The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1875-03-01

MIR. Brecher asked what he should do if the
letter of retraction was given up. MIR.
Moulton pledged his word of honor that he
would keep both letters of confession and
retraction or destroy them. Mr.. Beecher
said he did not want the retraction letter de-
stroyed. The reason these papers were
destroyed, claimed the counsel, was because
they did not contain word about the
charge of adultery, but only improper pro-
posals. Was this paper destroyed with the
knowledge or consent of MIR. Beecher?
No, he would show them that this paper
was not destroyed, If it was destroyed, un-
til this conspiracy was Matched between
Theodore Tllton and Victoria Woodruff to
destroy Beecher They would show them
by the testimony of a man whose word was
not questioned, that after the publication Of
the Woodruff scandal Tilton showed to
him the paper which he said was copy of
the document shown Mr.. Beecher on the
night of the 30th of December. This man
asked Tilton if that was in the handwriting
of Mrs. Tilton, and he replied that 1t was
not that the original was in Moulton's pos
session, and yet Nloulton does not know
where or from whom he received the letter
from Mrs. Tilton asking for the letter of
retrdction. He did not remember if she
was in bed or not at the time he got the let
ter. 1t was not very important in the char
acterzng of this witness conduct as to
where he got the letter, or in what manner,
but it was important as to the credibility of
his statement, and as to the amount of be-
lief to be placed i'll his testimony. Was
the friendship of Moulton to Beecher a sin
cere one.
1t had been freely asked how could Mr..
Beecher apologize to a husband who had
brought false charge against him? But
the contingency had been foreseen. The
emissary OF Tilton entirely dropped the
charge of improper advances and neither
then nor ever afterward alluded 20 it; but
using the language and name of gentle
man, and pledging his word of honor to the
truth of what he said he found no difficulty
in convincing Mr.. Beecher that the unhappy
little woman who-as he well knew and
her husband knew-had always loved Mr..
Beecher with reverential affection, had
been misled by his flattering attentions and
sympathetic interest into an actual passion
for him, which had destroyed her domestic
peace, and the struggle between which and
her sense of duty had shattered her mind.
That this was the fact we have shown
that Mr.. Beecher was made fully to believe,
and did not this afford a more satisfactory
explanation of her mysterious charge than
his previous supposition that it was extorted
| from her by her cruel husband? Nothing
was more natural than that woman,
whose mind was shaken by this cause,
should imagine that tine object of her love
| had solicited her affection Nothing more
natural than that in an hour of remorse and
| mental prostration she should confess her
own passion, and assert she had not only
loved but had been loved for where is the
woman living who will freely confess that
she had loved without encouragement an
without solicitation This supposed state of
facts cleared up the whole mystery, explain
ed The whole disaster to the family and re-
lieved the husband from all suspicion of
conspiracy against his pastor; but where
did it leave the pastor himself? 1t made his
defense impossible, so long as the accusa-
ton brought against him was not coarse and
w gar in its terms. lie was not free from
| fault His own conscience condemned
him. Although he well knew that he had
never said an improper word nor offered an
improper caress, yet he could not deny the
charge of having beguled the woman's af-
fections without imputing to her the indel-
cacy of "thrus ting her affections upon him
unsought." This is what he said he would
die before he would do. This is what he
said in his statement last August that he
had always found it impossible 10 do. Nay,
more. With such instructive horror did he
shrink from such defense that he would
not use it to Justify himself before his own
conscience but assumed at once thatin some
way he must have been to blame. He
must have enticed the affection of this wife
from her husband, and to this charge
which was the only one intimated by Moul-
ton-he pleaded guilty before his own con-
| al nAI IT, ~ mr.
to the preparation of the letter of contrition
Mr.. Tracy said Moulton says it was die
tated by Beecher deliberately, sentence by
sentence, and that he wrote it down as die
tated and that the paper was not only ir
Beecher's words, but the very sentences OF
his construction, while Beecher will tell you
gentlemen, that this paper was prepared to-
wards the close of a long and excited con
yersation, embracing many more topics thar
those referred to by Moulton, who remark
cd that Tilton was mimical to him and de-
sirous of his overthrow and that if Tiltor
could but know how kindly Beecher had ex
pressed himself forward him in conversation
it would remove all harshness from hi
mind. Mr.. Beecher declined to write said
''you can tell him what l say" to which
Mouton replied, sit would have more ct
feet if it came from you in some authenti,
form" "Well," said Beecher, "you cal
make memorandum of what says" an,
thereupon Moulton took pen and begal
to write what Beecher had said during tn
conversation. The only dictation whcl
Beecher did in the matter was on two o
three occasions, when Moulton asked him
] "what word or phrase did you use on thi
point2" and Beecher supplied the word o
l phrase as the case might have been. TIL
: preparation of the paper was the last thin
Gone at the interview. 1t was complete
after Beecher's tea bell had rung, which, o
Sundays always rings at O'Clock. TIL
, sun had set, the room was growing dar
and the gas was not lit. 1t was written j
great haste. 1t was not read over by Moul
ton, nor was it read by Beecher. 1t woul
: hardly have been possible for either to rea
t it. When asked by Mouton to sign i
Beocher refused on the ground that it Wa
not his paper but being pressed, he fnall
took pen and wrote on the extreme lowe
a euge of the last page: 81 have trusted tn
to Moulton in confidence. Henry War
d Beocher.' The court then adjourned