The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1875-06-17

ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT.
TO THE DAILY LNTELLIGENCER
BEEcHER.TILToN.
Sixth Day OF Beach's Argument.-
Mrs. TIltOn's Letters,

| SIKH Dny OIL beucuh AEkuueuts'
Mrs. TIltOn's Letters.
New York, June l6,-At 10 minutes
past | o'clock to-day Mr., Beach continu'
cd his argument for the prosecution in the
suit against BeeCher. Taking up Mrs
Tilton's retraction letter he said the word
"inculpating" used in the letter was not d
womans word and did not belong to the
phrasCOlogy OF the household. BeecheF
uses the same word in his letter Of contri.
tion. Beecher testified that Mrs. Tilton
wrote the letter, butitwas written at his
dictation, ,as she says BeeCher wrote the let.
ter and she copied it, When Beecher re-
turned to MoultOn's that night he told no
one that he had received the retraCtiOn,
and il innocent how gladly and cheerlully
hG would have gone into the presence OF
TiltOn and told him Of 1t. Moulton was
told by Beecher that Tilton had read him
a confession Of Mrs, Tilton's, charging
BeeCher with having sexual intercourse
with her, and Mrs. Tilton wrote a letter
toher husband stating that she hoped her
husband would never be misled by u good
woman rs she had been misled by good
man. This was said Of this man BeeCher
whom the jury were asked to believe 10
be all that was noble and good,
Mr.. Beach then reviewed the Catherine
Gaunt letter, in which Mrs. Tilton says
to her husband, "Bless God with me for
Catherine Gaunt," and "Now / am pre-
pared to renew the marriage vow and
keep II as the Savior desired--in the
heart" Counsel followed this by reading
Mrs. Tiltons statement to Rev, DR.,
storrs, that Mr.. Beecher, her friend and
pastor, had made improper proposals. to
her and solicited her to become wife to
him with all that name implied.
After an analysisof the familiar points
In the case Mr.. Beach said that every
effort at investigation in the matter was
suppressed by Beecher with the great
power which ho exercised in that COM
munity. He never prosecuted an inquiry
into It, but stamped II under his foot
There must have been some
CoNcloUsNEss OF GUILT
which caused him to be silent and to
stile the investigation, This man was to be
Judged according to our knowledge Of
men and Of his character, and when we
found him sinking in the darkests paths
we must impute to him the ordinary mo.
tiyes which showed tho true criminal.
When Richards was on the stand the
other side refused to ask him whether in
1870 he did not hear the confession Of his
sister with regard to her adultery with
Beecher, and were all these considerations
to be overlooked, and were the remarks
OF the other side to overcome these views
Of the case, and was this man in his holy
robes, this potentAte Of the pulpit, to
oyerturn the rules by which the evidence
was to be guided by the law.
MRS, TlLToN AS A WITNESS.
Mr.. Beach referred to the offer OF the
prosecution to admit Mrs. Tilton as n
witness, and argued that the wife's dis
ability to appear was an inCapacity which
couldbe waived by both parties consent.
Ing. II both sides had agreed to tho ad.
mission Of either Mrs. Iilton or Mrs.
Bcochcr MS witnesses there was no power
which could exclude their testimony.
Why was not Mrs. TilLOn called. The
Jury must consider that she was a pure,
white and spOtlesS woman In the eyes OF
BeeChcr and Tilton. The jury would sec
that Mrs. Tilton dared not take the stand
mud with the name Of her Maker on her
lips, deny tho accusation which she had
so often repeated. Mr.. Beecher had over
aud over again denied the fact Of his i'm.
proper connection with Mrs. Tilton, but
The counsel did not depend alone on oral
testimony. lie had written confessions,
sustaining and upholding the oral proofs,
which must be taken not alone collective
ly, but also separately, and these must be
taken In connection with the character Of
EeeCher. MoultOn, Tilton and Mrs.
MOulton bear testimonyto Beecher's con.
iessions Of guilt to them, and Moulton
and Woodruff testify that adultery was
tho charge talked about with Tracy, and
II this were so Beechcr was n ioresworn
man. Recess taken.
LETTERS OF CoNTRITToN AND APOLOGY.
After the recess Mr.. Beach continued
his argument and took up the subject Of
the letter OF contrition or the letter Of
apology Either name, he said, was ap-
propriatc for the document. The ques-
iion was whether BeeCher's ideas at the
time were represented fairly by the paper.
It was maintained by some that this d6cu-
ment was not good English and could not
have been dictated by a master Of the Ian.
giage like BCeclier. Well, opinions diff.
fered on this point. One Of the most cul-
tiyAted editors In the city Of New York
when this letter was read to him for the
first time exclaimed, "That Is Beecher all
over. Shakespeare might as we'll deny
the authorship Of lfamlets soliloquy as
for Beecher to deny the authorship oithut
letter." lie did not know that he could
refute the charge that the letter was I'm.
grammatical any better than by reading
Il. Mr. Beach then quoted from one Of
Beecher's "leCtHre room talks" some re-
marks to the effect that extravaganza Of
language was natural and justifable NJ
great crisis Of feeling, and that at these
moments men did not stand upon gram
mar or nicelies Of expression. II was not
right, though Beecher said to adopt TO
common circumstances the language Of
those
PARoxYsMAL MOMENTS.
Here was that word "patoxySmalD
again. Mr.. Beach quoted the passage In
the letter OF apology referring to "that
poor woman lying there with folded
hands" and pointed out the correspond.
ence between this description and h pas.
sage referring to Mrs. Tilton in Beecher's
statement. lie also quoted from the
statement Of BeechGr description Of the
manner In which he poured forth his soul
10 Moulton like water, and then cited q
passage In a letter from Beecher to Moul.
ion in 1873, speaking Of his letter to him
tMoulton). Beecler, the Jury would see,
would not deny the authorship Of this
letter Of conttilion in 1873. Mr.. Evarts
ridiculed the idea Of confession, Mr..
Beach said, and declared that criminals
did not confess. Counsel here quoted the
celebrated passage on the power Of con.
science in Mr.. Webstef's speech at the
White murder trial, In which he declared
that there was no resource for the guilty
nut CONFESSION OR SUICIDE,
and that suicide was confession. The let
ters Of February Z, 1871, one to Moullori
and the other to Tilton, from Beecher,
"a