The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1875-06-10
THE SCANDAL.


for admission this morning as the court could
contain Not half so many ladies came to the
court as during the Beecher days, and 1T was
manifest that the anti Beecher men had pos
session of the house to-day, for when Mr..
Beach was squeezing his way through the
closely packed throng, he was recognized from
the gallery, and there was a sudden outburst OF
applause from that quarter, in which nearly tne
entire audience joiped. A second rouhu VI
applause speedily followed, but it was Soon
checked by the officers Immediately after
MIR. Beach sat down another OF the iea1,nS
actors appeared on the stage. rms was fui-
lerton who had not been In court LOT some tIhe
before He was dressed q summer COSTUME
looks in remarkably good health and spirits,
and was apparently pleased when. another
round of applause was got up In his honor
Mr.. and Mrs. Beecher were absent to-day, put
Col Beecher, E. Beecher and Miss Beecher
were present.
menced to sum up for the plaintiff. He said ct
last Tilton had an opportunity OF being heafd
in a court of Justice, pursued by man whom
the genius of Sam Wtlkeson discovered 10 %
the greatest man on earth. and oy a great
church organization. He had a hearing only
from committee selected by the defendant
himself. Even before that committee his evil
depce was shut out, his witnesses who knew
most of the facts unsummoned, and in case OF
this character hasty snap OF Judgment was
pronounced (At this point Mr. and Mrs
Beecher and Mrs. Harriet Stowe came In. }
Counsel went 1.-THE question is whether IN IN
| the temple of justice the power OF fiyhou.I
church is to overcome the sense OF equity'
which is the spirit of our administrator II
cause is to be won by clamor and vltuperatlon,
| by scandalous and dshonoring epithets, re-
peated until they pain the ear, have nelIher
| hope nor care town your verdict. But spear
| to men of Judgment You control to-day the
destiny OF the greatest preacher anu ouU Of
| vindicating his witnesses or conslgning theu
| to i'm perishable dishonor. Whence have you
| that power? The law has selected you as IN
| telligent men and freighted you with these
| GREAT interests. Evarts has assumed to know
| vour sentiments. | know the influences that
surround this trial. l have seen the omlnous
shapes lowering on the outskirts OF this Investl.
CATION. Ny friend wished for the eyes OF
/ Argus, He has them, and be has the hundred
arms of Briarius, and he need not wish Ior .nt
| gold of Midas. He has it. You, sir, ITO fore
mani avowed you had formed opinions faVor,
| able to defendant, but you sat there before Gou
and declared you would, nevertheless, give I
| verdict on the evidence alone. by wnat rlgn
| does the gentleman assume to know thaG you
| are to acGuit the defendant without leaving the
box?
but have simple logical argument TO pre-
| sent If there be not evidence, proven 1acti
enough to satisfy the minds of twelve impartial
and unpreiudced men, want no verdict.
| ask for no such condem nation of Henry Ward
Beecher But if in the face of all the charlta-
BILE assumptions allowed by the law, you are
satisfied our case is proved, then In the name
| of that law L ask for your verdict
Counsel commented on the great oratorlcal
| mowers of his opponents, and remarked that II II
were true as they say that plaintiff has no case
it was singular they should speak thirteen
days in refuting it. Most OF the loo Gays inVes
tigation was spent not on the question of de-
I PENDANTS guilt or innocence but IN an abusive
attack on Tiltou. He was panied that on this
occasion Mr.. Porter came down from his high
position and undertook the lgnoble service &c
to the plaintiff. The accusation that Tilton IS
hollow and theatrical came somewhat curlouSlJ
from Porter, who had shown the highest MS
trionic ability in this case. If Beecher is limo
| cent he needs no such clamorous defence, anc
| if Titon is an adulter and perJurer 1T couia De
| proved from evidence, but it was a necessity OF
defence that bis counsel spent thirteen Gays 10
DESTROYING his accusers, and on that demand
verdict for defendant Tilton was represented
by Porter as seducer and subtle conspira
tor. Tracy on the contrary declares MIN
| blunderer All amt him to be, as Beechel
| does a man of genius He showed no male
violence on the stand and he Dever uttered q
| word of censure or reproach against bis WIFE
but with Christian magnanlmlty ne 10rgavt
| what Beecher says he believed, he thought the
grossest outrage that can be committed against
| husband and manfully he kept his pledge un
| til goadsd into presenting this case In a court
! of justice. He is accused of fabricating the
charge of suborning perjury, marsnailing s sne
tho Jury remember Beecher's expression VI
| wonder if Elizabeth knows how generous Theo
dore has been. Theodore has the hardest parl
| to bear and as to Moulton, philosophers and
| that given by Beecher to Frank Moulton'
| Beecher is q great man, but counsel must take
| exception when he is raised to the dignity OF
being purely good and sinless, too good and too
| pious to commit the sin. This good man has
| borne testimony to the integrity and fidelity OF
those who accuse him, but the difficulty was
| those who have an interest 10 Beecher have
| always been fighting against. the generous lm.
pulses of his nature, first in the prosecution of
| Tilton before the church committee and now IN
| his unworthy and insincere defence.
A case like this is an unpleasant one Whlcn
/ should never be disclosed to the public except
under imperous necessity. The parties were
all agreed it should be kept concealed but the
secret necessarily leaked out. When Mrs.
| Morse wrote to Beecher that Tilton had been
telling persons about the matter, he begged bel
silence and sent Bell to Halliday to suppress
| the investigation. He wrote to his nephew
Perkins to put his foot in the hot embers OF
/ the scandal. The tripartite contract whIch ne
/ signed was device for carrying out the policy
| of silence. He wrote to Tilton to resign his
membership of Plymouth church so that there
| could be investigation. When he deprecated
the ruinous defence, wrote about the devices
we have adopted to save ourselves he contem-
Mated the policy of silence, but the most nota-
| HE instance of desire for concealment was
| when he received a letter from Mrs. Bradshaw
/ he refused to communicate with her and finally
| in letter to the church committee be writes that
| the policy of silence ought to have succeeded.
Counsel said he would now proceed to con-
| slider the position made by the defence on the
| question of giving the defence the benefit OF
| exery doubt arising. Porter had misapped
the legal doctrine applying to criminal cases:
| Beecher is entitled TO no more presumption OF
| innocence than if it was an action on prom
issory note. When satisfactory evidence is Civ
en- for the plaintiff case and passed to the
jury by the court, the presumption changes.
| Copceding that we start with the presumption
of innocence shielding the defendant, wheao
that shield Is broken by proof what becomes OF
| the presumption? Counsel quoted from Green
leaf on evidence that the jury in civil suit
| must decide in favor of the party for whom the
| evidence preponderates, but in criminal cases
evidence must exclude every other hypothesis
| but that of guilt. As to the censIre directed
against Tilton for publishing the letters written
| to him by his wife in marital confidence, Beach
referred the jury to Tilton's evidence that this
| was done contrary to his wish and at the urg-
| ent request and advice of his counsel, and at a
| time when horrible accusations were circulating
| against him, to which the letters are his de-
| fence, He was chiefly condemned for publish
| ing the lettsr of July 10, 1870. in which she
speaks OF some infirmities but that letter con-
| CalQS Inc WOrub, J. Will t6hO OoiC VI ny
| self, for the pest man in all the world loves
me-" Instead of its being the case that Tllton
| in his egotism would publish anything, it was
| the egotism of the defendant which hesitated
at nothing to defame his opponent. AS to
proofs, there were no witnesses of the actual
| observation of the offence. The complaint
charges that it was committed on two certain
| DAYS and divers others at the house of the
| plaintiff and house of the defendant Counsel
| did not know whether the seduction took place
| in Beechers house or where or when, bat the
| complaint was framed in the ordinary way and
| made as definite and compressve as possible on
| the alleged communication to Tilton from his
| wife. Counsel said Miss Ellen Dennis, who
was represented as having supplanted Mrs.
| TiltOn at her house, was cousin OF Hilton and
| friend of Mrs. Tilton, and acted as housekeeper
in Mrs. Tilton's absence, sitting at the head of
| his table, and on the morning when Mrs. Tilton
returned from the country Miss Dennis sat in
| the same place. Tilton exercised no control in
| the matter. There was nothing to offend a
| wifes feelings in that He once rudely re-
| PEELED his wife for troubling him with domes-
| tic affairs. MEG of the highest Intellectual at
tainments have manifested almost bearishnesS
| at trivial matters in the household. Bessie
| Turner's account of the transaction is imper-
| feet and Miss Dennis is in her grave. How
| ever the conduct of TiIbn in his house is
matter of no Importance to the jury. He may
| have ludicrous manner of wandering from
| bed to bed looking for the softest one, but it
| gave to Beecher no license to seduce his Wife,
| He may have been moody and rude and thus
| shaken bis wife's reverence for home ard mar