Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-05-20
TILTON VS.. BEECHER.
Judge Porter Opens for the De-
fense.
His Weak Exhibit of the Weak
ness of TiltOn'S Case.
An Appeal to the Theory Of ImPrOba-
bititfes.

resumed this morning. Long DSiOf6 TIE
opening the Brooklyn City Court room was
crowded, reminding one of the early days
of the trial. The number of women in at
tendance was greatly diminished, which
the court habitues attributed to the fact
that the evidence in the scandal was all in.
Theodore TiltOn entered few minutes be-
fore the hour, closely followed by MIR.
Beecher and his wife. The defendant
chatted and laughed with those of the
Plymouth gathering in his immediate vi
cinity. Before the jury were called, Judge
Nelson instructed the audience to keep
perfect silence, as any noise would inter-
rupt the speaker. Ex-Judge Porter then
began summing up for the defense. He
SAID:
Gentlemen, you have been for five
months in the service Of Theodore TiltOn,
under mandate of a power which they
were bound to obey. My client has, since
the beginning Of the suit dealt in the Scrip
ture principle; when they struck him on
one cheek, he turned to them the other. In
the beginning they might have been struck
with the general air OF untruthtulneSs
which permeated the case, and the counsel
thought that if they had then been called
to deliver their verdict, there could have
been little doubt what that verdict would
have been. On the one hand they had
TiltOh, MoultOn, Jayne the infOruer,
Woodruff and Claflin; Joe. Richards start
ing up darkly to strike his sister in the
back, and Ben. Butler the strateglst. These
are the parties who are spOnOTs Of this
accusation. These are the champions Of
Christian morality and purity. We had ia
favor Of this defendant the jury Of the vici-
mage, the wife, the children, the grand
children who found shelter beneath his
roof, and the three thousand wOrshippers Of
Plymouth Church. Even the clustering
hearts Of young children loved his name,
and will be living TO bless his memory
when you and l will be nOmOTe. We have
with us the almost unanimous and enthusi-
astic support of his professional brethren,
and the sympathy of enlightened Christen-
dom trusted and loved the defendant, while
they abhOrred and lOathed the names Of
Theodore TiitOu and Frank MOultOn.
One Of the obstacles of the accuser was
the defendants answer Of his innocence and
the oath Of honest men, and the other OBJ
staCle they met with presented itself IN the
unblemished character and unsullied purity
of both him and the wife. Yet another
obstacle was the fact that TiltOn and MOul-
ton for four years by their words and acts
falsifed such an accusation, both in writing
and otherwise. Another obstacle was the
fact that TiltOn cOhibited and slept with
the lady accused and remained for four
years in family relations with the alleged
adulteress. They met another obstacle in
the fact that they had 10 conceal it as they
say, and the question arises if they are not
lying now. There was al old maxim Of
the Roman law which provided that wit
nesses were to be weighed in the balance,
and here in the one scale they had Beecher
and his wife and TiltOn and MOultOn with
the record of their lives in the other.
We were accustomed TO believe in truth,
not by the numbers of those who spoke,
but in the probability Of the stories. In
regard TO the matter who was the alleged
culprit, a man three score years Of age, self
disciplined, well poised, not merely a
Christian, but a veteran Christian, and a
man who from his youth up had dedicated
himself to God aud religion, who N his
bOyhOOd was raised by mother who was
an angel Of mercy if ever God sent one
upon the earth. He was not trained up in
lessons of lust, but he received the tender
and gracious schooling Of a Christian
mother, from whose lessons he passed on
20 labor in the fields Of God. When the
defendant was going from one log cabin to
another preaching the Word Of God, be left
no mark OF trait Of the seducer behind him.
If he was true 10 his wife and virtue in
those early days Of his ministry, should it
be believed he had fallen now?
The speaker dwelt at some length upon
the purity Of Mrs. TiltOn and her InLellec-
tual capacities and yet they would have
YOU believe that this man could have az
amour In open day, openly debauching the
mother Of a family, that such an intrigue
could be carried on through year and a
half, no eye seeing and no ear hearing, and
the first woman on earth to tell it is Mrs.
TiltOn and the first man she should tell it
to was Mr.. Tilton.
Turning toward MOultOn and TiltOn the
speaker exclaimed: What are such men
for, unless for hunting down clergymen, TO
cruCify women. Letters which passed
with no thought on her part, except in the
confidence repOsed in her friend and pas
tor. have rutllessly been thrown before the
world in an altogether different light from
that intended.
Mr.. POrter's address was interrupted by
recess when the courtroom was cleared
for publication.
After recess Mr.. Beecher and his wife
came into the court with eX-Judge Porter,
who continued his summing up By quoting
from one Of Mrs. TiltOn's letters, in which
she breathed forth the fervOr Of admiration
If her husband. The woman whom Mr..
TiltOn asked to be stoned as an adulteress
knelt 70 him as to God, and loved him IS
she loved her Redeemer. This woman
standing at the grave other boy they would
have you believe stood within nine and
One-Lalf months of the grave Of her honor.
In the opening he alluded to the fire.
Quency of interviews between Beecher and
Mr.. TiltOn, and new no one would dOIbt
for moment that Mrs. Matte Bradshaw
was a good, pure woman, and Mrs TiltOn,
in q letter to her husband, said she was
Jealous Of the attentions shown her by Mr..
Beecher. Counsel quoted further from
some letters of Mrs. TiltOn illustrative Of
her Unselfishness. Did any woman who
had committed adultery ever write such
letters Of love, admiration and confidence?
Counsel quoted from a letter in which
she asks her husband to love the Lord
Jesus Christ and bear patiently with her.
The woman who wrote that letter to TheO-
dore Tilton was not an adulteress, but she
was faulty only in that she loved him too
well.
Had the letter Of Dec. 26, 1866, been
published, he said, before the Catherine
Gauut letter, what color would it have
given to the present accusation, though 1t
was written at the time? 1t is admitted
she was pure. On the 24th Of February,
1866, we have a letter beginning, "My dar-
ling Of darlings, aud in which she speaks
Of her "sin," and TiltOn hastens to make
accusation Of adultery against Henry Ward
BeeCher.
Beecher, in the course of his life, has
written few letters to Mrs. TiltOn and
these are taken as evidence Of adultery
though written at the instance Of Mr..
TiltOn.
The letter of Mrs. Tilton Of Jan. 10,
1TTO, to her husband, was also read, in
which she mentioned the visit Of MIR.
BeeCher TO the house that day. Why, said
the counsel, should she write to her hus-
band in a remote State needlessly and men
ton her paramOur.
The court here adjourned.
a Review of the Speech.
The Tribune has the following reference
TO judge PoTter's speech:
Everybody knew what to expect when
almost the first words uttered by Judge
Porter were these: "Men are apt to be
bold Of speech when stalwart champions,