Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-06-11
LAST GRAND AOr OF THE TRAGEDY.

LAST GRAND ACT OF THE TRAGEDY.
The punishment which Beecher re-
ceived yesterday at the hands Of Beach
was enough to drive the Plymouth pastor
to the ragged edge of despair indeed.
Thus far Plymouth church has almost
held possession Of the courthouse. and
supported their iayorite by every moral
influence they could concentrate. When
the evidence went against Tilton, whom
Evarts sought to make the defendant,
they we're ever ready to applaud. When
Porter abused aud denounced Triton and
shook his finger at him they chuckled
with delight, punched each other in the
ribs and looked as happy as forty thieves.
ALI the immense nj of the
church we're brought to bear to crush
the accusing witness. Every man
and woman seemed to feel that any
proof Of Tilton's moral obliquities
would whitewssh the sanity Beecher,
and proclaim the saintliness Of the con.
gregation to the world. For more than
one hundred days this remarkable trial
has been going on. 1t has taken a wide
range, and many things irrelevant have
been entertained. People may allude
10 the trial of Warren Hastings, the
Tichborue case, and all the great trials
they can think Of, but such a trial as
this is not on record. The character Of
the principal actors, the issues involved,
the flow Of slime, the whited s~epulchres
torn open to the gaze Of q morbidly
curious world, the r~o.tenness and moral
putrefaction discovered in the bosom Of
an opulent congregation styling itself
a church, and the crazy hero wor-
ship Of men and women bestowed
on q hoary-headed old r~eprobate--
all these things considered, the
history Of the trial is without parallel or
precedent since the days Of Sodom and
Gomotrab. 1t has remained for Mr..
Beach, with his fierce rhetoric and un-
spAring hand, to tear away the mask Of
this yelled prophet, exposing his hideous
moral deformity aud giving him almost
literally, in his own language, a slice Of
the day Of judgment. The clacquers
are there, and the culprit is there with
his faithful attendants, but they are
dumb. The popular verdict has sRayed
back in favor Of Tilton and the crowd
that scowled on him has turned with knit
ted brows and hot, angry glanees toward
the Beecher party. There are nc smiles
and knowing winks on that side Of the
room. Even Bessie Turner no longer
simper5 in q front seat to catch the gaze
of the populace. These ere awful mo-
ments to the Plymouth syndicate, and
the world looks on with breathless
attention. The words of Beach burn
like fire. and will leave their deep mark
on the brow Of that venerable sinner as
o1 the forehead Of Cain. Public inter
est is riveted as never before. Not a
word will be lost at the 6nal summing
up. The end Of the tragedy is near.
The actors are all on the stage and the
auditorium is filed with eager listeners.
ALI the accessories for effect are at hand
and arranged. We can almost see a
blue light casting its sickly glamour over
the pallid faces Of those once so trim and
aippant ns with pride they sat con-
sciously the observed of all observers.
The peroration is being pronounced in
words Of reason, passion and Of FIRE, and
when the eloquent speaker has reviewed
the case and grouped all the facts and
drawn bis conclusions they will be pretty
generally accepted by the whole Ameri-
can people. 1t is true there is to be an
afterpiece, a light comedy, as it we're,
wherein the Judge charges a jury and
the jury rstifes as Tito frame a verdict.
What that verdict may be, ifone isfound
at all, is Il small consequence to
the public. The people at large
are sitting in this case, and will not az.
cord to any twelve men the right to
think for them. Whatever the result,
Plymouth Church is doomed to isolation
from the sympathy Of the Christian pub.
lie, and will stand by its idol as they have
done in the past. He nay fall, but like
the Philistines in the days Of Samuel
they will continue to set Dagon up agar
until only the stump of him is left.
-A~
RABT TENNESSEE UNIVERSITY.