Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1875-03-19
From the Chicago Tribune
Trial OfTheOdOre Triton.

The sommersault which the Brooklyn scandal
has taken may well lead the thoughtful reader to
imagine whether this is the Beecher case or the
Tilton case which is on trial whether Mr.. Beech
er is trial for loving and kissing Mrs Tilton ct
al, or Mr.. Tilton is on trial for loving and kis-
sing Mrs. Woodruff ct a.; or Whether anybody
is on trial for loving and kissing anybody else;
or whether all Plymouth Church is under arraign-
ment for turning the house Of the Lord into
pavilion of Cupids, or what is the matter. This
legal Wrggling revolyes SO rapidly and presents
somany new phases daily that 1t has at last be-
come the despair Of the earnest seeker after the
truth, who wanders In q dAZei condition among
the crowd Of saints. sinners, white souls, free
lovers, Letharios, spiritualists, heterodoxists,
deacons, angels mothef-in-awss poets, reporters
religious editors, children of darkness and chill
dren Of light: 1t is q motley array, and masquer-
ade perfect conglomeration Of the world. the
flesh. and the devil. But where is the lieecher
case What hsYe the GINNING manipulators Of
all these pretty and armorous puppets done with
When this case was Instituted, it was under
stood that it was the intention of the plaintiff to
prove Mr.. Beecher guilty Of adultery, and to show
that Mr. Tilton had been sinned against by the
venerable preacher OF Brooklyn Heights who had
loved Elizabeth not wisely but too well. This
was after it had been talked Of and newspapersd
whole year aiter enarges, eoniessions, state
declarations. Investigations, and indictments had
been piled upon each other like Ossa on PeliOn,
and al bearing qRon RsSl tns SsS Tne 99ss0n
anc whether he WAS guilty OF adultery. Ifhe
was not guilty Of this crowning ofense then
what wrong or indiscretion had be committed FOR
he acknowledged he had be en- indiscreet and
wronged him so badly, and Il pained him 80 much
that he was not only ready TO "etep down and
out" but he had contemplated cold poison
For two months the testimony has been steadily
pouring in. Moulton, Mrs. Moulton, the Widow
Carey. Woodruff, and Tilton. sent terrible broad
sides into ''the old man." He was pelted with
letters and confessions until the case looked as
black as s thunder-cloud. In vain his couute-
nance sought to break down the damaging testi-
mony 1t stood like Q wall Of stone During
these two months the case proceeded upon its
q circumlocutioD, piriOutte- The thing turns
round. and what becomes Of the Beecher casef
A new case is on hand Anew defendant ap-
pears A new line Of indiscretions begin to de-
Velop. more poetical, more picturesque, more
bizarre than Beecher's. The new Lothario is met
aphysical, relig1o-p philosophical, Cosmopolitan.
begin to get into Whirlpool Of beau-ideals afin-
tiles and counterparts. 1t is enveloped in soft.
dreamy haze. The difference between the two is
the difference between the real and the ideal be-
tween the direct, blunt practicability ofage, and
the vague, restless, uncertain, theoretical loves
Of robust and heter0dox youth, which dallies
with temptation. but does not defy It, which
plucks the flower but does not crush it.
Mr.. Beecher is no longer on trial. Heand Kliz-
abeth have made their exit, and they are fast
fading out of the sight Of the public with their
white souls.'' their ''pavilions of love-" their
Bsgsl age eRa shsaf sake s 81 Se Is
now q question whether Theodore loved the
Woodhun and others, and to the solution of this
question the astute counsel are bending an their
mighty energies. We are told that Tilton regard
ed her with an amorous glance that when he
looked upon her he had a kind and tender smile
upon his lips; that he talked in an amatory tone
to hsr-that is with sOftness and gentleness that
the guileless Woodruff acknowledged that Tilton
was the nearest approach to her beau ideal of
perfect man she had ever met and that Tflton re-
ciprocated her esteem. More than this we are
told that he went to Coney's Island with her ard
in the tumbling, salty surf and ''cruel, crawling,
hungry foam" they disported themselves after
the ashion Of dolphins and mermaids that he
rode with her in carriages; that he received her
at his house that he presided at her meetings:
that one Gay ne and she met In the mystic PAN
tarchy and that she went into raptures over ''his
sphere :" that he kissed her and others of the
gentler sex whenever the opportunity presented
itself just as Elizabeth was in the habit of doing
with the sterner sex.
This is not all. Weare grayely assured that on
MS lecture tours this irresistible heart-bresker
Travelled with 27-year-old schoolgirl, who read
him 70 sleep with Paradise Lost " in Winsted
inn, himself meanwhile disheveled and deshabille,
and that one day the 27year-old child appeared to
country pumpkin. staring into the room, in a
costume which made him Inquire confdentiAily
Of the landlord, Who are these In white array ~
he was thinking OF the woman in White. I" but
not 'All Alone.h E '- tff
Now, where is all this going to bring up What
result can 1t have than that this poor, patient,
long-sqfenng, distracted jury viii eventually
Dflng Mr.. I1lton in guilty That jury is no long.
er accountable for its acts. It will be in mood
Dy the time the trial closes to convict anybody
and as T1lron is now the only one on trial and
VIII De the only one to the end. he will be brought
II gully without much doubt, and Mr. Beecher
ane Elizabeth viii go on their way rejoicing, and
gently fade out Of remembrance as having ever
oeen In the stern clutches of the law trial for
IT Is good thing for Bcecher, however. be-
cause it gives ''the old man chance" How can
ne be guilty Of q dangerous indiscretion with
sllzaoeth II Theodore was guilty Of an indiscre-
lon with Victoria and al embarrassment with
zl-year-old school-girli OF course he couldn't.
Ihe case is dismissed. "In the case Of Tilton vs..
beecher. the defendant being charged with adul-
1eTy with Elizabeth r. Tilton, we, the jury, find
Oria WOodhuIl.'E