Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-08-22

; a aierrible catastrophe, and it comes upon
me as if struck by lightning" Heweut
into Tiltonis house and returned home.
: Within an hour he returned 10 my
+ house, and we left my house again to-
! gether, and ] walked with him to his
! house TiltOn remained at my hOnse
while Beeeher was absent at TiltOn's
/ house, and when be returned there was
no conversation he. .weeu them. When
we arrived at Bee sher's house he wanted
me to stand by him il this emergency,
and procure reconciliation If possible. j
told him would, because the interests
Of women, childiea, and families were
involved, If for no other reason. That
enGei the Interview. During this even
ing nothing was said by Bee3heT as TO
the truth or falsity of Mrs. Tiiton's con-
fessiou, nor did he inform me that he
had obtained from her auy reaauiatiOu
of the confession, which | alterwaTd
learned be had done. l returned to my
house, and had some conversation with
Tilton, in which lie told me that be had
reeited TO Beeehec tie details OF the con-
fessiOn Of his wife's adGlturies, and the
remark which Beecher made was this:
"Ail dream, Theodore That was all
the answer BeeeheT made 10 him, and
then advised .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 hushed up.
The next morning, as 1 was leaving
/ home for business, Tilton came To my
house, and with great anger said that
! Beecher had done mean act, that he
! had gone from that interview of last
/ night to his house and procured from
/ Elizabeth recantatiOn and retTaction
| Of her confession. = He said for that act
| he would mite him, that there should
! be no peace. He said: "YOu see that
| what l have told you Of the meanness
| of that man is now evident Tilton
! said that Baecher at heinterview OF last
| night had asked his permission TO go
| aud see Elizabeth, and he told him he
| might 60, which statement was con-
/ fiFmed 10y Beecher himself Beecher !
/ lef, him for that purpose. | said to Til
ton: "COme, don't get angry; let us see |
if even this cannot be arranged; l will |
go down and get that retractiOn from
| him" | was then going 10
my business, so that I was unable to !
90 that morning, but went that even /
Ing. saw Beecher, and told him that / !
thought he had been doing very mean |
and IescheTOus act; treacherOus first |
toward me, from whom he wanted help, |
in that he did not tell me, on our way
to his house last night, what he had pro- /
cured from MIS-. Tilton, and that he |
could not expect my friendship in this |
matter unless he acted truthfully and |
honOrably toward me. l further said: |
"Mr. Beecher, you have had Grim. |
inal intercourse with Mrs. Tilton; you 1
have done q gIea5 injury to Tilton; and /
now, when you are confronted with 1t, |
you ask permission of the man to again /
visit his house, and you ask from that |
woman, who has confessed that you 1
have ruined heT, a recantation and a re- I
traction OF the truth for your mere per- |
sonal safety. That will not save you" 4
At that interview he admitted, with I
grief and sorrow, the fact Of his sexual |
pressed some indignation that she had /
not told him that she had told her hus-
band, and that in consequence Of being |
in ignorance Of that fact he had been |
walking upon a volcano. Referring to /
what be had done in connection with /
Bowen, and with reference TO TiltOn's
family, he said that he had sympathizsd |
with Bowen, and as against Tiltou, in
consequence of stories which were in
circulation in regard to him, and es-
pecially of one specific case where be
had been informed Tilt0n had had i'm
proper relations with a woman whom
he named, and to whom letter from
his wife will make part of this state
ment, and had so stated to Bowen, and
he told me that he would write to Bowen
and withdraw those charges, and gave
me The rough draft of letter which he
wrote and sent to Bowen, which letter
is here produced: .
BRooRLYN, January2 lS7l.
My DEAR BOwEN-Since I saw you
last Tuesday have reason to think that
the only cases of which l spoke to you
in regard to Mr.. Tilton We're eXaggera-
ted in being reported to me, and /
should be unwilling to have anything
said, though it was but of little weight,
on your mind, is matter so important
10 his welfare l am informed by one,
on whose judgment and integrity !
greatly rely, and who has the means of
forming an opinion better than any Of
US, that he knows the whole matter
about Mrs Bullard, and that the stories
are not true, and that the same is the
case with other stories. ! do not wish
any reply to this. ! thought it only due
to Justice that / should say so much.
Truly yours, II. W. BEECHER.
Mr.. Beecher told me that Mrs. Beech
er and himself, without knowing of the
confession Of Mrs. Tiltou to her husband,
had been expressing grief and sympathy
toward Mrs. Tiiton, and taking an act
i've interest with her against her hus-
band. / said, (" Mr.. BeecheT, | want
that recantatiOn; I have come for it"
- WelI,U said he, what shall l do
without It." I replied, 81 DON'T know.
/ can tell you what will happen with it."
II 4 g. will a /
it to you?" l answered, :" 1 will keep
it as / keep the confession. If you act
honorably, viii protect it with my
life, as ] would protect the other with
NV life. Mr.. TiltOn asked for that con-
fession this morning, and said viii
never give II to you; you shall not have
it from my hands until have exhausted
every effort for peace" Mr., Beecher
gave me back the paper. When L went
home with the rec8n alton, found Til
ton there and showed il to him. He
expressed his surprise aud qualification
that ! should have been able 10 get it,
and [ then showed TO him how very
foolish it would have been in the morn
ing to have proceeded angrily against
Beecher. | made another appeal for
peace, saying that notwithstanding great
obstacles nppeared in the way, if they
were properly dealt with they would be
beaten ca. OF the way. He expressed
his willingness and desire for peace.
When I saw Beecher L made an agree
ment, at his request, to 20 and see him
on Sunday, January lst. l went to
his house in accordance with the en-
gagement. He took me in his study
and then told me again of his great
surprise that Elizabeth should have
made the confession Of his criminal con-
nection with her to her husband with
out letting him know anything about 1t,
making his destruction at any moment
possible, and without warning to him.
He expressed his great grief at this
wrong, which he had done as 4 minister
and friend to Theodore, and al his re- :
quest 1 took pen and paper and he die
tated to me the paper commonly known
as the apology, and all in my handwrit-
ing except the words, ~ have trusted .
this to MoultOn in confidence" and the /
signature, which are in Mr.. Beecher's. |
This was intrusted to me in confidence, /
to be shown ouly TO 1iltOn, which did. |
1t had reference to no other fact or act /
than the confession Of social intercourse |
between Beecher and Mrs. Tilton, which |
he at that interview confessed and de- /
MED not, but confessed also at other in |
terviews 10 this unfortunate affair-uu- |
qualifiedly confessed that he had been /
guilty Of adultery with Mrs. TiltOn, and /
slways 10 a spirit of grief and sorrow at l
the enoTmity OF the crime he mad com- I
3. 4.