Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1874-08-06
BEECHER-TILTON.
u.s,.m..t of Mrs. TiIton.

To nick up anew the sorrows OF the
,ast ten wears. the stings and pains had
aa;Iv sc6ooled myself to bury and for
Give makes this imperative duty, as
called forth by the malicious statement
Of nv husband, the saddest act OF my
life Besides, my thought of following
tha Master contradicts this act of my
non and sense of the pervesion OF my
life faith almost compels me 10 stand
aside until God himself delivers; yet see
in this Wanton act an urgent call anu
privilege. from which | shrink not. 10
renly in detail to the twenty-five articles
az arraignment | shall not attempt at
nresent. vet if called upon to testify TO
each and all of them shall not hesitate to
do so. Suffice it for my purpose NOW that
reply to one or more OF the most giarlng
charges.
/. Touching the feigned sorrow OF my
husbands compulsory revelations Sol
emnly avow that long before the Wood
hull publication ! knew him by lnslnua-
ton and direct statement to have repeat
ed to my very near relatives and TRENDS
the substance of these accusations Whlch
shock the moral sense of the entire COM
munity this day. Many times when hear.
ing that certain persons had spoken Ill OF
doing. and then and there | learned he
had been before me with his calumnies
against myself, so that was speeches..
2, The reiteration in his statement that
he had persistently striven to hide these
so-cslled facts is utterly false, as his
hatred to Mr.. Beecher has existed these
MANY wears, and the determination TO
ruin Mr.. Beecher has been the one aim OF
his life. Again, the perfidy with which
the hottest love wife ever offered has
been recklessly discovered in this publ
cation reaches well nigh to sacrilege,
and added to this the endeavor, like the
early scandal of Mrs. Woodruff, to
make my own words condemn me, has
no parallel; most conspicuously my let
ter quoting the reading of Grlfnth
Gaunt.n Had Mr.. Tilton read the pure
character of Catherine 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 in
cidents of fiction surrounding 1T to which
/ referred Here was no sin OF criminal
act or thought A like confession with
hers had made to Mr.. Tilton in telling
of my love to my friend and pastor one
year before, and / now add that, not
withstanding all Misrepresentation and
anguish of soul, ] owe to my acquaint-
ance and friendship with Mr.. Beecher,
as to no other instrumentality, that en-
couragement of my mental life and that
growth toward the divine nature which
enable me to walk daily in lively hope
of the life beyond the grave
3. The shameless charges in articles
seven, eight and nine are fearfully false
in each and every particular The letter
referred to in NJ. Tilton's tenth para
graph was obtained from me by impor-
tunity, and by representations that it
was necessary for him to use in his then
pending difficulties with Mr.. Bowen. /
was then sick nigh unto death, having
suffered miscarriage only four days be-
fore. ] signed whatever he required,
without knowing or understanding its
import. The paper ! have never seen,
and do not know what statements it con-
tanned. In charge eighteen is letter of
mine addressed to Mr.. f. Moulton,
quoted to prove that had never desired
a separation or was advised by Mr.. or
Mrs Beecher to leave my husband. l
reply, the letter was of Mr. Tilton's own
connecting, which he induced me to copy
and sign as my own, an act which, inf my
weakness and mistaken thought to help
him, l have done too often during these
unhappy years
4. The implication that harmony of
home was unbroken till Mr.. Beecher en-
tered it as frequent guest and friend is
lamentable satire upon the household
where he himself, years before, laid the
cornerstone of free love and desecrated
its sacred affairs up to the time of my de-
parture, so that the atmosphere was not
hut INN NV
dren, and in this effort and throe of
agony would fain lift my daughters and
all womanhood from the insdious and
diabolical teaching of these latter days.
His frequent efforts to prove me insane,
weak minded, insignificant and of mean
presence all rank in the category of
heartlessness, selfshness and falsehood,
having its climax in his present endeavor
To convince the world that | am or ever
have been unable to distinguish between
an innocent or guilty love. In sum-
ming up the whole matter, | affirm my
self before God to be innocent of the
crimes laid upon me that never have
been guilty of adultery with Henry
Ward Beecher in thought or deed, nor
has he ever offered to me an indecorous
or improper proposal
To the further charge that | was led
away from my home by Mr.. Beecher's
friends and by the advice of lawyer
whom Mr.. Beecher had sent to me, who
in advance of my appearing before the
committee arranged with me the ques-
tions and answers which were to consti-
tute my testimony in Mr.. Beecher's be-
half, / answer that this is again untrue,
having never seen the lawyer until intro
duced to him few moments before the
arrival of the committee, by my step
father, Judge Morse and in further re-
ply submit the following statement OF
my action before the commi tee and my
separation from my husband:
5. The publication of Mr.. Tilton's let
ter in answer to DR. Bacon l had not
known nor suspected when on Wednes-
day evening he brought home the Golden
Age, handing it to me to read. Looking
down its columns saw well nigh
with binding eyes that he had put
into execution the almost daily
threat of his life--that she lived
to crush out Mr.. Beecher; that the
God of battles was with him; he had
always been Mr. Beecher's superior, and
all that lay in his path--wife, children or