Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1874-07-31
TILTON VS.. BEECHER.
TILTON'S STATEMENT.

| Plymouth Church, Brooklyn, was made
to the Church Investigating Committee
on the evening of the Goth of July. 1t is
a formidable Indictment, horrible and
sickening revelation. The Introductory
and concluding portions of that state
ment are here given the first because it
indicates the motives which impelled
Mr.. Tilton to make it, and the last be-
cause it epitOmiZes his grounds of offense ::
GENTLEMEN OF THE COMMTTTEE-In
communicating to you the detailed state
ment of facts and evidence which you
have been for several days expecting at
my hands, let me remind you of the cir
cumstances which call this statement
| forth. In my recent letter to DIR. Bacon
| | alluded to an offense and an apology by
Rev. Henry Ward Beecher. 70 whom
soever else this allusion emed indefinite
to Mr.. Beecher was plain. The offense
was committed by him; the apology was
made by him. Both acts were his own,
and were among the most momentous oc-
currences of his life Of all men in Ply
mouth Church, or in the world, Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher was the one man
who was best informed concerning this
ofense 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 pub
| lie affectatiOn of ignorance and innocence
concerning them, and has conspicuously
| appointed a committee of six of the
ablest men of his church, together with
two attorneys, to inquire into what he
| leaves you to regard the unaccountable
mystery of this offense and apology, as
| if he had neither committed the one nor
| offered the other, but as if both we're
mere Pigments of another mans magma
ton; thus adrOitly prompting the public
| to draw the deduction that am person
under some hallucination or deluSion,
| living in dream and forging a fraud.
| Furthermore, in order to cast over this
explanation the delicate glamour which
| always lends charm to the defense of
woman's honor, Mrs Elizabeth r. Tilton,
| lately my wife, has been prompted away
| from her home, to reside among Mr..
Beechers friends and to cooperate with
him in his ostensibly honest and laudable
| inquiry into facts concerning which
she, too, as we'll as he, has for years past
had perfect and equal knowledge with
himself This investigation, therefore,
has been publicly pressed upon me by
Mr.. Beecher, seconded by Mrs Tilton,
both of whom in so doing have united in
assuming before the public the nOn-eX-
istence of grave and solemn facts, into
which they have conspired to investi-
gate, for the purpose not of eliciting but
of denying the truth. This joint assump-
tion by them, which has seemed to your
committee to be in good faith, has natur-
ally led you into an examination in
which you expect to find on their part
nf1 lint ri
nothing but SANDER. 1t is now my un-
happy duty-from which | have in vain
hitherto sought to be delivered-to give
you the facts and evidences for revers-
ing your opinion ON this subject. In do
ing this painful, | may say heart-rend-
ing, duty the responsibility for making
the grave disclosures which [ am
about to lay before you belongs not
to me, but first to Beecher, who has
prompted you to this examination, and
next to Mrs. Tilton, who has joined him
in a conspiracy which cannot fail to be
full of peril and wretchednesS to many
hearts. call you to witness that in my
first brief examination by your commit
tee | begged and implored you not to in
quire into the facts of this case, but rath-
er seek to bury them beyond all possible
revelation. Happy for all concerned had
this entreaty been needed. 1t is now too
late. The last opportunity for reconcile
alton and settlement has passed. This
investigation, undertaken by you in ig-
norance of the dangers against which
Beecher should have forewarned you in
advance, will shortly prove itself, to
your surprise, to have been an act of
wanton and wicked folly for which Rev.
Henry Ward Beecher, as it's originator
and public sponsor, will hereafter find
no space for repentance, though he seek
it carefully and with tears. This des-
perate man must hold himself only, and
not me, accountable for the wretched-
ness which these disclosures will carry
to his own home and hearth, as they
have already brought to mine. | will
add that the original documents referred
to in the ensuing sworn statement are
for the most part in my possession, but
that the apology and a few other papers
are in the hands of Francis ID. MOulton.
Truly yours, THEODORE TILToN.
SUMMING UP.
Finally, that in addition to the fore
going facts and evidence other cofirma-
tions could be adduced, if needed, to
prove the following recapitulative state
ment, namely: That the Rev. Henry
Ward Beecher, as pastor and friend of
Mr. Tilton and his family, trespassed
upon the sanctity of.friendship and hos
pitality in long endeavor to seduce
Mrs. Elizabeth r. Tilton; that, by the
artful use of his priestly authority with
her, she being his pupil in religion, he
accomplished this seduction; that for a
period of year and a half, or there
abouts, he maintained criminal inter
course with her, overcoming her previous
modest scruples against such conduct by
investing it with false justification as
sanctioned by love and religion; that he
then participated in conspiracy to de-
grade Theodore Tilton before the public
by the loss of place, business, and repute;
that he abused Mr.. Tilton's forgiveness
and pledge of protection by thereafter
authorizing series of measures by
Plymouth Church having for their OBJ
ject the putting of a stigma upon Tilton
before the church, and also before an
ecclesiastical council; insomuch that
the Moderator of that council,
interpreting these acts by Beecher
and his church. declared public
ly that they showed Beecher to be the
most magnanimous of men, and Tilton to
be knave and dog; that when Tilton
thereafter-not in malice, but for self
protection, wrote letter to DR.. Bacon,
alluding therein to an otense and apol-
ogy by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, he
(Mr. Beecher) defiantly appointed COM
mittee of his church-members to inquire
into the injury done him by Mr.. Tilton
by the aforesaid allusion, and implying
that he (Mr. Beecher) had never been
the author of such offense and apology,
and that Mr.. Tilton was a slanderer;
that, to make this inquiry bear
grievously against Mr.. 1ilton, Mr..
Beecher previously connlved with