The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1874-08-26

TIA LIVINGSTON ST., BROOKLYN,
December 81, 1872,
My Dear Friend--I owe you long let
ter. l am unwell and prisoner in the
house, leaning back in aforementioned
idleness, and writing on my chair-board be-
fore the fire. Perhaps you wonder that l
have fire, or anything but a hearthstone
broken and crumbled since the world has
been told that my household is in ruins.
And yet it is more like your last letter.
brimful of love and wit, and sparkling like
a fouAtain in md-winter
Nevertheless you are right. / am in
trouble; and hardly see path out of
i it.
1t is just two years ago to-day-this very
day-the last of the year that Mr.. Bowen
lifted his hammer, and with an unjust blow
smote asunder my two contracts, one with
| the Independent and the other with the
Brooklyn Union. The public little sus-
poets that this act of his turned on his fear
| to meet the consequences of horrible
charges which he made against Henry
Ward Beecher. l have kept quiet on the
subject for two years through an unwilling
ness to harm others, even for the sake of
righting myselfbefore the public. Buthav-
ing trusted to time for my vindication, l
find that time has only thickencd my diff
culties until these now buffet me like a
storm.
You know that Bowen long ago paid to
me the assessed pecuniary damages which
grew out of his breaking of the contracts,
and gave me written vindication of my
course, and something like an apology for
his. This settlement, so far as l am con-
cerned, is final.
But Bowen's assassinating dagger drawn
against Beecher has proved as unable as
Macbeth's to "trammel up the conse-
| quence." And the consequence is that the
air of Brooklyn is rife with stories against
its chief clergyman, not growing out of the
| Woodruff scandal merely, but exhaled with
ever fresh foulness, like mephitic vapors,
from Bowen's own charge against Beecher
Verify, the tongue is a wild beast that no
man can tame, and like wolf it is now
seeking to devour the chief shepherd of the
flock, together also with my own pretty
lambs.
For the last four or five weeks, or ever
since l saw the Woodruff libel, l have
hardly had arestful day. and l frequently
dream the whole thing over at night, waking
the next morning III fit for work.
Have you any conception of what it is to
| suffer the keenest possible injustice? If
not, come and learn of me.
| Say nOtHlLS VI tlS WlOiS lhouit "
my wife, in whose sorrow l have greater
sorrow, have to bear the additional in
dignity of being msconstrued by half the
public and by many friends.
For instance, it is supposed that l had
conspirator's hand in this unholy business,
whereas am as innocent of it as of the
Nathan murder.
1t i, hintcd that the libellous article was
actually written by me; whereas (being in
the north of New Hampshire) I did not
know of its existence till week after it had
convulsed my own city and family. My
wife never named it in her letters to me
lest it should spoil my mood for public
speaking. (You know 1 was then toiling
day and night for Mr.. Greeley's sake.)
Then, too, it is the sneer of the clubs that
l have degenerated into an apostle of free
love; whereas the whole body of my writ
ings stands like monument against this
execrable theory.
Moreover, it is charged that 1 am in f.
nancial and other relations with Mrs Wood
hull whereas l have not spoken to; nor
met nor seen her for nearly year.
The history of my acquaintance with her
is this In the spring of 1871, few months
after Bowen charged Beecher with the most
hideous crime known to human nature, and
had slammed the door of the Independent
in my face, and when was toiling like
Hercules to keep the scandal from the pub
lie, then it was that Mrs Woodruff, hitherto
a total stranger to me, suddenly sent for
me and poured into my ears, not the Bowen
scandal but new one OF her own, namely,
almost the same identical tale which she
printed few weeks ago.
Think of it! When was doing my best
to suppress one earthquake, Mrs Woodruff
| e,,lI IL, IAro iii.
another. What was to do? resolved at
until could securely tie up the original
storm. My fear was that she would pub
lish what she told to me, and to prevent
this catastrophe, / resolved (and, as the
result proves, like fool, and yet with a
fools innocent and pure motve) to make
her such a friend of mine that she would
never think of doing me such harm. Sc
l rendered her some important services (in-
Guiding especially some labors of pen and
ink,) all with view to put and hold her
under an obligation to me and mine.
In so acting towards her found to my
glad surprise and establishment that she rose
almost as high in my estimation as she had
done with Lucretia Mott Elizabeth Cady
Stanton, Isabella Beecher Hooker and other
excellent women. Nobody who has not met
Mrs Woodruff can have an adequate idea
of the admirable impression which she is
capable of producing on serious persons.
Moreover, felt that the current denuncia-
tons against her were outrageously unjust,
and that, like myself. she had been put in
false position before the public, and | SYM
pathized keenly with the aggravaton of
spirit which this produces. This fact lent
a zeal to all said in her defence.
Nor was it until after had known her
for number of months, and when discov-
cred her purpose to libel dozen represen-
tative women of the suffrage movement.
that suddenly opened my eyes to her real
tendencies to mischief; and then it was
th't Indignantly repudiated her acquaint-
ance, and have never seen her since.
Hence her late TRADE.
Well, it is, over, and am left to be the
chief sufferer in the public estimation.
What to do in the emergency (Which is
not clearing but clouding itself daily have
not yet decided.
What | could do would be to take my
writing desk and publish tomorrow morn
ing the prepared narrative and vindication,
which, with facts and documents, my legal
advisers pronounce complete
This would explain and clarity everything
both great and small Cincluding the Wood
hull episode, which is minor part of the
whole case,) but if publish it l must not
only violate kind of honorable obligation
to be silent, which | had voluntarily i'm
posed upon myself, but must put my old
friend Bowen to serious risk of being
smitten dead by Beecher's hand.
How far Bowen would deserve his fate
cannot say but know that all Plymouth
church would hunt him as a rat.
Well, perhaps the future will unravel my
skein for me without my own hand; but
whatever happens to my weather beaten |
self, wish you, o prosperous comrade, |
happy New Year.
Fraternally yours,
THEODORE TLToN.
p. S.-Before sending this long letter |
(Which pays my debt to you,) have read |
it to my wife, who desires to supplement- ii |
by sending her love and good will to the |