The Portland daily press., 1875-03-30
Our New York Letter.
The Beeeher Trial-DeIays OF the Law
The Plan of the Dsfense-Bessie Tur.
ucr,s Are,


. enough, for there is scarcely an issue OF any of
the daily papers on either side of the river, in
which the litigants, witnesses counsel and
spectators are not discussed and criticised Nor
are the editors as a general thing in the small
est degree reticent in manfesting their bias.
They are divided in their opinions respecting
the defendant but perfect unit in their con-
tempt for the plaintiff. Even those who can
not believe his horrible story could have been
fabricated, still agree that nothing can palliate
the folly and wickedness of telling 1t.
The mentors of the press are equally pro-
nounced in their views about the conduct of
the trial. In the main they are dissatisfied with
counsel on both sides-with the witnesses who
are caled-tho line Of their examnatioH-the
minuteness Of the questioning and its assumed
irreevancy. They wonder what this, that or
the other testimony has to do with the main
question without apparently waiting to reflect
that every step in the progress of this momen-
Gus inquisition is taken with the most careful
deliberatior, after consultation bstween the
eminent lawyers engaged or either side. Toa
layman much of the evidence does seem tedi-
Gus, inconsequeGt and inapplcable. Legal pro-
cases are proverbially slow and wearisome.
To make matters worse the court only sits fouE
hours each day. That does seem an unpardon-
able trifling away of time to people who are
divided op the eight hour law. But whoever
has acquired a practical acquaintance with the
forms of whatis faeetisusly called justice, has
learned by painful experience with what cool
indifference judges aud barristers keep crowds
of men waiting day after day for the trial
causes which are never reached-how the cal
endars are clogged to such degree that If q
man owes another sum of money exceeding
$1,000, and has no defense, he can avert judg-
ment for not less than two years by trumping
up an answer which will carry the case over for
trial In fact the laws for the collection of debt
have been virtually abrogated Dy the ;mpossl-
bility of getting suits to hearing. What
with the delays Of reaching the first verdict
and the still more harassng posponements
which are easily obtained by the debtor whose
sole object is procrastinaton, the man who is
lucky enough to see the end of law suit must
have begun it very young, or else have lived to
an unusually old age. And this evil exists not
so much because there are great many suits
pending, as for the reason that the bench aud
| the bar seem to be hopelessly destitute of any
sense of moral obligation to expedite business.
Any other class Of people under the sun would
relieve press of affairs by extra work-by be-
ginning earlier and staying later, by sitting six
hours eight ten if necessary every day. tbs
not oftener than once in a century that you
hear of a judge or lawyer who has any such
radical ideas. And if by any chance such
marvel of consciantiousness is found wearing
the ermine or the gown he is apt to be looked
upon With disfavor by his peers as man whose
course, if not checked will tend to diminish the
emouments of the profession.
1t would be idle to deny that however able
| and profound the lawyers in the Beecher case
| may be they have proved themselves on both
l sides true to their guild in the matter of dis
| couraging speed. Once in awhile Judge Neil
l son has made praiseworthy effort to save
| time, but he has found no sympathy from any
| one of the ten counsellors arrsyed before him.
| But this hardship bears much more heavily up
on the principals than upon the public, and il
| they do not complain, nobody else need feel
l very bad about it--least of all the newspapers
| whose circulation the scandal has largely in-
| creased, / should think M-.-beecher wouid
lose all patiepeo with the snail like pace of the
| trial. 1t is o matter to him of prodigious ex-
| peuse as we'll as torturing anxiety. 1t wants
the purse of Fortunatus to endure the burdens
| of such an interminabe action. Nevertheless
he bears himself under the double infiiction
l with resignation, if not cheerlulness, and it
| would be we'll for parties not nearly SO much in
terested in the affair, to initiate his philOsoph
Ic example.
The trial has now reached that stage wher
! The theory of the defense has become manifest
| Every particle of the evidence which has bee
| adduced on behalf of Mr. Beecher has bee
l meant to establish the alleged conspiracy
| which Tilton was principal and Moulton at
| complice. When the testimony Of Mrs. Mou
i ton was taken, it startled the general reade
l of it immensely, and for few days the sen
l ment outside OF Mr.. Beecher's circle of freD
| and legal advisers was that it was fatally da
| aging, The counsel for the defense, on the
| er hand considered it as important mainly
| that it proved the existence OF the consplr'
| They reasoned that Tilton and Moulton hay
| become alarmed at the probability that
evidence would be successfully impeached,
/ coerced this lady into reciting carefully
1 pared, studiously committed, and repeat
1 rehearsed narrative so replete with dram
| coIoring as to be thrilling, so full OF incide
| to b, plausible, and so minute in matter OF
| tail that there would be no suspicion of its
ing been invented for the purpose. But
say that like every fabricated stateme
fails for the very reason that it is so sp'
| Apart from it's inherent and obvious def
ascribing language to Mr.. Beecher that
auires great stretch of the imaginati
conceive of his using in any situation or
any circumstances, ii contains fatal err
dates and relations of acts which the al
and the thermometer will efectually
| of. Mr. Beecher's lawyers assume
very confident of demonstrating that tt
| told by Mrs Moulton in the witness box
| sentially untrue-that there never we
such confessions or admissions as she sI
-shat all that she ever heard from his
what Tilton and Moulton had heard
acknowledgements Of having done ]
wrong without specifying the nature Of it, End
that she has repeatedly and with emphasis de-
clared within eight months, her answering
faith in Mr.. Beecher, and her determination to
stand BY him-declarations to which she has
given support by freely attending on his minis
try and by treating him as welcome and b on
ored guest at her house.
If they break Mrs. Moulton down there is an
end of the plaintiffs case. The other two wit
nesses have told.so many contradictory stories
that what they have had to say will count for
very little.
Still the defense mean to exhaust the whole
subject. To this end, they have gone into a
minute history of all the events which marked
the course of the plaintiffs life from Dec. 1870
to the present hour. Much Of the detail may
seem out of the line OF the inquiry, but 1t Will
probably be found to have its bearing. Fouf
of the strongest witnesses against the plaintitf
are gentlemen with whom he has been
on terms of intimate friendship Inese
are Oliver johnson, Samuel Wilkenson, jackson
s. Schultz, and John G. Sonthwick. Each
of these is in his way power johnson
was originally the associate OF Triton IN the
editorsbip of the Independent. He regarded DIS
vounr chief with genuine admiration, and was
verv fond of sounding his praises and predict
inc n glorious future for him. He stuck by him
until he found him immovabie in his purpose
TO stab the Plymouth pastor aud thus cause
alienation, estrangement, hostility. Wikensor
is a man of genius. Few men of letter: