Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-06-10

. Balu 10 1HLOu' 3 character, ana asked
that character be such as it was repre-
sented by counsel for defense. He haC
no desire to detTact from the virtues o
Beccher. He readily admitted the de
fendant was a great man, and that ht
had many good and noble qualities; il
fact, the defense OF Beecher had beef
Obliged to fight with his generous i'm
pulses all through this case, as appeared
from mis- testimony in regard to the
charge OF blackmsil, but before he con
Cluded he thought he would be able t
show the jury that Beecher was moi
quite perfect, not quite sinless. Mr.
Beach said his duty was far from being
a pleasant one. 1t was always unpless
ant to be obliged to speak harshly Of
anyone, and especially Of men in
Beechers position. The case, too, was
one which should never have been
brought into court except under pressure
OF dire necessity. EvsTts had asserted
Beecher had consented unwillingly 10
the policy of silence; that this
policy had been forced upon him.
Did it look like it when Tilton was
! about to publish the letter to Bowen, and
| Bsscher iuterleTed to prevent it? Did it
! look likeit when he took pains to secure
the silence Of Mrs. Morse? when he sent
Mr. Bell to stop the deacOns' meeting
when he eDjOined secresy upon his
nephew, Mr.. Perkins? He (Beach) had
supposed that tripartite agreement was a
| device for restricting the secret to the
| small circle then possessing it, and he
had also supposed that when Beecher,
under pressure of the West charges, Of
fered to resign his passionate rather than
! have an investigation, he was striving
] -. at q
! right, 1t looked like pursuing the
| policy of silence when Beecher wrote
| about REFRESHING the tendencies to break
! out into ruinOus defense of him, and
! when he spoke Of the devices by which
| they had saved themselves. Beecher
! also said in his statement that these ten
denotes ought to have succeeded. But
! the strongest proof to his mind on this
| point was a letter which Beecher
| wrote to Mrs. Bradshaw, advising
| her not to appear as 8 witness before the
! church, on the ground that the subject Of
! the West charges was one which ought
not to be disturbed. Mr.. Beach then
considered the declaration of Porter that
Beecher was entitled to presumption of
! innocence, and argued that while this
would be true in criminal case, the de-
PENDANT in 8 civil case was not entitled
to such presumption. He cited Green
| leaf on Evidence to show that in a civil
case the jury were to be guided by the
pTepOndeTance of evidence on one side
or the other, and it was not necessary
that their minds should be free from all
reasonable doubts. Mr.. Beach then
cited several decisions to show that the
burden Of proof beyond a reasonable
doubt did not rest upon plaintiff in this
case any more than it would in a suit
upon contract. He then spoke Of the
onslaught made upon Tilton for the pub
licatiOn of his Wite's letters. He said he
was quite willing to cOncede that with
out real and meTitOrious cause such an
act as this would be indelicste, but he
thought that emergencies could be con-
ceived in which an occasion for such
proceedings would be obvious. In this
case hr. TiltOn, on cross-eXamination,
was led to speak of the cause of this pub
LEGATION and the manner in which, was
performed. Counsel read from IiltOn's
testimony on this point, which was to
the effect that the publication was
made IN western newspapers at
the solicitation OF his counsel, Judge
Morris, vino considered il important to
his case. Now, said Mr.. Beach, Tilton
was subjected at times to the basest at
tacks all over the country; accused Of
brutality to his wife and charged with
the grOssest Offenses; how could Tilton
defend himself from wholesale calumny
except by following advice which his
lawyers gave. Could any lady or gen.
tieman condemn him, under such cir
cumstances, as an indecOrOus and in
delicate viOlatOr OF domestic secrets?
Mr.. Porter, in speaking of the Letter Of
January 9, 1867, which referred to some
physical infirnlities of Mrs. Tilton, asked
if anything meaner than it could be i'm
agined. Now, the part Of this letter
referring ito Mrs. Tilton's physical con-
ditiOn WIS not published at all; only ex-
tracts were quoted; so this violent as
sault upon TiltOn was wholly unfounded.
blT. Porter spoke OF the enormous egOt-
ism OF TiltOn, but he (BeaCh) thought
he could say Porter's egotism was enOr-
nous, or his policy of vituperation would
never have led him into such misrepre-
sensations. There were numerous other
instances in which plain facts had been
misstated by the counsel for the defense,
in order to furnish basis of attack upon
TIllOn, Porter expressed extreme surprise
that complainant had charged seduction
and adultery at the home of Henry
Ward BeecheT, and also spoke of the
8drOitness with which the tenth Of Octo-
Der, 1868, had been selected to avoid an
abb. He had drawn most attractive
picture of the home Of Beecher, where
he was surrounded by his family.
Now, Mr.. Beach said he did not know
where the seduction was accomplished,
but the place and date of adultery were
those which were furnished to Tilton by
his wife and by Beecher. According to
the plaintiffs testimony, it was SIM
pie question of veracity between her
and Beecher. Mr.. Beach referred to the
allegations Of Porter, that certain
testimony given by Bessie Turner and
other Witnesses for the defense had not
been contradicted by the plaintiffs wit
nesses when recalled. Now he submit
ted to the court whether it would have
been proper for him, after his witnesses
had once given their version of the oc-
currence, to interrOgate them again
upon precisely the same points because
witnesses for the defense had given q
different version. The contradiction OF
the witnesses for the defense had been
complete for all material points. Porter
had said, when Richards was called to
contradict Bessie Turner, that he only
denied that the alleged commu-
nicatiOn by her was made to him
at a particular place. Reference
to the record showed that Richards
did deny that the subject of the
alleged conversation was ever spoken OF
to him by Bessie Turner at any place.
Great complaint was made of cruelty
and unkindness on TiltOn's part because
on Mrs. TiltOn's return from Marietta
she found a heusekeeper Miss Ellen |
Dennis) in her place at the head of the !
table. Now Miss Dennis was Mrs. Til !
toms cousin, maiden lady of some |
what uncertain age, VINO, in Mrs. TiltOn's |
absence, acted as housekeeper and nat |
urally occupied her place at the table, |
and when Mrs. Tilton returned from her |
visit she found her there. Was there |
anything indelicate or Inappropriate in |
that? Then it was alleged by Bessie |
Turner that Tilton had repulsed his wife |
rudely when she spoke to him about the |
servants. Suppose this to be true, many |
great men and kind-hearted men had |
been chsrgeable with haTshness, had |
been annoyed by petty domestic cares,
and had not been thoughtful about those |
little trivial details of domestic kindness |
which some women were disposed to
magnify. sic Turner's account was
imperfect, and the hOusekeepeT, Ellen |
Dennis, was in her grave; but granting !
even that Triton was unkind ia his
household, granting that he walked
about the house at night to find 3
soft place for repOse, granting that he
had fOibles which rendered his
4 Ill - Il.