The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-01-26
THE TILToN SUIT.

Now that the CrOsS-eXamlnatlOn OF
Francis d. Moulton has begun even
greater interest, If possible, seems to be
taken in the scandal trial, and from an
early hour this morning crowds besieged
the entrance to the Brooklyn city court
room. But a few minutes were required in
which to pack the space allotted to the pub
lie, when once the doors were opened. The
counsel were all early in their places. Moul-
ton and Tilton arrived together, aud Beecher
and his wife. accompanied by the wife of
their son, Frederick, entered precisely
at IL o'clock, and as the court was
being formally opened, Mrs. Field, Mrs.
Tilton, Mrs. Sherman and Mrs. Raymond
occupied their accustomed places. When
the jurors were called William III. Davis was
missing, and nearly ten minutes were wasted
waiting his arrival. As soon as he took his
seat the cross-exsmination of Moulton was
continued by ex-Judge Porter. The witness
said: Mr.. Beecher was in tie habit of visit
ing me about twice a day during our init
macy, but Tilton was often in my house.
TiltOn and went frequently on fishing ex-
cursions together, and visited watering
places. 1 visited Nsrrsgansett with him 10
the summers of 1868 and 1869. We did not
go West together nor visit Wash Ington to-
gether. l was in sympathy with Tilton in
the woman's rights movement, and visited
Newport TO attend convention with
him. / acted as council for Tilton
The contract between Tilton and
Bowen was settled for $1,000 from June.
1871, to May, 1878. / received various sums
from Beecher, in all about six or seven
thousand dollars. 1 think that have met
Mrs. Beecher three or four times. Never
visited her. Ny acquaintance with her was
slight. [ have met Mrs. Morris several
times. We were not unfriendly in our re-
lations. Imet Mrs. Hooker once in Rich
mond in March, 1871. While / was acting
as the mutual friend of these parties Beecher
sometimes acted on my advice and Iilton
OF the biography of Victoria Woodruff from
not nta'0n approve SVsO' of it. p The counsel
read letter from Tilton to a complaining
friend, and the witness said: 1t was depos-
tied with me by TiltoD. knew Mrs. Wood
hull. / met her first in the spring of 1871. /
met her first at her house in New York.
The next meeting was at Theodore Tilton's
house shortly after April, 1871. | could fix
the time of meeting her by cards published
in the World. 1t was shortly after the card
was published. Before that interview l
never saw her. The second interview took
place day or two after the first. / had a
conversation with her in Mr.. Tilton's pres
ence. saw her after that from time to
time Ths last time was in the spring of
1872, think. II was in her house on Six
t teenth street s,,. when met her.
/ was usually there in the evening with her.
L nevor was in the same house In which she
was staying over night, and never travelled
with her that can remember. Some OF the
interviews lasted an hour, and the others
two hours. have made statements to her
with regard to the
STORIES AGAINST BEECHER,
and also with Tilton. 1 never mentioned
the name of any lady in connection with Til
ton to her. do not know that 1 read all OF
her published statement, and do not remem-
Der what part 1 omitted. L got the
general drift of it, however. i never
told her that I took pistol to
Beecher and demanded Mrs. Tilton's
letter under pain of instant death. / re-
member now, 1 did read that portion of Mrs.
Woodhull's statement with regard to the
pistol scene. Beecher asked me if I remem-
bered that part of the scene with the pistol
referred to in the statement. told him that
did not, and he answered that neither did
he. / had no conversation with Tilton
about Beecher's presiding at lecture 10 be
delivered by Mrs. Woodruff. never told
Tilton that her letter to Beecher came at nv
request. / think / was at Tilton's on two
occasions when Mrs. Woodruff was there.
never found Tilton at her house
when he did not come with
me, and generally left with me,
and disapproved of the Bacon letter and was
against its being made public. 1 advised
against Tilton's second statement, the one
generally called the sworn statement. i
don't know how Mrs. Woodruff got the pis-
toll story, but do know that that affair never
occurred. 1 reported what occurred at Beech
er's on that occasion to the Tiltons. L con-
demned Beecher for obtaining the retraction
hor Ix-ici m
Beecher not to See Tilton nor communicate
with HIM through me. L advised silence on
the part of Beecher in relation TO the Wood
hull pu blication, although never read it.
had full knowledge of it's contents obtained
from people who read It. l only read all
that portion prejudicial to Beecher and re-
lating to myself. None of the charges in
the card published by Beecher in the Brook
lyn Eagle in 1873 was made by me. They
were made by Kinsella, the editor. The
COUNSEL read the letter which stamps the
stories against Beecher as false. l do not
know why these were made but they
were all the work of Kinsella. L told
Beecher I thought it was a mistake to call
an investigation committee. In accordance
with the views of my legal adviser, General
Butler, / refused to let Beecher have
copies of she letters and documents in my
hands. General Butler was my friend
and adviser. but he was never paid fee by
me, or my firm. He never was counsel for
us against the custom house, but he was
| counsel for jayne, the special agent of the
| treasury department. His advice began to
me when this controversy first began. We
had
CONTROVERSY WITH THE GOVERNMENT
( at that time, but he was not instrumental in
arranging the matter. Jayne and L never
conferred about Beecher's affairs. / have
paid fees to counsel who were engaged by
Tilton, but never contributed to the ex
tent of the publications made from time tc
time. 1 never paid anything or promised
| anything. The counsel here sought TO show
| that the witness had been indicted and was
pursued under civil suits for the statement:
made by him, but these, the court ruled
could not be brought in as evidence. Mr.
Eysrts argued that the witness was an in
terested party as he was implicated in all
these suits, and they wanted to show thai
the witness was hostile to the defendant
a. I. -