The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1875-06-25

should testify that he had seen an
actual commission of the sexual act
charged, 1t would be called what is
called direct and positive evidence.
If witness should testify that the
wife and the paramour-defendant-
had occupied the same room all night,
in such manner as tended to the con-
clusion that they had slept together
II he admitted the gullt-that would
be circumstantial evidence. If to a
letter received by the defendant, ex-
licitly charging him with adultery, he
answers by simply saying: I" I am
sorry hope to be forgiven" Or, If
being thus charged in conversation,
by one havingan interest in the matter,
he had made no answer whatever, that,
by n natural process OF reasoning,
would be presumptive evidence. The
Judge said that circumstantial evil
dence must be acted upon very eau
tiously. Evidence bearing upon the
principal question, that of adultery,
may be taken up In its order, thus I:
First. rs to the writing referred to; /;
second, as to the oral admissions;
third, as to tacit or implied admission,
and further, as to the general conduct
of the defendant. 1 propose briefly to
call your attention TO some more i'm
portant matters falling under each OF
these heads. Your conclusions should
not be drawn from one Of these classes
of evidence, but from all the testimony
on this branch of the case combined.
In taking up the writings referred to,
you will observe the PLAINTIFFS letter
OF the 2Gth of December, 1870, de-
manding that the defendant should
leave his pulpit and the city. This
was the first open act of hostility.
That demand was Withdrawn at an
interview had by the parties nt Moul-
toms house on the evening of Decem-
Der 80, 1870. The plaintiff claims that
that was in Difference to the wishes of
his wife, at that time. The paper
written by Mrs. Tilton in respect to
her relations to defendant. was held
by Moulton, copy of which plaintiff
had. was torn up after having being
read or stated to defendant, and the
original also was torn up afterwards
by Mrs. Tilton, with her husbands
assent. Proof of the contents of that
paper was ruled out, because the writing
was confidential communication by
a wife to her husband, and because he
was party to its destruction. But
that ruling was no reservation, as no
charge written by Mrs. Tilton could
have been put in evidence against the
defendant. That on the same evening,
Beccher, with the assent of her hus-
band, called on Mrs Tilton. He then
obtained the paper commonly called
1.-The Retraction, ,"-afterwards surren-
dered to Moulton. The next paper in
order is that of January LIST. 1871. 1t
is in Moulton's writing, except the
lines ut the bottom and the signature,
written by Beecher. A question of
fact in dispute rs to this paper, de-
serves your attention. Mr.. Moulton
says that it was dictated sentence Icy
sentence, and that it was read over.
Mr.. Beecher denies that dictation and
that reading. AS to the degree of
credit to which these witnesses thus in
conflict may be relatively entitled,
you are TO remember this occurred at
a time of great excitement.
When the Judge completed his COM
ments on the requests to the charge,
he asked if the counsel were content,
and Beach replied: I'VE are" One
of the jurors asked If there were any
papers relating to the case which could
be given to them when in the jury
room. Beach said that he had no OBJ
lection. Erarts stated that there were
some papers which were not in evil
dence, and Judge Nelson replied that
the jury could have any papers that
they desired relative to The case. Judge
Nelson asked a court officer what
arrangement had been made for the
jurors dinners, and he was told that
all the necessary preparations had
been made. The court officers were
then sworn in to take charge of the
jury and allow no communication with
them except by permission OF the
court, and at one o'clock the jury re-
tired to their deliberations on the case.
After the jury retired, the spectators
remained in the court room discussing
the merits and dement's of the charge,
and it was agreed on all hands that it
was very favorable to the defendant.
The specie shipments to-day were
three hundred thousand dollars, one
half in gold.