The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1888-03-28
WAS BEECHER GUILTY
A Member Of Plymouth Church Says Tbsl
the Pastor vas Innocent
An Imprudent Utterance Said to Have Bes "a
Wrongly COnstrued-Why the Preacher
Humbled Himself Before the
Enraged Husband.
IChieago Times special.l

lCh1cdgO 1lmes Special
SAN DIEGO, Cal, March 2O.-Was Henry
Ward Beecher guilty of the terrible charge
laid at his door by Theodore Tilton, or WIS
be bound by such q remarkable chain OF
circumstances that to save other hearts
from aching, he was compelled to Keep
silent, when a word would have cleared
him from the shadow of suspicion?
A prominent member of Plymouth
church, now in this city, is a personsl
friend of Joseph c. Hendr5 K. postmaster of
Brooklyn, n. Y. Hendryx was one Of the
few men who knew the history Of the
Beecher-Tilton scandal. Pfior to his
coming West the member of P Plymouth
church received from Hendryx story in
corroboration of what he already knew of
the unpublished history Of the case.
The recent announcement that the pos
thumous papers of Beecher would soon
give publicity to the story Of the scandal
leaves the Plymouth church member free
to make the following statement:
Mrs. Tilton was on the eve OF confnes
ment when q meddlesome acquaintance,
who had learned of Tilton's intrigue with
Victoria Woodruff, went to the sick and
nervous woman and told her the whole
story.
MrE. Tilton was thrown into violent
grief and excitement, and having no one
else to advise her sent for her pastor.
Beecher came and heard the scandal
with indignation and disgust. Tilton was
a member of his church and had been his
fayorite protege. To fad him unfaithful
to his marriage vows was too much for the
preachers patience, and he hastily said:
"If were you / would never bear chill.
dren to such man."
The remark rankIed in the sick woman's
mind, and, after q feverish night, she sent
for her physician, who was also q member
of Plymouth church, a man of quick SYM
| patbies, and one to whom Beecher was
under unusual obligations. The interview
was long, and marked on one side by the
pleadings of the wife and on the other by
the protests OF the surgeon. That day 8
child was prematurely born.
The next day
MRS. TILToN WAS DELIRIoUs,
snd thought her sin had come to her lips
and showed itself in iRcoherent language
| At this critical period Theodore Tilton,
who had been absent from the city, re-
| turned and learned her condition. In the
| wife's delirium she mentioned the name
OF Beecher. Was he responsible? Tilton
! questioned the nerve wrought woman and
| learned enough, as he thought to verify
his Egspicions. Then he sat down and
wrote the note TO the Plymouth pastor,
In the meantime Beecher had been in
| formed of Mrs. Tilton's condition. He
was in an agony Of remorse fearing, what
be had said, had led her to the fatal step.
| Then the letter from Tilton came. Its
Language meant that Beecher had ruined
his home, but it was construed as hus-
bands rebuke for crime against his own
| posterity. Broken down, Beecher wrote q
| pathetic note, in which he begged forgive
| ness, and said he humbled himself before
| Theodore as he would before his God.
To nlton this was q confession of a
| graver crime; TO Bsecher it was but an
! apology for an inconsiderate utterance,
but the scandal was then begun in mutual
Misunderstanding.
When the charge sgainst the Plymouth
| pastor crept into print Beecher's first i'm
pulse was TO tell the story, but there stood
his friend the physician, man whose
! friendship Beecher had often used in q
financial way, and whose professional good
name and even personal liberty were In
| volved. So far as known Mrs. Tilton had
never reyealt his name. To do so would
have opened prison doors across his path.
Recognizing this, Beecher determined to
| bear the odium OF the charge until the
courts should lift it from his shoulders.
The cause was transferred from an ecclesi-
astical to legal iudicature. True to his
friend and true to himself, he denied the
charge alleged against him. The physician
was silent. Mrs. Tilton declared her pas
tors innocence. but Theodore Tilton, with
eontrite and incriminating letters in his
! hand, declared him guilty. The ury
disagreed, and ever afterward Beecher' g
fame lay under a cloud of calumny.
This Is the explanation which believe
will be found in Beecher's posthumous
papers," says the gentleman referred to.
THE essence of that document have long
known about, It was prepared ten years
ago, and was to be published after
Beecher's death and that OF the inculpated
| physician. From a paragraph in the
papers / Judge that the time has arrived
when it may be given to the public.n