The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-07-24
her husband suursen ,ealiand privilege, IRON

present, but IL called upon TO testify to enc
and all OF them she shall not hesitate TO d
so. She solcn,nly aYows thai long befor
/ the Woodruff publication she knows, by In
situation and direct statement, her HUSBAND
to have repeated to her very near relative
and friends the substance of the accusatio,
| which shock the moral sense Of the enttrt
community this day.
Many times she says, a5when hearing
! that certain persons had spoken i'll OF MIN
he has sent me to chide them foTso dong
and then and there / learned he had beer
before me with his calumnies against myself
10 that was speeches.. The reiteration In
| his statements that he bad persistently striver
to hide these so.called facts Is utterly false
as his hatred of Mrs. Beecher has existed
these many years, and the determiDatioutc
ruin Mr.. Beecher has been the one aim Of
his life.
"Again, the perfidy with which the bo.
liest love a wife ever offered has been reck.
essly discovered in this publication reaches
| well nigh to sacrilege, and, added to this,
| The endeavor, like The early scandal of Mrs
| Woodruff, to make my own words condemn
| me, has no parallel. Most conspicuously,
nv letter quoting the reading Of Griffith
Gaunt, had Mr.. Triton read the pure char
acter of Catharine he would have seen that |
lifted myself beside it rs near as any human
being may affect an ideal; but it was her
character, and not the incidents Of fiction
succeeding it, to which / referred. Hers
was not sin of criminal act or thought, A
like confession with hers l had made to Mr..
Tilton, in telling of my love TO my friend
and pastor one year before, and | now add
that notwithstanding all Misrepresentation
and anguish Of some, ! owe to my acquain.
tauce and friendship with Mr.. Beecher, as
to no other instrumentulity, that encourage
mcnt in my mental life and that growth to-
wards the divine nature which enabled me
to walk daily in lively hope of the life be-
yoDd the grave.
t'The STAINLESS charges in articles 7, s, aud
8 are fearfuily false in each and every par
ticular. The letter referred to in Mr.. Til
tons tenth paragraph was obtained from me
by importantly and misrepresentation that
it was necessary for him to use it in the i'm
pending difficulties with Mr.. Bowen. | was
then sick nigh unto death. [ signed what
ever he required without knowing or under
standing ITS import. The paper have never
seen, and do not know what statements it
contained.
SIN charge eighteen letter Of mine ad-
dressed to Mr.. Francis Moulton is quoted to
prove that l never desired a separation, or
was advised by Mr.. and Mrs. Beecher to
leave my husband. Ireply the letter was Of
Mr.. Tilton's own concocting, which he in
duced me to copy and sign as my own; an
act which, in my sickness and mistaken
thought to help him, have too often done
during these unhappy years. The implca-
ton that the harmony of the home was un-
broken till Mr.. Beecher entered it as fire.
auent guest and friend is lamentable
satire upoa the household where
he himself years before laid the cornerstone
Of free.loye and desecrated 1t up to the
time OF my departure, so that the atmos-
phere was not only Goddess. but impure for
my children; and in this effort and throe of
agony would fan lift my daughters and
all womanhood from the insiduouS and dia-
bolicai teaching Of these latter days. His
frequent efforts to prove me insane, OF weak
mind, insignificant and mean presence. all
rank in the category Of heartlesSness, selfish
ness and falsehoOd having rs climax in bis
present endeavor to convince the world that
I am or ever have been unable to distinguish
between au inDocentand a guilty love-"
In summing up the whole matter Mrs.
Tilton says: s. affirm myself before God to
be innocent of the crime laid upon me that
I never have been guilty of adultery with
Henry Ward Beecher in thought or deed,
nor has be ever offered to me an INDIGENOUS
or improper proposal. To the further charge
that l was led away from my home by
Mr.. Beecher's friends, and by the advice oil
a lawyer whom Mr.. Beecher had sent to me,
and who in advance of my appearing before
the committee arranged with me the ques-
tons and answers which are to constitute
my testimony in Mr.. Beecher's behalf, an
swer that this is again untrue, having never
seen the lawyer until introduced to him q
few moments before the arrival OF the COM
mittee by my stepfatber, Judge Morse"
She says she saw well nigh with binding
ewes that Tilton had put into execution the
almost daily threat of his life that be lived to
crush out Mr.. Beecher that the God of bat
ties was in him; that he had always been
AIR. Beecher's superior, and all that lay in
his path-wife, children, or reputation, il
need be-ssould TALL before this purpose.
The Disavowal Of 1872,
We three men, earnestly desiring to re.
move all causes of offence existing between
us, real or fancled, and TO make Christian
reparation for injuries done Or supposed to
be done. and to etiace the disturbed past and
provide concord, goodwill, and love for the
future, do declare and covenant euch to the
| other as follows:
/. !, Henry G. Bowen, having given credit
| (perhaps without due consideration TO tales
| and inuendoes affecting Henry Ward
Beecher, and being influenced by them, as
was natural to man who receives impress.
sions suddenly, to the extent of repeating
them-guardedIy, however, and within limi-
tations, and not for the purpose of iDjuring
him hut strictly in the confidence of consul.
tation-now feel that therein I did him
wrong. Therefore disavow all the charges
and imputations that have been attributed
to me as having been by me made
against Henry Ward Beecher; and !
declare, fully and without reserve, that
I know nothing which should prevent
| me from extending TO him my most
cordial friendship, confidence, and Christian
fellowship. And l expressly withdraw all
| the charges, imputations and inuendoes i'm
puted as having been made and uttered by
| me and set forth in letter written to me by
| Theodore Tilton on the first day Of January,
1871 Ia copy of which letter is hereto an.
nexed), and / sincerely regret having made
any imputations, charges, or inuendoes un'
favorable to the Christian character of blr.
Beecher. And I covenant and promise that
| for all future time will never, by word OF
deed, recur to, repeat, or allude to any OF
either of said charges, imputations, and In.
| uendoes.
2. And I, Theodore Tiltop, do, of my own
| free will and friendly spirit toward Henry
| C. Bowen and Henry Ward Beecher, hereby
covenant and agree that / will never agair
repeat, by word of mouth or otherwise, any
of the allegations, or imputations, or inu