Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1874-08-08
MRS. TILTON'S STATEMENT.

MhS, IlLTONS STATEMENT.
Denial OF the Criminal Charges--Hatred
of MIR. Beeeher the Passion OF Her
Husbands Life.
To pick mp anew the sorrows of the
last ten years, the stings and pains 1
had daily schooled myself to bury and
forgive, makes this imperative duty, as
called forth by the malicious statement
Of my husband, the saddest act OF my
life. Besides, my thought Of following
the Master contradicts this act Of my
pen, and a sense Of the perversion of
my life-faith almost compels me now to
stand aside, till God, Himself, delivers.
Yet see in this act an urgent call
and privilege from which 1 shrink not.
To reply in detail to the % articles of
arrangement, 1 shall not attempt at
present. Yet if called upon to testify
to each and all of them, I shall not hest
tate to do so. Suffice it for my purpose
now that l reply to one or more of the
most glazing charges. Touching the
feigned sorrow of my husbands com.
pulsory revelations, 1 solemnly avow
that long before the Woodruff publica-
ton, L knew him, by insinuation and
direct statement, to have repeated to
my every near relative and friend the
substance of these accusations which
shock the moral sense of the entire
community this day. Many times,
when hearing that certain persons had
spoken i'll of him, he has sent me to
chide them for so doing; and then and
there 1 learned he had been before me
with his calumnies against myself, and
so was speechless.
The reiteration in his statement that
he had "persistently striven to hide"
these so'called facts is utterly false, as
his hatred to Mr.. Beecher has existed
these many years, and the determine
ton torujp Mr.. Beecher has been the
one aim of his life. Again, the perfdy
with which the hottest love wife ever
offered has been recklessly discovered
in this publication reaches well-nigh to
sacrilege and, added to this, the en-
deavor, like the early scandal of Mrs.
Woodruff, to make my own words con-
denim me, has no parallel.
Most conspicuously, my letter quot
ing the reading of "Grifith Gaunt. "
Had Mr.. Tilton read the pure character
of Catharine, he would have seen that /
lifted myself beside it-as near as any
human may affect an ideal. But it was
her character, and not the incidents of
fiction surrounding it, to which I re-
ferred. Hers was no sin of criminal act
or thought. A like confession" with
hers 1 had .madei to Mr.. Tilton in tell
ing of my love for my friend and pas
tor, one year before. And I now add
that, Notwithstanding all misrepresen-
tations and anguish of soul, L owe
to my acquaintance and friendship with
Mr.. Beecher, as to no other human in
strumentality, that encouragement in
my mental life and that growth toward
the Divine nature which enable me to
walk daily in lively hope of the life
beyond.
The shameless charges in articles
seven, eight, and nine are fearfully
false in each and every particular. The
letter referred to in Mr.. TIlton's tenth
paragraph was obtained from me by
importantly, and by representations
that it was necessary for him to use IN
his then pending difficulties with Mr.
Bowen. L was then sick, nigh unto
death, having suffered o miscarriage
only four days before. I signed what.
ever he required, without knowing OF
understanding it's import. The paper
I. have never seen, and do not know
what statements it contained.
In charge eighteen, letter of mine
addressed to Mr.. Francis Moulton
quoted to prove that I never desired {
separation or was advised by Mr.. Of
Mrs. Beecher, to leave my husband,
reply, the letter was of Mr.. Tilton'l
own concocting, which he induced me-
to copy and sign as my own-an &C
which, in my weakness and mistaken
thought to help him, I have done toe
often during these unhappy years.
The implication that the harmony oil
the home was unbroken till Mr.. Beechel
entered it as frequent guest anG
friend is lamentable satire upon the
household where he himself, years be
fore, laid the cornerstone of Free
Love, and desecrated it's affairs up tx
the time of my departure; so that thu
atmosphere was not only goddess bu
impure for my children. And in th,
effort and throe of agony, I would fail
lift my daughters and all womanhoot
from the insidious and diabolica
teachings of these latter days. Eli
frequent efforts to prove me insane
weak-minded, Insignificant, of meal
presence, all rank in the category o
heartlessness, selishness, and false
hood, having it's climax in his presen
endeavor to convince the world that
am or ever have been unable to distin
guish between an innocent or o guilt,
, love.
In summing up the whole matter,
affirm myself before God to be limo
cent of the crimes laid upon me; tina
never have I been guilty of adulter
with Henry Ward Beecher in though
or deed; nor has he ever offered to m
an indecorous or improper proposal.