The Portland daily press., 1875-01-22

at all that night. | put the letter in my bureau
drawer after got there with Tilton. remem-
Der that the next time l saw the paper was at
the time of the publication of the Woodruff
story of Now I'd. 1 then found the paper IN
my tin box, to which it had been removed from
the bureau drawer.
don't remember where 1 saw the paper that
Tilton had copy Of. first knew that he had
a copy of the paper at either the time of the
publication of what was called the True
Story" or the Bacon letter. l don't think Til
ton made a copy of it the night ! read it to
him. My recollection is that he did not take
a short hand copy of it. L don't remember
that he did on any other occasion have an OPP
portunity to copy the letter, neither did l
know where the portion of it was obtained
which was published in the Bacon letter.
Beecher dictated this letter, sentence by sem
tence, deliberately and took it down. This
letter was written as fast as he dictat ed it to
me. Witness was here handed the letter. This
seems to be written with quill pen and l gen
orally wrote with a steel pen. Counsel here
read the letter of contriton, following the pune
tuation as laid down in the letter. think
the first sentence, before dictated on that occa-
son was the one beginning, II ask, through
you, Theodore Tilton's forgiveness, &c" L
wrote this letter as fast as it was dictated to
me, but do not know how long it took. l don't
recolle ct if Beecher ever dictated any other let
ter than this to me. This letter was not in my
ordinary handwriting, as | do not usually write
with quill pen. l write very irregular hand,
sometimes large and at other times small.
l saw Beecher again Oh the I'd OF January in
his house. Saw him in the back part and went
up stairs with him. Do not recollect.if he went
to his study. This was at or o'clock in the
afternoon, and / may have remained there two
or three hours. My interview with him was
alone. l cannot say who opened the door to
me- 1t was on this day or day or two after
that he read the draft of Bowens letter to me
He read me the drift and said it was just
and truthful L then told Beecher that Til ton
was preparing a letter to Bowen. do not re-
member if Beecher asked me what were the
charges preferred by Bowen against him. L
told Beecher would try and get hold of this
letter for the purpose of negotiating with
Bowen. Tilton wanted to publish this letter
and let the public know as to his severance OF
connection with Bowen. Tilton began writing
| the letter on the evening of Jan. LIST.
In my statement to Gen. Butler l told him
| Beecher had asked me if 1t would be safe to
| let the sale of Plymouth church pews take
place. l replied in return that it would. On
| Jan. 1st Beecher told me he had prayed to God
| for help to discontinue their sexual relations;
| these were the very words he always used when
speaking of their sexual intimacy.
| Mr.. Tracy asked witness if he had in his pos
session any documents relating to Bessie Tur-
| ner, and before reply was given, counsel ask
| ed the lawyers on the other side to produce
| them.
Ex Judge Morris stated that he had asked
counsel on the other side to furnish him with
| list of documents he required on the day be-
| fore as it would take a long time to find
| them
| While counsel were engaged in the search
| the cross examination was continued, handlng
| the letters to witness.
saw these two letters before gave them to
| Judge Morris. They came into my possession
shortly after their writing, JAM 10th and Jan.
| 18th, 1871. l have had them ever since.
| / don't know how received them. They may
| bov lnv or mail RpSSia TUr-
ner was then residing with Tilton. When
got them put them away. talked with Til.
ton after reading the letters. Do not know il
he gave them to me- These are all the papers
i recollect having received from Bessie Turner.
| Arrangements were made for her going away
before 1 received the letters. do not remem-
Der when she went away. l think have got
| bills that will show when she entered the
school. Counsel offered the letters in evidence
to show the girl had been sent away because
| she had heard stories against Mr.. Tilton and
| not because she had heard stories against Mr..
| Beecher. The court ruled out these letters.
| Counsel offered to read the letters, which was
objected to, but counsel received permission OF
| the court to read the letter OF Jan. Eth, ad-
| dressed to Tilton by Bessie Turner, stating
that the story of Titon's carrying her from the
| bed was wicked lie and the letter OF Jan. 10,
| telling Mrs. Tilton that Mrs. Morse had offered
| inducements to tell about her husband which
| she did not think would be right after the kind
hess Sno received at OOtn Oh Gueir uduuS. Iucoo
| two letters were admitted in evidence and the
| court then took recess.
| After recess witness cross-examination was
| resumed He was handed the envelope con-
| tanning the Bessie Turner exhibits. and he re-
cognized The handwriting on it as Tiltons. The
| envelope was placed in the evidence
Witness continued-The first money receiv-
ed from Beecher was on June 26, 1871, in a
| check for $155.85 L received it enclosed in an
| envelope. L told him the bill for Bessie Tur,
| ners schooling expense was due, and in reply
received that check. This was the first bill l
received or knew of for Besse's schooling. !
| think the bill was from q. G. Betty, Principal
| of the school, On getting the bill l communi-
| Gated with Beecher. The next money was re-
| ceived Nov. IA, 1871, when l got $3.50 by checks
| from Beecher, Mrs. Tilton saying it was re-
| quired for Bessie Turner The next sum was
| got on May 30, 1872, a check for $294.76. re-
| ceved request from Mrs. Tilton in August,
| 1871, for $3.50, which gave her, aud the Sl5O
given me in November, 1871, was to reimburse
me for my advance to her. The next money
was on February 49, 1873, $500-$245 of it was
| paid Betty and the balance was given to Mrs.
| Tilton. 1 paid it to Mrs Titon in currency.
| do not know how the fact of Mrs. Tilton's re
| curing money was conveyed tome, Qetter pro-
| duced and handed to witness). This note is in
| my handwriting; | sent it to Beecher. l re
| ceiyed the amount asked for in letter from
| Mr.. Beecher. The letter was read, dated New.
| port, October 81 1882. requesting the sum cl
| S29t 10y. L do not remember WnaG the money
| was for paid the first bill of Bessie Turner
| by check for $15527. Counsel here read the
| various items of bills paid for the maintenance
| of Bessie Turner at the Seminary at Steuben-
ville)
Witness continued-The letters of the 9TH OF
| February, 1871, are within my recollection.
| One was from Ti.ton to me, and the other two
| were from Beecher to Mrs. Tilton. They were
| all written for the purpose of reconciliation.
This was shortly before the starting OF the
| Golden Age newspaper Triton invested some some
| Mr.. Woodruff subscribed $4,000, subscribed
| $4,000, and Mr.. Robinson subscribed $1,000. The
| terms of these subscriptions were that they
should be paid in by Tilton, | believe, and I'll
ton gave them his notes for the amounts. The
| subscriptions were paid in as they were wanted.
| After the I'd of March all Tilton's time was
| absorbed with the paper. During this time
| saw Beecher, but not frequently. Tilton might
| have been present on one or two OCCASIONS.
was at Tilton's house shortly after the Golden
| Age started, when Beecher and Mrs. woodruff
| were there This was in 1871, before the publl-
| cation of the Woodruff statement. L think in
the month of February. L was looking for
| Beecher and found him in the office of the
| Golden Age with Tilt on.
| Beecher, Tilton, Oliver johnson, and myself
were together at the yacht race in October,
| 1871. We were together there about three or
| four hours. Invited Beecher and Titon there.
| do not remember if we visited the warehouses
| along the river GQaG Gay. L 40 uOb kHOW IL
Beecher and Tilton dned at my house after the
| yacht race.
The publication of the Woodruff biography
| was in September, 1871. do not remember If
| it was published in the Golden Age. 1t was
| published in the form of a small pamphlet. l
never read it all through. Her life was issued
| in tract form, but l do not know if it was one
of the Golden Age publications. Mr.. Wood
| ruff. about this time surrendered his note to
Mr.. Tilton and was released from payment OF
the half of his subscription which he had not
paid. 1 do not recollect the date of publication
| of HSir Marmadukes Musings" Tilton never
told me his publication of the life of Victoria
| Woodruff in the Golden Age was disastrous to
| him and his newspaper enterprise. Iilton said
| to me be did il as a friendly act and in the in-
| terest of the repression of the stories against
Beecher. 1 told him thought its effect would
| be disastrous to the paper. cannot Tx date
| of my going oat of the paper, but think it was
same time as the other.
Witness said it would be better for Tllton to
| be sole proprietor of the paper did not then
| consider that Tilton was the sole proprietor OF
the paper. The notes were given oy Tllton to
| be payable on the success of the Golden Age,
In September, 1871, Mrs. Woodruff visited my
house, She may have dned there once or twice.
may have urged my wife to make her &C
quaintance think the last time l saw her
was in the autumn of 1872 / don't remember
that Tilton and l had any difficulty with Mrs.
Woodruff when last saw her. never heard