Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-02-04
TlltOn Still on the Witness Stand.

dOre and Elizabeth.
TiItOn Abandons Christ as tn,
Jehovah.
NEW YORK, Feb. 3.-The heavy rail
storm to-day did not prevent the usua
crowd ATTENDING the Brooklyn City Court
where the Tilton-Beecher trial is in pro
greSs. Mrs. IiltOu, Mrs. Fields, Mrs
Tubbs and Mrs. Sherman were present
At the appointed hour court was formally
opened. Mr.. Tilton continued his story
He said: l first heard Of the promised
council Of the church, and, think, in thC
early part Of November, 1873, from Mr.
Beecher, in Mr.. MoultOn's house. He told
me the trouble aad arisen out Of my speech
in the church and the publishing Of card
by Holiday in the newspapers. He told
me certain papers had been sent him in re-
latiOn to the church council. He said
councils were dsneerolis things, and that
no person could tell when they would end.
| He also said to me, Theodore, all this will
end we'll if you will not give any infOrma-
tiOn to DR.. StOrrs, or act against me-" We
| had a conversation subsequent to this in the
street one night. Beecher made speech in
| Plymouth Church relating TO DR.. StOrs.
Mr.. Beecher met AlT. MOultOn and me, and
said his church was going to stand alone
and not unite with the other two churches
in the Council. The Bacon letter was
| published in June, 1874, but l never met
Mr.. Beecher since the publication Of the
| Bacon letter. ] had a conversation with
Beecher in McultOn's library in April,
1874, about the Bacon charges, in which 1
was called a knave and dog. I told
Beecher be must reply to these charges.
He made no reply to this whatever. Mr..
Shearman was there present and made an
apology for having insulted Mrs. TiltOn in
public. When Beecher left, Shearnlan rs-
mained behind. Beecher was summoned
by telegraph ID MoultOn's house. This
was the last interview had with Beecher,
/ to the best of my recollection. "a letter
was here produced.l This was written by
ne and sent to Beecher May ?, 1874.
The letter was read and placed in eyi-
| dence. It related 10 his refusal to accept a
| sum of money from Beecher to proceed
| with his family to Europe and remain for a
number Of years. A letter dated May 4,
| 1873, was also read by eX-Judge Fullerton,
I aLQIEeetA 10 AArNs LAEAAN w alA DEENAAEls
| Mr.. Holiday and Mr.. Shearman, inform
| ing them Of the statement made by Dr.
| Bacon after thu adjournment Of church
council, and asking that he (IiltOn) should
be summoned before the Examining Com
mittee, to answer the charges Of slandering
the pastor.
Witness cont inued: In the early part Of
| July, 1873, l first heard Of the appointment
Of the committee to wait on me with regard
/ TO the scandal.
Ex-Judge Fullerton here read the CORES
pondence calling for an investigation Of the
charges by the Church Committee.
Witness resuming, said: 1 first saw the
| letter calling for a committee on the night
before It was published, in the hands Of
Mrs. Cleveland. Ny wife was then with
me, but she left the house after the publi-
cation Of this letter; 1 think on the morn
ing OF July IL. She did not leave against
m9 will. She had a viii Of her own, and
acted upon it at the same time.
l did not restrain her. There
were three or four reports prepared for the
committee, aud l prepared two Of them.
The preparation Of the short report was as
| follows: Ms. Tilton informed me, on the
| Sth Of July. that she had been down before
| the committee Of the church in relation to
| what passed between me and DR.. Bacon.
4 long argument here ensued on the
/ right Of the witness to reveal what was told
him by his wife as to what occurred before
| the committee. Mr. Evarts objected to the
/ question, and the objection was sustained by
| the court. The witness then continued:
| don't remember that the tripartite agree
ment was ever the subject Of conversation
| between Beecher and ne. Bessie Turner
| was a or. who came to our house under
the name Of Lizzie McDermott. About
/ fifteen wears AGO she came to my house
| through the means Of an old Sunday-sChOOl
| teacher, either Of mine or Mrs. TiitOn.
/ don't know whether she resided cOntinu-
| ously in our house until af er my return
| from the West in 1867. Nj. TiltOn and
| Mr.. MOultOn made arrangements for send
| inc her TO school some time in January,
| 1871. Mr.. Beecher from first to last never
| denied his criminal intercourse with Mrs.
Tilton whenever he spoke Of it. He always
said she was not the person to blame. Bes-
! sic Turner'S age, I think, was about fifteen
or sixteen when she left Us in
1871. There is not a word Of truth in the
| statement that carried her from her bed
| to mine, or that improper conduct was ever
| exhibited by ne towards her. Witness
vas here shown paper.l think l show
ed this report and another to Gen. Tracy.
1 put both Of them in the hands Of Mr..
MoultOn, and prepared th is one atthe sug-
gestiOn Of Gen. Tracy. At the time l pre-
pared this report, heard that Mrs. TiltOn
had been before the committee. Gen.
Tracy told me Of the evidence given before
them. Gen. Tracy told me l had nothing
TO fear from Mrs. TiltOn's testimony; that
when she appeared before the committee
she denied everything, or that there was
any foundation for the accusation, and Gen.
Tracy while making this narration wept,
and told me that if / cO-Operated in this it
would beEa success. ItOld him to explain the
method Of procedure before the committee.
He said they would summon whom they
pleased, and the witnesses could give what
information they pleased, and on that the
cOmmitte WOuld report. / told him | would
stand by any report which did not ipjUre
Elizabeth. He told me / might make a re-
port which would not injUTe Beecher in his
standing in the pulpit. In accordance with
this prepared two reports, a short one and
a long one. l presented both to MOultOn
and said 1 would be pleased with either.
Mrs. Tilton was best pleased with the long
one.
Mr.. Fullerton said he would like to put
in evidence Of a later period, some cores
respOndence between Mr.. and Mrs. TiltOn
in1S7O, and if this was agreed to, his direct
examination Of the witness was not con-
cluded.
Mr.. EvaTts objected to this being put in
at a later stage, and said it should be intro
duced now.
Mr.. Beach said they didn't wish to intro
duCe all the correspondence, but desired an
opportunity t. search for the papers re-
quired.
Mr.. Fullerton promised to have the cor
respOndence ready by tomorrow morning.
Mr.. Evarts said he did not propose to ex-
anime this witness till the other side had
put in all their testimony.
Judge Nelson asked the counsel for the
prosecution if they could not place another
witness on the stand to occupy the remain
der Of The day, or else find these letters, if
the usual recess was taken Immediately.
Mr.. Beach said the latter course was i'm
possible, as they had 200 or 800 letters TO
examine to find the dozen that were Te-
gaired, but suggested that if the court al
lowed them al hour and half, they would
be able to produce the letters and have
them examined and identified one by one.
To this the court agreed, and a recess
was taken.
After the recess Mr.. TiltOn resumed his
ulaen m, fla sfa-T and cur1finun1s 7 went