Knoxville weekly chronicle. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1870-1875, 1875-02-10

bent their heads. There was a sigh of
relief through the Court when the de-
scrlption of the extraordinary inter-
view came to al end.
Let me condense the words of wit
ness-Beecher came 10 my house i'm the
morning by Moultou's request. When
| told him to 20 up stairs into my
study, he Immediately went up, and |
followed him; / closed the door behind
me, aud, after he took his scat, l said
to him: - have called you hither,
sir, in order that you may remove, If
you can, the shadow from the future
life of the little boy Ralph. His
mother has assigned me the date ut
which your criminal intimacy with
her began. This little boy was born n
few months after that. II the date
which his mother has given is correct,
IL will save "a dishonOr attaching to his
mother. | want you to tell me- as be-
fore God. whether or not that date is
right. l want, if possible, to shield
him but | want more than that, to
know the truth ; tell me the truth. I"
And he told me on tbs word of honor,
as before God, that the date which
Mrs. Ttlton had assigned was the cor
rect date. AT that moment, Mrs. Til
ton herself, who had followed me up
stairs, came into the room, and when
stated to her the point OF the CONVEX
sation, she burst into tears and assever-
ated, as she had once or twice before, that
the date she had given was correct.
Beecher asked me what date Elizabeth
had named. | told him that Elizabeth
has named as the date at which their
criminal intimacy began October 10,
10 l., L.,.l -.
ulty for dates, and had made no record,
but that he believed in his soul that
she had told me the truth. He said a
few other things on that occasion,
which trust l shall not be requested
to reproduce here, since proper deli>
cacy would forbid their utterahCe.
Beecher then burst into tears and
made some remarks expressive of mis-
cry, after which the interview closed.
The silence was broken at the close
of this story by the rising of Mr..
Evarts to object to the statement of
what had passed after the alleged CON
versation as to the generation of Ralph
Tilton between his legal and possible
fathers.
Witness was then questioned about
his acquaintance and
RELATIONSHIP WITH MRS. Woodruff,
which began after she had published a
card about the concubinage of GER
tain Brooklyn clergyman, and opened
with long conversation in which
Mrs. Woodruff told him of Beecher's
adulterous life, and other stories. Wit
ness then held an interview about this
matter with Beecher and Moulton, at
houlton's house, when he told Beecher
all the hideous details of the Wood
hull stories, which were here again
narrated in Court. After this, witness,
Moulton and Beecher made desperate
efforts to suppress the scandal. Wit
ness and MoultOn tried to encourage
silence in Mrs. Woodruff, by intro
ducing her to their unwilling wives,
but Mrs. Beecher would not meet her.
Witness then helped Mrs. Woodruff
in the female suffrage movement, and
wrote her biography on an occasion
when he slept there all night, putting
in the strong passages, to please her
and Keep her quiet.
He then told of other matters be-
tween himself and Mrs. Woodruff,
closing with the remark, my relation
to Mrs. Woodruff was a foolish and
wrong one, bnt Beecher was partly re-
sponsible for It," Mrs. Woodruff had
determined to take revenge on Mrs.
Stowe by striking the Beecher family
and piercing Beecher to the quick, but
witness induced her to moderate her
course. He told of another interview
at MOulton's house, when Beecher
wished him to leave the church, but he
would not do this.
Aflerward witness met Beecher on a
oil 90
their "secretn and other things, and
Beecher groaned for drink from the
fountain of peace,
Witness then told of his troubles
with the Independent, and the Bowen
arbitration, at which time he deter
mined to publish
THE BOWEN STORIES AGAINST BEECH
ER,
And sue Bowen for money due, but
this publication had nothing TO do
with these pecuniary claims. When
The Bowen statement occurred, Bowen
eulogized him in the Independent, and
Beecher, when copying this eulogy in
to the Christian Union, added more
praise to it. But Beecher's paper az
terward spoke of him Extensively, and
he gave Beecher advice about its man
agement, which was told at length.
He then had another interview with
Beeeher, when they spoke about their
prospective ruin, and witness advised
Beecher to resign his church and go
to Palestine, thereby preventing peo-
pie from finding out his secret"
Witness describes other interviews
between himself, Moulton and Beech
er, when the policy of silence was de-
termined upon, and subsequently
when Beecher desired him to deny the
scandal, but witness refused to do this.
Reces.
He resumed, after recess, by describ-
ing an interview with Tracy about the
scandal when
TRACY ADVISED SILENCE AND FALSE
HOOD.
His account Of this interview resem-
bled that already given by Moulton
and Woodruff Witness next describ~
ed an interview between himself,
Moulton and Beecher, when the lat
ter produced letters from his sister,
Mrs. Hooker, threatening to publish
the scandal from Beecher's own pull
nit but witness offered TO stOn This