Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1877-12-05

resting her face on her hands, said I:
81 have known Elizabeth Tilton
long and well, and / have made a
study of her. Much has been said
about her. She has been called
silly, weak and foolish, but let me
say that she is by far the ablest wo-
man in these two cities. She has
a perfect store of cunning, and her
manipulations Of two such men as
Theodore Tilton and Henry Ward
Beecher show it. Where is the wo.
man who could have kept two men
like these in control at the same
time as long as she did? Either the
world is crazy or | am. So many
have said to me that Mrs. Tilton
confessed through remorse. She
never felt the slightest feelings of
remorse. She told Mrs. Moulton
that she had no remorse for what
she had done. She said that the
period of her intimacy with Beecher
was the happiest of her life. She
always spoke of it with great salts
faction and as though with a mem-
ory filled with delight. Mrs. Tilton
always felt that she was snubbed by
Theodore Tilton and his set. When
she saw that she could charm Mr..
Beecher, she exerted herself so that
she might have the satisfaction
some day of saying to Tilton that,
although he had cut her repeatedly
and had forced on her feeling Of
inferiority, she had fascinated one
of the first men in the United
States, and could claim him as her
lover. Tilton's story that Elizabeth
broke off her intimacy with Beech
er is all bosh. Beecher was afraid
Of Tilton, and determined to put
an end to his amour. This angered
Elizabeth Tilton beyond anything
that could have happened, and, al
the same time, smarting under the
indignitieS she had suffered from
her husband, she determined, wo-
man like, to take her revenge on
Beecher by telling of their guilty
love, and by the same act to re.
yenge herself upon her husband fol
his prolonged neglect of her. Re.
morse? Why, it was the proudest
moment in her life. She could en-
joy'the dismay of Tilton at learn.
ing that she had been the paramoul
of the great Henry Ward Beecher
and she could feel that she had
amply punished her lover for thrust
ing her aside" HE8
A DIABoLIoAL ACT. Ei1
I" Yes" said a gentleman in the
room, "Tilton told me that his
wife's confession came upon him
like flash of lightning in a clear
sky. He was dazed by it."
Nov, that confession was,
think" continued the lady, ga most
diabolical act. l don't blame Eliza
beth Tilton SO much for what she
was guilty of as for blasting the
fair fame Of her children with such
deliberatiou. Now, people in books
and On the stage suffer remorse for
sin concealed. People in real life,
especially a woman, suffer remorse
for being found out. No remorse
can try the spirit Of such woman
as Mrs. Tilton. | was formerly an
active Christian, dcing much that
the world calls good, But find my
Christianity crushed out of me by
the conduct Of Henry Ward Beech
er and Elizabeth Tilton. They
have proIaned everything that was
to me sacred. He handled the sa-
crament through all Of his sin, pour
ed the wine, broke the bread, pro-
nounced the benediction, baptized,
and buried. She told me so much
Of Christ, how she loved him, and
what he had done for her. Yet she
lived in moral darkness. There
was the same hypocrisy in her social
life. While she was intimate with
Beecher, she wrote to her husband
on her birth day, beginning her
letter; TO my most precious darl-
ing on this most blessed day. She
is too clever and cunning a woman
by far for most persons to under
stand. The end and aim of her
existence now is to receive a iusti-
hOation, The only way to attain
this end is for her to get her hus-
band to take her back in silence.
She will construe this, and so will
the world, into q tacit admission by
TlltOn that he had wronged her,
while Tilton would base his con-
duct only on the ground that she
was his wife and the mother of his
children, and that it was his duty
to care for her. He would not see
that be had compromised his posi-
ton before the world. l knew her
tricks so well that | long ago con-
cluded that this was what she was
aiming for, and / have detected
many of the influences she has di-
rected in pursuit. Of this purpose.
She may succeed, but !, for one of
her old friends, would not recognize
her or any of the family"
WHAT MRS. TILToN SAYS.
Mr.. E. j. Ovinpton. Ia whose