee, and continues to contrast nis (Tilton’s) views of the marriage tle witn that of the mints ter who performed the wedding ceremony be- tween Mrs. McFarland and Richardson, and goes On to state that lis (Titon’s) and Moulton’s con- nection with Mrs. Woodiull were in the interest and at the request of Mr. Beecher, in order to | screen him from her publication of what she knew about him, BEECHER’S CONFESSION. an my sworn statement | made oath to the fact thas MR. BEECHER CONFESSED TO ME bis criminal intimacy with Mrs, Tilton. 1 will state the substance of this confession, which was often renewed and repeated. On the night of December 30, 1870, during my interview with him at Mr. Moulton’s house, he re- ceived my accusation without denial, and con- Tessed it by his assenting manner and tn the apology written January 1, 1 sent to me through Mr. Moulton, his contrition | was based on the fact that both Mr. Moulton and I had become acquainted with his guilt. During the subsequent personal interview which took place between Mr. Beecher and myself at Mr. Moulton’s house a few mornings alterward, Mr. Beecher in set terms spoke to Mr. Moulton and myself of the agony and remorse whico he had suffered within the past few days at having brought ruin and blight upon Elizabetn and her family. He BURI8D HIS FACE IN HIS HANDS AND WEPT, saying that he ought to bear the whole blame, be- cause, from his ripe age and sacred oMice, he was unpardonably culpable in jeading her astray. He assured me that during the earlier years of his friendship for Elizaveth he and she had no sexual commerce with each other, and that the lavier feature of their intimacy had been maintained be- tween them not much over a year, and less than a year and a hall, He said to me thatI must do with him whet I would—he would not resi=t me—bvut that if I could possibly restore Elizabeth to my love and respect he would feel the keen edge op his remorse dulled | He asked me ff I would | @ little into lesser pain, permit the coming pew renting to proceed, and said that if } insisted on his resignation he would write it forthwith. He reminded me that his wite was my bitter enemy and would easily become his | own, and begged that she might not be tniormed of his conduct. He said an ne had meditated sui- cide, and could not live to face exposure. He im- slered mé to give him my word that if circum- stances should ever compel me to disclose bis secret 1 would give him notice in edvauce, so that he might take some measure, either by death or flight, to hide himself from the world’s gaze. He said that he had wakened as from sleep, ana uhepet himself to one sitting dizzy and distracted on the YAWNING EDGE OF HELL, He said that he would pray night and day for Fliza~ beth, that her heart might not be utterly broken, | and that God would ‘inspire me to restore her to her lost place in my home and esteem. ‘Ail this, and more like it, took place in the in- | terview of whica I speak, including bis voluntary proposition to mend certain ul work which he had doue in giving to Mr. Bowen false reports against me. Shortly afterward I sent for Mr. Beecher to come to my house to hold an interview with me ona subject which I shrink from mentioning here, yet which the truth compeis me to state. In June, 1869, @ child had been born to Elizabeth R. Tilton. In view Of Mrs. Tilton’s subsequent disclosures to me, made July 3, 1870—namely, that sexual rela- tions between Mr. Beecher and herself had begun Uctober 10, 1568—I wished to question Mr, Beecher reli the authenticity of that date in order to settle THE DOUBTFUL PATERNITY OF THE CHILD. This interview he held with me in my study, and during a portion of it Mrs, They both agreed on the date at which their sexual commerce had be; 1568—Mrs, Tilton herselr aged again, as she had done beore, to her wary. Certain facts which Mr. Beecher gave meon that occasion concerning his criminal connection with Mrs, Tilton—the times, the places, the tre- uency, together with other particulars which [ feel @ repugnance to name—I mist pass over; but 1 cannot forbear to mention again, as I nave stated heretotore, that Mr. Beecher always took the blame to limsel!, never imputing it to Eliza- beth; and never till he came belore the Investl- | gating Committee did be put forth the unmanly pretext that Mrs. Tilton had ‘thrust her affections on him unsougnt.”? On numerous occasions, from the winter of 1871 to the spring o! 1874, Mr. Beecher frequently made to me allusions, in Mr. Mouiton’s presence, to THE ABIDING GRIEP which, he saia, God would never lift from bis soul for having corkupled so pure minded a wouian as Elizabeth Tilton to her loss of honor, and also for nav! ng violated the chastity of friendship toward if a8 his early and trusting friend. m Never have I seen such grief and contrition | manifested on a human countenance as | have olten seen it on Henry Ward Beecher’s in his sell-reproaches for having accomplished Eliza- betu’s ruin. from constant iear of an exposure of his crime made me sometimes almost forget the wrong which he had done me, and filled my breast with | @ fervid aesire to see him restored again to peace with himsell. At every effort which {made in conjunction with Mr. Moulton to suppress inquiry ‘nto the scandal Mr. Beecher used to thank me with @ gratitude that was burdensome to receive, He ey ee himsel! before me in so dejected, humble and conscience-stricken a mood, that if Thad been a teniold harder man than I was 1 COULD NOT HAVE HAD iHE HEART TO STRIKR not. When I wrote the letter to the church declining to appear for trial on the grouhd that I had not been for four years a member, he met me the next day at Mr. Moulton’s house, and, catching my right hand tn both of nis, said with great teeling, “Theo on God himseil inspired you to write that let- er. When, at alater earee in the same house, he gave me the first intimation of the coming Coun- cH, he said, “Theodore, if you will not turn upon me Dr, Storrs cannot harm me, and Lshall owe ay llie once again to your kindness, could record many different expressions and acts of Mr. Beecher like those which I have given to show bis perpetual and never-relieved distress of mind through fear of the exposure of bis adultery, accompanied by @ constant and growibg lear that i could not really forgive bim, and pnoee sooner or jater bring him to punish- ment. Lought to say that I sometimes half suspected that Mr. Beecher’s exhibitions to me of proiound dojection and heartbreak were OT REAL, BUT FEIGNED, being of the nature of uppeais to my sympathies, which he knew were always readily aroused at the sight of distress, But Mr. Mouiton never ad- mitted any doubt of Mr. Beecher’s real penitence, and this was one of the reasons why Mr. Moulton sought so zealously to shield this sorrowful man from the consequences of his sin, I close this section by declaring, with a solemn sense of the meaning of my words, that Mr. Beecher’s recent denial under oath tuat ne com- mitted adultery with Mrs, Tilton is Known to him, to her, to Mr. Moulton, to me and to several other persons to be an act of perjury. BEECHER'S HOME AND HYPOCRISY. In reference to the hypocritical allusion by Mr, Beecher te bis happy home, Mr. Tilton says :— In the days when I was confidential with Mr. Beecher he used to pour in my ears unending com- | plaints against his wife, spoken never with oitter- hess but always with pain. He said to me one aay, “U Theodore! God might strip all other gifts rom me if he would only give me a wile like Eliza- beth and a home iike yours,” One day he walkea | tue streets with me, saying, ‘I dread to go Wack to my Own house; | wish the earth would open and swallow me up.” He told me that when his daughter was married Mrs, Beecher's behavior on that occasion was such as to wring his heart; and when he described HER UNWIFELY ACTIONS during that scene he burst mto tears and clenched | is hands tn an agony which I feared would take | the form of revenge. He has toid me repeatedly Ol acts of cruelty by Mrs, Beecher toward his late venerable lather, saying to me once that she had virtually driven that aged man out of doors, A catalogue of the complaints which Henry Ward Beecher has made to me against its wie would be @ chapter Of miseries such as | will not depict upon this: page. Many of his relatives stand in fear of this woman, years, as one of Mr. Beecher’s brothers lately testified in a pablic print, 1 have seen irom one of his sisters @ private letter concerning THE MARITAL RELATIONS of Mr. and Mrs, Beecuer, which It would be scan- And yet Cis man, i Order to give to the igno- Tant public one of human nature's most plausible reasons Why @man stiould not invade another's house, paints a talse picture of the sweet refuge of nis so-called happy home, BLACKMAIL, As sapping the foundation of the charge of blackmail brought against him by Mr. Beecher Mr, Tilton shows that at the time itis alleged he nad an abundance of means and toat his lecture the present committee of six, on | 1 well remember how, at | ‘Tilton Was present. | —namely, October 10, | ‘ing the authority, and | The tact that he suffered so greatly | above | to have made by the Beecher complication, ridicuies the ifea of anyoody getting any money out of Bowen not) lis due, and says that it wae in Beecher’s interest, not that the claim $7,000 against Bowen was kept out of the courts and given to private arbitration. He gives letters to sustain this view, and then Says :— When, therefore, Mr. Beecher says that [ made Use of him to extort $7,000 trom Mr. Bowen he Speaks What is not true. The truth is that mp Just claim of $7,000 would have been nad long be. fore it was except for Mr. Moulton’s reluctance t@ give Mr. Bowen an opportunity to use legal pros ceedings as an mdircet means of gratiiving his | Supposed revengeful feelings against Mr. Beecher. it was Mr, Clafin who PERSUADED MR. BOWEN to withhold the case from Court and submit tt te arbitration. The three arbitrators were Horace B. cladin, James Freeland and Charies Storra, | They met at the house of Mr. Moulton, wo wag present during the interview. Mr. Lowen and I appeared before them. 1 made no claim for @ specthe amount, but simply laid my two contracts on the table and sald, “Here are two contracts which Mr. Bowen and i matually signed, Read them and judge for yourselves how much money 18 due me’? Mr. Clafin then took out bis lead pencil, asked how mach the profits of the Union were, footed up the figures, uested Mr, Bowen and myself to retire into the front par- lor for a few minutes, summoned us back shoruy aiterward and announced that the arbitrators, alter having read the contracts, had unanimously decided that | MR. BOWEN OWED ME SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS. Mr. Bowen thereupon took from is pocket @ biank check, filed tt out on the spot for $7,000 and handed it to me, saying that the next week's /nde& pendent should contain @ handsome trib tome at the head o! the editorial columns, Mr, Tilton tien alludes to the complimentar | notices of himself which followed immediately alter this adjustment of the account between hime | self and Mr. Bowen in both the Indevendent and | Mr. Beecher’s paper, the Christian Union, pub- lished in April, 1872, He then proceeds to notice Mr. Beecher's fanciMi argument to prove me & black mailer in his meution of the payment to Mr. | Moulton of certain sums of money, amounting to $2,000, Tha nothing te do with this money or any part ol it. But | happen to know that it went, either in whole or part, to pay THE GIRL BESSIE’S SCHOOL BILLS | at the Steubenville Seminary, Ohio, (See re- | ceipts signed by the principal.) ‘This child came to my house a dozen years ago | 48 a Wall, bearing the name of McDermott, know- tng neither father nor mother, nor relatives nor citcumstances of her birth, nor her age, concern- ing all whom and which she remained in total ignorance for years, until, afer many efforts, I traced her parentage, and learned thut ber true | Dame was Turner, which she has since borne, |. This untortunate child, when sue lived in my | family, was afiicted frequently with strange glooms, 80 that she sometimes passed days to- gether in sullen silence without speaking to any One in the house, then bursting gavly into an tt cessant noise; and at night she would often tals into a species of nightmare wich would contro! ' her so powerfully that her moans and cries woul: alarm the house. | Miss Anthony, wno knew her well, describes her | (though I think a little too rougnly) asa “halt idiot, into whose head it Was impossible to instil principles of truth.’? The young girl whom Mrs. Morse “bribed,” Mrs. | Tilton “deceived,” as is seen by Mrs, Tilton’s let ter to Mis. P., dated November 8, 1872, as fol- | lows:— “I have mistakenly felt obliged to deceive Bessie these two yeurs that my husband had made falsé accusations against Me, Which he never has to her nor any one.” The young girl—“bribed” by Mrs. Morse and ‘*de- ceived” by Mrs. Tilton, and always the easy instru. ment of either—became suddenly one day the ter | ror of both; tor she overheard | A CONVERSATION between Mrs. Tilton and myself in which allusion | was made to Mrs, Tilton’s sexual intimacy with Mr. Beecher. The committee, in vheir verdict, ad- | mit that the girl overheard thig remark, lor they | quote her as usta the followlag Worus eer ‘4aTe (Mr. Tilton) sajd shé (Mrs. Tilton) had con- fessed to him that sne had oeen criminally intl. mate with Mr, Beecher.”’ She iaentiiied tue date at which she overheard theremark. The question ‘was put to her, “When was that?” and the | 01 vee received heranswet, “This all occurred | on the addy that we went back inghé fall of 1870.” After overhéarihg this remark the young Cell- | tale went toseveral mémbers of tne family and | reported it witn her prattling tongue, She also WENT TO MR, BEECHER and did che same. Mr. feecher in his statement? acknowledges that Bessie came to him; but, with | that disregard of the truta which charac. | terizes his entire defence, be changes the story Wwhict she came to him to tell and makes tt appear that her disclosure was not what the committee | adimit—nawely, that she had heard of Mr. | beecher’s criminal reiations with Mrs, Tilton, but quite another tale, ‘The same reluctance whic! | Mr. Beecher has since bad to put the true story o! Bessie’s errand into Bessie’s recent testimony ne long ago manifested at having ber tell it to our friends and relatives. Such a telltale tongue wad Gangerous to Mr, Leecher's peace. Accordingly, no sooner had Mr. Moulton undertaken the task o} | organizing Mr. Beecher’s salety, than one of the | first necessary ‘devices” to tis eud was the re- moval of Bessie to a sae distance trom Brooklyn. So she was housed at Mr. Beecher’s expense in @ Western boarding school for a term of years, Th¢ money which MR. BEECHER PAID POR BESSIE ¢ | 1s all the money which I ever heard (until ree cently) of his paying, either directly or indirectly, | In consequence of nis association with my family or with this scandal, My regret 1s that this shallow-minded girl, in | permitting herseif to be used by these people to my discredit, finds her name brouglt into thé | general ruin in which they have involved their | own, Beecher’s $2,000 has been How much of Mr, | Spent on Bessie Turner 1d not know; but! dé | Know that almost every letter which Bessie hag | Written to Mrs. Tilton for the last three or four | years has asked for money, I know also that taig imoney came through Mr. Moulton, FROM HENRY WARD BECHER, and [know still further that the sole purpose of Mr. Beecher’s paying this money, and the sole pur- pose 0: Mrs, Tilton’s keeping Bessie ‘deceived’? Was because this girl accidentally overheard, four years ago, the remark which she repeated to the committee, and which the committee admit— namely, a disclosure of the criminal intimacy be- tween Mrs. Tilton and Mr. Beecher, I must, therefore, put upon Bessie the burden of | blackmail, 80 far at least aa the school bills go— ra ae whole or @ large part of the aforesaid 2,000, BEECHER’S MORTGAGE, Mr. Tilton asserts that on the 1st of May, 1873, Mr. Beecher deceived his wile by obtaining het | Signature to a mortgage on his house, and that he has since attempted to deceive the public into the beliet that the $5,000 thus raised was extorted from him by Moulton for Tilton’s benefit. He goes on to state that at Mr. Beecher’s dircction that sum was advanced by Moulton for the Golden | Age, and that nis (Tilton’s) first knowledge of that fact came after he had sold toat paper. He also States that the suggestion that Beecher should thus contribute money to the Golden Age | came from Mr. Kinsella, of the Brooklyn Eagle, who tiad just before the publication of Mr, | Tilton’s sworn statement urged him to withhold {t, and offered that in case he consented neither! Tilton nor bis family should ever want. He similar efforts were made by Mr. Kingsley, Mr Kinseila’s partner, to prevent the appearance of Moulton’s statement. After these and further ex planations, introducing the names of F. B. Care benter, Oliver Johnson and H. M. Cleveland, Mr. | Tilton Says :— | , It will not be forgotten that during the proceed- | ings of the Congregational Council, held in the | Spring of 1874, a year alter my alleged extortion of money from Mr. Beecher through Mr. Moulton, Mr. Beecher wrote a letter to Mr. Moulton, i | which, while denouncing 80 goud a man as the Rev. Dr. Storrs. he at the same time took occasion to pay a tribute to myself in these words:— “Theodore, who has borne so much,”’ &o These are Mr. Keecher's words, written a year | after the mortgage! Against all Mr. Beecier's | present pleadings and pretences these word: | “Theodore, who has borne so much,” show that | when Mr. Beecher thought of me in private, he | thought of my forbearance, which gives the lie to | his public pretence of my extortion. | | It only remains for me to say further, touching the charge of blackmati—a charge impossible t¢ attach Jor a day to a man like Mr. Moulton, whose | honor 1s above such infamy, and whose wealth above such temptation—that this charge 1s the FALSE DEFENCE OF A DESPERATE MAN, | who, in thus basely pretending that his best friend blackmailed him, thereby unconsciously confesses i} ontins which would have made blackmatlng | Possivle. Wherefore, charge | miss it here, | Mr. Tilton alludes to the charge that he hag garbled beecher’s letters, and says that the let ters, read straightforward, convict Mr. Beecher | @auiltery, and that nfs remark about garbiing is Simply a cowara’s reiuge, who dares not Jace hig own writing. The letters, he aays, are all BASED ON ONE CENTRAL FACT, 4 criminal intimacy vetween himself and Mrs. Tile ton, which had been contessed vy both parties t her husband and to Mr, Moulton, This simple fact uf the key which unlocks ali the mysteries of these letters—if mysteries they contain. All the letters, notes and memoranda reler to the crime of aduk tery, to the fear ol disclosure and to the conse quent “devices” for the salety of the participants, Wien Mrs, Tilton made to me her confession of July 3, 1870, it was a coniession of The When In her note of December 30, following, she sai “Lt gave a letter implicating my friend, Henry} Ward Beecher,” it was an implication of adultery. When tn ter second note of the same evening. she said that Mr. Beecuer had visited her bedside and reproached her tor having “struck him dead,” It Was because she had disclosed his itch When Mr. Beecher cast limseif apon Mr. Moulton’@ strong and faithial [Deki gid it was because the Wretched man had been detected in his adultery. When, during the four years "hat followed the 189 ‘Of January, 1871, hardiy a month or week passed which did not witness Mr, Beecher tn some cons suitation with Mr, Moulton, ether by letter oF iM person, it was to concoct measures for cone cealing this adultery. When Mr, Beecher, con- scious of lis gullt and fearing detection. fell oitea into hopeless gloom at the prospect of disclosure, it was because the crite to be disclosed was ADULTERY. When from the beginning to the end of Mr. Monl- as the committee dismissed the of blackmail from their verdict, go 1 dise tours had been very successful and lucrative; therefore he had no need of thé monev he is said, ton’s reiauionship with Mr. Beecher, these twa men pursued a common pian=in which I, t00, vars