Year: 1874

MRS.
AN EMPHATIC AND EXPLICIT DENIAL OF THE
CRIMINAL CHARGEs-IIATRED OF Mr.. BEECHER
THE PASSION OF HER HUSBANDS LIFE-CIRCUM-
STANCES UNDER WHICH SHE WAS INDUCED TO
SIGN LETTERs-MR. TILroNs FINAL EFFORTS TO
MAKE HER HIS ALLY AGAINST Mr. BEECHER.


To pick up anew the sorrows Of the last ten years
the stings and pains had daily schooled myself TO
bury and forgive makes this imperative duty, as


called forth by the malicious statement of my hus


band the saddest act of my life. Besides my thought


of following the Master contradcts this act of my


pen and sense of the peryerSlon of my life-faith


almost compels mo now to stand aside till God
Himself, delivers


Yet see in this wantOn act an urgent call and
privilege from which | shrink not 10 reply in


detail to the % articles of arragnment, shall not


attempt at present Yet if called upon to testify to


each and all of them shall not hesitate to do So


Suffice it for nv purpose that reply to one or


more of the most garng charges. Touching the


feigned sorrow Of my husbands compulsory reyea-
tions soemnly avOw that long before the Wood
hull publication, knew him, by insinuation and


direct statement to have repeated to my very near
relative and friend the substance of these accusa-


tOns which shock the moral sense of the entire COM
munity this day. Many times. when hearing that
certain persons had spoken i'll of him, he has
me to chide them for so doing; and then and there
learned he had been before me with his calumnies
against myself so that was speechless.


The reiteraton in his statement that he bad per
sstenly strven to hide" these socalled facts is ut


terly false as his hatred to Mr. Beecher has existed
these many years, and the determination to ruin Mr..


Beecher has been the one aim of his life. Again. the
perfdy with which the hoest love wife ever Of
fered has been reckessly discovered in this publca


ION cl,ecy wei a added 20
this the endeavor, like the early scandal of Mrs.
Woodhl to make my own words condemn me, has
no parallel.


Most conspicuously, my letter quoting the reading
of Griffith Gauntn Had Mr.. Tilton read the pure


character of Catharine, he would have seen that


lifted myself beside it-as near as any human may


affect an ideal But it was her character. and not


the incidents Of fiction surrounding it, to which re-


ferred. Hers sin of criminal act or thought.


A like confession with hers had made to Mr.. Til


ton in telling of my love to my friend and pastor,
one year before. And l now add that, notwith-


standing all Misrepresentation and anguish of soul,
owe to my acquaintance and friendship with Mr..


Beecher, as to no other human nstrumentality that


announcement in my mental life and that growth
toward the Divine nature which enable me to walk
daily in lively hope of the life beyond.


The shameless charges in articles seven eight and


nine are fearfully false in each and every particular


The letter referred to in Mr.. Tiltons tenth para
graph was obtained from me by importantly, and


by representations that it was necessary for him to


use in his then pending difficulties with Mr. Bowen.
was then sick nigh unto death, having suffered


miscarriage only four days before. signed what


ever he required, without knowing or understand
ing its import. The paper have seen, and do
not know what statements it contained.
In charge eighteen, letter of mine. addressed to
Mr. Francis Moulton, quoted to prove that l never


desired separation or was advised by Mr.. Mrs.


Beecher to leave my husband, reply the letter was
of Mr.. Tilton's own concoctng, which he induced
me to copy and sign asmy own-an act which, in my
weakness and mistaken thought to help him, have
done too often during these unhappy years
The implication that the harmony of the home
was unbroken till Mr. Beecher entered 1t as fire.


quent guest and friend is lameDtable satire upon
the household where he himself, years before laid
the cornerstone of Free Love, and desecrated its


altars up to the time of my departure; that the


atmosphere was not only goddess but impure for my
| children And in the effort and throe of agony,
would fain lift my daughters and all womanhood


from the insidiOus and dab0cal teachings Of these


latter days. His frequent efforts to prove me insane.
weak-minded, insignificant, of mean presence, all


rank in the category of heartessness. selfshness,


and falsehood. having its climax in his present
.
been unable to distinguish between innocent or
guilty love.


In summing up the whole matter, affirm myself
before God to be innocent of the crimes laid upon


me; that never have been guilty Of adultery with
Henry Ward Beecher in thought or deed nor has


he ever offered to indecorous or improper pro-
posal.


To the further charge that I was led away from
nv home by Mr. Beechers friends, and by the ad-
vice of lawyer whom Mr.. Beecher had sent to me.


and who, in advance of my appearing before the


Committee. arranged with me the questions and all


swers which are TO constitute my testimony in Mr..


Beechers behalf answer that this is again untrue,


having never the lawyer until introduced to him
few moments before the arrival Of the Committee,


by my step-father Judge Morse and in further re-
ply submit the following statement of my action


before the Committee, aud the separation from my
husband.


The publication of Mr.. Titon's letter in answer
10 DR.. Bacon l had not known nor suspected, when