Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1874-08-23

1 brought it to the attention of Tilton in
the form Of a very strong criticism of his
course toward me, which might have
made a great difference es to the course
that ought to be taken. Tilton, prompt
ly and with much feeling, denied that
he had ever made any such confession,
or that his wife ever claimed that he
had. He desired me to see Mrs. Iilt0n
and satisfy myself upon that point, and
he went Immediately with me to his
house. Upon arriving at the house /
asked Mrs. Tiiton to step into the front
parlor, where we were alone, and
put the question to her: "Eiiza-
beth, did you tell Beecher nat
| when YOU made your confession to your
husband of your iBfidelity with Beecher
your husband at the same time made
confession to you OF his own infidelity
with other womeu?" ] said 81 want to
know If this is true for my own salts
faction - She said "Yes.H / then stepped
with her into the back paTlOr OF the
house where her husband was awaiting,
and / said to him "Your wife says that
she did tell Beecher that you confessed
YOUR infidelity with other women at the
time she made her confession to yoU."
! Elizabeth Immediately said "Why no l
didn't tell you so. couldn't have un-
derstood your question, because it isn't
| true that Theodore ever made any such
confession, and l didn't state so to
| Beecher, because 1t is not trUe.o ] was
very much shocked and surprised at the
denial, but OF course said nothing more
and did nothing more upon that sufjscr
and left and went home. The next
morning received the following letter
from Mrs. Tilton, without date, and il
was after the tripsrtite covenant, from
Mrs. TiltOn to Mr.. Moulton, between
| April 7th and November %, 1872:
/ DEAR FItANcIs-I did tflf you two false,
hoods az your last visit. At irst ! entirely
Inisunderstood your question, thinking you
the day before; but when / intellisently re- /
| piled 10 you replied falsely. viii POW put
/ myself on record truthiuily. told BeecheT !
( that az The time of my confession Iheodore
] had made a similar confession TO me OF him
self, but no developments as 10 tue persons
whom you then ASK Tor your oWl Aals-
/ faction was IL so. told my second lie after |
! you had left. said to Theodore, .. You know
! l was Obliged to lie 10 Frank :" and now say,
rather than make Others suffer as now do,
/ must Ii for IL is a physical impOssiotuly y Tor
! me 10 tell the truth; yet do not think, Fran
/ els, had not TheodOre's angry, troubled face |
/ been before me, that / would have tod you
| the truth. am q perfect coward ia has pres
/ ence- not from any fault OF his, perhaps but |
| from long years or umidity. implore YOU
as this is a side issue, 10 be careful not to lead
me TO further temptation. You may show
] this to Theodore, or BeecheT, or anyone, IS an
'H''' '--''''' ~ - '''''' " '''' ELIZABETH.
That letter was wholly unsatisfactory
/ to me, because nothing had occurred the /
/ day previous to which she could possibly |
! have referred. After the publication on
! the second of November, 1872, in Wood (
/ hull & Claflins's paper, of the story Of
| Tilton's and Beecher's conduct in rela- |
/ ton to Mrs. Tilton, and as my name /
was mentioned in the article as one pos
! sessing peculiar knowledge on the whole |
/ subject, was continually asked by my
acquaintances, and even by strangers, |
upon their ascertaining who l was, |
/ whether that publication was true, and |
/ 1 found great difficulty in making an |
answer. In some cases doubt not that |
| the inquirers supposed that I, in fact, |
1 denied the truth, but on that point was |
very studious not directly to commit /
myself. Finding that my very silence /
was working injury to the cause Of sup |
preston of the whole scandal, l told /
| Tilton l wished to be authorized by his /
wife to deny it. Soon after [ received q /
paper, without date, from Mrs. Tilton, /
| in which she said:
For my husbands sake and my childrens' I 4
hereby testify with an my wOma1's soul that /
l am innocent ofthe crime the impure con- |
duct alleged against me. ! have been TO my \
husband true wife,; in his love wish % |
| live and die My early affection for him stIll /
burns with its madlier flame, all the more for /
what he has borne for my sake, both private !
and public wrongs. Having had the power I
to strike Others he has fOrborne to use IL, and 4
has allowed himself to be injured instead. I
bless him every day for his faith in me. which I
sxerves not, and for standing as my cham 4
pion against ali my accusers,
Upon the strength of that, there
afteTward said that Mrs. TiltOu denied 1
the story. About the sixteenth of De-
cember, 1872, Mr.. Carpenter and Dr..
Storrs undertook to look up the reports,
with the intention, / understood, OF ad
vising some public statement, being
concerned in some investigation of the
matter, and Mrs. Tilton wrote for them
papers bearing that date.
MRS. TILToN's STATEMENT.
DECEMBER 10, ls72
In July, 1870, prompted by my duty, 1 in
formed my husband that Mr.. II. w. Beecher,
my friend and pastor had solicited me 20 be 4
wife TO him, together with all that this inn
piled. Six months afterward, my husband |
felt lmpelled by the circuw stances Of a con-
sptTacy against him, in which Mrs. Beecher
had taken part, TO seek an interview with MI. /
Beecher. In order that Dir. Beecher might /
know exactly what had said TO my husband,
l wrote a brief statement, have forgotten IN ]
what form, which my husband showed To Nj, I
Beecher. Late the same evening Mr.. Beecher
came to me, lying very sick at the time, and /
ruined him, and wanting 10 know III meant /
10 appear against him. This certainly did
not mean to do. and the thought was agoniz
ing to me. then signed paper which he
wrote TO clear HIM in case OF trial. In this iu-
stance, as in most others when absorbed Dy one
great interest or feeling, the harmony Of my
mind is entirely disturbed. found Or reiec-
tion that this paper was SO drawn as 10 place
me most uni ustly against my husband and on
the side OF NiT. Beecher, So in order to repair
so cruel blow to my iOug suffering husband,
l wrote an explanation OF the first paper aui
my q nFOcuTgd
Mr.. Beecher the statement which l gave 10
hinfin my agitation and excitement, and now
holds IL. This ends my connection with the
case. ELIZABETH Il. TILTON.
P. S-This staten ent IS made at the request
of Mr.. Carpenter, that II may be shown con
ddentially to Mr.. StOrrs and other friends
with whom my husband and are consulting.
This paper was delivered to me, and
the theory of the confession then was
that Mr. and Mrs. Tilton should admit
no more than the solicitation. This en-
deavor to make an explsnatiOn of the
business fell through, and after it was
shown to those interested, as | was told
The paper remained with me. Ire2eived
no further communication from Mrs.
Tiiton until the twenty-fiith Of June,
1874 and that communication came to
me in this (Dr. Bacon's) letter. 1 most
strongly and earl estly advised against
its utilization, anu said to him in sub
and Injustice of DR.. BaeOn's charges,
he CTIlton) had lived by the mag
nanimity of Beecher, and that he was
knave and dog, when / believed he
had acted a proper and manly part il
endeavoring to shield his family, yet
that its publication would so stir the
public mind that an inv stigation would
be forced upon him and Beecher in
some manner which l could not
then foresee, and that the truth
would, in all probability, have
to come out, or so much of it that Mrs
Tilton and Beecher would be dishOnored
and destroyed, and he himself be sub
jected to the severest criticism. Not
withstanding my advice, he was so
wrought up with the continual assaults
upon him by the friends of BeecheT, he
determined on publishing the letter.
The only modification / was able to get
Of the Bacon letter was this: 1t origin
ally read that Beecher had committed
against him and his family a revolving
crime. l insisted that that should be
changed into ian offense committed
against me,n which was done, and the
letter was published in that form. The
reasons which actuated me to require
this change by TiltOn in his letter were
in the hope that reconciliation and /
peace might still be possible, as the
letter as amended would state an
offense, and also that an apology suffi-
cient in the mind OF TiltOn bad been /
made for that offense. IL BeecheT, in
reply to the Bacon letter, should come
out and state that it was true he had 4
committed an offeEse against Tilton, for /
which he made the most ample apology, 1
which had been accepted by Tilton as
satisfactory, and as the matter was no
body's business but that Of the parties
interested, be would never become a
party to any investigation Of the subject,
and that Tilton had acted not uDjustly
or unfairly toward him in what ne had
done, that in such case the affair might 1
possibly have been quieted and peace
maintained; but if the words "rev0iting |
crime" remainedin theletter, all hope of /
reconciliation or escaping the fullest in
vestigation would be impossible after |
| the publication of that letter. ] so ad-
vised Mr.. Beecher, his friends and cOun-
| sci, but that advice was unheeded, and /
also gave Mr. Beecher the same sd- /
vice at consultation with him for which 1
| he asked in letter which will hereafter /
| in proper place be produced. Some days /
subsequent to the advice of mine to Til /
| ton, l received the following letter, Of /
Il