The Portland daily press., 1874-09-12

1
with him he strongly adverted to tie absorbin,
love which he felt for the woman, and to TIL
joys OF his intercourse with her, which he al
ways justified because of that love- Indeed. OF
one occasion when speaking of it he said S,
pure did the intercourse seem to him that tn,
liltie req lounge on which they had been to
| getner seemed to him almost a sacred thing
II my testimony is to avail anything in th
matter, here commit it now fully to the state
meht heretofore made by me, which Their
sottehed by emitting details, the langua ,e OF
wnicn thought it best for public morality
should De suppressed And call attention tt
ehe iact mace in my previous statement, that
III Tue presence of myself and another witness,
| whom still feel reluctant to bring forward
| oi course not MIR. Tilton-both Mrs. Tilton and
Mi beecher admitted in language not TO be
mistaken mat continued sexual Intimacy had
existed between them, and asked advice as to
the course to be taken because OF it.
| BIack-MaiIing.
Mr. Moulton then takes up the charge of
olackmali and asserts that this allegation was
an alter thought of Mr.. Beecher and his law
!ers, ana fortities his original assertion that all
| tne money paid out by Beecher was either for
bessie turner schooling or as free will offer
Mr.. beecher to himself after the time the lat
ter says IN his statement he began to look with
Suspicion OF Moulton's honor, which are filled
witn expressions of the deepest confidence and
"nCStiou ioi MIN M0ultOn).
niouiton says Beecher has made a mistake as
/ to his Northumberland charges that Mrs. Morse
Is tne person who is amenable to the charge,
II anybody In support of this he quotes a
ielter from that woman under date of October
ioai, addressing Beecher as "My Son. and
telling him that while nerre mt is $500, her in
come IS but $1,000, and asking him to help her.
IN THIS letter occurs the sentence, "Do you
know that think il strange that you should
ask me to call you son." The letter is sign
ed, Mother" In this part of his statement
MI Moalton is exceedingly bitter, and intmates
ana not need to mortgage his house to raise the
paitry sum OF $4,000 unless he had drains upon
ms purse, winch the pubic did not know about
and OF which he would be 10th to inform Them
MI; Monlton then proceeds to the startling part
OF MS statement, the charge of adultery with
another woman, originally made by Bowen,
though the latter claimed it was more
A Shocking Charge.
= Moulton says:
Passing by the more indefinite charges of
Bowen-'the many adulteries committed by
Beecher'-let us take the crime, the exact Ian
guage of which in my former statement felt
called upon to omit in the interest of public de-
cency But in order that the charge of Bowen,
which was twice reconciled and condOned by
Beecher-usng the word both in its legal and
literal sense, because if not true there can be no
mare outrageous libel. which is a crime-I feel
give the very words as they originally appeared
in Tilton's private letter to Bowen, of January
l, 1871, as they are annexed to the covenant of
reconciliation:
''You (Bowen) related to ME the case eff a
woman whom you said las near as can recall
your words) Mr. Beecher took in his arms by
force, threw down upon a sofa, accomplished
his deyiltry upon her, and. left her flowing with
blood"
Could an innocent clergyman have allowed
such charge to be made, and mora Than once
reiterated, however guardedly, by leading
member of bis church, and rest content until
his innocence was fully aud clearly established,
ii in no other way, in court of justice? Bow
en-, was informed, claimed to have the details
of this transaction from the woman's own lips.
And it was to avoid the Investigation of this
charge among others that Beeche1 says in his
letter, 1.-THE real point to avoid is an appeal to
the church and then to a council" aud upon
that he advised with me,
l feel it due to myself however, before pro-
ceeding further in this narrative, to make this
explanation. In my former statement to the
public, prepared for the committee. endeavor-
ed in all matters to state the facts with as much
delicacy as their wckedness would allow, the
consequence of which was that my very retic.
ence and suppression of the exact language in
which Beecher's confessions were conveyed to
me, were, by his friends. made aground for ac-
cusaton that had either mistaken the purport
of what he said, or that it l were telling the
truth would give his words. Therefore l am
now compelled, in narrating this most shame
full affair, to violate the bounds which set my
self in my former statement in order that no
such like accusation may be reiterated against
me. And if that is published which ought not
to be published it is not my fault, but the ne
cessity made by Beecher and his friends for my
own vindication. Exactly how the matter
came about is as follows:
l showed to Mr.. Beecher tue letter Of Tilton
to Bowen bearing date January l. 1871, con-
tanning charges alleged to have been made by
Bowen in the presence of Titon and Oliver
johnson, and he (Beecher) deemed it necessary
to tell the truth concerning the adultery with
the woman to whom he supposed Bowen re-
ferred in that interview, although the charge
gave no names. According to TitOn's letter.
Bowen charged Beecher with the rape of a
virgin. Beecher said he was in IS house,
told me for what purpose he was there, and
mentioned the name of the woman, who, he
said, when he was leaving, gave him what
he strangely termed "parOxysmal kisS"-I
never heard that word before, which causes
me to remember it vividly)-and that being
tempted by the woman, he had sexual inter-
course with her. He said 81 knew she was
not virgin" and described to me his means
of knowing that fact, the precise language of
he description of which trust his friends will
excuse me from repeating. He said that she
Immediately retired from the room, went up
stars and came down very much futtered,
saying: "Oh, l am covered with bloodp' He
said he knew she lied, and was surprised at her.
feeling convinced that she had had other and
previous experiences of the same sort.
Having myself had knowledge Of the facility
with which he could obtain from his women
retraction Of such charges and denial of The
fact, as in the case of Mrs. Tlton of the con-
confessed aduteries by her. on the 30th of
December-twelve days before-I said to him,
1T will be necessary for you, if you are on
friendly terms with that woman, to get from
her a retractiOn. Otherwise you may find
yourself some day at Bowens mercy" He
went to get retraction from her, and on the
10th of January, 1871, brought back the piper
1 here insert, which he so obtained:
''Some ten years ago, when under great grief
and excitement, said things injurious to Mr.
Beecher to Mr.. Bowen. always speak strong
1y, aud then 1 was nearly beside myself and
used unmeasured terms, which represented
rather my feeling than my judgment.
L afterwards became convinced that in many
things [ was mistaken. / became 'lsfied
that MIR. Beecher's course towards me was
meant to be kind aud honorable.
From that day to this our relations have been
cordial and friendly. ---.
January 10, 1871
A casual glance at this document shows that
Mr.. Beecher was not as successful 10 this re-
traction, which he evidently did not dictate, as
in the case of Mrs TiltoD, aud the retraction
itself, in its cautious wording, was so much
more damaging as evidence than a direct
charge OF the woman CnaJ might De contra
dicted would be, that it was thought best that it
should not see the light of day, and it has not
until now.
Mouiton says BeecLer admitted adultery but
denied that he used force, claiming that he en-
ployed only dalliance The retractioa was
deemed insufficient for it did not necessarily
deny all crime but simply stated that in many
things "she had been mistaken and had
spoken strongly. Moulton does not give her
name out of consideration purely for her, he
says.
Moulton says If the facts stated here should
identify the persons concerned with him, and if
those who are interested in her feel aggrieved,
let them avenge that grief, if upon any one,
upon the pastor of Plymouth church, and not
upon me, as l have been threatened it would
be if ventured to state the facts of Beecner's
guilt in the case. l have felt the blows of
Plymouth church already because J. have told
the exact truth about their pastor l have been
threatened with if 1 shall continue to do so.
But, unawed by threats, and, as far as L may
be, unbiased by wrong, injustice and false ac-
cusatioEs the facts shall be stated as they are
known to me-and known to God and only
adding that this last terrible narrative of crime
was given me by Beecher in the presence of
witness, dismiss this tragic episode to the
main controversy.
MouIton's Reasons for Supervising the
Moulton saws he has been influenced to act