The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1875-04-24
REGENERATION.
Testimony Of the Defendant In the
Great Scandal.


evidence was continued, and related
mainly to a denial of Mrs. Moulton's
testimony. He said During all my
interviews with Mrs. Moulton at that
house, she was incapable of accusing me
of adultery, or of any crime towards
Mrs. Tilton. We never conversed to-
getber on that subject, or in that man
ner. She never did SO by allr1sion or
and she never spoke OF it
being said by any person else. | never
spoke to her of any conversation With
her being my last. [ never said that II
Tilton published letter of apology 1t
was useless for me to try to live 1t
down. / never said / had no hope
from Theodore Tilton, or said that he
was false man. | never thought SO,
felt SO, or said SO. She never said for
me to go to my church, and confess my
crime, and they would forgive me- [
did not say | would not implicate wo-
man who had given me ler love. / did
not say if I confessed, nv church would
not have me, and it wou d be better for
me to go out of life. This was
an impossible story. She never
old me could still write and hold my
connection with papers. l never said l
had q powder III my desk up stairs, and
it would put me out of my trouble
The only powder | know OF was gun
power, which was kept up stairs. This
whole story Is preposterous and false.
/ never said to her in conversation that
| would come on the day following and
give ner some gifts fer friends, with
MESA tes for them, and one gift for
Elizabeth. This is pure, absolute fic
ton. I never told her L suffered the tor
lures of the damned, having to appear
IN ny church with a cheerful face, III
the conviction of relations imputed III
this conversation. | said this in view
of the manner in which Tilton was con-
stantly bringing up the difficulty, and |
said it should end, or it would wear me
out This latter was in conversation,
on May 31st, at their house. Mrs
professed sympathy for her Mrs.
Moulton) and that she had lost faith in
Beecber and had left his church, and
that she (NIrs. Tilton) lad implored her
to go back; that Beecher wasn't guilty
that she herself was the guilty person
[ do not think she could have looked me
in the face and said half of it. In Octo-
Der, 1873, Mrs. Moulton did not tell me
Mrs. Illton said she would sacrifice her
husband rather than myself, and for the
sake of the church and her family she
would deny it. | never said to Mrs,
Moulton that Mrs. Tilton was a poor
child; that she was endeavoring to re-
pair a wrong she had done, but it was
too late. / never said, in conversation
with Mrs Moulton, that it was cruel of
Mrs. Tllton to have confessed, and in
fact we never had such conversation.
never said l had repented of my sin,
and WAS forgiven. She never said to
me she didn't see how could stand in
my pulpit and preach to young men
against the crime of adultery. [ said to
some lady that my trials had made me feel
50 that l could preach to suffering men,
kno wing what it was to pass through
trials myself Mrs. Moulton was a lady
and never used such terms in her con
versation with me as adultery. 1t was
IN regard to the charge of alternating
Mrs. TlltOn's affections from her hus
band that | said she was a good woman,
and that Mrs Moulton should trust her;
and L said that my age and influence
should have led me to forsee and pre-
vent any such trouble.
MIR. Beecner then denies emphatically
all of the other statements OF Mrs. NJ,
and then follows: In ali interview with
Moulton or Tilton the word crime was
never used in regard to me. The first
notice or lntimation | received of the
use of that word as applied to myself or
my transactions was In an interview with
Mr.. Redpatn at Peeksk1ll. That was
the first intimation | had that [ was to
be accused of adultery with Mrs Ti!ton.
/ had several conve- sations with Moui-
ton In regard to, the Bacon letter, and
also IN regard to his address before the
Institute. / a1n not giving
any one-sided interview, but can give
the substance of several Moulton was
extremely unwilling that Tilton should
publish any reply to the Bacon letter,
ont said perhaps the best way to man
age him would be to let him go on and
write. [ learned from Moulton that it
was Tilton's intention to include in his
letter the Bacon letter and the letter
of apology, and that several persons in
New York whom he consulted, advised
him not to publish the letter, but that
Tllton was determined to publish it,
and that he (Moulton) had taken out of
1t some sharp expressions and made It
great deal bette, than it was at first. II
did not know what these changes were.
as the letter was not shown to me. All
L knew about it Was upon MoultOn' s
presentations.
When the letter appeared [ was at
Peeksklll, and telegraphed to Moulton
that | wished to see him at my house Oh
the next day. came down on the two
clock tr in, called on Mr.. Cleveland, |
md took the first steps toward calling
IN Investigating Committee. / after
ward saw Moulton at my house. | was |
5ersuaded that he could no longer be |
friend of poth parties. |
he brought with him the Carpenter ar
lcle wishing me to admit that l had |
been guilty of an offense | told nim
hat / would confer with some friends |
md then sec him again.
Witness then narrates MOulton's eff |
orts to persuade him (Beecher) to pub
lsh a statement of the affair and said:
Moulton said that if / would publish /
hat statement he would burn every doe
I'M mt he had, and that if Tilton should |
nCve again In the matter he would
mash him." Moulton several times
poke of the power pwich he had over
[lIton, saying that he could grind him
o powder. / told Moulton that | would
never 81 On that card with the equivocal
word ''offense" in it. j told him [
would not sign it, and 1 did not. My
objection to the publication of the card
vas that after the publication of the