Year: 1874

At lhSt every tuiHS WoS AiPo AcA OApSouASt "A--
Theodore Tilton published the story and YER
fled it with his solemn oath. To complete
this strange history MIR. Beecher retorts by
specific denial of all the allegations, and as
explicitly charges Tilton and Moulton
with pursuing him all these long years
for the purposes of blackmail. This
charge, like the others, is not without
evidences of its truth. and so we are left in
bewilderment and doubt as to what should be
the verdict in the case. For the present we
shall have to be content with judgment
something like the old Scotch verdict, "not
proven" and wait for time to set the matter
at rest. Happily, the verdict has become of
little real Importance for the wrong is no
longer in the crime ch-rged against Mr..
Beecher but in the moral and social ethics
which could make such charge credible We
may be surprised that such man would sub
NIT to blackmail for an instant if no was in
nocent, but we are even moro surprised that
he should make other peoples houses so
much his own as to give on excuse for it.


From such O state of social life as is re-
vealed in these aspects Of the great Brooklyn
scandal it is impossible to draw any deduc-
tions. 1t is story that carries with it its
own moral. Men sat themselves up as gods
and society worshipped them. Outside of the
God of the Bible the divinities have
always quarrelled among themselves, and Mr.
Boecher, in his description Of Tlton, has given
us an amusing instance Of one phase Of the
struggle between the modern Jupiter and
Apollo. "When he was but boy" says MIR.
Beecher, she looked up to me with affection
ate admiration. After some years he felt him
self my equal and was very companionable,
and when he had outgrown me and reached
the position of the first man Of the age, he
still was kind and patronzing." This is very
bitter remark for one god to make of another,
and we are not sure that the sarcasm would
have been less appropriate or less deserved if
Tilton had uttered it instead of Beecher. So
there is dilemma whichever way we turn.
Under such circumstances the only safety is in
rejecting these men as gods altogether, and
pursuing different social and domestic life
than that which seems to be laid down in the
Plymouth ethics. This Brooklyn scandal is
unhealthy in every way, but in nothing m ore
han its moral and social aspects


Warning to Surf Bathers.


The sad accidents at Long Branch and
Coney Island beach yesterday ought to
teech our surf bathers useful lesson. Surf
bathing is healthful and invigorating, and
with ordinary prudence is Us safe as bath tub.
With good beach and strong rope any
danger bather encounters must be Of his
own seeking. But persons will persist in ven-
turing out until they can just touch bottom,
believing themselves safe so long as they are
not out of their depth. They do not consider
the force with which the waves roll in, ncr the
fact that q succession of heavy breakers may
suddenly increase the depth of the water where
they stand. In the Gaze of ordinary swimmers
the same inprudence is often manifested.
They swim out too great distance, forgetting
that on their return it may require considera-
BILE exertion to get free from the surf and the
in-roling waves, owing to the strength Of the
undercurrent, before they feel bottom securely
beneath their feet. They are also apt to mis-
calculate the force Of the waves until they get
fairly into them and feel the effect of their
blows. 1t requires an expert and powerful
swimmer to buffet the waves as they break on
the shore roll after roll, rising on the crest of
this one, diving under that and rolled over
and over by the next until the smoother
water beyond is reached. When the breaking
waves are passed the swimming is compare
lively easy. But moderately good swimmers
hesitate to venture out SO far, hence they swim
in just that part OF the water where swimming
is the most difficult and requires the greatest
amount of exertion.


This was just the case with poor Schilling
yesterday. Ee was moderately good swim
mer and strong man. No doubt he felt
perfect confidence in his ability to breast the
waves in safety. But the s-a was heavy and
deceptive. Johnson, we are told. the cham
pion swimmer, who undertook to cross the
Channel from England to France, and
Trautze, who is pitted against him for
grand swimming match at Long
Branch ON Thursday next, from the
Ocean Botel to the point at the west end and
back, found it no easy task to force their way
tuc DIchhcIo W biuOOCu WuleT. DCEl-
ling was swimming at what he supposed to be
secure distance from the outer stake to
which the bathers' rope is attached, opposite
the Mansion House 1t is supposed that he
was suddenly seized with cramps, and he
struggled to get back to the shore and shouted
for help but the waves we're too strong for
him, and the bathers seemed to be panic
stricken Only one swimmer mado an at
tempt to reach the poor fellow, but he became
alarmed at the strength of the waves and the
prospect of being clutched by the drowning
man, and returned to the post, himself in ON
exhausted condition. At the moment of the
accident when tho whole beach was in state
of wild excitement, johnson and his trainer ap-