The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1874-07-31

MOulLOn 10 take pen anu Feeclfe
from his (Beecher's) lips an apollo
gy to be:conveyed to Mr.. Tilton, in
the hope that such an appeal would
secure Mr.. Tilton's forgiveness.
The apology which AR. Beecher
dictated to Mr.. Moulton was az fol-
lows:
BEECHER's APOLOGY.
In trust with L. d. MouItOn.
My dear friend Moulton, L ask
through you Theodore Tilton's for
giveness, and l humble myself be-
fore him as | do before my God. |
He would have been a better man |
III my circumstances than l have |
been. can ask nothing except
that he will remember all The other
breasts that would ache. | will
not plead for myself; even wish
that / were dead; but others must
live to suffer. will die before
any one but myself shall be incul-
pated. All my thoughts are run
ming out toward my friends, and
toward the poor child lying there
and praying with her folded hands.
She is guiieIess-sinned against,
bearing the transgression of anoth-
er. Her forgiveness l have, and L
humbly pray to God to put it into
the heart of her husband to forgive
me.
have trusted this TO Mr.. Aoul-
ton in confidence.
(Signed) HENRY WARD BEEcHER.
In the above document, the last
sentence and the signature are in
the handwriting of Henry Ward
Beecher.
Following this is a letter from
Tilton to Moulton stating that not
withstanding the great suffering
Beecher had caused himself and
wife, he bore him no malice and
should do him no wrong; that he
would discountenance every project
for any exposure of Beecher's Sc
cret to the public, and should en-
deavor to act toward Beecher as he
would have Beecher act toward
him under similar circumstances.
Then follows a voluminous cor
respondence between various par
ties to establish the guilt of Beech
er. Tilton makes a strong case
uneuestionably. 1t hardly seems
possible that q man of mis- educa-
| ton and former standing could
make these charges, duplicating the
honor of his own family, and at
tempting to bring disgrace upon
them, from motives of .iealosy and
envy, as Mrs. Tilton, Mr.. Beecher
and some of their friends would
have us believe. And strong cir
cumstsnce in Tilton's favor is the
extraordinary degree of cont=ition
shown by Mr.. Beecher in his Gap
ology" and in various expressions
used in his letters published by
TiltOn. The simple fact of having
advised Mrs. Tilton to leave her
husband under a certain condition
of circumstances. and his friends
claims this is all he did, would
hardly, it seems to us, lead him TO
either write that apology in the
language he did, or to wish him
self dead.
Are these terrible charges by
Tilton against the greatest and
brightest public teacher of the age
true or false? Are the letters quoted
to sustain them forgeries? If Beech
er's apology" is not Il forgery then
certainly there is something more in
this case than he is willing to admit
something hidden that will not be
explained away by denials, nor can
they be passed over lightly by a
committee of Beecher's church Sc
lected by himself.
1t is believed that Moulton and
Bowen can throw light on this
affair, and many are awaiting their
appearance in print with anxiety.
BEEcHER's STATEMENT.
Mr.. Beecher's principal stat ement
has not yet been made public. A
brief one followed Mr.. Tilton's
publication entering the plea of
mot guilty" We quote a sentence :
every statement which connects
me dishonorably with Mrs. Tilton,
or which in any wise would impugn
the honesty and purity of the below
ed Christian woman, / give the
most explicit, comprehensive and
solemn denial"
Mrs. TLToN's STATEMENT.-Mrs
Tilton's statement is published.
She begins with the expression of
the imperative necessity which is
forced upon her to bear anew the
pains and SORROWS she had for the
last ten years daily schooled her
self to bury and forgive. This is
the saddest act other life. A sense
of the perversion of her life faith
almost compels her now to stand
all until God himself delivers. Yet
she sees in the act other husband
an urgent call and privilege from
which she shrinks not. To reply
in detail to the twenty two articles
of arraignment, she will not at
tempt at present. If called upon
to testify to each and all of them
she shall not hesitate to do so.
Solemnly AYERS long before the
Woodhull publication that she
knew by instruction and direct
statement her husband to have re-
peated to her very near relative and
| friends the substance of the accusa-
tions which shocks the moral sense
of the entire community this day.
Many times, she says, when hearing
that certain persons had spoken i'll
of him, he sent me to chide them
for SO doing, and then and there
learned he had been before me
with his calumnies against myself.
So was speechless. The reitera-
ton in his statement that he had
persistently striven TO hide these
so-called facts is utterly false, as
his hatred for Mr.. Beecher has ex-
listed for many years, and the deter
mination to ruin Mr.. j. has been
the one aim of his life, to gain
which, the hottest love q wife ever
offered has been recklessly sacri-
feed. And added to this, he en-
devors like the early scandal of
Mrs. Woodruff, to make my own
words condemn me, which has no
parallel. Most cOnspicuously, my
letter quoting the reading of Grit
feth Gaunt. Had MIR. Tilton read
the pure character of Catherine,
he would have seen that / lifsed
myself beside it as near as any
human being may affect an ideal.