Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-06-10
Beach Declines to Vie with His
AntagOnistsIin ViturperatiOn.
The Gold of Midas Used to In
fiUence the jury.
Porter and EVarts Confronted
with the Recorded Evidence.
TiltOn's Sins no Excuse for Beech
er, Though they May have
Made Seduction Easier.

The entrance Of Mr.. Beach, who was to
deliver the closing address for the prosecu-
ton, was the signal for a storm of applause
which was with difficulty checked by the
court officers. Ex-Ju5ga Fullerton arrived
shortly after and received a similar OVa-
tiOn. The friends of the plaintiff weIe
mustered in strong force, and scarcely a
vacant space was to be found in the room.
The ante-lOOms and corridors were
thronged with dissatisfied persons unable
to gain admission into the courtroom.
The plaintiff was in early and occupied his
usual place behind his counsel, and was
closely surrounded by surging multitude.
The tbrOng was so great that Judge Neil /
son gave instructions to the officers in
charge TO make some arrangements and
prevent similar occurrence in future. The
jurymen in the case and Jeffreys delayed
the opening little by their late arrival.
Mr.. Beecher and his wife were absentWhen
the proceedings began. The Judge eau
toned the crowd to preserve the utmost
silence. Mr.. Beach rose to address the
jury at ten minutes past eleven. The
EUening Post furnishes a synopsis.
AT last Theodore TiltOn had an OppOr-
tunity t,sbe heard in a court Of justice
after having been overwhelmed with cal
umnies, prosecuted by all the power of a
man whom the genius Of Samuel Wilker-
son discovered to be the greatest man on
earth, and bounded by all the agencies in
spired by an influential Church. The
Church investigation was One-sided and
partizan trial in which the tribunal was
composed of the friends Of the accused, in
which he was represented by counsel and
in which the accuser was deprived Of every
advantage which the nature Of his case re-
quired. It was hoped in this way to sat
isfy the public, but
The Public CIamOr
had convinced Beecher's friends Of their
mistake. TAT this point Beecher, Mrs.
Beecher and Mrs. Harriet Beecher Stowe
entered the Court and took their usual
seats.
Mr.. Beach said that in making insulting
predictions and repeating insulting epithets
until the ear was panied by them, he
should not attempt to vie with the counsel
for the defense. The jury had a duty to
perform Of the most momcntOus character.
They were TO pronounce upon the guilt
or innocence of the greatest preacher in
christendOm. They had been asked to de-
clare, by their verdict, that Mr.. Tilton, Mr..
MoultOn and Mrs. MOultOn were pe1urers
and had no place in a court Of justice. He
said that Mr.. EvaTls had personally ap-
pealed TO the foreman Of the jury and had
assumed to know the verdict they would
render. 1t was a strange thing for the dis
tingUished advocate to say before the plain
tiff in the case had been heard. Mr.. Beach
said he knew
The Influences
which had surrounded them during the
Of hn 81
nOisOme shapes which had hOvered around I
them. He knew tie immense influence /
exerted by a powerful organization behind
the defense, and be knew how 1t bad been |
eXerted. Mr.. Evar.s had wished for the |
hundred eyes Of Argus, for the hundred |
arms Of BriaTUs, but he had them and more |
too. He had also had
The Gold Of Midas,
and it had been placed where it would do |
the most good. TLaughter.l Mr.. Beach !
said that if the counsel on the other side !
spoke with authority, if the jury had been |
controlled by the influence Of Plymouth !
Church, if they allowed their opinions to |
be governed by invectiye and assertion, |
then he had nothing to hope from the YER |
dict. He was an orator as BrutUs was and |
had but plain, simple, logical argument |
10 present. If the jury would be governed
by the logic of the facts, if they would |
hear the case of the plaintiff before they |
consigned him and MoultOn and Mrs. |
Moulton to infamy, then he demanded the |
verdict at their hands. He asked for no |
verdict against Henry Ward Beecher which |
was not based on the plain truth.
The extraordinary assertion Of the other |
side that the plaintiff never had any case,
= f-I hrr % and 1aIn
they had spent in trying to overthrow it.
The witness for the defence, upon whom |
all the arguments Of the counsel rested, |
was Beecher himself. Mr.. Porter had |
made the astonishing declaration that Til |
ton had been cOntradicted by thirty-fOUr
witnesses, an assertion which could be
only met by plain denial.
On No Material Point
had Tilton been contradicted, except by
Beecher. Mr.. Beach here referred 70 his |
association with Porter in courts for more
than thirty years and TO the high character
which Porter had maintained as a lawyer |
aud a man. He lad been greatly panied, !
however, that a gentleman so distinguished |
should have conducted himself as he had in !
this case. One one occasion, when Potter, |
shaking his fist wildly in the plaintiff S |
face, exclaimed, "dOwn, down to hell and |
say l sent you there" he (BeaCh) |
looked around in some alarm for |
the personal safety Of his client. |
Laughter He was anxious to |
see what had tecame Of him, but be found |
him still there looking calmly at Potter |
and somewhat surprised az the exhibition. /
He had spoken Of TiltOn as man of a |
hollow and theatric nature. How came an |
accusation of being theatrical to proceed |
from a gentleman who had exhibited such |
histrionic ability as Mr.. Porter? How /
came such a gentleman, capable Of the loft |
lest legal effort, to devote himself tD pour |
ing ont a TRADE of abuse9 What kind Of |
a case was il which required such a de- |
Tense? Mr. Beach said the counsel for the |
defense had occupied thirteen days, not in |
trying to establish the innocence Of Beech. |
er, but to
Destroy TiItOn
and all his supporters. He then referred to |
the inconsistencies in this effort, Tracy &C
cusing Tilton Of having genius for blum |
dering while Porter represented him as q |
cunning and subtle schemer. He said the |
plaintiff was represented as a man of the |
basesJ and most devilish character, who had |
sought to secure the success OF a foul con- |
spiracy, by m lTshalling host OF peTjurers |
into court. Beach asked the jury to re- |
member the letters OF TiltOn TO his wife, |
which had been read in court, and the tes- |
timony Of Beecher himself in regard TO-
TiltOn's character, and asked if that |
character could be such as it was represent |
cd by the counsel for the defense. He had |
no desire to detract from the virtues Of |
Beecher. He readily admitted the de- |
fendant was a great man, and that he had |
many good and noble qualities. In fact, |
the defense Of BeeCher had been obliged to |
fight with his generous impulses all Through |
this case, as appeared from his testimony |
in regard to the charge Of blackmail. But |
before he had concluded, be thought he |
would be able 10 show the jury thai Beech |
er was not quite perfect,
Not quite SinIess.
Evarts had asserted Beecher had con- !
sented unwillingly to the policy Of silence, |
| and that this policy had been forced on |
| him. Did it look like i when TiltOn was |