Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1875-06-15
The Reeeher. Tifton Case.

4. = liz papers. WHICH were SO eager to
i publish the .impro baBle stories of Loa-
i der and. Price, and by doing SO intro
/ .duce Into thousands of respectable fam
/ lilies the filth which, by comparison,
makes decent the language and deeds of
Baxter street, have received a warning
/ which IL is to be, hoped they will not
SOON forget. IF the press. is to maintain
lis dignity, and. its. character for truth
and fairness, it must not repeat too of
I ten the tactics which some of the jour
nails have followed in this Beecher- Til
+ ton scandal. Securing the cutters for
gossip to publish is anything but COM
.mendable work. An intelligent press
I has a higher mission than this. as we.
surmlsed I. at the start the stories of
Loader and Price are without single
elementof truth :; and in swearing that
the. yarns were true, the two men, as
they have since confessed, committed
rank perjury. The publication of the
afhdavits at this Lime, when the Jury.
We're about to retire, as well as the call
ing OF attention to them in open court,
when it was morally certain that the
Judge. would rule them out was an out
rage. The engineers of the conspiracy
should be punished with the tools. Price
and Loader are not the only guilty par
ties. As the Investigation progresses we
catch sight of something more than the
coat-tails. of Messrs. Tilton and Moulton.
The Journals which less than week
were shouting that the ssnew testimony"
was of the greatest Importance" and
lashing themselves into Indignation be-
cause the case could not be reopened for
its admission, now pipe another tune.
They always doubted the truth of this
FEnew evidence, and only wished to have
it put to critical test. The simplicity of
these sheets is childlike if not charming.
Let them take the lesson deeply to heart
aud try TO profit by it in the future.
Tiltoh's whole fight has been against
decency, Christianity and civilization.
1t was not necessary to unsettle society
and to send every ten year old girl in
the country to the dictionary to find
out the meaning of adalteryin order that
Tiit0n might aVenge a wrong that he had
forgiven, if wrong there was, ana to
prove himself a cuckold If his wife
had strayed into paths of free love, she
was able to plead the best excuse in the
world. Her own husband had done all
he could TO convert her to the belief
that these paths were blessed by God
and that they led to the New Jerusa-
lem. II was impossible for Henry
Ward Beecher or any other man to in !
jure the domestic relations of Theodore !
Tilton. The plaintiff was not entitled to |
the sympathy of the social world, EVENT. /
we admit that Mr.. BeeGher acted against
him as Charged. That portion of society /
which is irrevocabiy opposed to /
free love should not blame a wife !
for accepting the earnest teachings |
of her husband. 1t should simply treat |
her as one standing ON the same footing |
with her pre9eptor. Mrs. Tilton, by |!
taking alien loves to her arms, could not I
have given offence to the followers of |
the Woodruff banner, for by so doing !
she would merely have confessed ale |
glance TO the cardinal principles of the
creed. Understand us: we don't be-
lievc that Mrs. Tilion was faithless TO
vow, nor do we justify adui
terry. We only put forward the plea
that even upon the extreme grounds Mr..
Tilton had no right to enforce an indie
cent controversy upon the public. He
had no claims upon the sympathy of the
people at large. 1t is a matter of con-
graduation that we are nearing the end.
THE noisplhe scandal is soon to be with
lrawp from The columns Of the newSpa-
oers of the land, and ne siocerady hope
hat the next man who presents a similar
Ease to public notice will be given the
,old shoulder. If he cannot be kicked
tut of the courts let him, at least, be
kicked out of those journals which do
lot take the Police Gazette for a model
/ h significant fact that while the war
N Henry Ward Beecher began with a
ibei OF Miss Proctor, which had 10 be
etrqcted in open.court, it ends with the
hameless fraud of Loader and Price.
dr, BeeoheT stands stronger to-day than
lie has stood since the beginning of the
candal. So much for the conspirators
themselves Turf, FjeH
md Farm,