The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1874-07-24
A SAD STORY.
What a Wife has Suffered.
statement of Mrs. TiltOn.

Statement of Mrs. TiltOn.
b The following is the statement of Mrs,
E. R. Tilton:
To pick up anew the SORROWS of the
last ten years-the stings and pains |
had daily schooled myself to bury and
forgive-makes this imperative duty, as
called forth by the malicious statement
Of my husband, the saddest act of my life.
Besides my thought of following
the master contradicts this act of
my pen, and sense of perversion
Of my life-faith almost compels me now
10 stand aside until God himself delivers
Yet l see in this wanton act an
urgent call and privilege from which I
shrink not. To reply. to the twenty-five
! articles of arraignmefrt shah not at
tempt at present; yet if called on to tes-
tify 10 each and all of them, l shall not
hesitate to do so. Suffice it for my purpose
now that | reply to ten or more Of the
most glowing charges.
a. Hypocritical Sorrow.
Touching the feigncd sorrow of my
husbands compulsory revelations, l
solemnly avow that long before
the Woodruff publications, | knew
him by i1Sinuation and direct state
ment to have repeated to my very
near relatives and friends the substance
of those accusations which shock the
moral sense Of the entire community this
day. Many times when hearing that
certain parties had spoken ill Of him, he
has sent me to chide them for SO doing,
and there learned that he had been be-
fore me with his calumnieS against
myself, so that | was speechleSs.
The reiteration in his statement that
he had pcrsistcntly striven to hide these
so-callcd facts, is utterly false, aS his
hatred to Mr.. Beecher has existed these
many years, and his determination TO
ruin Mr. Beecher has been the one aim Of
his life.
Griffith Gaunt.
Again, the pcrfdy with which
the hottest love wife ever offered has
been recklessly discovered in this publ
cation, reaches well nigh to sacrilege,
| and to add to thin the endeavOr like the
early scandal of Mrs. Woodruff, 10 make
my own words condemn me, has no
parallel Most conspicuous is my letter
quoting the reading of Griffith Gaunt.
Had Mr.. Tilton read the pure character
of Catherine, he would have seen that |
lifted myself beside it aS near rs any
human may erect an ideal. but it was her
character and not the incidents Of fiction
surrounding it to which l. referred. Hers
was no sin of criminal act or thought A
like confession with hers had made to
Mr.. TiltOn, in telling of my love to my
friend and pastor one year before, and |
now add that Notwithstanding all misrep-
resentation and anguish of soul owe to
nv acquaintance and friendship with
Mr.. Beecher, rs to no other human in
strumentality, that encouragement in
nv mental life and growth toward d.
vine nature which enables me to walk
daily in lively hope of the life beyond.
Obtained in Weakness.
The shameless charges in articles 7, Sand
9 are fcarfully false in each and every
particular. The letter referred to in Mr..
Tilton's tenth paragraph was obtained
from me BY importantly, and by repre-
sentations that it was necessary for him
TO use in his then pending difficulties
with Mr.. Bowen. | was then sick nigh
unto death. having suffered a miscarriage
only four DAYS before. signed whatever
he required me to- not knowing or under
standing its import. To the statements
contained in charge lS, letter of mine
addressed TO Mr.. Francis Moulton, quoted
to prove that never desired a
separation, or was advised by
Mr.. or Mrs. Beecher to leave my
husband, | reply that the letter was Of
Mr.. Titons own cOncoction, which he
induced me to copy and sign as my own,
an act which in my weakness and mis-
taken thought, to help him, | hav" done
too often during these unhappy years.
The Unhappy Home.
| The implication that the harmony Of
home was unbroken till Mr.. B"echcr en-
tered il as frequent guest and friend, l.
A lamentable satire upon the house
hold where he himself, Years before, laid
the corner stone Of free love, and desc
Grated its altars up to the time Of my de-
parture, SO that the atmospher" was not
! only goddess but impure for my children,
and in this effort and throe Of agony, |
would fain have kept my daughters and
all womanhood from the insidious and
diaholical teachings Of these latter days.
| Hi, frequent efforts To prove me insane
and weak minded, are insignificant Of
mean presence, and all rank in the cat
egOrv of heartlessness. Selfshness and
/ falsehoOd, having its climax IN his
nresent endeavOr to convince the
world that | am or ever hav"
been unable to distinguish between an
| innocent and a guilty love.
A Solemn Denial.
In summing up the whole matter, af-
( firm myselfbefore God to be innocent Of
/ the crimes laid upon me, that never have
/ been guilty of adultery with II. W. Beech
or in thought or deed. Nor has he
ever offered to me an indecorous or i'm
nroner proposal. To the further charge
that | was led away from home by Mr..
Beecher's friends. by the advice Of n
LAWYER whom Mr.. Beecher had sent to
me and who. in the advance of my ap-
pearance before the committee, arranged
with me the questions and answers which
are to constitute my testimony in Mr.,
Beecher's behalf l answer, this Is again
untrue. having never seen the lawyer
until introduced to him a few moments
before the arrival of the committee, by
my stepfather, Judge Mease. And in fur
ther reply l submit the following stat"-
ment Of nv action, before the Commit
g.. o,J III. srnarafiop from nv hu--