Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1875-05-28

me that night the gate OF Heaven, which
had so long seemed shut" Who shut that
gate? Who opened it, and why was it
shut Whose sin was it that weighed so
heavily that that gate hung on its hinges :?
What was it? Was it the five points of Cal
yinism that did it
Well, We geta little hint:
When am doing you harshness feel so mis-
cradle don't wish to endure it; when am max
his kingdom. You have the richest of human
hearts; ana pledged to you forever
What happened that night q? What
pledges were given that night? What was
it that led him to make that change that
swung open the gate of Heaven? My
vows | shall keep" What occasion is there
for married man, married eight years,
having a night of consultation with his wife,
making vows which he promises he will
afterwards observe? He who was faithless
before will be faithful hereafter. She
charges herself with an inability to make
his home sufficiently attractive. but she says
- Don't abuse this power which you have
to love is praiseworthy, but to abuse your
gifts is a sin against your manhood and its
purity and dignity you should fulfil it
stronger than love itself; know this, be-
cause here | am strong. No demonstrations
or fascinations could cause me to yield my
womanhood you have not replied to my
letter of inquiry, whether the giving you my
whole heart in my letters offended you
Gentlemen, is there any doubt as to what
that letter means? Is it not the modest,
tender, appealing prayer of the wife to her
husband not to exercise these gifts which
have won her love, in winning the love of
others or carrying it to point where it be-
comes sin? And yet the bastard to whom
that letter is addressed published it in form
garbled, false and forged, in which she is
represented as confessing the very thing she
condemns and he says, by way of apology
. Oh, well, since we commenced this suit, |
furnished true copy | furnished it to the
Grdphlc.' W hat copy was 1t that you fur
nShed to the people of the United States
What copy was it you sent broadcast through
the land IN order to convict Henry Ward
Beecher of a crime Of which he was inno-
cent, even blasting your own wife Now,
gentlemen, accidents like this are too fire.
quent in this case. again remind you Of
what John Milton says, - Truth needs no
policies, no stratagems these are the in
struments with which error seeks to subyert
truth" Let Inc read at this juncturea part
of letter which will be of interest in this
immediate connection. She says
" was with you all day. yesterday Sunday.
What holy associations cluster around that day in
our own experiences the morning hour Suggest
ins Matties death, and VINO can tell what that bad
/ done Tor and now the evening comes. memora-
] hle Tor ever Tor coniesslngs, ceansings and renew
] ins OF broken VOWS
You remember his letter as read it. and
now comes hers. Long before the alleged
/ detection Of his wife and Mr.. Beecher he
refers to the d" memorable eve, " and she to
the " memorable eve, an evening ended with
conlessings and cleansing and renewals Of
/ broken VOWS.
Gentlemen, who confessed on that memo
rable evening 1t was not she who took
| that evening for cleansing and renewing OF
| broken VOWS DO you doubt that it was
| Theodore Tilton? |, there not an inside
| light which enables you to see that proof As
| it you were looking in upon it at this hour
| How does this harmonize with that false
| coloring he gave to it when he came on the
stand in regard 10 that peaceful, pure, limo
cent and harmless home?
Now. gentlemen, have come to 4 letter
more significant by far than either Of those
| have read When | come 10 connect it
with another which follows it, want to
show that Elizabeth L. Tilton, whom he rep
rescnts To have been pure and unspotted in
lS61, was the same pure and unspOtted
Elizabeth X. Tilton in 1863, when she wrote
the counterpart OF this letter and after the
alleged adultery. You observe that this
man pretends that after the alleged cOnies-
sion to him in July, 1870, he never attended
Mr. Beechers church, but broke off from
the church at this time. Well, you have 1t
in proof from Mr.. Halliday, who had been
nine years pastor Of the church, | think 1t
was-l don't remember the precise time
that he had never seen Theodore Iilton
there. You have it in proof by himself in
two subsequent letters, IN one of the subse-
quent communications to the committee, that
he had discontinued going to that church
for more than four years before 1873. lou
have here, further, this touching appeal
The church was filed tonight with medical
! students Mr.. heechor preaching before the Chris
! tn MON. lie certainly IS greatly aroused THIS
" uter and works most earnestly. VIII you not On
your return throw lu your cooperation and Join u
in fulfilling cur VOWS as members Of this Christian
:. About n O'Clock to-day Mr. Z. called
Now, observe. he says he never had a Sus-
prion Of Mr.. Beecher down to the time
when this revelation was made to him on the
Sd Of July 1870 Here Is the letter which
he produced, dated Feb. |, lS6S. written to
him. in which She says
Now beloved. let not the shadow OF 4 shadow
! tall on your dear heart because OF this now and
heucc;orth and forever lie cannot by any pos b.
/ lty be much 10 me since have known yUu. / I'm
pore you to believe il ana look at me, as on the day
% Jud -incnt shall be revealed 10 you. ID hut
thluk Il audAcluGs in NE to say am 10 him -ood
! deal. and you can unaerstand iGt Isppear ever
/ cheerful and helpful 10 him.
OF course she did. Now don't you know
the manner of talk that took place between
that husband and that wife. Don't this in
dicate it. Again
.'You once told me you did not believe gave you
A c,rrect account uf his visits and You always felt
that repressed much. sweet, 90 you still believe
this strive in my poor word-paniing 10 give you
the spirit and impression which give him anu he
u me. II would he my supreme wish ard delight
TO have you with me always, darling. The burning
oi friendship pant for always
Here YOU can see he is jealous of this man,
that he wanted 10 be Jealous Of him, that he
wanted excuses for infdelty, and that he
would give everything to have occasion to lie
Jealous. lie wanted to make his wife believe
that he was really jealous, and am sorry to
say it, but it was the spirit of man who
would have been delighted to know that
there was foundation for it.
But 20 on with the correspondence.
Bessie Turner gives us the account of the III
teryiew in which he showed his manhood to
his sick wife by charging that none OF his
children, except Florence, were his own, and
that his wife had had sexual intercourse with
four men, and one of them Mr.. Oyington.
, Do you believe that Edward j. Oyington
found it necessary to intrude upon the mari
tai rights of Theodore Tlton? We have q
; letter here of the 9th of January, 1867, il
lustrating another thing-that all this while
this was poor, sick woman, married to q
hale, stalwart, exacting man | read from
5 the letter of Jan. 6, 1867 a: " About thi,
time every year nv vital powers grow poor
and thus | have endured felons and Other
eruptions | have now an inflamed eve ant
looseness Of the bowels. will try to take
t better care of my wretched self, because TN
best man IN the ioOrid lores me-.
Why was that published? Can YOU ina
zine ANYTHING more indecent. more mean
, more contemplate than to publish in tn,
newspapers Of all this land wife's letter il
which She complains of her felons, her erup
tions, her infamed eyes, and her lOoseneS
= Of the bowels? Don't You see why? Thr
: mans greed of admiration. his unboundeC
and stiltcd egotism, is such that to get |
: compliment he would publish anything. Sh'
4 talked about her sins. Why, gentlemen
when YOU come to read this letter you know
5 Just what the sin is. She is always talkin!
: about this sin. Her sin was that she wa
: not good enough for Theodore. lie woul'
c come home with his magnificent Apollo
? presence, his grandeur. his beauty, and Bes
; sic must comb his hair, Mrs. Tilton mus
I read to him, and the rest must gather aroun,
t him, and the oysters must be prepared TO
his palate, and because the poor woman
sometimes got tired, she was 81 afraid sh'
was not doing her duty. lie complained o
t her silence not content with her. Married
to this man with a crown, she was silent
she could not talk, and she was only 50 high
t Here was the yoke-she down here and HI
2 nm fhcre md Il nevnr nccurrel In her tha