, 1875-02-03
THE BEECuEH TRIAL.

It may well be doubted whether the court
anuals of my country hsro produced n sceuo
| which in impressiveness, sole1nnity, and as'-
sorbing personal interest, can equal that
which occurred when THEODORE TzL1oN IN
Monday entered tho witnoss-box and con-
froutcd HENRY WAND BEEcuEn and ELIZA
nETn T117oy to testify for the first time
under oath before the judicial tribunal to
the truth Of lint terrible statement which
| hns travelled over the whole Christian
world on the wings of ru1nor and in
the columns Of lilo press, Look at the
group! On the one hand. Mr.. BEEcuEn,
| ostensibly servant Of God commissioned
| 10 saye tho souls Of men, the foremost
preacher Of his time, arrived at that nge
when the passions cool and men give their
| thoughts to the great change which is 30 near
them, standing ut tho bnr OF Justice, charged
with the seduction of woman whose mar
riage ceremony ho had celebrated, whose
children lie had baptized, and who had locked
| up to him for spiritual consolation and guild
anco Mrs. T1bros, the alleged victim Of his
seductive art aud eloquent persuasion, whom
| lie led to ruin Mrs. BEEcHER, stern and
silent, rs she has been ever since tho black
cloud Of this scandal first darkened lerhouse-
| hold; A1r. BEEcuEEs sons, who hava grown
| old enough to know the nature Of tho
charges agains: their father in their full bcnr-
| ing and to feel the kcenncss of the disgrace
which threatens their home; and, fringng
this memorable group, their friends and the
members Of that powerful organization On
Brooklyn Heights whose probable existence
hangs upon the verdict, and who, therefore,
bring to Afr. DrEcHER a moral support nearly
irresistible mud overwhelming in its power
and influence. On the other hand, n young
1nnn Of bright intellect and brilliant
promise, whose life began full of hope,
but upon whose bend the curse Of
sIcphistophe1es Inns fallen, for every flower
that ha has touched hos withered, and he sits
| in the desolation of clouled home. This
young man stands alono in tho witness-bo1,
with few and fceblo friends about him save
| tho 1nan who held his secrets 80 long and
| vainly sought to shield him from the storm,
and tells the story OF lis wrongs, pouring it
into the cars of the woman who has deserted
him, and the man whom he chargeB with llar-
| ing wrecked his life, like stream of molten
lava, with his eyes fastened upon those two
who dare not or will not meet the gnze. Has
Justice ever looked down upon auch sceno
before, and will Justice triumph at last in this
contest which We 1nnJ well believe is watched
with eager interest even by the powers Of
Good and Evil !?
The spectator Of this struggle whose issues
must bo 30 1nomentous to QUO or the other
party can now only assume that either Mr.
T1LroS is telling the truth or salaehood.
There is no middle course no decision
which can DO arrived ct by compromise no
grounds for the possibility Of hallucination.
The terrible narrative, given slowly and de-
lberately and with tie incest circumstan-
tiality III detail, of tie interview between
DEgouER and T1troS Of the reading of the
confession of Mrs. T114oS giving the details
of the manuer in which her rastor accom-.
plishcd her ruin Of tho interview at AIou1-
Toas house, the offer Of BEEchER to 60 out
Of public life his violent outburst Of poign-
mt griot his statement that hs was on tho
edge Of hell, ,~-all this black picture is either
! awfully true or awtully false. It passes the
bounds Of human comprehension to believe
that it ia part true and part false, Or that
TaEopoae r117os is laboriug under some
dreadful mistake, If it is true, then
mayor WAS man mora wroueed thau T1.ros
uovrr ,vaa ,nan more cr,,olly o,,traral aud
,o,,ou ,,,,, t,,ouo ,,,,, q ,y,1f Il, ohoor,s n,o+1
a''s@ ""' 'A.Ae S"~'N - W." - ~ .
ing such sleek, cohsoMtaato hypocfate anu
ArrAnt knayo RR this 6iIver.4n!rau prleStly
nrow1er iu tho folds where le Los charco, II