Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-11-02
BRANDED AS A LIE.
The Story of Mrs. Beecher's Tragic
Death in Japan Denounced as Without
Foundation.

The Story of Mrs. Beecher's Tragic
Foundation.
The report of the terrible fate of Mrs
Beecher, who it was said was a native Of
Georgia and an American adventures, in
Japan, says a Washington special of Oct
80, appears to be incorrect. The Republi.
can this morning prints the following COS.
sip about the affair:
"The story is so impossible that it would
be useless to deny it," said Secretary Mi,
sake, of the Japan Legation, when the re-
iterated story of Mrs. Beecher's execu.
ton was shown to him last night. SIN
the first place, Mrs. Beecher has never
been in Japan. The writer of the story
could not have known anything about the
social condition Of the country. l cannot
understand how it could have en- writ
ten, unless the party had been reading the
Arabian Nights stories. 1t looks more
like a scrap of ancient history than any
thing from modern times"
"What is there in the customs of the
country that renders such an occurrence
such an impossibilityW
Sin the first place, punishment by death
is only inflicted for murder, and, es-
pocially, infanticiGc Cy i>;G+tricide.- Then
lnging is the method of execution, and
has been for six years at least. Before
that ZanZai, or cutting the head off with
the sword, was the method, Hanging is
now tie only mode, and that is only
carried out after trial by court. The
jurors, or gOsing kan, before whom the
evidence is taken, are not selected for
their ignorance, as l am told is the case
here, but are appointed by the govern
ment for their fitness and selected from
a legal class"
sis there any punishment for infidelity
such as it is charged Mrs. Beecher COM
mitted?'
''NOne; nor is there any for marital I'M
faithfulness except social ostracism and
the divorce which the injured party may
procure. Morals are fully as pure in
Japan as here or in Europe, and mis-
tresses are no more commonly or openly
kept than in any other country, and there
is far less of social Wickedness than in
many of what are called more civilized
countries. Then again, the Emperor has
no such arbitrary power as he is repre-
scented as exercising in this case. No one
who had lived for a month IN Japan
would believe the story, much less write
such trash"
els bOw-stringing known as means of
death in Japan?"
81 never heard of it, except in accounts
Of life in Turkey. We have 10 word for
1t and know nothing of it, except in litera-
ture. 1t has never been practiced i'll
Japan"
Hon. II. w. DennisOn, Adviser to the
Foreign Office at Toxic, who has lately
returned to this city, after 10 years. alb
sence in Japan, confirmed what was
learned at the legation regarding the i'm
possibility of the story. The Prime Min
lister, Son Je, he represented as being the
last man to be even suspected of such an
alliance, and especially with q foreigner,
being extremely diffident and speaking
no language but his own. In addition to
this, he was perfectly certain that Mrs.
Beecher, or the Countess POurtales, has
never been in Japan. She was married
in this city, he said, the Count being at
the time an attache Ofthe French Legation
here. They then lived in Paris, where
the lady took rank as famous beauty,
being also well known for her intimacy
to the eccentric Princess MSSttttarnicn. Mr..
Dennison was told by a diplomat earlier
in the evening that he saw Nine. Pourtales
in Paris in 1876.
lady's name with that of a French Colonel
was improbable, from the fact that the only
man of that description in Japan left there
in 1878. He was middle-aged, married
man. Apart from all this, life is just as
well protected in Japan as here, the Code
Napoleon, with improvements, being in
full force and well administered. Many
mixed marriages existed, and both parties
seemed happy and contented, the Japan
csc making good husbands and wives,
respec lively, to foreigners. In addition
to those positive denials of the POSSIBLE
ity of the story, information is said to
be in possession of parties in New York
to the effect that Countess Pourtales,
formerly Mrs. Beecher, was in Switzer-
land. On Sept. 30 her husband was to
return to his post in Java. Friends in
New York are said to Indignantly deny
that any of the alleged premises for the
story are correct. She is said to have
been at Manibad on Sept. %, and at the
Chateau de la COrbiere, Friebourg canton,
switzerland. on Sept. 30.