The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-07-22
SCAN DIAL !
The Whole Matter Stated at
Length.
The ReeCher Investigations
TiItOn's statement.
New YORK, July q, 1874.


municating to youtne detailed statement of
facts of the evidence which you have been
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 alluded to an
offence and an apology by the Rev. Ii.
W Beecher. To whOmsoever else this al
lusion seemed indefinite, to Mr.. Beecher
it was plain. The offence was committed
by him, the apology was made by him,
both acts were his own and were
rences of his life. OF all men in
Plymouth Church or in the world, Rev.
Henry Ward Beccher was the one man
who was best informed concerning this
otfenSe 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
atfeCtatiOn of ignorance and innocence
concerning them, and has cOnSpicuOuSly
appointed committee of six Of the ablest
men in his church together with two at
tornevs, to inquire into what he leaves
YOU 10 regard as the unaccountable mys-
terv of the Otiense and apology, as
if he had neither committed nor offered
either, but a. if both were mere tigments
of another mans imag ginatiOn, thus
adroitly prompting the public to draw
the deduction that | am a person, under
some hallucination or delusiOn, living
in II dream, and forging fraud; further
more in order to cast over this e1plana-
tiOn the delicate glamour which always
lends charm to the defense of wO-
mans honor, Mrs. Elizabeth K. Tilton,
lately my wife, has been carried away
from her home to reside among
Mr.. Beechcrs friends and to cooperate
with him in his ostensibly honest and
lsudablc inquiry into facts concerning
which, she too, rs well as he has for years
past had perfect and equal knowledge
with himself. This investigation, there
fore, has been publicly pressed on me by
Mr.. Bcccher, seconded by Mrs. Tilton,
both of whom in 50 doing have united in
assuming before the public the nOn-e1iS-
tence of grave and solemn facts into
which they have conSpired to
investigate for the purpose nst of
elicitng 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 ex-
animation in which you expect to find,
on their part nothing but innocence,
and on my part nothing but SANDER. 1t
is now my unhappy duty, from which l
have in vain hitherto sought earnestly to
b. delivered, to give you the facts and
evidence for reversing your opinion in
this subject. In doing this painful,
| NAV saw. "hcurtrcnding duty
the responsibility for making the grave
disclosures which | am about /" lay be-
fore vuu belongs not Ia me but first to
Becchcr who has prompted You t. this
examination, and next to Mrs. Tilton
who has joined him in conspiracy
which cant fail to be full OF peril and
wrctchrdmc>S 10 many hearts. call on
you t. witness that in my first brief rI-
animation by the committee begged and
implOred you not 10 inquire INTO
the facts of this case, but rather to seek
to bury them beyond all possible rcvcla-
ton Happy for all concerned had this
cntreaty been needed. 1t is now too late:
the last opportunity for reconciliation
and settlement ha, passed. This invcs-
tigstion is undertaken by YOU in ignuranc
of danger against which Bcccicr should
have warned YOU in advance, and will
partly prove itself, 10 your surprise, to
have been an act Of want, and an excited
folly for which Rev. II. W. Becchrr, rs
its originator, and public cspouser here
after will find no space for repentance,
though he will seek it carefully and with
tears. This desperate man must hold
himself only, and not me accounta-
blc for the wrctchcdhcSs which these dis
closures will take to his own home, and
heart, as they have already brought To
mine. | add that the origina document
referred to in the ensuing sworn state
mcnt, are for the most part in my pos
session, but that..apology and II few other
papers are in the hands of Francis ID.
MoultOn. Truly yours.
[Signcd.l THEo. TILToN.
Tilton's Sworn Statement.
WHEREAS, the Rev II. W. Brecher
has instigatcd the appointment Of Il COM
mittcc consisting of six members Of his
church and society, to inquire into and
report ON the alleged -aSpersionS on his
character by Theodore Tilton; and
WHEREAS, Mrs Elizabeth K. Tilton.
formerly the wife Of Mr. Tilton. has
openly deserted her home in order to
cooperate with Bccchrr in conspiracy
toOverthrow the crcdibility and good re-
pute of her late hus sband rs a man and
citizen; therefore Theodore Tilton, being
thus authorized and required ard by
L. D.
Rev. III. W. Bccchcr, and being now and
hereafter released by the act of Mrs. Til
ton from further responsibility for the
Concealment of the truth touching her re-
lations with Mr.. Bcechcr, therefore the
said TiltOn hereby sets forth under his
solemn oath the following facts and teSti-
nOnY:
The Marriage.
FIrst-On the second of October,
1855. at Plymouth Church, Brooklyn,
thrmarriagc between Theodore TiltOn and
Elizabeth VI. Richards, was performed by
Rev. H. W. Bccchcr, which marriage
thirteen wears afterwards. was diShonored
and violated by this clergyman, through
the criminal seduction of this wife and
mother as hereinafter set forth.
The Friendship.
.Sccond-That for the period of about
fifteen years extending both before and
after this marriage. an intimate friend
ship existed between Theodore Tilton
and Rev Henry Ward Beecher, which
friendship was commented on to such
degree that in consequence thereof, sub
sequcnt dishonoring by Beecher of his
friends wife, was crime of uncommon
wrongfulneSs and perfdity.
The Seduction.
7Hird-About nine years ago, Rev. II.
W. Beecher, began and thereafter con-
tiuued friendship for Mrs. Elizabeth K,
Tilton, for whose native delicacy and ex-
treme religious sensibiity; often express
ed to her husband high admiration, vis-