Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1874-08-05

gesture was intentional or accidental.
It was merely a suspicion 2
The committee then proceeded to
examine Tilton about the bedroom
scene.
He did not know the year. It was a
good while ago, before the ankle scene,
and while they were on Livingston
street He remembered the room,
identified by picture. 1t was the
left-hand bedroom On the second sto1y.
I knocked at the door and Elizabeth
came. | was surprised the door was
locked. She was surprised at finding
me. Beecher was sitting in red plush
rocking chair with his vest unbuttoned;
his face colored like a rose when I SAW
him.
Q.-Explanation was satisfactory to
you on that occasion?
A.-Entirely so. I should have
thought nothing of it had I not wen
dered at the door beng locked. The
room was bedroom, connected with a
sitting room by sliding doors; boh
rooms opened into the hall.
Q.-May they not have gone into the
sitting-room from the hall, and there
into the bedroom t-..., r#..
Al will give them the benefit IF
the doubt. :.
| Q.-What was the explanation giv.n
which you found satisfactory.
A.--Annoyance of children. My
wife said ours and the neighbours
children were making noise. She
wanted a quiet talk with Mr.. Beeche,
and so locked herself in. ss e.. .-r.
Q.-That satisfied you? Alt was
entirely satisfactory.
! Q.-Were the sliding-doors open?
A.--They were shut.
| Q.-Was the hall door opened i'm
mediately? ,s#-r ..r
A.-Yes. .t.. 49,
In reply to further questions, Tilton
said he never regarded the cir
cumstance as evidence of wong, and
the explanation blotted it from his re-
membrance; but he had since men
toned it because circumstances rose
which made him feel that her explana-
tion Of both scenes was untrue. He
first mentioned the thought TO his
mother. He never thought here was
any wrong in it until th. light of
subsequent events. He would not say
there was anything wrong in it now.
Elizabeth always denied stoutly any
wrong. ..... .s-s.
Q.-You say for year after what
you state, as Mrs. Tiltons confession,
she insisted to you that she had not
broken her marriage VOW?
Va, 11,a, -, - uouk r.
vaporous-like cloud. She was between
light and dark She could not see that
it was wrong, she cannot bear to do
wrong. A sense of having done wrong
is enough TO crush her. She naturally
seeks for her own peace. A conscien-
tious verdict. She never would have
been In these relations if she had sup
posed at the time that they were
wrong. Elizabeth never does anything
that at the time seems wrong for such
large moral nature. There is GER
tain lack of balance and equipoise. She
has not will that guides and re-
strains. but Elizabeth never does at
any time that which does not have the
stamp of her conscience the time upon
it. 49,.
Odd you say that she did or did
not insist that she had not violated her
marriage VOWS?
A.-She always was saying that it
never seemed to her wrong, and Chico
dore, I do not now see that I have
wronged you ..
/ Q.-What do you understand her as
meaning: ITO love is praiseworthy
but the abuse of love IS sin?"
Al rather think she means carry
ing love to too great al extent.
Q.--Would not that include crimina
relations
A.-Yes .-.... ...
Q.-Then you understand her as
early as 1868 as saying that the abuse
of the gift CT love by adultery would
be a sin
Ayes.
Tilton continued that Mrs. Tilto1
was lady of large reading and said
Mr.. Beecher carried to her sheets Of
his Life OF Christ and Norwood fer
criticism. She was one Of the best Of
critics, and had Judgment not warped
by affections, and he (Tilton) was
always certain that if Elizabeth liked
what he wrote it was not on his
account, though she was always glad
when he wrote good thing. It was
an honest criticism. If he had been a
minister more of this trouble would
have come. She was always sorry he
was not minister, which is The only
virtue he possessed. ESThank God, 81
said Tilton, II do not belong to the
! priesthood Or the church. I am man
of religious sympathies who thor
oughly hates and despises religious
c1eeds, don't believe in one of the SO
articles, nor in either of the catechisms,
nor in the divinity Of the Injunction Of
the Scriptures, nor in the divinity of
Christ in the sense in which it is held.
Witness continued that his wife grieved
over this with tears, and found what
was wanting in him in Beecher, who
took advantage of it, and that he ought
to spend the rest Of his life in peni-
tence and anguish. She regarded
Beecher almost as Jesus Christ him.
self. Tilton did not think the thoughts
Of passion and criminality were in her
| breast Thew were altOpeEhar IN