The Andrew County Republican. [volume] (Savannah, Mo.) 1871-1876, 1874-09-04

ed. l am sick, head. heart and body, but
must move on. l feel this morning like let
ting things go by the rum"
The letter of retraction proposed by Tilton
not being forthcoming, 1 felt it my duty in
this contest to take such measures as should
result in an apology from Shearman to Tilton.
l accordingly carried to him a copy Of the
paper having the article, and laid it Upon his
desk in his office, and said to him that if the
statements in this article we're not actually
made by him he ought to ~retract them. Al
though it lay on his desk, he said to me that
he had not seen the article, and did not mean
to see it. 1 told him.that he must see it, and
if it was not true he must say so. He said he
did not want to read it, and would not read 1t.
| then left him. Afterward 1 saw
Tilton and told him what l had
done, and said, eve will go up to-
gether." which We did, and met Mr..
Shearman. Mr.. Tilton called his attention
as having come from him (Shearmsn) con-
corning himself and his wife, that one was
crazy and the other subject to mediurlistic
fits. Said he, MIR. Sherman. this is IN
true, and if you are not correctly reported,
your simple duty Is to say 80; and if you have
made such a statement. l demand that you
retract and apologize. If You do not, l shall
hold you responsible in any way 1 can for such
an injurious statement" This confession
brought about an explanation from Shearman
which Tilton refused to accept. and Shearman
two days afterward sent him another letter of
explanation. in which he says. Il am o sat
istied that what l did say was erroneous
On Friday evening, the 30th of December,
being the night of the Plymouth Church
praver-meeting, Tilton came to me and said
in substance that by his wife's request he had
determined to see Beecher in order to show
to Becci er the confession of his wife of in
tercourse between them, which he CTilton)
had never III to that time mentioned to him
(Beecher) and the fact OF the confession, of
which his wife had told him that she had
never told Beechar; that though her con-
fession had been made in July previous in
writing, he (Tiiton) had afterward destroyed
it; but that his wife, fearing tina: If Bowen's
accusations against Beecher were made public
the whole matter would be known. and her
own conduct with Beecher become exposed,
had renewed her confession in ler W hand
writing. which he handed to ME to read,
which was the first knowledge | had OF lis
existence. Tilton did not tell me how his
wife came to make the confession in July,
nor did l at tina. time, or ever after,
ak. Indeed, l may state here. once for
all, that | rafrained from asking confessions
of ac:s OF all parties farther than they chose
to make thenAyoiuntarAy for the purpose for
which l was atng.
Tllton wauteI' me TO so down and ask
Beccher to come up and see him at my house.
which | did. | said to Deecher: "1lr. Iiiton
wants You TO come and gee him az my house
Immediately" He asked me what for. IrepIied
that he wants TO make some statement to
you in reference TO your relations with his
family" lie then called to some one in the
back room to g1adown and say he should not
be q: the prayer meeting. and we went out to-
Gether. 1t was stOrming at the time, when
he remarked There is an appropriateness
III thiss storm" and asked me: What can |
do? What can I do Z" l said: Mr.. Beecher.
| am not a Christian. Vt if YOU wish | will
show Won how well e heather can serve YOU
We then went to my house. and l
then showed him into the chamber over the
parlOr, where Mr.. Tilton was, and left them to-
ge.her. In about an hour Mr.. Beecher came
4 ,-,,. ,l ,.ial ,,a 80 I Ial s-an .hn ,,,F.a
sion of Elizabeth. | said l bad. Said he,
:. This will kill me" and asked me to walk ont
with him. l did so and We walked to Mr..
house together, and ne went in. On
the way he said This is a terrible catastro-
phe. 1t comes upon me as if struck by light
ming" He wont into Tilton's house and l re-
turned home. Within an hour lie returned
with me, and We left my house again tc-
gether, and walked with him 10 his house.
Tilton remained with me while Beecher
was absent at Tilton's house, and when he re-
turned there was no conversation between
them. When we arrived at Beecher's house he
wanted me to stand by him in this emergency,
and procure a reconciliation if possible. l
told him | would, because the interests Of
women. children and families were involved
if for no other reason.
That ended the interview that night. Dur
ing the evening nothing was said by Beecher
as to the truth or falsity of Mrs. Tilton's con-
reseiou. nor did he inform me that he had
from her any recantation OF the con-
fession. which / afterward learned he had
done. returned 10 my house and had some
conversation with Elton, in which he told me
that he had reciseG to Eeecher the details of
tho confession of his wife's adulteries, and
the remark which Bsecher made was, "This
is all a dream, Theodore" and that was
all the answer Beecher made to his. / then
Tilton that for the sake Of his wife and
and for the sake of Beecher's family.