Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1874-09-03
BEECHER- TlLT0A.
Production of Documents
by MouIton.
A Mass Of Explanations, Con-
LESSONS, etc.

Francis D. Moulton, the "mutual friend "
and go-between of Beecher and rilton. ha' at
last unsealed his lips and given to the world
all that he knows about the famous or in
famous scandal, together with all the CORE
tpondence bearing upon the ugly matter
which was intrusted to him. The statement
| is precisely the same document that was pre-
pared for the Plymouth Investigation Com
mittee, but which, upon second thought, he
concluded to withhold for time. 1t was
published in the New York papers of the 22d
of August.
Moulton states that Tilton was first induced
to make charges against Beecher by Bowen,
who promised Tilton to sustain charges and
to aiduce additional evidence to prove them
whenever required. 1t was ON Bowen's de-
mand that Tilton addressed the following open
letter to Beecher:
"BRooKLYN, Dec. &c, 1870.
Henry Ward Beecher:
.'SIR: demand that, for reasons which
you explicitly understand, you immediately
cease from the ministry of Plymouth Church,
and that you quit the city of Brooklyn as a
residence.
(Signed) THEODORE TnToS'
Tilten explained that the words, "for
reasons which you explicitly understand, ~
were interlined at the request of Bowen.
But Bowen afterward changed his mind and
demanded silence on the part of Tilton,
threatening that if he should say to Beecher
what he (Bowen) had told him concerning his
(Beecher's) adultery, he would dismiss him
from the Independent and the Union. Tilton
%<l1 Il. h. lAl l,-- ia.
threats, and he would not be in the present
case, and subsequently received Bowers let
ter of dismissal.
In July, 1869, Mrs. Tilton confessed to her
intimacy with Beecher, which confession her
husband destroyed. Subsequently Mrs.
Tilton, fearing that, if Bowens accuse
! tons against Beecher were made public, the
whole matter would be known and her own
conduct with Beecher become exposed, had
renewed her confession In her own hand
writing. This later confession Beecher OBJ
tanned from Mrs. TIlton, and also a recanta-
ton and denial of any improper conduct by Mr..
Beecher toward her. At an interview between
Moulton and Beecher, In which the former
demanded this paper, Beecher admitted,
with grief and sorrow. the fact of his sexual
relations with Mrs. Tilton, expressed some
indignation that she had not told him that
she had told her husband, and that in conse-
quence of being in ignorance of tina. fact, he
had been walking upon volcano.
Here follows letter addressed by Mrs.
Hooker 10 her brother, Rev. Thomas X.
Beecher, of which the following is an ex-
tract;
please return this letter to me when you have
done with ii.
HARTFORD, Sunday, Nov. 8, 1872.
DEAR BROTHER TOM The blow has
fallen, and hope you are better prepared for
it than you might have been but for our in
/ 1ncr1G- linz 10 ~ IL
thus: Can help you 2 and here is his re-
ply: IF you still believe in that woman, you
cannot help me-"
She incloses to him letters from the Wood
hull and from Henry Ward Beecher. In the
latter's letter the following sentences occur:
" Probably you and I are nearer together than
any Of our family. cannot give the reason
now. / an clear, still you will follow your
own judgment. thank you for your letter
Of some things. neither talk nor will be
talked with. For love and sympathy l am
deeply thankful. The only help that can be
grateful to me, or useful, Is silence, and
silencing influence on all others. A day may
come for converse. It is not now. Licing on.
dead, my dear sister Belle loce me- and do not
talk about me or suffer others to in your
presence.
1.-THE understanding" says Mrs Hooker, sis
his own, and when I read in that horrible
story that he begged few hours notice that
he might Kill himself my mind flew back to
this sentence, which suggested suicide to me.
The moment l read it, Living or dead, dear
sister Belle, love mo- and l believed even
that. Now, Tom, can't you go to Brother
Edward at once, and give him these letters of
mine, and tell him what I told you, and, when
you have counselled together as brothers, you
should counsel me also, and come to me il
you can. 1t looks as if he hoped to buy my
silence with my love- At present, of course,
1 shall keep silence, but the truth is dearer
than all things else, and, if he will not speak
it in the same way, cannot always stand as
consenting to lie. God help us all.
Rev. Thomas X. Beecher replies to this let
ter of his sister under date of November, 1872,
in which he says, among other things, that
the Woodruff is only carrying out henry's
philosophy, against which he had recorded his
protest twenty years ago, when he parted low
ingly from him, saying they could not work
together. He continues: In hy judgment,
Henry is following his slippery doctrines of
expediency. and, in his cry of progress and
the nobleness of human nature. has sacrificed
the clear, exact, ideal integrity. Hands OF