Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1874-09-12

was tina. friendP II he means so, why dId le
not say 70? He knows that I never suggested
| that be should pay dollar, er ever believed
| mat the matter could be composed BY the pay
| meDf OF money, as IL might have been by other
| proper action If he had acted like noble zOd
| courageous man, a. 1 At one time hoped he
| might do and might be. This statement h in
| slnuated to prejudice me in advance after he
learned, on the fh Of Augest last. he could not
| use the best friend that "IOd ever raised up to
| man" TO act dishonesty and falsely 20 serve
| his selfish purposes. The charge il as false a.
| lnJuIe me by showing that opened his letters,
| az follows:
so. by Mr.. wipslow-Can YOU tell rs what
| became of Mrs. WOsjhull's threatening letter.
A. Mr.. MOulton opened it."
| The fslsehOOd Of the answer can be sho w in
moment That threatening letter-ss indeed
10th letters from WosdhuU 10 Beecher were
sen. TO me-was dated June 5. ISL aad was sent
enclosed In 3 note from Beecter O. me % tue
same date, with q request TO answer it, AZ fol-
lows:
"MY Dsar RosHor VIII You answer tkis' Or
viii Yen thst she u TO understand thai c IN 10
81 :, tske si1sie step in thai oirecScn AID q Il
brings trouhie-it must cone. Please drop me
al TiSSt Tai, SoT rL'-i'' III '0I4 !SSs Re'
Why does this IniIisfer cr the gospel make
such reckless statements? Again, let me ask
cos any man Wonder, WReR they ran into slch
CONT adtcti6n ne With bis own letters, that
ID scher aud his lawyers should have desired -
that they m ght square their statements and
escape these contradictions"
MORE TKRRIBLE CHARGE.
MCu'tCu quotes uUmUsr OF letters written
Inn by BetcbtT alter the time when he pro-
fss,ed 10 have discovered that he Was being
biz cku allied, in ell OF which he 'Beecher,l eK-
presses the aTmtst affection for and confidence
In Moulton. He then refers % the charges
mace against Beecher by Bowen, and explicitly
states tina; Beeoher confessed 20 him the crime
# sexual intercourse with another woman.
Having myself had knowledge OF the facility
with winch he could obtain from his women .
Tetractlon OF such charges aid denial OF tue
fact, as in the case of Mrs. Tilt0n Of the COZ
fess6d aduiteries by her, on the Roth OF Deem
ber-twelve days befOre-I said TO him, at will
be necessary for you, If you are on friendly
terms with that woman, 10 get from her = re-
traction. Otherwise you may ind yourself
some day at Bowen's mercy" He went q get
aretrsctIon from her, aud on the 10Th of Janu-
which he go obtained:
"some ten years ago, when under great grief aud
excitement, said things in urlOus 10 Mr Beecber
20 sir. Bowen l slWsys speak sIron sly, an thea
Was nearly beside myself, sBd used uumsasured
terms, which represented rather my feeling thsn
al Afterwards became convinced that in many
things as mistaken. ] became satisfied that mr.
beeehet cours towards me meant to be Kind and
From that cay to this our relations have been
cordial and friendly.
| A casual glance at this document shows that
Mr.. Beecber was not as successful in this re-
traction, which he evidently did not dictate, as
| IN the case OF Mrs. TIlton and the retra elton
| itself, in its cautious wording, was 60 much
| more damaging as evidence than q direct
| charge Of the woman that might be contra
dlcted would be, that il thought best tiGt IL
should not see the light Of day, and ii has not
| until now.
| The question was, Did he ravish the person?
He admitted to me the connection, but insisted
| hat he used 10 force, only dalliance. That &C
Cusation had been repeated by Bowen, ana the
| best MIR. Beeeher could get from her was that
| she had told Bowen things injurious" to
| Beecher; that she always speaks strongly"
| ana WAS 'nearly beside herself and used IN
measured terms, which represented rather my
4 ree 1fnr 10 N INV linda ant u
| But what was desired to get denied was the
| fact itself, and that fact the criminal cOnnec-
ton, which was neither matter of "feeling" nor
| Judgment in the sense in which the words
are used in the retTactiOn. But whether done
| by force or dalliaDce is uestion Of both feel
| ing and Judgment, and so much is restrained;
1 and knowing the relations between this won au
| and Beecher 90 have been not only cordial
/ and friendly" but thereafterwards very iati-
mate, gave credit TO this version of his inter
| course, and particularly because MIR. Rsecher,
| TO confirm his statement that he had not raw
| ished her, brought to me several letters from
her TO him, which still hold, showing the c IN
| tin2anCe OF friendly relations with her. L do
| not give the lady's name, and withhold the
| photo autograph of her letter because / do not
! wish needlessly to involve a reputation which
\ has thus far escaped public mention by any OF
| the parties 10 this controversy. If the facts
| stated here should identity tie person con-
| ceIned with him, and il those who are inter
| ested in her feel aggrieyed. lot them ayenge
| that grief, IL upon any one, upon the pastor Of
| Plymouth Church, and not upon me, as L have
| been threatened il would be il yentured to
| state the facts OF Beeca0T's gQilt ia this case.
4 ! have felt the blows Of Plymouth Church
already because l have told the exact truth
about their pastor. l have been Threatened
| with more If l shall continue TO do so But, un-
| Awed 10y threats, ana, As tar as 1 may be, IN
| biased by wrong, justice and false SccIsa-
tons, the facts shall ee stated a. they are known
| 10 me-and known 70 God; ami Only adding Ia
this last terrible narrative OF crime was given N
| 10y Beecher in the presence or a witness, dis
miss this tragic episode TO the main cJntro-
1 yeTSy.
1 submit that if [ had been Inclined TO black
/ mail Henry Ward BeecheT, either for myself Or
rilton, Beecher knew, ami the public now
/ sToWs il a degree, that hal much more cogen5
| a sll-poWeTful facts in my possession 10 strip
hin of bis fortune to purchase his silence than
the case Of Mr. Tilton; or, If L had been, as he
| alleged untrue to him, or, IL hal been, as is
| alleged ia the report of this committee, a SEQ
| adjutor with TitOn, /" ''secretly from the begin
| ring" to eXtort money from Beecher through a
| series of years, instead OF standing as q shield
| TO him, protecting him any and eVerywh ere
| against the consequence of his own wicked scts,
| and only receiving money from him TO aid in so
| shielding him-frst to support and educate the
| girl Bessie, lest she might injure him by pratt
Ting in the church under the inf uences Of Mrs.
| Tilton's mother, Mrs. Morse, who, Bessie saws
| in her letter in former statement, promised her
dresses TO tell lies, which fact she relates under
| her own hand-and only other wise TO aid him
| ID some degree to repair the wrong which he sd-
| mitted and now admits he had done 20 TiltOn In
breaking up his business, so that the temptation
| of poverty might not come 70 him as an induce
/ meDt to turn upon Beecher, tue author OF his
| misfortnnes-I say ii L had been inclined 20
extoTt money from him, either Tilton or myself
might TO- day have been the recipients OF all the
salary, earnings and emOluments of Henry
| Ward Beecher, except enough onl y for q rea-
sonsbly economical living for himself aad
| family.
| IN vIBw OF THESE TERRIBLE REVELATIONS,
the question will, indeed, well be asked, as il
has been: 'How could you, Mr.. Moulton, sus-
tain Beecher, knowing ali these things, so
monstrous, horrible, and revolving" To this
question, urgently springing from the facts, 1
answer that did not know them 81 81 once. as
the public now know them. began in the IL
terest OF q friend. 1 met another man of bril-
liant genius and high standing, older than /,
who asked my friendship, which 1 promised
him, and who trusted me implicitly; and as dis.
closure came after disclosure, as fact piled on
fact, could only stsgger along under the load.
| These acts Of guilt had already been done.
| many of them, years before, and at the time he
| promised me most faithfully and with sincere
sorrow, tears rolling down his cheek, that all
| that was past, and his future should be bright
| and holy, as his past had been deemed TO be by
those who knew him not. However much
might cease TO respect or love any party in the
| controversy, yet there were other hearts to
! ache. There were innocent children to be de.
| etrn,,,. familiea-mOre than 0Oa ny fhraa 20