The Weekly Kansas chief. [volume] (Troy, Kan.) 1872-1918, 1874-07-30

%. Not long after the scandal became public,
Mrs Tilton wrote on a slip of paper, and left on /
her husbands writing desk, the following words:
q Now that exposure has come, my whole nature |
revolts to join with you or stand with you;
Through the influence of Beeeher's friends, the |
opiuion has long heen diligently prOpagated that |
the scandal was Ssse to TiltOn, aud that the al |
legged facts malicious inventions, by him,
10 revenge hiHisrlf for supposed and imaginary
wrongs done to him by Beecher. Many words
were spuksa from time to time by Mrs. Tilton, to
the prasse and eufngy of Beeeher, which being
extensively quoted through his congregation,
heightened the imprerss i0a that Tilton was
Beecher's slanderer; Mrs. Tilton being herself
authoritE for the statement. In this way Mrs.
Tiitun and one of her relatives have been the
chief causes of the great dif6culty of suppressng
the scandal. They have had a habit of saying
Mr.. Tilton believes such and such things, ana
their naming of these things by way of denial
haS been a mschievous way of circulating them
bToadcast. In this way TiltOn has been made to
s1HIear a dcfamer, whereas he has made every eft
fort in his power tO suppress the injurious tales
which he has been charged with propagatlng.
On all occasions he has systematically referred to
his wife ia terms favorable TO her character.
Further Tilton would not have communicated
10 the committee facts contained in this state
ment except for the Perverse course OF Rev
Henry Ward Beecher and Mrs. Elizabeth X. Til
ton to degrade and destroy him III public estlma
ti0n.
2i. That one evening, about two weeks after
the puhlieation Of TiItOn's letter to DR. Bacon,
Mrs. Titon, on coming home at late honr, in-
formed her husband she bad been visited at
friends house by n committee of investigation,
aud had given sweeping evidence acqHitting
Beecher of every charge. This was the first in
timstion which Tilton received that any snch
committee then in existence. Furthermore,
Mrs. Tilton stated she had done this by the ad
vice of lawyer whom Beecher bad sent 10 her,
aud who, in advance of her appearing before the
cUmmitte, arranged with her questions and an
swprs which were to constitute her testimony in
Beecher's behalf On the next day, after giving
this untrue testimony before the committe, she
spent many hours of extreme suffering from
pangs of conscience at having testified falsely.
She expressed to her husband the hope that God
would forgive her perjury, but the motive
% save Deecher and her husband; also to remove
all reprvach from the cause of religion. She also
expressed similar cOntTitiOn to enc of her inti-
mate friends.
Finally, that in addition to the foregoing facts
and evidences other cOufiTmations could be adj
duced, if needed, to prove the following recaPit
ulated statement, namely: that Rev. II. w. Beech
er, pastor and friend of Mr.. Tilton and his
family, trespassed on the sancity of friendship
and hospitality, in long endeavor TO seduce
Mrs Elizabeth r. Tilton; that, by the artful use
of his priestly authority with her, she being his
pupil in religion, he accomplished this seduction;
that for the period of year and half, or there
abOuts, he maintained criminal intercourse with
her. overcoming her previous modest scruples
against such conduct by investing 1t with the
false justification sanctioned by love and re-
ligiOn; that he then participated in conspiracy
to degrade Theodore Tilton before the public by
loss of place, business and reputr that he abused
Mr.. TiltOns forgiveness and pledge of protection
by thereafter authorizing series of measures
by Plymouth Church, having for their object the
putting of a stigma upon TitOn before the
church. and also before the ecclesiastical council,
in much that the moderator of that council,
interpreting these acts by Beecher and his church,
declared publicly that they showed Beecher to
he the most magnanimOus of men, and TiltOn to
he knave and dog that when TItOn thereafter,
not in malice but for self-prOtcctiOn, wrote let
ter to DIR. Bacon, aluding therein to Otfcnse
and apology by Rev. Henry Ward Beecher, he
(Mr. Beecher) defantly appointed committee of
his chuTch-members to inquire into any injury
done him by Mr.. Tilton, by The aforesaid allusoni
and implying that he (MT. Beecher) had never
been the author of such ofense and apology, and
that Mr.. TiltOn was slanderer; that to make
this inquiry bear grievously against MI. Iilt0n,
Mr.. Beecher previously cOnspired with Mrs. Til
ton to give false testimony in his (Mr. Beechers)
hehalf; that Mr.. Beecher's course towards Mr..
TiltOn and family has at last resulted in an open
destruction of Mr.. TiltOn's house and home, and
desnlatiOn of his heart and life.
(Signed) THEODORE TILToN.
Sworn to before me, this Goth day of July, 1874
THEo. BURGNTER, Notary Public
Gentlemen of the Committee:
Having Land before you the above sworn state
meut, which have puTposely restricted to the |
relations of Mr.. Beecher with Mrs. Tiitun only,
and with no other persons, wish TO add an ex-
planation due to yourselves In the Golden Age,
lately edited by me, suggestion was made, not
with my knowledge or consent, that your COM
mittee, in order Ia be justly constituted, should
comprise, in addition to the six members appoint
ed by Mr.. Beecher, six others appointed by my
self. To no such proposition would have con-
sented, for | have never wanted any tribunal
whatever for the investigation of this subject.
Neither Your cOmmitte, at present constituted,
nor an enlarged committee on the plan just men-
toned, any other committee of any kind,
could in and of itself have persuaded or cOmPell-
ed me to lay before you the facts contained in
the foregoing statement. Distinctly be it I'M
slerstOOd that these facts had not been evoked by
your committee because of any authority which
/ recognize in you tribunal of inquiry nor
would they have been yielded up to any other
cnmmitte or board of reference, however cOnsti-
tuted except conrt of law but on the contrary,
have divnlged the above solely because of open
IN published demands for it made directly to me
t.y Rev. ii. W. Beecher, aided and abetted by
Mrs. E X. Tilton. These two parties, these alone
and not your committee, have by their action pre-
vailed with me. No other authorities or intiu-
ence, except a court of law, could have been
powerful enough to have eXtOTted from me the
above. For the sake of one of the parties gladly
would have consented to hide these facts in the
future, have necessarily striven to do in the
past, but by joint action of Mr.. Beecher and Mrs.
Tilton | can Withhold the truth only at the price
of perpetual infamy to my name, in addition TO
the penalty which already suffer in the destruc-
tion of home, once as pleasant as any in which
p,curselyes dwell. Respectfully,
THEO TILToN.
TTu.s f,vorS rrturn of