The Benton weekly record. [volume] (Benton, Mont.) 1880-1885, 1883-05-26
BROOKLYN'S Ia TEST
SCANDAL.
a Friend of Beecher and Mem
ber of Plymouth Church
Down in the Dark Depths.
miscellaneous Misery.

A domestic scandal of great importance
has created another moral tornado in The
congregation of Plymouth chnruh, a..d the
evidences Of wrecks now i'll sight are q
ruined home, an exasperated husband, ali
angry and defiant wife, and SlC0, ,OVO sun
against the alleged seduccr. The husband
is Eli Johnson, formerly of Chicago, who
lost an income of $1,000 a week by the
Chicago fire, and was afterWard chosen to
disburse the $2G0,0 900 contributed by Gin
c:unati. During the entire war he was a
member of the executive committee of the
Unifed States Christian commission. III
Cincinnati he built up the largest Sunday
school il the United States, leaving It
with cnrumb"rpj property worth $2o,-
,0QJ H.. traces his ancestry back to " IL
HiaIn the COuqueror Oh the paternaI, and
to the Earl Of Shaft,bury on the maternal
side. Or late he has been temperance
lecturer. lie has crossed the ocean four
times on lecturing tours. and the Earl OF
Shaftsbury has presided at his meeting in
London NJ s. Johnson is a nice looking
woman, who was bnrnin Ohio, and was
married to Mr. johnson. in Indi.na iii
1858, according 10 the Quaker rite. The
alleged serpenC in the family is Mr.. Henry
A. Higley, wealth provision dealer,
member ofthe produce exchange and the
New York representative of NJ. S. Nichols
and Robert Lind bohm & Co., of Chicago.
He lives in elegant style with his wife in
this city, and isa prominent member OF
the Plymouth church. The storm burst
Yesterday when he was notified Mr..
Johnson's criminal damage suit. The
complainant alleges that on fifteen specific
occasions the defendant had intimate re-
lations with plaintiffs wife, Mrs. john
son lived at the Remsen house during his
absence on lecturing tours, and attended
Plymouth church and occupied Mr.. H'g-
iey's pew with the latter's family. When
Mr.. johnson returned he was received at
a public meeting, of which Mr.. HiSley
was the chief organizer and Rev Henry
Ward Beecher the chief speaker. soon
afterward his suspicious were aroused, and
he determined to test his wife's fidelity.
He told his wife he was going to Saratog
for few days. She accompanied. him to
the Grand Central depot in New York,
bale him good bye, and then, as alleged, |
sentthe following dispatch to Mr.. Higley:
April 16. 1Ss3--H. A. Higley, Produce
Exchanges: Lef. on o'clock train, Grand |
Central; remain up town.
NJ. johnson employed two detectives. |
who have shadowed his wife and Mr.. |
Higley, ana claims to have found ont |
s~me significant facts. The employees at
the Remsen house make atfidavts of tre-
quent visits of Mr.. Higley to Mrs. john
sons rooms Since Mr. Johnson's dis
covery of the alleged improprietes there
have been many violent quarrels between
him and his wife, which eliminated a few |
days ago, when he accused her, He found |
letters in her handwriting which he
thinks about completes scheme for visit 7
to Europe by Mrs. johnson and Mr.. Hig-
ley. Mrs. Johnson has separated from
herhuSblnd and is living with Il married
sister III New York. Mr.. Higey's friends
say that it is a case of black mail.
Mr.. johnson still boards at the Romsen
house, at Clinton and Remsen streets,
where his wife stayed for a year and a
half, and where he says that he discover
ed proof of her inidelity. The hotel is
kept by Mrs. Gloucester, a wealthy color
ed woman. Both she and her guests are
retfcent about the matter. Mr.. Johnson
is a light built man, aiout five feet eight
inches high, with a small, partly bald
head and brown mustache. He told the
story Yesterday, without reserve, of his
espionage on his wife. He said that he
did not get holdgof the letter duplicating :
Mr.. Higley until after a sharp struggle
with her at her room in the Remsen
house, where she had it concealed in bed.
He showed the prints of her nails. He
spoke with sorrow Of his wifes loss of af-
fection for him, but said that he could no
longer deal tenderly with her, and was re-
solved to punish"the man who had caused
the misfortune.
Mr.. johnson has spent two days at the
Atlantic house, Ocean Grove, collecting
evidence. Mrs. johnson s staying with
her sister, Mrs. Ladd, at No l32 Macon
street, Brooklyn. Detective Ford, who
was hired by johnson to watch his wife's
movements, and who afterward quarreled
with him, said that he considered it a
blackmailing scheme. He was hired, he
said, by Mitchell. temperance advocate.
and was told "there was money for four Of
them ir it,
Gen. Grant as a HumOrist.
From Gen. Grants. chamber Of com