Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-09-12


tain Beecher, knowing ali these things, so
monstrous, horrible, and revolving" To this
question, urgently springing from the facts, L
answer that did not know them al 81 once. as
the public now know them. began in the IT,
terest OF friend. met another man of bril-
liant genius and high standing, older than /,
who asked my friendship, which / promised
him, and who trusted me implicitly; and as dis
closure came after disclosure, as fact piled on
fact, could only stsgger along under the load.
These acts Of guilt had already been done,
many OF them, years before, and at the time he
promised me most faithfully and with sincere
sorrow, tears rolling down his cheek, thst ali
that was past, and his future should be bright
and holy, as his past had been deemed TO be By
those who knew him not. However mach 1
might cease 10 respect or love any party in the
controversy, yet there were other hearts 70
ache. There were innocent children to be de.
stroYeu, families-m0re than one or three-tO
be separated, and blight putupsn Christianity
and a shock to the moral sense OF the comma
nifty such as il never before received, II threw
down my burden; and, therefore, / have borne
IL as best could, and now only speak in de-
fence of my honor, which have endeavored %
keep untarnished, so that those who come after
me may not be overwhelmed in this maelstrom
of vice and wickedness, in which have nearly
been submerged.
1t is also objected to me that when have
been questioned in regard to these facts have
made denial Of them, and MIR. Beecher him.
self or his lawyers have had the temerity 70
publish in his statement q letter Of mine TO him
of June /, 1873, in answer TO his despairing one
of same date, telling me how he had lost all
hope, and intimating TO me in writing, as he
had frequently before in words, that bis only
refuge was suicide.
Having made an allusion TO
BKeCHkK's SUICIDE,
IL NAV be well for me 10 state here the full cir
cumstances of his confession concerning his
proposed design. he told me and repeated TO
another in my presence-that he had within his
reach In his own study poison, which he would
take Ii the story OF his crime with Elizabeth
should ever come to the public. He told me O.
a visit which he had made to q photogrspher's
gallery, where ne learned that one OF the en-
ploJe had mistaken @ glass of poison for a
glass Of water, and, having taken and drunken
II, had fallen dead, with scarcely time TO drop
the glass. Beecher said that was what he
wanted for himself; and under plea Of making
some Photographic experiments, he procured
some OF this same poison from the photographer,
which he told me he intended to use IL the reve-
lation OF his crime should be made. "And
then he said, ait would be simply reported
that Beecher died OF apoplexy; bat God, and
You and i VIII know what caused my DEATH" II
those who blame me could have looked into his
grief-stricken face and listened to the tones Of
his voice In the great emergenciee In which he
said there was no refuge for him but In death,
they would have felt fmpeiled, - was. 90 as
generous, a. open-hearted Q service ax prac-
iced towards him. IL would have taken q
harder heart than mine, being witness Of his
SORROWS. not TO forget his sins.