Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-08-27

Mr.. Moulton here states that Mrs Morse. the
mother-in-law of Mr.. Tilton, who was from time
TO time an inmate of his family in Livingston
street, had. as he had been informed both bv
Mr. and Mrs. Tilton, learned from her daughter
the criminal relationship existing between
Beecher and herself, and who could not under
stand why that matter had been settled. and who
had not been told how it had been adjusted. and
who had had most bitter quarrel with TiltOn,
accusing him of not having so carried his affairs
as TO keep what fortune he had. and who had
called upon Beecher about the relations between
Hilton and Mrs. Tilton, and who had. as Beecher
had informed him (Moulton), filed the minds of
Mrs. Beecher and himself with stories of TiltOns
lnfdelity and improper conduct to his wife.wrotea
lettertO Mr. Beecher under date of Jan. q. 1871 in
which letter Mrs. NJ. speaks of the suffering in
Mr.. TIton's family and especially of neglect and
want endured by Mrs 7. She saws:
Neither Mrs. b., yourself, nor I can have
done anything TO ameliorate her condition. She
has been for the last three weeks with one very
Indifferent girl. T. has sent the others away,
leaving nv sick and distracted child to care for
all four children, night ana day, without fires in
the furnace, or anything like comfort nourish-
ment in the house. She has not seen any one.
He says she Is mourning for her sim If this be
so, one twenty-tOur hours under this sheet
think is enough to atone for a lifelong sin.
however heinOus. | know that any change in
his affairs would bring more trouble upon
her, and more suffering | did not think for
moment when l asked Mrs. B. as to your call
there, supposing she knew it. of course, as she
said you would not go there without her. was
innocent (sic) of making any misunderstanding,
If there was any. You say, keep quiet have ali
through her married life done So and we now see
our error (sic) 1t has brought him. to destruc-
ton, made me utterly miserable, tarned me from
a comfortable home, and brought his own family
to beggary. | don't believe, If his honest debts
were paid. he would have enough to buy their
breakfast (sic). This she could endure, and thrive
under, but the publicity he has given to this re-
cent and most crushing of all trouble is what has
taken the life out of her. l know of twelve per-
sons whom he has told and they in turn have
told others. had thought we had as much as we
could live under from his neglect and ungoverna-
bic temper. But this Is the death-blow to us
both, and l doubt not Florence has hers. Do you
know when | hear of your cracking your jokes
from Sunday to Sunday, and think of the misery
you have brought upon US, | think with the
Psalmist, There is no God Admitting all he
says to be the invention of his halfdrunken brain,
still the effect upon US is the same for all he be-
ueves II. Now he's nothing TO do, he makes
target of her night and day. | am driven in this
extremity to pray for her release from all suffer
ing, by Gods taking her to himself for if there is
Heaven l know she II 60 there. The last time
she in his house she said: Here feel | have
no home but on the other side | know | shall be
more welcome Oh, my precious child, how my
heart bleeds over you in thinking of your suffer
| ing. Can you do anything in the matter? Must
she live in this suffering condition of mind and
| body, with no alienation? Sir, you or any
else who advises her to live with him when he
is doing all he can to kill her by slow torture is
| anything but friend l thought
| the least you could do was to put your name to
paper to help reinstate my brother in the Custom
! House. Elizabeth was as disappointed as my
self. He is still without employment with sick
wife and five children to feed, behind with rent,
| and everything else behindhand. If your wife
| has adopted Lib (sic), you sympathiZe with
her pray you do something for her relief before
| it is too late. He swears so soon her breath
leaves her body he will make the whole thing pub
| lie, and this prospect think is one thing which
keeps her living. l know of no other. She's
| without nourishment (sic) for one IN her state,
and in want, actual want. They would both
| deny it, no doub-, but it's true
In reply to the foregoing Mr. Beecher writes
@ n
course toward you hitherto should satisfy you
| that have sympathiZed with your distress, but
Mrs Beecher and l, after full consideration, are
of one mind, that under the present circum-
stances, the greatest kindness to you and to all
will be, in so far we concerned to leave to
time the rectifcation of all the wrongs whether
they prove real or imaginary
Mr.. MoultOn says he purposely omits the
name of the young girl in the expression by Miss
Morse that TiltOn has sent -, with the others,
| away and adds that . the reason why twas de-
sirable she should be away from Brooklyn, as
given me by Mr. and Mrs. Tilton this She
had overheard conversation by them concerning
Mrs. TiltOn's criminal intimacy with Beecher,
and she had reported these conversations to
several friends of the family Being young,
and not knowing the consequences
of her prattlIng, 1t seemed proper
for the safety of the two families that she should
be sent to distance to school, which was ac
cordingly done. She was sent TO boarding-schOol
in the West, and the expenses of her stay there
were probably paid through me by BeeCher, to
whom had stated the difficulty of having the
that 1t was best that she should be removed and
offered to bear the cost of her schooling. The
bills sent to me from time to time as they
became due, part Of them through Mrs.
Tilton.'' Here are given two short notes
| in Mrs Tilton's handwriting, signed by
this girl, purporting TO exonerate Mr..
TiltOn from any improper attempts toward the
young lady, saying that Mrs. Tiltons mother had
repeatedly sought to hire her by offering money
ana presents TO 60 10 CERTAIN f ana I'll
ton; that she had not at the time of this occur
renee, thought Mr. TiltOn's caresses were for any
bad purpose, and that she did not want to be
used by Mrs. Morse or any one else to bring
trouble on her two best friends, Mr.. and Mrs.
Tilton. She characterizes story that Iflton had
at one time used violence toward her for a bad
purpose as a wicked lie
Mr. Moulton says this young lady, while at
school. informed friend of Mrs. Tilton "a Mrs.
P of the stories of the family relations, and these
stories having come to the knowledge of his
(Moulton's s. friends, creating an impression upon
their minds unfavorable to Mr. Tilton, he took
pains to trace them back to the one to whom the
girl had told them, and soon after received from
Mr. Tilton a letter written by Mrs. Tilton to Mrs.
p, in which she says: 8 l have mistakenly felt
obliged to deceive these two years, that
my husband had made false accusations against
me- which he never has to her or any one, in
order that he may not appear on his defense, thus
adding the terrible exposure of a lawsuit VIII
you implore silence on her part against any in
dignation which she may feel against him-for
the only ray of light and hope in this midnight
gloom is his entire sympathy and cooperation IN
my behalf?'
Mr.. Moulton here gives a statement of account
of the girls school expenses, and says all these
sums were paid by Mr.. Beecher and he (Moulton)
forwarded the money to settle them through Mrs.
TiltOn, sent money directly to the principal of
the school at her request.
Mr.. MOUlton says: Mr.. Beecher was anxious
to ascertain Mr.. Tilton's feeling toward him. and
to get statement in writing that would seem to
free him (Beecher) from imputation thereafter,
and letter is given dated Feb. Z, 1871, from Mr..
TiltOn to Mr.. Moulton, in which Mr.. T. writes:
- l say, therefore, very Cheerfully that notwth-
standing the great suffering he has caused Eliza
beth and myself bear him no malice. shall do
him no wrong, shall discOuntenance every project.
by whomsoever proposed, for any exposure of his
secret to the public; and, if know myself at all,
shall endeavor TO act toward Mr.. Beecher as I
would have him in similar circumstances act to-
ward me-
Mr.. Moulton says he had known Mrs Titon
well and had had no suspicious of inidelity on
the part Of either her or her husband toward the
other up to the time of the reading of her original
confession. On the 31st of December, 1871. he
received q letter from Mrs Tilton asking that he
bring to her, that they might be DESTROYED her
letters the one he (M0ulton) had and the one She
had given Mr.. Beecher at his dictation the even
ing before. Mr.. NJ did not accede TO this request
because Il had pledged myself TO Beecher that
her retraction on the one side and her confession
to Tilton on the other (Which are the papers she
refers to as INV letter which You have and the
one gave Mr.. BeecherD should not be given up.
but should be held for the protection of either as
against the other
A letter is given by Mr. Moulton. written to
i'm, lroT T an 4 it,