THE BEECHER-TILTON SCANDAL.

Globe, Volume II, Issue 162, 11 December 1874, Page 3

THE BEECHER-TILTON SCANDAL.

One of the chief incidents of the Beecher case is the publication by the investigating committee of extracts from the evidence of the girl Bessie Turner, who was alleged to have been sent away from Tilton's house on account of her knowledge of the criminal intimacy between Mrs Tilton and Mr Beecher. The general effect of her testimony was to show, however, that Mrs Tilton was perfectly innocent of any impropriety, but that she had been very badly treated by her husband, who was constantly finding fault with and abusing her. With respect to Mr Beecher, the witness was asked, Did you ever see anything in the conduct of Mr Beecher and Mrs Tilton to indicate any marked affection between them, or anything" of that kind ?' No, sir, I never saw anything. Not anything ? No, sir. The Herald gives the following summary of the committee's report:—" The report of the committee is a somewhat lengthy document, given as it were in two parts—one a mere review of the evidence and the other giving the conclusions of the committee. Of course these are all in favor of Mr Beecher. The statement of Theodore Tilton is first taken up and gone over piecemeal, and each main allegation set plainly forth without verbiage, the principal prominence being given, of course, to the alleged ' criminal commerce' between Mr Beecher and Mr Tilton's wife. This is compared with the statements made in. the cross-examination and the tergiversation there used. It is shown that the statements of what is now known as the-"ankle - scene " are not supported by the evidence of the person who claims to have been a witness to it, inasmuch as he could not swear to its taking place at any particular period during a term of nine years. The report then goes on to review Mr Tilton's allegations of personal chastity and claim of high moral character compared with the evidence of other persons as to his alleged corrupt practices, crimiuality, and immoral conduct,, notably in the case of girl known as Bessi© Turner. The report then goes on to review the testimony of several unimportant witnesses, among them Mrs Stanton; coming at length to the cross-examination of Mrs Elizabeth R. Tilton herself, and her accusation of brutality against her husband, and of infidelity, Mrs Tilton's evidence is also quoted to give her denial of having ever had criminal relations with the pastor, and her own explanations of several of the most prominent portions of her letters. Finally, the Beeeher statement itself is taken contrasted with several of the more serious portions of Tilton's, showing that circumstances in themselves apparently damaging were in reality easily capable of explanation. After this review, giving in detail the more prominent episodes of theentire controversy, the report sums up the whole matter pro and con, showing on the one hand a man standing before all the world with a great reputation for spotless purity, Christian character, and moral worth; on the other a man of proven bad and criminal character, the latter making accusations against the former, the one with nothing to prove his story except personal allegations, shown in part to be perjury, and supported by some letters which may mean a dozen things but the one meaning given to them. The Committee find that Henry Ward Beecher is not guilty of the charges preferred against him. It is possible that a short paragraph may be added to the report, noticing briefly the "failure of Frank Moulton to bring any new evidence to bear upon the subject which can in the slightest alter the. conclusions the Committee have come to."