Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1874-07-03
The Henry Ward Beecher and
TiltOn Case.

The Henry Ward Beecher and Z
TiltOn Case.
Theodore Tilton has written long let
ter to Rev. Leonard Bacon. Moderator Of
the Congregational Council recently held in
Brooklyn, New York, in reply to certain
Misrepresentation, which he says were
Internationally made by that gentleman
on his character, in his address at New
Haven on the Brooklyn Council. Tilton
goes back to the time of the severance from
the congregation Of Plymouth church in
January, 1871, when the step, he states,
was determined on by him in consequence
OF knowledge that the pastor had commit
ted against him an offense, which he for
bears to name OF characterize. Referring
to the statements of Dr. Bacon on the man.
iler of his (Tilton's) retirement from Ply
mouth Church, he gives an extract from a
letter of Shearman, clerk of the church, in
which that gentleman states that Tilton
had informed himself and several others,
that lie had withdrawn and that his name
ought to be struck from the roll. The next
point touched on is the assertion of DR..
Bacon that Tilton had either malicious
heart or crazy brain, which is stated by
Tilton and endorsed by the affidavit of a
newspaper reporter to have1been uttered,
us well as the assertion that Mrs. Tilton
had 0ccasioned the whole trouble while in
Il half crazed condition, in Il medlumistic
trance, by Shear man, clerk OF the church.
\ full written apology for the calumny
man and promptly presented by that gen
tleman to Tilton in the presence OF Beecher.
Among the correspondence included in the
letter to Mr.. Bacon is the following under
date Of May LIST, 1874:
Henry Ward Beecher, Sir Mr.. F. b.
Carpenter mentions to me your saying that
under certain conditions involving certain
disavowals by me, a sum OF money would
or could be raised to send me with my
family to Europe for term OF years. The
occasion compels me to state explicitly
that SO long as life and self. respect con-
tinue to exist together in my breast SHAH
be debarred from receiving either directly
or indirectly any pecuniary OF other favor
at your hands. The reason for this feeling
you know so well that I will spare you the
statement Of it. Yours truly,
THEODORE Triton.
Also the following:
BROOKLYN, January l, 1871.
ask Theodore Tilton's forgiveness and
humble myself before him as | do before
my God. He would have been Il better
man in my circumstances than [ have. l
can ask nothing except that he will re-
member all the other breasts that would
ache. / will not plead for myself; [ even
wish that | were dead
ssH. W. BEECHER.
Tilton closes his letter as follows; The
injurious measures which the author OF
this apology has since permitted his church
to take against me without protest on his
part, involving gross injuries to me, which
have been greatly aggravated by your writ
ingS, have put me before my cOuntrymen
in the character of a base and bad man, a
character which, trust, is foreign to my
nature and life. Under the accommodating
weight Of this odium unjustly bestowed
on me, neither patience nor charity Can
demand that | keep silent.
PLYMOUTH ON THE NEW DEVELOPMENT.
The New York sSun" Of Saturday thus
speaks of the effect Of the above publica-
| ton:
Diversity Of opinion prevailed in Ply
| mouth Church Thursday as to action or
| non-action. Mr. Beecher had gone to his
| farm near Peekskill to spend his sixty -first
birthday, emitting to go rs usual or the
excursion OF Plymouth Sunday school to
Cold Spring. A copy of Tilton's letter
was sent to him by special messenger
| The Rev. DIR. Edward Beecher, a brother
| of Henry Ward, and a sharer with Mr..
| Thomas q. Shearman, the lawyer, in the
management OF Plymouth Church with
| reference to the scandal, came to this city
early in the morning. On the ferry boat
he was asked what he thought of the new
phase OF the scandal. He replied that he
| could give no opinions, but supposed that
| Mr.. Tilton's letter could be answered sat
| iSfactorily if it should be deemed necessary.
He went to the office of MI Shearman, in
Nassau street, with whom he had All in
terview several hours long. Mr.. Shear
man subsequently said that lie did not be-
lieve Mr.. Tilton's allegation of Mr.. Beech
er's guilt. Throughout the treatment of
the scandal, all the moves have been ma
tured in the examining committee, and it
is unlikely thatta different course will be
| pursued at this momentous stage"
BEEcHER's DENIAL. ~
| The Brooklyn Eagle of Friday last,
states that two intimate friends of Mr..
Beecher, who called on him the day previ-
Gus at his farm near Peekskill, N. Y, say
that Mr.. Beecher never wrote any letter of
| tpOlOSy 10 MI. 1lltOll, anu tIidt Tile ldCCoI
knows he did not; furthermore, that Mr.
Beecner never offered as the price of 81
lence to send Nj. Tilton and his family to
Europe; that MI. Beecher has befriended
Mr.. Tilton in a thousand ways which
might be mentioned, which Mr.. Tilton Of
course forgets to mention, and continued
! to befriend him until he, Tilton, got into
such a position that to help him along
meant the helping of Woodruff and Claf1in
along, and that Mr.. Beecber was not will
| ling to do. a6f xix
On Sunday when the sci vices were over
the members OF Plymouth Church and a
| number of strangers crowded up to the
| platform whereon Mr.. Beecier stood, and
a general Misunderstanding, which con. tinued
some time, took place. Mr. Beecher look
| ed his pleasantest, and evidently the thun-
derbolt had not struck him. When he had
shaken hands with all who could get within
reach, and had listened meantime to the
/ kind expressions of the more distant, Mr.
| Beecher left the church.
SUICIDE OF AN ACTOR.-On Saturday