Rensselaer Union, Volume 6, Number 45, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 July 1874 — TILTON vs. BEECHER. [ARTICLE]

TILTON vs. BEECHER.

TILTON’S STATEMENT. Tiie statement of Theodore Tilton in relation to certain offenses charged upon ltev. Henry Ward Beecher, pastor of Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, was made to the Church Investigating Committee on the evening of the 20th of July. It is a formidable indictment, a horrible and sickening revelation. The introductory and concluding portions of that statement are here given, the first because it indicates the motives which impelled Mr, Tilton to mak'e it, and the last because it epitomizes his grounds of offense: Gentlemen of tiie Committee— ln communicating to you the detailed statement of facts and evidence which you have been for several days expecting at my hands, let me remind you of the circumstances which call this statement forth. In my recent letter to Dr. Bacon I alluded to an offense and an apology by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. To whomsoever else this allusion seemed indefinite to Mr. Beecher was plain. The offense was committed by him; the apology was made by him. Both acts were his own, and were among the most momentous occurrences of his life. Of all men in Plymouth Church, or in the world, Rev. Henry Ward Beecher was the one man who was best informed concerning this offense and apology, and the one man who least needed to inquire into either. Nevertheless, while possessing perfect knowledge of both these acts done by himself, he has chosen to put on a public affectation of ignorance and innocence concerning them, and has conspicuously appointed a committee of six of tiie ablest men of his church, together with two attorneys, to inquire into what he leaves you to regard the unaccountable mystery of this offense and apology, as if lie had neither committed the one nor offered the other, but as if both were mere figments of another man’s imagination; thus adroitly prompting the public to dra w tiie deduction that I am a person under some hallucination or delusion, living in a dream and forging a fraud. Furthermore, in order to cast over this explanation the delicate glamour which always lends charm to the defense of a woman’s honor, Mrs. Elizabeth R. Tilton, lately my wife, has been prompted away from her homo, to reside among Mr. Beecher’s friends and to co-operate with him in his ostensibly honest, and laudable inquiry into facts concerning which she, too, as -well as he, has for years past had perfect and equal knowledge with himself. This investigation, therefore, has been publicly pressed upon me by Mr. Beecher, seconded by Mrs, Tilton, both of whom in so doing have united in assuming before the public the non-ex-istence of grave and solemn facts, into which they have conspired to investigate, for the purpose not of eliciting but of denying the truth. This joint assumption by them, which has seemed to your committee to be in good faith, has naturally led you into an examination in which you expect to find on their part nothing but innocence, and ou my part nothing but slander. It is now my unhappy duty—from which I have in vain hitherto sought to be delivered—to'give you the facts and evidences for reversing your opinion on this subject. In doing this painful, I may say heart-rend-ing, duty the responsibility for making tiie grave disclosures which I am about to lay btfore you belongs not to me, but first to Beecher, who has prompted you to this examination, and next to Mrs. 1 ilton, who has joined him in a conspiracy which cannot fail to be full of peril and wretchedness to many hearts. I call you to witness that in my first brief-examination by your committee I begged and implored you not to inquire into the facts of this case, but rather seek to bury them beyond all possible revelation. Happy for all concerned had this entreaty been heeded, it is now too late. The last opportunity for reconciliation and settlement has passed. This investigation, undertaken by you in ignorance of the dangers against which Beecher should have forewarned you in advance* will shortly prove itself, to your surprise, to have been an act of wanton and wicked folly for which Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, as its originator and public sponsor* will hereafter find no space for repentance, though he seek ■it carefully anu with tears. This desperate man must hold himself only, and not me, accountable for the wretchedness which these disclosures will carry to his own home and hearth, as they have already brought to mine. I will add that the original documents referred to in the ensuing sworn statement are for the most part in my possession,. but that the apology and a few other papers are in the hands of Francis I). Moulton. Truly yours, Theodore Tilton.

•«. SUMMING UP. Finally, that in addition to the foregoing facts and evidence other cofirmations could be adduced, if needed, to prove the,follo\ving recapitulative statement, namely: That the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, as pastor and friend of Mr. Tilton and his family, trespassed upon the sanctity of friendship and hospitality in a long endeavor to seduce Sirs. Elizabeth li. Tilton; that, by the artful use of his priestly authority with her, she being his pupil in religion, he accomplished this seduction; that for a period of a year and a half, or thereabouts, he maintained criminal intercourse with her, overcoming her previous modest scruples against such conduct by investing it with a false justification as sanctioned by love and religion; that he then participated in a conspiracy to‘degrade Theodore Tilton before the public by the loss of place, business, and repute; that he abused Mr. Tilton’s forgiveness and pledge of protection by thcjrcafftr authorizing a series of measures by Plymouth Church having for their object the putting of a stigma upon Tilton before the- church, and also before an ecclesiastical council; insomuch thatthe Moderator of that council, interpreting these acts by Beecher and his, church, declared publicly thnt they showed Beecher to be the lnjist magnanimous of men, and Tilton to be a knave and dog; that when Tilton thereafter—not in malice, but for selfprotection, wrote a letter to Dr. Bacon, alluding therein to an oflense and apology by- Rev.' Henry Ward Beecher, he (Mr. Beecher) tjcfiantly appointed a committee of his church-members to inquire into the injury done him by Mr. Tilton t»y the aforesaid allusion, and implying that he (Mr. Beecher) had never been the author of such offense and apology, and that Mr. Tilton was a slanderer; that, to make this inquiry bear grifevously against Mr. Tilton? Mr. Beecher previously connived with Mrs. E. It. Tilton to give false testimony in his (Mr. Beecher’s, behalf; that

Mr. Beecher’s course toward Mr. Tilton and family has at last resulted in oppn destruction of Mr. Tilton’s household and home, and the desolation of his heart apd life. Theodore Tilton^ Sworn to before me this 20th day of July, 1874. Tiieo. BtmaMYF.R, Notary Public.

• BEECHER’S STATEMENT. On the 22d several of the deacons of Plymouth Church, with Mr, Shearman, Mr Ross and Gen. Tracy, met at Mr. Beecher’s residence and, after a council lasting about three hours, drew up the following statement of Mr. Beecher’s for publication •. I do not propose at this time a detailed examination of the remarkable statement of Theodore Tilton, made before the Committee of Investigation, and Which appeared in print July 21, 1874. I recognize the many reasons which make it of transcendent importance to myself, the church, and the cause of public morality that I shall give a full answer to the charges against me. But, having requested the Committee of Investigation to search this matter to the bottom, it is to them that 1 must look for my vindication. But I cannot delay for an hour to defend the reputation of Mrs. Elizabeth It. Tilton, upon whose name, in connection with mine, her husband has attempted to pour shame. One less deserving of such disgrace I never knew. From childhood she lias been under my eye, and since reaching womanhood she lias had my sincere admiration and affection. I cherish for her a pure feeling, such as a gentleman -might -honorably offer to » Chlistiaawoman, and which she might receive and reciprocate without moral scruple. I reject with indignation every imputation which reflects upon her honor or my own. My regard for Mrs. Tilton was perfectly well known to my family. When serious difficulties sprang up in her household it was to my wife that she resorted for counsel, and both of us, acting from sympathy, and, as it subsequently appeared, without full knowledge, gave unadvised counsel which tended to harm. I have no doubt that Mr. Tilton found that his wife’s confidence anu reliance upon my judgment. had greatly increased, while his influence had diminished, in consequence of a marked change in his religious and social views, which was taking place during those years, llcr mind was greatly cxorcisod lest her children should be harmed by views which she declared virtually false and dangerous. I was suddenly and rudely aroused to the reality of impending danger by a disclosiire of domestic distress; of sickness, perhaps unto death; of the likelihood of a separation and scattering of a family, every member of which I had tenderly loved. The effect on me of the discovery of the state of Mr. Tilton’s feeling and the condition of his family surpassed in sorrow and excitement anything that I had ever experienced in my life. That my presence, influence and counsel had brought to a beloved family sorrow and alienation gave, in my then state of mind, a poignancy to my suffering which I hope no other man may ever feel. Even to be suspected of having offered, under the privileges of a peculiarly sacred relation, an indecorum to a wife and mother, could not but deeply wound any one who is sensitive to the honor of womanhood. There were peculiar reasons for alarm in this ease on other grounds, inasmuch as I was then subject to certain malignant rumors, and a flagrant outbreak in this family would bring upon them an added injury, derived from these shameless falsehoods. Believing at tiie time that my presence and counsels had tended, however unconsciously, to produce a social catastrophe, represented as imminent, I gave expression to my feelings in an interview with a mutual friend, not in cold and cautious self-defending words, but eagerly taking blame upon myself, mid pouring out my heart to my friend in the strongest language, overburdened with the exaggerations of impassioned sorrow. Had I been the evil man Mr. Tilton now represents, I should have been calmer aud more prudent. It was my horror of this evil imputed, that filled me with morbid intensity at the very shadow of it. Not only was my friend affected, but he assured me that such expressions, if conveyed to Mr. Tilton, would soothe his wounded feelings, altav anger, and heal the whole trouble, lie took down sentences and. fragments of what I had been saying, to use them as a mediator. A full statement of the circumstances under which this memorandum was made .1 shall give to the Investigating Committee. That these apologies were more than ample to meet the facts of the case is evident in that they were accepted; that our intercourse resumed its friendliness; that Mr. Tilton subsequently ratified it in writing, and that he has continued for four years, "and until* within two weeks, to live with his wife. Is it conceivable that if the original charge had been what is now alleged he would have condoned the offense not only with the mother of his children, but with him whom he believed to luvc wronged them? The absurdity as well as the falsity of this story is apparent when it is considered that Mr. Tilton now alleges that he carried this guilty secret of his wife’s infidelity for six months locked up in his own breast, and that then he divulged it to me only that there might be a reconciliation witli me. Mr. Tilton has since, in every form of language, and to a multitude of witnesses, v orally, in written statements, and jn printed documents, declared his faith in his wife’s purity. After the reconciliation of Mr. Tilton with me every consideration of propriety aud honor demanded that the family trouble should be kept in that seclusion which domestic affairs have a right to claim as a sanctuary, and to that Reclusion it was determined that it should be confined. Every line and word of my private and confidential letters which have been published is in harmony with the statements which ! now make. '

My published correspondence on this subject comprises but two elements, viz.: the expression of my grief and tjiat of my desire to shield the honor of a pure and innocent woman. I do not propose to analyze and contest at this time the extraordinary paper of Mr. Tilton; but there are two allegations which I cannot permit to pass without special notice. They refer to the only two incidents which Mr. Tilton pretends to' have witnessed personally, the oue an alleged scene in my house while looking over engravings, an<l the other a chamber scene in his owq house. His statements concerning these are absolutely false. Nothing of

the kind ever occurred, nor any semblance of any such thing. They are now brought to my notice for the first time. To every statement which connects me dishonorably with Mrs. Elizabeth R. Tilton, or which in anywise would impugn the honor and purity of this beloved Christian woman, I give the most plicit, comprehensive and solemn denial. Henry Ward Beecher. Brooklyn, July 22, 1874. STATEMENT OF MRS. TILTON. To pick up anew the sorrows of the last ten years, the stings and pains I had daily schooled myself to bury and forgive, makes this imperative duty, as called forth by the malicious statement of my husband, the saddest act of my life. Besides, my thought of following the Master contradicts this act of my pen, and a sense of the perversion of my life faith almost compels me now to stand aside until God himself delivers; yet I see in this wanton act an urgent call and privilege, from which I shrink not. To reply in detail to the twenty-two articles of arraignment I shall not attempt at present, yet if called upon to testify to each and all of them I shall not hesitate to do so. Suffice it for my purpose now that I reply to one’ or more of the most glaring charges. 1. Touching the feigned sorrow of my husband’s compulsory revelations I solemnly avow that long before the Woodhull publication I knew him by insinuation and direct statement to have repeated to my very near relatives and friends the substance of these accusations which shock tiie moral sense of the entire community this day. Many times when TieaftHgYlTaTcertain persons had spoken ill of him lie lias sent me to cltide them for so doing, and then and there I learned lie had been before me with his calumnies against myself, so that I was speechless. 2. The reiteration in liis statement that lie had persistently striven to hide these so-called facts is utterly false, as his hatred to Mr. Beecher has existed these many years, aud tiie determination to rum Mr. "Beecher ' has been the one aim of his life. Again, tiie perfidy with which the Holiest love a wife ever offered has been recklessly discovered in this publication reaches well nigh to sacrilege, and added to this the endeavor, like the early scandal of Mrs. Woodhull, to make my own words condemn me, has no parallel; most conspicuously my letter quoting the reading of “ Griffith Gaunt.” Had Mr. Tilton read tiie pure character of Catherine he would have seen that I lifted myself beside it as near as any human may afteet an ideal; but it was her character and not the incidents of fiction surrounding it to wlffch l referred. Ilers was no sin of criminal act or thought. A like confession with hers I had made to Mr. Tilton in telling of my love to my friend and pastor one year before, hnd I now add that, notwithstanding all misrepresentations and anguish of soul, I owe to my acquaintance and friendship with Mr. Beecher, as to no other human instrumentality, that encouragement of my mental life and that growth toward the Divine native which enable me to walk daily in a lively hope of the life beyond the grave. 3. The shameless charges in articles seven, eight and nine are fearfully false in each and every particular. The letter referred to in Mr. Tilton’s tenth paragraph was obtained from me by importunity, and by representations that it was necessary for him to use in his then pending difficulties with Mr. Bowen. I was then sick nigh unto death, having suffered a miscarriage only four clays before. I signed whatever he required, without "knowing or understanding its import. The paper I never have seen, and do not know What statements it contained. In charge eighteen is a letter of mine, addressed to Mr. F. Moulton, quoted to prove that I had never desired a separation or was advised by Mr. or Mrs. Beecher to leave my husband., I reply, the letter was of Mr. Tilton’s own concocting, which lie induced me to copy and sign as my own, an act which in my weakness and mistaken thought to help iiiml have done too often during these unhappy years. 4. The implication that the harmony of the home, was unbroken 'till Mr. Bcefclier entered it as a frequent guest and friend is a lamentable satire upon the household where he himself years before laid’tlie corner-stone of free love and desecrated its altars up to of my departure, so that the, atmosphere was not only godless, but Urnpurc for my children, and in this effort and throe of agony I would fain lift my daughters and all womanhood from the insidious and diabolical teaching of these latter days. His frequent efforts to prove me insane, weak-minded, insignificant und of. mean presence all rank in the Category of heartlessness, selfishness and falsehood, having"Us climax in his present endeavor to convince the world that I am or ever have been unable to distinguish between an innocent or a guilty love. In summing up the'whole matter 1 affirm myself before God to be innocent of the crimes laid upon me; that never have I been guilty of adultery with Henry Ward Beecher in thought or deed, nor lias he ever offered to me an indecorous or improper proposal. V 'I o tiie further charge that I was led /away from my home by Mr. Beecher’s friend and by the advice of a lawyer whom Mr. Beecher had sent to me, who in advance of my appearing before the committee arrangedwith me the questions and answers which are to constitute my testimony in Mr. Beecher’s behalf, I answer that this is again untrue, having never seen the lawyer until introduced to him a-few moments before tiie arrival of the committee by my stepfather, Judge Morse; and in further reply j submit the following statement of ! my action before the committee ami the separation from my husband:

5. The publication of Mr. Tilton’s letter in answer to Dr. Bacon I had not .known not suspected when on Wednesday evening, he brought home the Golden Age', handing it to me to read. Looking dow n its column 1 saw well nigh with blinding eyes that he had put into execution the almost daily threat of his life —that “he lived to crush out Mr. Beecher; lie had always been Mr. Beecher-esq-jJerior, and all that lay in his path—Wife, children or reputation, if need be - should fall before this purpose.” I did not read it. - I saw enough without reading. My spirit rose within me as never before. '“Theodore,” I said, “tell me what means this quotation from Mr. Beedher? Two years ago you came to me at midnight, saying, ‘ Elizabeth, all letters and papers concerning my difficulties with Mr. Beecher and Mr. Bowen arc burned, destroyed. Now, don’t you betray me, for I have nothing to defend myself with."”’ “Did

you believe that?” said he. “ I certainly did, implicitly,” I said. “Well, let me tell you: they all live. Not one is destroyed.” If this was said to intimidate me it had quite the contrary effect; I had never been so fearless nor seen so clearly before with whom I was dealing. Coming to me a little later: “ I want you to read it. You wiff find it a vindicatioh of yourself. You have not stood before the community for five years as you now do.” 6. Roused still further by the wickedness hid behind so false a mask, I replied: “ Theodore, understand me. This is the last time you call me publicly to walk through this filth. My character needs no vindication, at this late hour, from you. There was a time, had you spoken out clearly, truthfully and manfully for me, I had been grateful; but now I shall speak and act for myself. Know, also, that if in the future I see a scrap of paper referring to any human being, however remote, which it seems to me 30U might use or pervert for your own ends, I will destroy it.” “This means battle on your part, the n,” he said. “Just so far,” I replied. 7. I write this because these words of mine he has since used to my harm. The next morning I went to my brother, and told him that now I had decided to act in this matter; that I had been treated by my husband as a nonentity from the beginning; a plaything to be used or let alone at will; that it had always seemed to me I was a party-not a little concerned. I then showed him a card I had made for publication. Tic respected the motive; but still advised silence on my part, I yielded tims fa* as to not appear in the public prints, but, counseling with myself and no other, it occurred to me that among the brethren of my own communion I might be heard. Not knowing of any church committee, I asked the privilege of such an interview in the parlors of those who had always been our mutual friends. Mr. and Mrs. Ovington then learned for the first time that the committee would meet that night, and advised me to see "those gentlemen as perhaps the godliest persons I could select. This I accordingly did. There alone I pleaded the cause of my husband and my children, the result being that their hearts were moved in sympathy for my family, a feeling their pastor had shared for years, and for which he was now suffering. On going home I found my husband reading in bed. I told him where I had been, and that I did not conceal anything from him, as his habit was from me. He asked who the gentlemen were. He said no more, rose, dressed himself, and bade me good-by forever. 8. The midnight following I was awakened by my husband standing by my bedside. In a very tpnder, kind voice he said he wished to see me.

I rose instantly, followed him to his room, and, sitting on the bedside, he drew me into his lap. “He was proud of me, loved me so that nothing ever gave him such real peace and satisfaction as to hear me well spoken of.” At that meeting, from a member of the committee, he had learned that he had been mistaken as to my motive in seeing the comrpittee and had hastened to assure me that he had been thoroughly wretched since his rash treatment of me the night before, etc. Then and there we covenanted sacredly our hearts and lives, I most utterly renewing the trust in the one human heart I loved. The next day how happy we were! Theodore wrote a statement to present to the committee when they should call upon him, to all of which I heartily acceded. This document, God knows, was a true history of this affair, completely vindicating my honor and the honor of my pastor. In the afternoon he left me to show it to his friends. He returned home early in the evening, passing the happiest hours I had known for years, assuring me that there was no rest for him aw r ay from me. So in grateful love to the dear Father I slept. Oh! that the end had then come; I would not then have received the cruel blow “which made a w r oman mad outright;.” The next morning he called upon Mr. and Mrs. Ovington and there, with a shocking bravado, began a wicked tirade, adding with -*oaths and violence the shameful slanders against Mr. Beecher, of which I novv believe him to be the author. This fearful scene I learned next day. In the afternoon lie showed me his invitation from the committee to meet them that evening; I did not show my hurt, but carried it heavily within, but calmly without, all night till morning. Kelleetion upon this scene at Mr. Ovington’s convinced me that notwithstanding my husband's recent profession to me his former spirit was unchanged, that his declarations of repentance and affection were only for the purpose of gaining my assistance to accomplish his ends in his warfare upon Beecher. In the light of these conclusions my duty appeared plain. I rose, quietly, and, having dressed, roused him, only to say: “Theodore, I will never take another step by your side. The end has indeed come.” He followed me to Mrs. 'Ovington’s to breakfast, saying that I was unduly excited, and that he had beep misrepresented, perhaps, but leaving me as determined as before. How to account for the change which twenty-four hours have been capable of working in his mini, then fixed for many years past, I leave to the eternities, w ith their mysteries, to reveal. That he is an unreliable and unsafe guide, whose idea of truth-loving is self-loving, it is my misfortune/in this late, sad hour to

discover.

ELIZABETH R. TILTON.

Brooklyn, July S 3, 1874.