Springfield Weekly Republican

THE GREAT SCANDAL.

THE PAST WEEK'S DEVELOPMENTS.

More Testimony From Mrs Tilton, Another Old Letter of Mr Beecher's, Gossip From Other People, and Everybody Now Waiting For "Mutual Friend" Moulton.

The last week of the Beecher-Tilton scandal has been one of anxious waiting, diversified by various rumors and gossip and a little positive testimony, and closes with everybody still waiting for "Mutual Friend" Moulton, who has promised to appear on Saturday evening with all the papers he holds, and tell all he knows.

MRS TILTON CROSS-EXAMINED.

A Sad Tale of Domestic Misery.

Mrs Tilton was cross-examined by the Beecher investigating committee on Friday evening, the inquiry covering her whole married life. She began by saying that on her union with Mr Tilton, recognizing his talent, she gave him to understand that she should not expect him to be narrowed down to herself, but that she would overlook what might seem neglect on his part, in order that he might in no way be hindered in the engrossing pursuit of his ambition. That he took her strictly at her word is evidenced, as she charges, from more than neglect on his part. It would seem that he was the most unsympathetic of husbands, leaving her alone with unreliable servants at such a trying period as that of confinement, and harshly criticising her for lack of domestic management during her periods of illness. Away back as early as 1865 Mr Tilton began to exhibit a jealousy of Mr Beecher, and, to reassure him of the propriety of her pastor's visits, she was in the habit of noting down their conversation and repeating it to him afterward. Occasionally she would let slip subsequently a remark of Mr Beecher's that she had not promptly reported to her husband, and then he would hotly charge her with having intentionally concealed portions of her talk with the former. Mr Tilton's tone of complaint, she said, changed to one of accusation in the winter of 1869-70, when he charged her with criminal intercourse with her pastor, besides several other gentlemen, and began to write her offensive letters on the subject. On her positive denial, he tried to frighten her into confession by saying he had seen certain things. On being questioned as to what things, Mrs Tilton replied: I remember that once or twice he pretended he saw me sitting in Mr Beecher's lap at home, in the red chair in the parlor. In reply to this, I said: "You didn't." I don't know what you gentlemen will think, but you certainly can see that such a continual talk, year in and year out, would have its influence upon me. I came to be really quite indifferent, except in regard to my anxiety about him. It was a sort of morbid jealousy that he had. I was worn out and sick with it.

Mrs Tilton's attention being called to her husband's allegation about the improper caress, she said there was no truth in it. She also denied the bed-room story, saying: Theodore had been with us that morning; he had gone out. Mr Beecher was sitting in a large chair and she had drawn up a small one. Mr Beecher had in hand a little manuscript he was going to read, she did not remember what it was; the door from the bed-room to the hall was shut, and she had shut the door leading from the sitting-room to the hall which was usually open. She had no sooner done that, which was to keep out the noise of the children playing in the hall, and sat down by the side of Mr Beecher, when Theodore came to the other door. Not five minutes had elapsed since he went out. There was no hesitation in opening the door. The folding-doors were wide open; the door leading to the hall from the bed-room was locked, but that was not uncommon. Her closing the other door, which was seldom closed, perhaps made Theodore suspicious.

Question—Was Mr Beecher flushed when Theodore came in?

Mrs Tilton—Not at all.

Mrs Tilton was next questioned in reference to her letter about Catherine Gaunt. She said she had no reference therein to adultery, or thoughts of it.

Question—What did you refer to?

Mrs Tilton—I will try to answer that question. The one absorbing feeling of my whole life has been Theodore Tilton. Neither Mr Beecher, I assure you, nor any human being has ever taken away from me that one fact—my love for him. But I must say that I felt very great helpfulness in my own soul from having had the friendship of Mr Beecher, and also of other people, as many women as men, I think that Theodore gathered up from all our talks in the summer of 1870 that I really found in Mr Beecher what I did not find in him; I know I gave it to him, but I often said: "Theodore, If you had given to me what you give to others, I dare say I should find in you what I find in Mr Beecher."

Question—In your Schoharie letter, you spoke of your sin. What did you mean by that?

Mrs Tilton—Theodore's nature being a proud one, I felt on reading that book that I had done him wrong: that I had harmed him in taking any one else in any way,—although, on looking it over, I do not think but that I should do it again, because it has been so much to my soul.

Question—Taking any one else in what respect?

Mrs Tilton—I do not think, if I had known as much as I do now of Tilton, that I should ever have encouraged Mr Beecher's acquaintance. I think I did wrong in doing it, inasmuch as it hurt Theodore. I do not know as I can make myself understood, but do you know what I mean when I say that I was aroused in myself; that I had a self-assertion which I never knew before with Theodore? There was always a damper between me and Theodore, but there never was between me and Mr Beecher. With Mr Beecher I had a sort of consciousness of being more. He appreciated me as Theodore did not. I felt myself another woman. I felt that he respected me. I think Theodore never saw in me what Mr Beecher did.

Mr Sage—Do you mean to say that Theodore put down self-respect in you while Mr Beecher lifted it up?

Mrs Tilton—Yes. I never felt a bit of embarrassment with Mr Beecher, but to this day, I never could sit down with Theodore without being self-conscious, and feeling his sense of my inequality with him.

Mrs Tilton, continuing, said the sin she spoke of was nothing more than giving to another what was due to her husband,—that which he did not bring out, however. She did not feel now that there was any great sin about it. The sin was that she hurt her husband's pride by allowing any one else to enter into her life at all. The wifely feeling she gave to her husband was pure. She gave Mr Beecher nothing more than confidence and respect. She taught her daughters that if they gave their husbands what she had given to hers they would do enough. Mr Tilton frequently talked to her accusingly of the sensual effect of her presence upon gentlemen. His accusations were hard to live under. He seemed to be ashamed of her appearance, dress and bearing. On one occasion, in a company of his friends, he told her he would give $500 if she was not at his side. In hotels and public places on several occasions he said to her, "I wish you would not keep near me." It was evident to her that he did not want comparisons made between them.

In explanation of the several damaging letters in her hand-writing, apparently criminating herself, and the paper written by her in 1870 accusing Mr Beecher of improper approaches, and which was shown by her husband to Dr Storrs, Mrs Tilton said: There is a certain power Theodore has over me, especially if I am sick, and he hardly ever came to me when I was in any other condition, to do anything of that sort. "One or two letters I sent West will bear witness to that. I wrote a letter to Mrs — in one ten minutes, and in the next ten minutes wrote another letter to her with a statement contrary to that of the first. The first was written under Mr Tilton's influence. After having written it I said to myself: "Why I have stabbed Mr Beecher!" and I wrote in a second letter, "For God's sake don't listen to what I said in the first." I have never written a letter of my own in regard to this matter, except one very small letter about which I desire to confess. It was with regard to my mother. In that letter I gave her a very cruel stab. I wrote that; but the others were entirely of Mr Tilton's concocting.

Mrs Tilton admitted that she copied the note containing the words, "Mr Beecher desired me to be his wife with all that that implies," which note was to be shown to Dr Storrs. She at first refused, but he said he needed it because it would be a great deal better than anything he could write, and it was not anything, after all. She replied, "It is not true, and what will Mr Beecher say?" Frank Carpenter was present but could not hear, as they spoke low. Mr Tilton told her she had but 15 minutes, and she sat down and wrote the note. It is absolutely false that she wanted to make a stronger statement. She thought it wickedly strong as it was. There was trouble and she thought it would in some way serve Theodore and bring peace. He had said the whole affair was some scheme to get out of the Woodhull trouble. Mrs Tilton then related how the week after the council of churches was called she, without consulting Theodore, went to Dr Storrs and told him that letter was false: that she was not the author of nor had she composed it in any way, and Dr Storrs said he wished he had known it, for on that letter alone he had believed Mr Beecher a wicked man. He asked her if she knew of the great sin that she had done. She replied that she realized it. She had frequently done such things as that. She had no opportunity of explaining the circumstances, as the doctor was in a hurry and referred her to his wife.

The statement, obtained from her by Mr Beecher exonerating him, was written by her, she said, while suffering from the effects of a miscarriage.

Question—Can you remember that interview with Mr Beecher?

Mrs Tilton—It was a very similar one to the other. I was half unconscious, and was very ill prepared to see either of them. My room was all darkened, and the nurse had gone to hers. She opened the door and said that Mr Beecher wanted to see me. I certainly do not know what to tell you about that, either.

Question—Do you remember writing some paper for Mr Beecher.

Mrs Tilton—Yes.

Question—Can you recall the contents of that paper?

Mrs Tilton—No, I cannot. I think it was to do something for him, because Theodore had done something against him.

Question—Is it true that he said anything to you about a council of ministers?

Mrs Tilton—I do not remember everything about it. I have tried very hard, dear friends, to get into my mind those scenes, but they are utterly gone out of my brain. Mrs Tilton added that she never told Miss Anthony she had committed adultery, or done wrong with Mr Beecher, or anything to that effect.

Mrs Tilton also said much in complaint of her husband's marital infidelities, saying that he had repeatedly confessed them. She dwelt with special bitterness upon a period when, after returning from a trip West, she found he had installed a woman in her place, who tyrannized over her so that in sheer desperation she was driven out to wander upon the street and by the graves of her children in utter wretchedness. Mrs Tilton continued that, after Mr Tilton left the Independent, she suffered much from want; sometimes had no fire, and many a time no food, and Theodore utterly indifferent to it. She concludes with the remark, that she has not one pang of conscience that she has not done everything she could as a good wife and good mother to her children, and feels that she has borne and suffered for her husband's sake, and that he alone is responsible for the disruption in their family.

ANOTHER OF BEECHER'S LETTERS.

Written to Mrs Tilton after the Woodhull Publication.

My Dear Mrs Tilton:

I hoped that you would be shielded from the knowledge of the great wrong that has been done to you, and through you to universal womanhood. I can hardly bear to speak of it, or allude to a matter than which nothing can be imagined more painful to a pure and womanly nature. I pray daily for you, "that your faith fail not." You, yourself, know the way and the power of prayer. God has been your refuge in many sorrows before. He will now hide you in His pavilion until the storm be overpast. The rain that beats down the flower to the earth will pass at length, and the stem, bent, but not broken, will rise again and blossom as before. Every pure woman on earth will feel that this wanton and unprovoked assault is aimed at you, but reaches to universal womanhood. Meantime your dear children will love you with double tenderness, and Theodore, against whom these shafts are hurled, will hide you in his heart of hearts.

I am glad that this revelation from the pit has given him a sight of the danger that was before hidden by specious appearances and promises of usefulness. "May God keep him in courage in the arduous struggle which he wages against adversity, and bring him out, though much tried, like gold seven times fired.

I have not spoken of myself. No word could express the sharpness and depth of my sorrow in your behalf, my dear and honored friend. God walks in the fire by the side of those he loves, and in heaven neither you, nor Theodore, nor I shall regret the discipline, how hard soever it may seem now. May He restrain and turn those poor creatures who have been given over to do all this sorrowful harm to those who have deserved no such treatment at their hands.

I commend you to my mother's God, my dear friend! May His smile bring light in darkness and his love be a perpetual summer to you!

Very truly yours,

Henry Ward Beecher.

DR STORRS'S ADVICE TO TILTON,

Given at the Time of the Woodhull Scandal.

Dr Storrs, in an interview with a Tribune reporter, yesterday, gave the following account of the interview between him and Mr Tilton, at the time of the first publication of the scandal: It was a week or ten days after the publication of the Woodhull scandal that Mr Tilton came to me for advice. Some public statement, he thought, was necessary as a reply, but in what form or even how far it should go he could not himself decide. Upon this point he wished some counsel, and for this he came to me as a friend of Mr Beecher. As Mr Tilton has stated before the committee, I had not then read the paper of Mrs Woodhull, but told Mr Tilton I would borrow a copy of a friend who had one and read it if he desired. I did this, and, as agreed upon, Mr Tilton called again. I told him I had read the statement with much care, and that there were four points in it to be denied; first, that Mr Beecher and Mrs Tilton had criminal relations; secondly, that you discovered this; thirdly, that Mr Beecher received a paper from Mrs Tilton denying that such relations had ever existed: and fourthly, that Mr Moulton obtained that paper from Mr Beecher. I did not say, as Mr Carpenter has put it, that I had drawn four conclusions, but that there were four points to be denied. I was of the impression that a simple and material denial by those concerned would probably be made, and thus an end be put to the vile story. Mr Tilton, however, said to me: "Supposing these points cannot be denied?" I told him in effect that in that case a plain statement of the truth, or absolute silence on his part, were the only alternatives open to him; that it would not answer to attempt any evasion in a public statement, since that would not silence the scandal, but instead would keep it alive and give it new force. Beyond this I declined to give advice, unless he should be disposed to acquaint me with sufficient facts in the case to enable me to form an intelligent judgment. He did not wish to do this, and I did not urge him to do it. Soon after this, Mr Tilton came to my house, accompanied by Mr Carpenter, and said he wished to present to me such facts as would enable me to comprehend his position and to give him advice. At the same time he handed me a letter from Mrs Elizabeth Tilton, in her handwriting, which I read and returned to him. I did not take a copy of that letter, but it, of course, was deeply impressed on my mind, and after Mr Tilton went away I made notes of it as well as of the statement which he afterward read. I have not those memoranda with me, but if I remember correctly, and I think I cannot be mistaken, the letter began: "On a certain day in the summer of 1870 I informed my husband that Mr Beecher had asked me to become a wife to him, with all that that implies." This was a most remarkable statement. I was, of course, shocked by it. I demurred to listening to Mr Tilton's statement, but, with the understanding, from the letter and from Mr Tilton, that it was the wish and request of Mrs Tilton that I should do so, attended to the reading by Mr Tilton of a paper, which included a portion of the letters and documents that have since been published. I do not recall my exact language to Mr Tilton, when he had finished reading his statement, but, as I said before, the substance of it was, that no public card embodying an evasion would, in any way, better the case. It would be preferable to take no notice of Mrs Woodhull's paper. At the time Mr Tilton first came to consult with me, and at the subsequent interviews, he did not seem actuated by any spirit of malice or revenge. He spoke with no bitterness of Mr Beecher, and of his wife with affection and tenderness. He was not violent in his language, and appeared honestly seeking some peaceful solution. One of his expressions was, "Revenges have burned out." He seemed to me to be sad and depressed by a great burden, which he was in vain trying to remove. Mrs Tilton came to my house for the first time one day during last February or March, fully a year and a fourth after she had written the letter regarding Mr Beecher for me to see. She then informed me she was in no sense the author of that letter, and that the statement in it affecting Mr Beecher was utterly false, without shadow of foundation in fact. I was as much astonished to hear her denial as when I read her charge, over a year before, and asked her if she realized what she had done. She said she did fully realize the sin she had committed. I told her she had done Mr Beecher an incalculable wrong in allowing a false charge, so fearful in its character, to stand against him so long a time; that whatever the circumstances which caused her to make it, it was a terrible wickedness against God and a crime against society. She knew and acknowledged it all. Dr Storrs spoke with much feeling of the many years of friendship between Mr Beecher and himself, and said none could hope more strongly than he that Mr Beecher would be shown to be blameless.

THE LEGAL ASPECT OF THE CASE.

The libel suit which the Brooklyn reporter Gaynor, brought in a police court against Tilton last week, has been dismissed, because it had become evident to all parties that he had only gone into the business for the sake of notoriety, and for the added reason that Beecher, who was alleged to have been libeled, did not join in the prosecution. Tilton announces, however, that he has resolved to have no more dealings with the Beecher committee, whom he charges with having treated him unfairly, and has instructed his counsel to carry the case into the courts.

MRS STANTON AT SECOND-HAND.

A Chicago lady, whom the Tribune of that city vouches for as "well known in philanthropic and reform circles" there, publishes a letter in which she says that Susan B. Anthony told her,—three years ago,—in a conversation about the quarrel between the two wings of the woman suffrage party,—in which she had been accused of holding free-love doctrines.—that Mr Beecher was "criminally guilty concerning a certain married woman of Brooklyn, whose name I did not ask nor did she give." "She said, further, that Beecher would never attack her wing of the suffragists, for this reason: When the Boston wing began to abuse Mrs Stanton, she (Susan), knowing the facts about Mr Beecher, went to him and asked him if he proposed to stand by a party that so accused a woman whom he knew to be as pure and exemplary as Mrs Stanton. Then she went on to tell him what she knew of his practices. He made no denial of these charges, but came down at once and said: "Susan, what do you want me to do?" "You know," she said to me, "he was Henry Ward Beecher, and I could not tell him he should resign at once, but I did say that he should not suffer himself to be re-elected, and that he should utterly withdraw his support from that faction; and," said Susan, "from that moment he has never squeaked."

MOULTON AT LAST TO TESTIFY.

"Mutual Friend" Moulton has been missing the greater part of the week, neither committee nor reporters being able to get any trace of him, but he turned up in Brooklyn, Tuesday night, from a trip down to the summer residence of Ben Butler, with whom he has been very intimate ever since the investigation began and under whose counsel he is believed to have been acting. Upon his return he found two notes from Mr Beecher, one dated July 24 and the other July 28, asking him to allow Beecher to see the originals of all his (Beecher's) papers in his possession, and also to go before the committee and tell all he knows. To these Moulton replied that he couldn't let Mr Beecher see these papers, which had been committed to his confidential charge, except on the request of both the parties they affected; that he had not shown any of the papers to Tilton since the controversy began; and that he could not let Beecher see them unless Tilton were willing. Mr Beecher replied in a vigorous letter that he was astonished at this attitude; that he had never placed papers in Moulton's hands to be held for two parties, but only "to be held for me;" that Tilton had had access to Moulton's depository "for materials with which to strike me," while he (Beecher) was not permitted to use them in defending himself: and, finally, that "I do demand that you forthwith place before the committee every paper which I have written or deposited with you."

Moulton promptly replied that he was astonished at Beecher's letter; that all the papers which Beecher or Tilton had deposited with him "were not given me to be subject to the wishes of either party, but the very object of my holding them has been, and still is, to prevent the wish of one party from being injuriously exercised against the other"; that, so far from Mr Tilton's having had access to them, he (Moulton) had refused to let him see them; that Tilton has never seen all the papers Moulton has, and "would be more surprised to learn all the facts of the case than you can possibly be"; and finally, again, that he could not place before the committee any papers without the consent of both Beecher and Tilton. In the course of this letter and referring to Beecher's statement that he (Moulton) had other papers of Beecher's than those involved in the Tilton controversy, including "various letters addressed to me by my brother, my sister and various parties," Moulton says: "You speak also of a letter or two from your sister, and I am sure you have not forgotten the apprehension which we entertained lest Mrs Tilton should fulfill a design which she foreshadowed, to invade your pulpit and read to your congregation a confession of your intimacy with Mrs Tilton." Moulton then wrote to Tilton asking if he had any objections to these papers being produced; Tilton said he hadn't, but, on the contrary, requested Moulton to exhibit them, and Moulton thereupon sent word to the committee that he would appear on Saturday evening with all the papers, and tell "the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth."