OCR Text |
Show lato Dispatches, GENERAL. i Tin; ni i.rni i: iuial. ; il'jNfiNUKU I'i'.OM KlllsT PAtiE.j Evans didCissel the alleged writ-' writ-' ten emit! ftM-.i!s! ot .Mrs. 1'iltoii, the 'original Ot which was dislroycil by ! Mmitton, alter the triparlie agree-i agree-i mi'iit, while the copy ued by Til-ton Til-ton in D'eiubcr, ;'.Utii, was not des-; des-; trt.ycd; called atteiiliwii I the fact that ' in tin- argument on iho (iin-stion of law it main'aiiuit by plaintill's counsel, licacli and FuUerton, that this copy w.w purpoHijly destroyed by 1'iUon vitii iieeciier's consent, yet th j next time the plaiutitt' went upcm the stand ho threw his counsel overboard, and said the paper was accidentally destroyed by his twisting twist-ing it in his fingers during the heat ot 'conversation. Counsel urged the jurv to remember the laet that Til ton eaid to Beecher that his wife said certain things was not so, that Bhe did m t say Uiem. Tue evidence ol what she did say could be introduced i.i any other way, and Xilton vhy, he could be crofs-examincd whether he told Beecher all this rigmarole. Evarts commented on tno testimony of Tiltou as to his who's statements to him in July, 1870, and on the al- . leged contts:iou as contrary to alt nature and probability. Tiltou could invent speeches tor lilton, but could not invent them for this woman. The alleged confession betrayed no con-aeiousm con-aeiousm ss of sin or guilt on the part of the womau whose vvpa Hashed lire when they looked on Victoria Wood-hull; Wood-hull; improbable was all this alleged conversation. According to Tilton his wife told uim the secret she had referred to was one between her and Beecher, her pastor. She was careful there should be no mistake about the person when she gave him his full name, titie and otlice. She did not want her husband to infer that Bhe had committed adultery with the man in the moon. She gave a special and deliberate account of her relations rela-tions with Beecher from tho beginning. begin-ning. Jt was in this way that the accused wife wauled to confess her guilt to her husband. Would not she have done it in sober mood and in tear ? Mrs. Tilton explained that the first act of adultery was the result of grief fur the death of Fan!, who, she was particular par-ticular to say, was her son. Such au act being the natural con-scoueuee con-scoueuee of the state of tiie mother's mind alter her child's death, there was no need to argue about this. (Laughter.) Mrs. Tilton said tho act was repeated at her house, and as most people were liable to move, she specified that her house was No. 174, Livingstone street. She also said tlio act was committed at other places, but strange to say those other places did not appear to havo been found out i y others. Evarts spoke of the uncertainty expressed by Mrs. Tilton, us to the criminality ot committing com-mitting adultery with Beecher. and said it such was the state of mind of the woman who was confessed by her husband to be pure minded, a woman 00 years of age and mother of six children, we must ask maidens at the altar their opinions on the propriety pro-priety of such acts, in order to avoid dill rence of opinion between them and their husbands. (.Laughter.) Evarts referred to Mrs. Til ton's explanation ol the way her scruples were overcome. Since Tiltou was informed that the crime had been ' CUUllllUwtl, ifa uiiuL L. , s- t-- i-l-. ant for htm to have Lho manner ol it carefully explained. In the alleged confession ot Mrs. Tilton as repeated by her husband to Beecher, she said that Beeehtr said that he wished to fiuil in her a solace of lite and help 1 to his mind, which an unhappy marriage mar-riage had denied him at home. What became then of twenty-five years of adulteries from Indianapolis, down? It was rather late in lite for him to fall in love and 6eek alleviation allevia-tion ot his domestic misery for the first time when he reached the age ol 5rj. He had been the father of nine children, was a grandfather and had been faithful to his wife since. The representations of Beecher that adul tery with him would not be sinful waa not at first believed and yielded to by Mrs. Tilton. she said for years she steadfastly retuaed his solicitations and was sometimes forced to resort tc bodily resistance. What is to be thought of the chastity of a woman who calmly confessed to such a conrse of conduct during a series of years': Yet Tilton thought he had cast th whole robe of chastity over his wife when he put such language in hei mouth. Why or how Mrs. Tilton gol from No. 17-1 Livingston street to tut house of her tempter on the 10th o; October, 1S6S, was not yet explained, Was she carried there in her sleep: Another part ot Mrs. Til ton's conies' sion presented tiie auomally of a wo man wholly pure in mind, free from all low and degraded instincts, and who deliberately yielded herself to the profligacy of a hypocritical religious teacher. This wits tha way Tilton made adultery easy and pure. This was the verbal protection he gave tc acts which stride at the very heart ol female character. Evarts proceednJ to describe bat Tilton calls his wif. awakening to the sin of adultery. For a year it never occurred that there was anything wrong about it, but all at once the ttiougnt burst on her that after all, the keepirg of two bedfellows bed-fellows might not be right. It was not so much the adultery that troubled trou-bled ner, as the thought that Theodore did not know about it. She told him in order to releive her mind. This is Theodore's version. Can any intelligent intelli-gent person believe that a woman, active in christian work, brought up under christian influences, familiar famil-iar with the commandments, could commit adultery with her pastor and bo quite unconscious that it was sinning? sin-ning? Tilton wrote to her a letter saying if she ever lied to him os she had in a few minor niattors. hp would never hold her in respect. This waa Tiltou's conception of an ideally happy home; but for that letter the woman uever would havo awakened to her committing the ofleuse of adultery until the judgment day. That Utter led her to come from the country and make her confession. At this time oceurnd an interview bet wet n Bo wen and Tilton, which had the n suit of bringing about this charge. Mrs. Tilton had an interview with Hecciier, but never informed him of having t-.tld her husband tlii' .story. F aihtill" says his wife told -iiini to uo to Beecher and inform him that he need not be worried about her Utt-.-r, and told him to do it quick; that his wife a.-kcil him to give her a pledge that tin would not demand de-mand Beechtr's resignation from the pulpit, and hid lea ing Brooklyn. TnUtliejur, were soberly asked to believe ol a communication between a husband and his wife, and the husband and the paramour. Tilton thought siie bad committal the offense of-fense while in a trance. That was an excu-e for his wile's adultery'. He also U.stdhd that Elizabeth said she w.is Ik t to be judged by her husband or iier mother, but only by her God, and that it her ollenees were binlul Gi J would nut have allowed them to be committed. Adjournal. |