Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1874-09-24

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these letters have left inierences TO be drawn by
| those who read them in a light which dates and
iacts have now thrown upon them. But to answer
! tnls criticism In another direction, and TO show
| lhe impossibiiity that could be mistaken, not
seeking To shelter myself under any supposed
misunderstanding, but taking all the buroen OF
vcfacity between Bcecher, Tilton and myself
now proceed to give such portions as are necese
safy o1 some few of the conversations in which
| beeeher made confession of adultery. have be-
lore stated that the first confession was made on
.he hlght went for the 'retraction of Mrs Til
| Ton; that l there told him: Mr. Beecher
you have had criminal intercourse with
| INJURY To Tilton otherwise and | saw
| lurther in my published statement that Ia,
confessed and denied not, but confessed as he
qua no. deny thus charge SO explicitly made by
| me. Whatever differences l have made from his
| words at other times he certainly could not have
mistaken NINE at this time When speaking of
the relations OF man and woman, criminal inter
course has nut one legal or literal meaning, even
| 10 clergymen. 1t, however, seems necessary
that should go still further, which do, and
say that on that evening he confessed to NE his
relations with Mrs Titon in language SO vivid
that could not possibly mistake forget il.
lie said: My acts of intercourse with that
woman were AZ natural and sincere in the i'm
preston OF my love for her as the words of en-
dearment which | addressed To her. There
seemed TO he nothing in what we did together
that could not justify to myself ON the ground
of our love for each other, and think God will
not blame me for my acts with her. ] know that
at present 1t would be utterly impossible for me
Mr.. Moulton then calls attention to the asser-
ton made in his former statement that in the
presence of himself and another witness, whom
he stills feels reluctant to bring forward (or
course, not Mr.. 11lton( both Mrs Tilton and
Mr.. Beecher admitted In language not TO be mis-
taken, the truth of the charges against them and
asked advice as to the course to be taken by
them.
With regard to the question of blackmail, Mr..
Moulton says il has never occurred to him that
me procedure by which money was obtained
~ RApnh nn
lie CMoulton) himself, his business partners
and others were subscribing money toward sns-
tanning the Golden Age, and he had no thought
that Beecher was doing anything other and diff
lerent from what the rest were doing. except that
he tBeecherl had, perhaps, an additional personal
motive to sustain an enterprise which all favored
honor to journalism A careful examination of
Mr.. Beccher's statement will show that tho sug-
gested payment OF $500 fret came to
not made by Mr. Mouiton to Mr..
Beccher. He (Moulton) told Mr. Beccher Mr.
lllton would not receive the money ii he knew it
came from Mr.. b., and therefore Il was arranged
between them that it should be given to Mr.. Til
ton in small sums, as coming from Mr. Noulton.
The letter of Mrs. Morse Mrs Tton's mother) to
Mr.. Beecher, in which she addresses him ms her
given in full After stating her pecun-
larry difficulties, she writes; :" DO come and see
me. Twill promise that the secret of her life,'
as she calls It, shall not be mentioned know
IT'S hard to bring II up, as you must have suffered
intensely. and we all will, | fear, until released
by death %, DO you pray for me- If not, pray do
more need of Gods and human help.
Do you know think 1t strange yon
should ask me to call you sonr have told
darling felt If You could, in safety to Yourself
and all concerned, you would botQ me all this en-
dearlng name. Am mistakcny" Mr. Moulton
then says: This letter hears date Oct. "a. fix
the date TO be in 1871 because 1T was at that time
that Mrs Morse had the house, for which she was
paying 81 800 rent, and in the time when Tilton
was allowing his wife $40 per week for house
Bcechcr as written by Mrs, Morse, Eizabeth's
mother, aud is n call on him for money, which
may explain the necessity for mortgaging his
Is the outside family that IL always the most
onerous to a man. The trouble Is,
Beecher mistakes the persons who blackmailed
in his behalf"
If to obtain advantage to oneself by using the
unfortunate situation of another IL blackmail,
then Bccchcr himself was blackmaicr He
protected himself from Bowen by using Titon To
get the triparlite covenant ont of him, and yet he
puts the facts In light exactly contrary to the
truth. Beechcr in fact, used Titon's position
with Bowen to extort from him (Bowen) a GER
tifcatc of good character, after he had preferred
several grave charges against him, one of them
being described as brutal rape.
1t was not Tiltons accusations but Bowen's
that Moulton had in charge, and the real point
was to avoid an appeal to the church and
then to the council" Moulion then
gives the charge OF rape as contained IN Titon's
letter. recapitulatng Bowcn's cause of Of
Tense against Beecher and then signf-
cantly asks: "Could an innocent clergyman
have allowed such charge to be made and
more than once reiterated, however guardedly,
by u leading member of his church. and rest col,-
tent until his innocence was fully and clearly en-
tablished, II in no other way, in court of JUS
tice!' Mr.. Moulon said that In his former state
ment he endeavored to state the facts of that
brutal oticnse with az much delicncy ~ their
wlekedness would allow bnt that his very reti-
ccnee had been made the ground of accusation
that he had mistaken the purport of what Mr..
Beecher had said or that If he were telling tho
truth he would give his exact words.
lie was therefore compelled, IN relating the
circumstances attending the affair, TO oyerstcp
the bounds within which he had set himself In
his former statement; and If something was pub
lished which ought not 10 be published, II was
not his fault, but necessity made by Beechcr
and his friends for his (Moulton's) own yindica-
ton Exactly how the matter came about was Nh
follows: He showed to Mr. Bcecher the letter OF
Tilton to Bowen bearing date Jan. !, 1871, con
tanning the charges alleged 10 have been made by
Bowen in the presence of 'rilton and Oliver John
son, and Beecher deemed it necessary to tell
Monlton the truth concerning his adultery with
the woman to whom he supposed Bowen referred.
Mr. Moulton here gives Beecher'r con-
iession or, narrative of the affair, which,
in the interest of decency', r., here
suppressed. lie suggested that unless Beecher
obtained retracton Of the story from tho
woman he wonld some day find himself at Bow
ems mercy. Such paper he obtained on tho
iNtH VI odbuAiyl ioflf ~ was Dpl 30 ulIcCt UT
satisfactory as the retraction he obtained from
Mrs. Tilton. Bcechcr denied the allegation OF
rape, but did not deny the fact Of adultery. Mr..
Moulton also stated that that connection and in
timacy was still continued, he believed, but
declines 20 give either her name or copies of her
letters In his hands, because he did not wish
needlessly to involve a reputation which had thus
far escaped public mention by any OF the parties
to the controversy The last episode Of crime
had been related TO him in the presence of Wit
nesFcs,
Ia relation to Mr.. Bee hcr's proposed suicide,
Mr.. Moulton states thai Mr.. Bceeher told him,
and showed to another in his presence, that he
had within reach In his own study
a poison which he would take If ever the story OF
his crime with Mrs Triton should become pub