About Connections: Love it or hate it, history is a map. Those who hate history think it irrelevant; many who love history think it escapism. In truth, history is the clearest road map to how we got here: America in the twenty-first century.
From his pulpit at the Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn, he preached about a God of love not a God of retribution. They said his sermons were a combination of St. Paul and P.T. Barnum.
He supported women’s suffrage, and abolition. During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln sent him to Europe on a speaking tour to garner support for the Union cause. After the war, the President selected him to give a major address at Fort Sumner to help with healing and reconciliation.
From Blossom Farm in Lenox, he wrote “The Star Papers”; in Brooklyn he was a regular contributor to the New York Independent. Tens of thousands read his works and poured into his church to hear his words. As his fame spread, he contemplated running for President of the United States. Finally, they dubbed him: “The most famous man in America.” Then the trouble started for the Rev. Henry Ward Beecher.
A Shaker Elder running off with a young woman, a doctor seducing his patient, both made headlines in the nineteenth century. None, however, made headlines as large and black as the reputed affair between the most respected minister of his day and his parishioner.
In 1869, Beecher wrote General John F. Rathbone and offered to sell his farm in Lenox. Beecher loved his Lenox retreat, but an urgent need for money was forcing the sale.
In his letter, Rathbone agreed to buy the property and said he would rename it Beecher Farm in the minister’s honor.
Beecher replied: “If you call it by the name indicated in your letter, I shall esteem it a greater compliment than if I had received a title from an English university.”
Months later, when Rathbone learned why Beecher needed the money, he named the property Wyndhurst (Cranwell today).
Beecher preached that love was the basis of religious experience and that God would forgive all sins. For the last decade, there were rumors that he practiced what he preached. By the end of 1869, he sold Blossom Farm to cover the anticipated legal expenses.
In July 1870 Elizabeth Tilton went to her husband Theodore and accused Beecher of “making improper advances.”
If true, there was something smarmy about the Reverend’s behavior. Theodore Tilton was his best friend. Beecher was instrumental in getting Tilton his job as editor of the New York Independent. Theodore and Elizabeth Tilton were members of Beecher’s congregation. Beecher was a frequent visitor to Tilton’s house. Beecher waited until his good buddy was out of town, and then accosted his wife. Worse, it was suggested, though not certain, that Beecher actually urged Tilton’s trip.
While Beecher was certainly a free thinker for the 1850-60s, Tilton’s editorials went further. He supported free love, and he was roundly criticized for threatening the institution of marriage. He was further criticized for waiting four years to file a suit against Beecher.
There are similarities between the case of Wilson v. Waite and Tilton v. Beecher. The similarities were obvious: a well known and respected man in a position of authority seduces another man’s wife. All is discovered only when the wife confesses to her husband. The two cases happened at the same time.
The differences were quite striking: Wilson acted immediately; Tilton waited four years to file suit. Mrs. Wilson was the key and credible witness; Mrs. Tilton did not testify. Wilson won; Tilton did not. There was a final outcome that should be marked: neither the man exonerated nor the man not exonerated suffered professionally.
True, Tilton waited four years to act, but it is possible Tilton would not have acted at all if the Plymouth Church had not. The church formed an investigative commission and from June 27 – August 27, 1874 sought to discover the truth of the allegation. They issued this report:
“The Committee have given the evidence their most useful consideration.”
Mrs. Tilton was found to be a religious zealot, and hysterical woman unreasonably attached to her minister. Because his social views, including notions of free love, underwent a radical change, “Tilton was a source of great grief and sorrow to his wife.” She sought comfort from her minister and thereby everyone was guilty except Beecher.
Beecher was “living in the clear light of noonday…a life of Christian usefulness and incessant work. Upon a review of all the evidence, made with an earnest desire to find the truth, and to advise what truth and justice shall require, we feel bound to state that, in our judgment, the evidence relied on by the accuser utterly fails to sustain the charges made.”
The condemnation of his wife and himself and the ringing endorsement of Beecher moved Tilton to seek judgment from another court. He filed suit.
Elizabeth Tilton was prevented from testifying by Beecher’s lawyers on the grounds of “interspousal immunity.”
“Neither in a civil action nor in a criminal prosecution are they [spouses] permitted to give any evidence which, in its future effects, may incriminate each other, and this rule is so inviolable that no consent of the other party may authorize the breach of it.”
On that basis, the judge ruled Elizabeth could not testify, but Tilton could. Yes, the logic is hard to follow but the result was that Tilton could only say what Elizabeth had told him and could give no direct testimony of an affair.
When asked, “Now, up to the time of [Mrs. Tilton’s alleged confession] had you observed in the demeanor of Mr. Beecher toward your wife, or of your wife toward Mr. Beecher, any variance from that ordinary relation which you had been familiar with?
Answer: “No sir.”
While Beecher’s testimony was rambling and contradictory, still Tilton’s was so weak that he did not prevail.
The jury deliberated for several days, and on July 1, 1875 reported to Judge Neilson that it couldn’t reach a verdict. Nine jurors believed that Beecher was innocent, the other three that he was guilty. There was no retrial. Beecher was vindicated, and Judge Neilson even expressed his belief in Beecher’s innocence when he spoke eight years later at a party given by the Brooklyn Academy of Music to celebrate Beecher’s 70th birthday:
There is another distinction that should be mentioned. There was a grave difference — not for the accused but for the accusers. Wilson, having proved his man guilty, lived on, reconciled with his wife, and employed at his trade. Theodore was ousted from the church and never able to find employment again in New York. Startlingly, in 1878 Elizabeth confessed publically in the church to adultery with the minister. She was excommunicated. The Tiltons never reconciled. Elizabeth lived with her daughter and died blind and alone. Tilton fled to Paris also dying broke and alone.
