The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-03-02
THE SCANDAL.

Beach, The defendant and his wife occupie9
their usual seats, and with them were sea.ea
Col. Beecher's wife. Mrs. Tilton and her frienas
were absent. Shortly after the opening OF tne
court Gen. Tracy continued his address. he
| had shown them, he said, that after the WOOD
| hull publication Beecher, by the advice OF the
| mutual friend, Francis ID. Moultou, had ac-
| cepted the policy Of silence In 1870 Tilton
| difficulty with MIR. Bowen arose and was aug
| mented, so Tilton says, by MI. and Mrs Beech-
err On December 18th the charges against MI.
| Beecher were made, and it was then determih-
| ed to suppress them. Bowen promised to sup
| port Tilton in bis charges against Beecher put
| Bowen after this became Titon's enemy. Two
days after this Tilton found himself deserted
| by Bowen aud had made himself inimlcal TO
| Mr. Beecher. The next day Moulton comes
aud carries away all the letters, not as an en-
blem of war but one of peace. The only crls'-
| csm to be passed on the defendant was, that
| having accepted the policy OF silence, ne en-
deavored faithfully to carry it out Tilton hlm
| scandal-those raised by Bessie Turner-and
| his wife threatening to leave him for his inf
delities and cruelties to her. These stories
must be suppressed OF any cost. Bessie turner
was compelled to sign retractlon OF her
stories in order to stop her, and she was sent
| away to prevent her tattlng Then illton
| published the stories circulated by Bowen
| against Mr.. Beecher in the Golden Age. Mrs.
| Tton's stories about her treatment must also
be suppressed and she was led to believe that
| the stories must be denied. Tilton's manner
| of conducting the affair was to make state
| ments and publish them, while Moulton's way
| was to preserve silence and allow other parties
| to make statements go
With Beecher silence was a duty, but with
| Moulton and Tlton it was only policy, and
| thew took these means to keep the scandals
alive The failure of the Golden Age had
| blasted the hopes of Tilton, and he was COM
money drawn from Bowen in April, 1872, was
| all expended on his paper. He would show
| them that the friends of Tilton applied in De-
| cember, 1872, to the friends of Beecher and adj
| vised them to buy the New York Express.
| which was then for sale, and for Beecher to
take charge of it while Tilton should 60 abroad
| for some months, and when he came back to
i take a foremost place on the editorial staff OF
that paper. Not only were these meetings held
in this city but also in New York, and twice at
scheme for Matchmaking Beecher. Counsel
would show them SO by witness who was
i known throughout the country almost as wei
| as the defendant himself. Here was letter
| sent by complaining friend, which was nc,
| ton invented by Mr. Tilton and never received
by him. .,r, .,.
The letter on opening says: Thanks tor
| YOUR good letter of bad advice" This letter
| ended with a threat that if he should speak IL
l would send a thunderbolt through other hearts
| of exposure to Mr.. Beecher's frlendsI Moul-
| ton and Tilton had not destroyed the letters as
they promised, and were now using them as a
| means of threat and menace to Mr.. Beecher,
| and about this time, am reminded by my as
| sociate Mr.. Tilton had drawn his last dollar
| out of Woodruff end Robinson. Well, gentle.
| men, the summer passed and Mr.. Beecher stiii
oecu pied his pulpit, and Mr.. Tilton had found
no employment.
publication in the Golden Age against Mr.
Bowen and Mr.. Beecher. We will show you
| that Mr.. Tilton endeavored to have this state
| ment of his published secretly in such man
| ner that it would appear he had nothing to 40
with it, We will show you that he had an in
| teryiew on the matter with McKelvey OF the
Brooklyn Eagle, in which Tton told Nickel
vey that his charges against Beecher were
those of improper proposals to bis wife, out
give the paper to McKevey, but suggested that
| It should come to him through another party.
| Thew went to John N. Harmon's house, who
| was not in, and letter with the article en-
| closed was left at Mr.. Harmon's. But the ar
| ticle was not then published, and did not
| appear until the following April in the Brook
Ign Sunday Press. At the time of this publi-
| cation Mr.. Tiltons account with Woodruff q
Robinson was closed The day after it appeared
he drew his last cent. They had also heard
party of money for the Golden Age, land when it
was not taken, why did they exhibit it to Mr..
| Beecher? Francis d. Mouton did not act as a
highwayman or robber. who cries "Stand and
deliver" but he held this money in his hand,
friendship? That is what call the act of a
friend, and Mr.. Moulton knew afterwards that
he was not taking the loose money of Mr..
Beecher, but that he mortgaged his house to
receive it. He gave it to Mou!ton, aud then
came letter from TIlton containing the words,
"Grace, mercy and peace" and then Tilton
kept on for one year drawing the $1,000, as bad
been shown them. Mr.. Moulton told us that
he never was in the habit of lending Tilton
l. l@Nr~n ktnrp h1.Ht
of his own money. Counsel would show them
that in May, 1872, this friend of Tilton's goes
| to a friend of Mr.. Beecher and demands an
other sum of $4,000, but they must not know
that the original demand was for 100 put
was compromised ultimately for $5,O0O The
Golden Age was still on Tilton's hands. Bank.
| rupt and useless, Tilton was ready to give il
away and was absolutely begging for som {
person to take it, Of all these interviews be-
tween his friends and those of Beecher's with
| regard to the newspaper enterprises Mr.. Tilton
was informed. Counsel would show them that
| Mr. Tilton knew of the negotiation going on
with Mr.. Beecher and countenanced them, and
| also the Bacon letter was then in preparation,
nounced by Mr.. Beecher's friends as a black
mailing operation, and they advised that not
cent should be given. Mr.. Tilton's friend then
said we will publish the Bacon letter. The
money was not paid, and consequently the
Bacon letter was published. But. nevertheless,
the money was not paid and Tilton did not get
Counsel then went back to the publication of
the tripartite agreement. He would remember
that Triton would not sign it without the alter
alton of the clause relating to him: Tilton ar
gued that the publication of the tripartite
agreement by Mr.. Beecher's friend put him
(Tilton) in the position of having wronged MIR
Beecher. The publication, which was an acci-
dent, was to be charged to Mr.. Beecher. on
May LIST Mr.. Beecher was summoned to an in
tervew in the Remsen street study. When
| the publication Of the story was threatened
Beecher had stood these threats and charges
for four long years and now Mr.. Beecher, who
| was put in this position by the indiscreet con-
duct of friend, defied them, and when they
| used their threats he told them to let the storm
come. On the following Saturday he went
there and told them that he welcomed the con-
fict, but would not drag his church into 1T, as
he would resign. When the letter of resigna-
ton was shown Moulton it nearly took his
breath away and be told Tilton they were both
amazed at the temerty of tho man whom they
| both expected to lead around for some time.
On June LIST he lndlted that letter wne men: ne e1-
pected to preach his last sermon. This letter
told Moulton that if he published it he (Beech-
| er) would also publish statement that would
stand the test of the Judgment day. When
Mr. Beecher wrote that letter containing the
inference that he thought he was going to
preach his last sermon in Plymouth Church,
Mr.. Moulton sent letter in reply telling Mr..
Beecher not to be afraid that if the whole story
be published tomorrow he (Beecher) could
stand, and yet Moulton, when on the witness
| stand, tells a story covering period OF years
previous, when MIR Beecher was confessing his
crime. When they heard the defendants
story and took it in connection with this letter
of Mr.. Moulton they would reject the testl-
mony given by Moulton. Counsel had taken
the precaution of counting the number OF
times on the cross examination of Moulton
when he said 81 do not know" when asked
about any question to which he did not want to
make reply, and he had said these words OF
words similar exactly 305 times, and yet Moul
ton had not defective memory. He could not
tell what was the subject of Mrs. Woodruff s
address in the Steinway Hall meeting on the
cross examination, and he was able to repeat
the words of Mrs. Tilton introducing her with
as great exactness as they were published in
the shorthand report which appeared of the
proceedings on that occasion in the World.
Mr. Tracy resumed his opening remarks in
the afternoon, and after speaking until even
ing Chased.