The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1874-08-28

\
publication was made OF statement by re-
porter of the Brooklyn Union, pulporting 10
be the result OF an interview with Inomar "
Shearman, Clerk of Plymouth Church, 10 the
effect Il quote from memory that Triton was
! insane, and that he stated that Mrs. lilton
had mediumist G fits whatever that disease
may be), in which she had stated matters
| affecting the character of Beecher. ana TO the
| statement OF neither of them. Tor that reason,
was any credit to be given. Beecher was very
much annoyed at this publication, ana ad-
dressed the following letter to me:
SUNDAY NIGHT March 8, 1874.
"MY DEAR FRANK: Is there 10 be no end OF
! trouble Is wave to follow wave IN endless
| succession? | was cut to the heart when Z.
showed me that shameful paragraph from the
| Union. It's cruelty is beyond description.
felt like lying down and saying am tired,
tired, tired of living or of trying to resist tho
devil of mischief l would rather have had
a javein launched against me a hundred
times than those who have suffered 30 much.
The shameful indehcacy of bringing the most
sacred relations into such publicity ILLS me
with horror. But there are some slight ALE
viations. The paragraph came when the
| public mind was engaged with the Council ana
| with Theodore's letters. l hope 1t viii pass
| without further notice. Ii it is not taken up
! by other papers, il will sink ont OF sight and
| be forgotten whereas il it be assailed, II
may give it conspicuity that 1t never would
4 Il
and give him my full feelings about it. /
must again be, as have heretofore been, in
debted to you for judicious counsel In this
new flagrant element. My inmost soul longs
| for peace, and, il that cannot be. for death.
| That will bring peace. My fervent hope is
that this depth Of gail may sink through out
| right, and not prove mortal poison. Yours
| ever H. w. BEECHER.
II have written strongly to Sherman. and
hope that he will send letter to II. unsolicit-
ed. l am sick, head, heart and body, but
must move on. i feel this morning like let
ting things go by the run"
The letter OF retraction proposed by Tilton
not being forthcoming l felt it my duty III
this contest to take such measures as should
result in an apology from Sherman to Iilton.
L accordingly carried to him 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 were not actually
made by him he ought to retract them. AL
Though it lay on his desk he sad to me that
he had not seen the article, and did not mean
to see it. l told him that he must see it, and
If it was not true he must say 80. He said
he did not want to read it, and would not read
1t. L then left him. Afterwards l saw
Tilton aud told him what l had done, aud
said, I'VE will go up together" which we did,
and met Mr.. Sherman. Mr.. Tilton called his
attention to the statement in the Brooklyn
Onaon as having come from him (Shearman)
concerning himself and his wife, that one was
crazy and the other subject to mediumistic
fits. Said he, "Mr. Sherman, this is UNI
true, and il you are not correctly reported, |
your simple duty Is to say 30; and if you have |
made such statement, l demand that you
retract and apologize. If you do not, L shall
hold you responsible in any way can for such |
an injurious statement" This confession
brought about al 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 now sat |
listed that what did say was erroneous"
On Friday evening, the 30th Of December
being the night of the Plymouth Church |
prayer meeting, Tilton came to me and said
i'll substance that by his wife's request he had
determined to see Beecher in order to show
to Beecher the confession of his wife of in
tercourse between them, which he (Tilton)
had never up to that time mentioned to him |
(Beecher), and the fact of the confession, O:
which his wife had told him that she had
never told Beecher; that though her con- |
fession had been made in July previous in
writing he (Tilton) had afterward destroyedit (;
but that his wife, fearing that if Bowen's ac-
cusations against Beecher were made public
the whole matter would be known, and her
own conduct with Beecher become exposed
had renewed her confession in her own hand
writing, which he handed to me to read,
which was the first knowledge l had OF its
existence. Tilton did not tell me how his
nor did L at that time or ever after,
ask. Indeed, | may state here, once for
ALL that refrained from asking confessions
of acts Of all parties further than they chose
to make them voluntarily for the purpose for
which was acting.
Tilton wanted me to go down and ask
Beecher to come Up and see him at my house,
which did. l said to Beecher Mr.. Titon
wants you to come and see him at my house
immediately" He asked what for. Ireplied
that % he wants to make some statement to
you in reference to your relations with his
family" He then called to some one in the
back room to go down and say he should not
be At the prayer meeting, and we went out to-
gether. 1t was storming at the time, when
he remarked There is an appropriateness
in this storm, and asked me: What can l
do ? What can l do Z" l said - Mr.. Beecher,
l am not a Christian, but if you wish / will
show you how well a heather can serve YOU"
We then went to my house, and
showed him into the chamber over the
parlor where Mr.. Tilton was, and left them to-
gether. In about an hour Mr.. Beecher came
down and asked me if / had seen the confess
sion of Elizabeth / said / had. Said he
This will kill me, and asked mo to walk out
with him. l did 80, and we walked to Mr..
Tilton's house together, and he went in. On
the way he said This is a terrible catastro-
phe. 1t comes upon me as If struck by light
ming" He went INTO Tilton's house, and re-
turned home. Within an hour he returned to
my house, and we left my house again to-
gether, and walked with him to his house.
rilton remained at my house while Beecher
was absent at Tlltons house, and when he re-
turned there was no conversation between
them. When wo arrived at Beecher's house he
wanted me to stand 10y him in this emergency,
and procure reconciliation if possible. /
told him / wonld, because the interests of
women, children and families were involved
if for no other reason.
That ended the interview that night. Dur
ing this evening nothing was said by Beecher
as to the truth or falsity OF Mrs. Tilton's con-
fession, nor did he inform me that he had
obtained from her any recantation Of the con-
fession, which ] afterward learned he had
done. L returned to my house and had some
conversation with 1ilton, in which he told me
that he had recited to Beecher the details of
the confession of his wifes aduteries. and
the remark which Beecher made was, This
is all dream, Theodore" and that was all
the answer Beecher made to him. then ad-
vised Tilton that for the sake OF his wife and
family, and for the sake of Beecher's family.
the matter should be kept quiet and hushod
up. The next morning. as l was leaving
home for business, Tilton came to- my
house, and with great anger said that
Beecher had done a mean act, that he
had gone from that interview of last night TO
his house, and procured from Elizabeth re.
cantation of her confession. He said for that
I L. 4 - IL.