River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1876-02-24
Onver John.on,. Letter and ExpIan.
ton.
lPrivate aud CONFIDENTIAL

and confirmed by public rumOr, that YOU
have expelled Mr.. Tilton from the editor.
ship of The Union. At first stubborn.
~ refused TO believe the reports, but
| alter hearing them from so many quar-.
tiers, begin 10 think they must be true.
The statement is also passing from lip to
lip that you refuse to fulfil the pecuniary
obligations assumed In the contract with
Mr.. TIltol, assigning as a reason for so
doing your conviction that he is an inn
moral man, etc have neither seen Mr..
Tiltou nor had communication with him
for more than a week, and in writing
you tins letter act
WITHOUT HIS KNOWLEDGE,
IN simple obedience to my sense Of duty
as his friend and yours. At the close Of
the interview at your house on Christmas
day, understood you to pledge your
word that you would do nothing respect.
ing Mr.. Tilton, and would take
no step in the matter without con-
sulting me. On this point am sure
cannot be mistaken. If, therefore, you
have done to Tilton what you are report.
ed to have done, have you not broken
your promise! Certainly you have not
consulted me on the subject since that
day, except so far as TO inform me that
you had heard fresh reports, putting
matters in a worse light. | was expect.
ing from day to day that you would seek
my advice, and therefore, when the news
papers reported that you had summarily
dismissed Mr.. Tilton from the Union,
contradicted the story among my friends,
believing that it could not possibly be
true. In this matter | claim no rights
beyond those which you voluntarily and
without any solicitation on my part con-
ferred upon me. You took me in your
confidence. have never sought even by
an inquiry or hint TO elicit from you
anything beyond what you deliberately
chose to communicate. More than once
or twice did you say to me, III shall keep
still ] will not move without your ad-
vice." What has occurred to change
your purpose in this respect, | do not
know. OF course, | understand you to
be acting upon the belief. no doubt sin
cerely entertained, Of the charges made
agar st him, but even upon that assump.
ton, | frankly confess that your course,
if you have done what rumor declares,
seems to Inc cruel, especially when con-
trasted with your conduct toward an.
other man whom you say you know to
have been extensively guilty Of the same
oflenses. 1t seems to me that you should
not have hardened your heart against
Mr. Illton, the same week that you paid
a high premium for pew in the church
whose pastor you say,
YoU KNOW TO BIZ N ADULTERER.
If your action toward Mr.. Tilton pro.
ceeds only from sincere adherence of
the offenscs with which he stands charged,
why do you take a different course with
your pastorl lfyou would give't ono
a chance to recover himself, why not be
equally forbearing to the ether This
say on the assumption that Mr.. Tilton
is guilty, but ! do not myself believe that
he Is half as guilty as you suppose. In
short, knoS that some Of the stories
told against him are false, and that ma
lignant persons are on his track with the
intention of bounding him down, and |
think you have been to some extent
victim of their machiuation. Do you not
remember saying TO me that in all that
you might do IN this case you would be
governed by desire to spare TiltOn from
exposure and to give him a chance to re.
cover himself, if he was wrongl And yet,
| car people say on your alleged author.
lty that he is so bad man that you can
have nothing to do with him. All, Mr..
Bowen, If Mr.. Beecher is fit to be your
pastor. Mr.. Tilton cannot be unfit to edit
a secular journal You may say that the
one has repented while the other has not,
but Mr.. Beecher, since he confessed to
you, has repeated his offense. He may
have convinced you that this is not so
but, if so, YOU are the victim of a decep-
ton. You probably know something
that do not Of the charges against Mr..
TiltOn, but also know something that
you do not of the evidence against Mr..
Beecher. Ii he now denies his guilt in
the matter whereof he was accused in
that Christmas day interview at your
house,
He LIES IN THE FACE or EVIDENCE
that would convict him in court Of JUS
tice. That evidence | have seen, but |
would have you be merciful to him, doing
nothing to bring upon his head the odium
of an ungodly and relentless world. |
want you to be equally kind and merciful
to Tilton, as | fear you are not. Your
precipitate action is likely to lead to fear
ful consequences. lie may have provok-
ed you, but cannot forget how ha- .nly
you spoke to him at your own house,
making him feel that you were not the
tender-hearted friend who would deal
kindly and generously with HIM and TO
whom he might unbosom himself in full
confidence, cOnfeSslng wherein he had
done wrong. Your hardness reoelled
him, and perhaps drove him to conceal.
ments as unwise for himself as embarrass.
ing to you. Now, anybody can be good
and tender to saint, but it takes a
Christian to be good and generous to a
sinner. | did hope that you would have
grace given you in this case to act very
HIGH AND NOBLE PART
and to become the agent in Gods hands
for shielding an old friend so far as he
might be innocent, and leading him TO
repentance for any sins that he had COM
mitted. "He that converteth the sinner
from the error Of his WAYS shall save /.
soul from death and shall hide multitude
of sins Would to God that the honor
might have been yours. write under
strong feeling and only because | must.
II ! have written any word unjust to our
s,lC forgive me, and believe me your
friend, OLIVER JOHNSON.
Explanation in 1916.
Mr.. johnson has written TO the New
York Tribune long letter explanatory
Of the above. The part explaining the
nature Of the evidence whi,h he had seen
Of Beecher' guilt, is as follows:
The letter shows what all my intimate
friends knnW hnrnrn-.fhni NJ IL lima L