Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1875-01-29
SCANDAL TUKNAUE SPARKS.
The TERRIBLE WITNESS IN
CoURT-RoaER A. PRYoR-BEECHER

&c. &c. &c.
The scandal furnace is still blazing and
roaring in the Brooklyn Court, and we give
below some of the sparks. Moulton is
still Oh the stand where he has been every
day for two weeks: His mother died sud
denly Tuesday and he was informed i'll the
Court House but calmly remained on the
witness stand.
A REMARKABLE WITNEsS-sKETcH OF
THE mutual FRIEND"
| propose to dwell somewhat, in this let
ter, (says the Wilmington Commercials"
New York letter, on the terrible witness,
Frank D. Moulton. l have watched and
studied him with protracted scrutiny; and
as [ have never seen any notice that does
him justice, | am going to do it now
He is undeniably one of the most remark
able men i'll this very remarkable cohJunc-
ton of men, and well able, apparently, IN
his own native strength, to cope with the
strongest and best trained of them all. tie
is tall, strong built man, with a bead for
| a Roman Emperor think tine most mas
culine head | ever saw. 1t matches well
| in size the colossal heads of the parties to
| the suit, while contrasting strongly with
both of them by it's masculinity The nose
| is of the most prominent Roman type, an
eular. not curved OF hooked, and the
strength of the massive jaw and chin is en-
tirely disclosed by the razor. but the CHAR
acter of the mouth is concealed by All
enormous and sweeping moustache. To
have this mans picture, however, you
must consider his big head further enlarg-.
ed by thick, intractable shock of hair, CT
peculiar dark sorrel shade, OF yelloWlSh
brown, which has evidently been given up
bv the BARRIERS. 1t is a head OF .halr that
would drive any barber mad, and that no
| wife would venture to comb with three
| legged STOOL
| His dress is in a very special sense that
! of a gentleman; faultlessly elegant, yet
/ without the remOteSt suggestion OF lash
| ion plate OF tailor. His manners are OF
the same type, absolutely at ease and free
| in posture, movement and speech. His
| voice is very strong and masculine, yet not
harsh his language and pronunciation
those Of well educated society, not of a fl
nancial school. His absolute self-possess-
| ion bespeaks the perfection OF clear head,
strong will and straight forward mean
Now, if Moulton has been lying all along.
about Beecher, what a dramatic genius he
must be to have woven the story he tells.
Shakespeare would be inferior. | have
throughout suspended my conclusion all
along, upon the result Of Moultons cross
examination. It would be premature to
foreshadow the result now. But perhaps
it is as well to prepare myself and you for
it by confessing that the prospect is
disheartenlng. Ii were Mi. Eyarts, with
all his powers, I should dread the strng-
gle.
But the occasional portent OF it which
have broken from the great lawyer, as he
rouses more and more to the fray, and the
storm gathers blaeker on his brow, fore
warn us of a terrible attack on the terri
Bile witness. II Mr.. Evarts comes off victO-
rious from that encounter; ii he succeeds
in shaking Moulton's testimony and his
err libility with the jury, he will have an
| forensic victory never to lie forgotten by
I the generations of lawyers to come. If he
| fails here, however, there will remain an
other chance. for eloquence to sweep away
the story as with flood. But as for the
witness himself, it seems at present as
though Mr.. Eyarts might as well dash
against the tower of the Brooklyn bridge
| We shall soon see.
. | suppose it is we'll understood, however,
that the chief reliance of the defence is on
the four years of lying that Moulton pro-
fesses to have done for Beecher's protect
ion. They will argue that this proves him
| unworthy of credit when he processes to
tell the TRUTH 1t is a curious circle OF rea-
soning.
BOUQUETS POR THE PLAINTIFF, DEFEN-
DANT AND THEIR WIVES.
For several days past the table near MI
Beecher's seat has been decorated with
choice flowers from the conservatory OF 4
friend. A beautiful bouquet OF ylolets
WAS placed in the vase yesterday morning
and similar bouquet was presented to
Mrs. Beecher. The wife of Theodore Til
ton had no sooner taken her seat and re-
moved the heavy lace vail which covered
her face, than d member of Plymouth
Church handed her adelicate cluster of vi
Diets and white buds. The flowers
were presented with delicate compliment.
hat little bunch of flowers had a signifi-
<cnce to her which few in the courtroom
appreciated. 1t Was an intimation that
she was still kindly remembered in Ply
mouth Church. Her thanks were express
ed very unaffectedly. It is true that many
smiled sardonically, and saw in the pres
entati' II an attempt to produce dramatic
! effect, but such was evidently not her
thoughts.
The display of flowers on 1.-THE Plymouth
side of The house." as it is designated by
| the spectators, was very marked, and gave
rise to any complimentary and uncom-
plimentary criticisms. Qaite naturally.
Giiie! tie circu instances, when magnifi
cent and snowy bouquet of roses, violets
lilies, and albutus was brought to Mr.
Ti.ton. it attracted the attention of the
| entire audience, counsel not excepted. The
| plaintiff blIsl ed like an innocent school
boy as he detached the card attached to
the floral tribute. and read the inscription,
80 Theodore Tilton, with the compli-
| nlfc 1,ir fr.ia dc 1i,f ,yv
| wards d hat box WAS handed to Mr.. Til
ton, and removing the cover, he drew forth
a bouquet, If anything more conspicuous
! than tie first. By this time the counsel
and the witness on the stand ceased to at
tract the attention Of the spectators, and
Mr.. Tilton and his group of counsel were
unde: every eye. The plaintiff had scarcely
deposited his gifts on the table at Which he
was sitting, before two additional bouquets
were passed over to him, the larger one be-
ing for ex-Jndge Morris. Mr.. Tilton's
face turned crimson, and smile ran round
the court room. Gen. Pryor moved I'M
easily in his seat, MI. Sherman appeared
much amused, ex-Judge Beach looked
solemn, and Mr.. Fullerton, although busily
examining Moulton, stepped for moment,
and cast a q,IiZZical glance at the sentiment
tai offerings. which seemed so strangely
out of place in a courtroom. From one
VI tiie bouquets MI. Hilton drew note
written on tinted paper He read the con-
tents with an appearance of qualification,
and then placed it in his pocket.
ROGER A. PRYOR.
The New Y ork ''Sun'' gives a pen and
ink sketch of the Virginia orator, Roger
A. Pryor, who is of the counsel for Theo-
dore Tilton in the famous Beecher scan
dal suit, now in progress in New York. The
Sun says:
"I'he engagement of an old-time South
ern fire-eater as counsel for former ac-
tive abolitionist is the odd point in Gen.
Roger A. Pryor being one of Mr. Tilton's
legal party. Mr.. Pryor is Il typical man
thin. tall. nerYouSIY AGGRESSIVE and hot