The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1874-07-28

ADULTERY CLEAR STATEMENT THE
LETTERS AND PROOFS-A TERRIBLE OUT
LOOK.
NEW YORK, July 2l.-The following is Mr..
Tilton's statement:
GENTS OF THE Communicable comnuni-
eating 10 you the detailed statement of the
facts of evidence, which you have been
several DAYS expecting at my hands, let me
remind you of the circumstances which call
this statement forth. In my recent letter
to DIR. Bacon alluded to an offense and an
apology by the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.
To whomsoever else this allusion seemed in
definite, 10 Mr.. Beecher 1t was plain. The
offense was committed by him, the apology
WAS made by him. Both acts were his own
and were among the most momentous
occurrences of his life. OF all men in
Plymouth church or in the world, the Rev.
II. w. Beecher was the one man who was
best informed concerning this offense and
apology, and the one man who least needed
to inquire into either. Nevertheless, while
possessing perfect knowledge of both these
acts done by himself, he has chosen to put
on in public an affectation of Ignorance and
innocence concerning them, and has con-
spicuously appointed a committee OF six OF
the ablest men of his church, together with
two attorneys, to inquire into what he
leaves you to regard as the unaccountable
mystery OF this offense and apology, as if be
haG neither committed the one nor offered
the other, but as if both were fragments of
another mans imagination, thus
adroitly prompting the public to
draw the deduction that / am
a person under some hallucination or delu-
sion, living in a dream and forging fraud.
Furthermore, in order TO cast over this ex-
PLANTATION the delicate glamour which always
lends a charm to the defense of a woman's
honor, Mrs. Elizabeth r. Tilton, lately my
wife, has been prompted away from her home
to reside among Mr.. Beecher's friends, and
to cooperate with him in his ostensibly hon
est and laudable inquiry into the facts
concerning which she, too, as well as he, has
for years past had perfect and equal knowl-
edge with herself. This investigation, there
fore, has been
PUBLICLY PRESSED UPON ME
by Mr. Beecher, seconded by Mrs. Tilton,
both of whom in so doing have united in
assuming before the public the non-exis-
tence of grave and solemn facts, unto which
they have both conspired to investigate tor
the purpose, not of eliciting but of burying
the truth. The joint assumtion bv them
which has seemed 20 your committee to be
in good faith, has naturally led you into an
examination in which you expect to find on
their part nothing but innocence, andon my
part nothing but SANDER. 1t is now my
unhapp duty, from which / have in vain
hitherto sought earnestly 10 be delivered,
to give YOU the facts and evidences for re-
versing your opinion on this subject. In
doing this painful duty. may say heart
rendiug duty, the responsibility for making
grave disclosures which l am about to lay
before you, belongs not to me, but to Mr..
Beecher, who has prompted you TO this ex
and next to Mrs. tiltoD, who has
Joined him in a conspiracy wbic can not
fail to be fall of peril and Indebtedness to
many hearts. / call you to witness, that in
my first brief examination by your commit
tee, L begged and implored you not to in
quire into the facts of this case, but
rather to seek to bury them beyond
all possible revelation. Happy for all con-
cerned had this entreaty been needed. 1t is
now too late. The last opportunity for re-
and settlement has past. This
undertaken by you in igno-
rance OF the dangers against which Mr..
Beecher should have warned you in adj
vance, will shortly prove itself to your sur
prise to have been an act of wanton and
wicked folly, for which the Rev. II. w.
Beecher, its originator and puo-
no space for repentance, though he
perate man must hold himself only, and not
me, accountable for the wretchedness which
these declarations will carry to his own
home and hearth, as they have already
brought 10 mine. 1 will add that the orig
inal documents referred to in the ensuing
sworn statement are for the most part in
my possession, but that the apology and a
few other papers are in the hands OF Francis
d. Moulton. Truly yours,
(Signed) THEODORE TILToN.
TILToN's SWORN STATEMENT.
Whereas, the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher,
has instigated the appointment of COM
Of 81 Nc Il;
church and society, to enquire and report
upon the alleged aspersions upon his char
acter by Theodore Tilton; and, whereas,
Mrs. E. r. Tilton, formerly the wife of Mr..
Tilton, has openly deserted her home in Or
der to cooperate with Mr.. Beecher in a
conspiracy to overthrow the credibility and
good repute of her late husband as q man
and a citizen, therefore. Theodore Tilton,
being thus authorized and required. and by
a published demand made upon him by
the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, and being
now and hereafter released by the act of Mrs.
Tilton from further responsibility for the
of the truth touching her rela-
tions with Mr.. Beecher, therefore, Theodore
Tlton hereby sets forth under solemn oath
the following facts and testimony: First
that on the ID Of Oct, 1855, at Plymouth
Church. Brooklyn, marriage between The
odore Tilton and Elizabeth NJ. Richards was
which marriage thirteen years afterward
was dishoncred and violated by this clergy
man through tbs criminal seduction of this
wife and mother, as hereinafter set
forth. Second, that for period
of about fifteen years extending
both before and after this marriage an init
mate friendship existed between Theodore
Tilton and the Rev. Fl. w. Beecher, which
was cemented to such a degree
that in consequence thereof, the subsequent
by MIR. Beecher of his friends
wife, was a crime of uncommon wrongful
ness and perfidty. Third, That about nine
years ago the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher
began and thereafter continued a friendship
with Mrs. Z. r. Tilton, for whose native del
icacy and extreme religious sensibility he
often expressed TO her husband high adj
miration, visiting her from time TO time for
years ntil the year 1870, when, for reasons
hereinafter stated, he ceased such Wis
its, during which period by many
tokens and attentions he won the affection
l.