Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1875-01-16
~Our Mutual Friend on the witness
Stand.

ssOur Mutual Friend on the Witness
stand.
The entire day was occupied with the
examination of @AIutual Friend" which
took up Yesterday afternoon session, and
which will not only cover tomorrow, but
will be extended into next week. When
the court opened and klOUltOn ascended
the witness chair, the proceedings began
by his Identification Of sundry letters
and documents, which letters counsel de-
sired TO put in, and which were handed
to him one afler another and read by
Mr.. Beach as the productions Of hr.
Beecher, Mrs TiltOn, Theodore and MOul-
ton. As these papers were successively
read aloud witness was examined as to the
circumstances under which they were writ
ten. the condition Of things TO which they
referred, aud the interview Of MOultOn with
Beecher in regard thereto. The first letter
read was that Of Mr.. TiltOn to Beecher,
demanding the latter's resignation Of
Plymouth Church and his depart
ure from Brooklyn. The next was
Mrs. TiltOu's letter recanting her
aecusations against Beecher, and this was
followed with the retractiOn Of that, land so
on with a score of Others. All these had
already been rehearsed in Morris opening
speech, and previous to the trial they had
been quoted in TiltOn's various "state-
ments," and in NOulton's statement" and
the statement and testimony Of Beecher,
vet they seemed TO live again when read in
the presence Of all the parties concerned IN
them. Under the lurid light Of MOultOn's
interpretations, the letters opened up the
SIufees Of SeuffmenfaIIsu,
and flooded the court with the odOrs Of
fiapdoodle. Several of Beecher's letters to
Mrs. TiltOn, and others, as everybody
knows, breath piety. are redolent with sane
tity and are adorned with scriptural quota
tions MoultOn looked long at all the pa
pers handed TO him, and turned them over
carefully, as though he were unfamiliar
with them, though they have been in his
keeping for years, and are almost worn
out with handling. The old letters OF
Beecher, and the others, were handed to
Beecher himself, by Evarts, for examiDa-
tion, and in passing them back be fre-
quently made private comments 70 bis
counsel.
Mrs. TiItOn
sat in complete quietness with impassiye
face while listening to the reading Of her
own letters and Of Beecher'S letters 70 her.
But when listening to the talk about her
mother as a dangerous woman" and again
when listening to Tilon's poem Of ''SiT
Marmaduke," -he was evidently in a state
of deep emotion.
Dramatic Scenes I'm Court.
The letter Of Mrs. Morse, full Of the
promises and potency Of mOther-in-lawism,
was gratingly rendered by Fullerton. The
reply diplomatic by Beecher, was diplo-
matically reproduced. The funny cartel o.
reassurances between Beecher and TiltOr
were grandiloquently outpOu-ed, and in th,
amatOTy passages in which Beecher breatbeC
/ out his trust in MOBltOn, FullertOn's vOic'
/ played like the pleasing sound Of lutes
When Beecher's long and remarkable
s'ragged-edeged1 letter was read, the peOpl
in the courtroom were profoundly atiecte'
/ by the
HarrOWingiR giReVelatIOns
3 Of Beecheris eXperieuces through TiltOn'