WEBVTT - Theodore Tilton v. Henry Ward Beecher 0:00:01.040 --> 0:00:06.160 You're listening to History on Trial, a production of iHeart Podcasts. 0:00:06.720 --> 0:00:19.480 Listener discretion advised. On August twentieth, eighteen seventy four, Theodore 0:00:19.520 --> 0:00:24.440 Tilton strode into the Brooklyn City Court, his golden hair 0:00:24.640 --> 0:00:29.160 glowing in the sunlight. Nearly a head, taller than most 0:00:29.240 --> 0:00:34.680 men and famous to boot, Tilton drew attention wherever he went. 0:00:35.440 --> 0:00:39.680 But today he wasn't trying to be recognized. He was 0:00:39.760 --> 0:00:47.120 here on private business. Private for now, at least. Tilton 0:00:47.240 --> 0:00:50.519 was in the courthouse to find a notary public. The 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.400 day before, his lawyers had drafted a civil complaint on 0:00:54.520 --> 0:01:00.120 his behalf against his former boss. Now Tilton needed to 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:03.520 swear to the truth of his complaint in order for 0:01:03.560 --> 0:01:07.040 his suit to move forward. It wouldn't be easy for him. 0:01:07.760 --> 0:01:12.479 The contents of the complaint were humiliating. To put it mildly. 0:01:14.160 --> 0:01:18.640 In the complaint, Tilton alleged that his former boss had 0:01:18.680 --> 0:01:23.640 engaged in an affair with his wife. The affair had 0:01:23.920 --> 0:01:29.200 ruined Tilton's marriage, his family, his reputation, and his career. 0:01:30.200 --> 0:01:34.640 He had suffered so greatly. The complaint claimed that he 0:01:34.760 --> 0:01:39.479 now asked for one hundred thousand dollars in compensation more 0:01:39.520 --> 0:01:42.800 than two and a half million in today's money. It 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:47.040 was an enormous sum, yes, but the wrongs that Tilton 0:01:47.080 --> 0:01:52.720 alleged were certainly grievous. After all, he and his wife 0:01:52.840 --> 0:01:57.480 Elizabeth had once shared a happy home, filled with laughter 0:01:58.120 --> 0:02:02.120 and bolstered by their shared faith than God. But now 0:02:02.600 --> 0:02:06.880 every day at home for Tilton was torture and he 0:02:07.000 --> 0:02:11.560 was losing his faith. Rumors of his wife's affair were 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:17.040 already circulating, with competing narratives popping up, and Tilton wanted 0:02:17.080 --> 0:02:22.240 the chance to tell his story. The legal system was 0:02:22.280 --> 0:02:27.639 his last resort. What Theodore Tilton started that day, as 0:02:27.639 --> 0:02:31.519 he swore to the truth of his complaint, would snowball 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:36.960 into one of the nineteenth century's most shocking trials, one 0:02:37.000 --> 0:02:41.520 with implications for not just Tilton, but for all of 0:02:41.680 --> 0:02:46.639 New York City, the United States, and even the Christian Church. 0:02:47.520 --> 0:02:52.480 Because the man that Tilton had just publicly accused of 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:58.840 quote wrongfully and wickedly seducing his wife was a man 0:02:58.880 --> 0:03:03.000 of God. He was none other than the most famous 0:03:03.040 --> 0:03:08.280 preacher and perhaps the most famous man in all of America, 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:14.880 Henry Ward Beecher. Welcome to History on Trial. I'm your 0:03:14.880 --> 0:03:21.000 host Mira Hayward. This week Theodore Tilton v. Henry Ward Beecher, 0:03:27.040 --> 0:03:30.359 the man who allegedly had had an affair with Theodore 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:35.640 Tilton's wife. Henry Ward Beecher was born in eighteen thirteen 0:03:35.840 --> 0:03:40.600 in Connecticut. His father, Lyman Beecher, was one of the 0:03:40.640 --> 0:03:44.320 pre eminent clergymen of the day. Few who knew young 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:47.000 Henry thought that he was destined to follow in his 0:03:47.000 --> 0:03:51.920 father's footsteps. Lyman Beecher was a Protestant of the old kind, 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:57.240 steeped in the puritanical Calvinist tradition. He raised his ten 0:03:57.320 --> 0:04:02.280 children on a steady diet of fire and brimstone, impressing 0:04:02.360 --> 0:04:06.080 upon them the idea that they were inherently sinful and 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:12.040 likely destined for damnation. Despite his rigid religious beliefs, Lyman 0:04:12.200 --> 0:04:16.600 was also a deeply loving father who encouraged his children 0:04:16.720 --> 0:04:21.400 to develop empathy and compassion for others. All the Beacher 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:25.320 siblings were well educated, including the girls, and the dinner 0:04:25.360 --> 0:04:31.000 table hosted lively debates over politics and theology. Henry Ward 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:36.479 Beecher chafed against this moralistic, competitive environment. He was a 0:04:36.560 --> 0:04:40.520 rambunctious child who struggled with both a stutter and an 0:04:40.600 --> 0:04:44.640 incurable impulse to break the rules. He knew that his 0:04:44.720 --> 0:04:48.080 father wanted him to enter the clergy, but Beecher felt 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:52.600 deeply unsure of his own faith. Despite his doubts, he 0:04:52.720 --> 0:04:57.080 followed the path to preaching, attending college and then seminary. 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.719 Along the way, he fell in love with one of 0:05:00.720 --> 0:05:06.000 his classmate's sisters, a young woman named Eunice. And then 0:05:06.520 --> 0:05:12.880 one day he had a revelation. What if God, instead 0:05:13.080 --> 0:05:18.040 of being the angry, vindictive figure of his father's theology, 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:24.279 was actually more like his father at home, a loving, 0:05:24.680 --> 0:05:30.520 benevolent parent. What if being good in a religious sense 0:05:31.360 --> 0:05:38.440 and being happy were not incompatible. As Debbie Applegate writes 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:42.720 in her fabulous biography of Beecher, titled The Most Famous 0:05:42.760 --> 0:05:46.960 Man in America, this idea might not sound so revelatory 0:05:47.040 --> 0:05:52.240 to many of us today. She writes, mainstream Christianity is 0:05:52.320 --> 0:05:56.719 so deeply infused with the rhetoric of Christ's love that 0:05:56.800 --> 0:06:01.520 most Americans can imagine nothing else but trust me. For 0:06:01.600 --> 0:06:08.080 the eighteen thirties, Beecher's thinking was revolutionary, and Beecher was 0:06:08.440 --> 0:06:11.839 just the man to spread this new gospel. He was 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:15.400 an enormously skilled orator who could bring his audience to 0:06:15.520 --> 0:06:20.320 tears or laughter with equal ease. His sermons were not 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.440 based solely on the Bible. He drew from his own experiences, 0:06:24.760 --> 0:06:27.280 from the stories of those he met, and from the 0:06:27.320 --> 0:06:37.640 world around him. These sermons were emotional, exhilarating, empathetic, and provocative. Somehow, 0:06:37.760 --> 0:06:42.200 Beecher reflected, I have always had a certain sympathy for 0:06:42.320 --> 0:06:46.760 human nature, which has led me to see instinctively how 0:06:46.800 --> 0:06:49.919 to touch the right chord in people, how to reach 0:06:50.000 --> 0:06:54.760 the living principle in them. This sympathy and his ability 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.120 to translate it into words were gifts that would serve 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:02.080 him well all his life, both as a preacher and 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:13.720 eventually in the courtroom. After seminary, beacher honed his speaking 0:07:13.760 --> 0:07:17.679 skills in rural Indiana for more than a decade, building 0:07:17.680 --> 0:07:21.200 a reputation as a new kind of preacher, one who 0:07:21.200 --> 0:07:25.600 could win over even the most hardened cynics, and soon enough, 0:07:26.040 --> 0:07:30.560 the big time came calling. In eighteen forty seven, Beecher 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.200 was recruited to serve as the head pastor of Plymouth Church, 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:39.000 a new congregation in Brooklyn Heights founded by some of 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:43.600 New York City's most prominent businessmen. It was a Plymouth 0:07:43.720 --> 0:07:47.640 Church that Beecher truly made a name for himself. With 0:07:47.760 --> 0:07:51.320 the backing of the church board, he began to radically 0:07:51.400 --> 0:07:55.320 change the nature of worship. Most Christians of the era 0:07:55.440 --> 0:08:00.400 had grown up like Beecher had, in austere churches, but 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:07.120 at Plymouth Church they experienced services overflowing with music and joy. 0:08:08.040 --> 0:08:12.200 Beacher literally redesigned the church, creating a space that looked 0:08:12.200 --> 0:08:15.800 more like a theater and filled it with flowers every Sunday. 0:08:16.920 --> 0:08:20.400 Drawn in by the warmth of this atmosphere, the congregation 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:26.520 grew rapidly, eventually boasting nearly two thousand members, making it 0:08:26.680 --> 0:08:32.680 the largest church in America. Soon, Beecher took his talents 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:37.079 on the road, joining the lecture circuit. Lectures were one 0:08:37.120 --> 0:08:40.440 of the most popular social activities of the day, and 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:44.480 Beecher's speaking skills made him ideal for the job. By 0:08:44.480 --> 0:08:47.319 the mid eighteen fifties, he was lecturing up to four 0:08:47.360 --> 0:08:51.320 times a week at venues across the country. His fame 0:08:51.440 --> 0:08:55.720 grew even greater once he began writing a newspaper column 0:08:56.120 --> 0:09:01.080 where he wrote boldly about current events and religion. It 0:09:01.120 --> 0:09:05.160 didn't take long for people all over America to know 0:09:05.320 --> 0:09:10.600 his name Henry wasn't the only famous Beacher. Many of 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:14.360 his siblings had become well known public figures, including his 0:09:14.480 --> 0:09:19.280 sister Harriet, who married a man named Calvin Stowe and 0:09:19.400 --> 0:09:22.720 made quite a name for herself with the eighteen fifty 0:09:22.760 --> 0:09:26.280 one publication of a little novel she wrote called Uncle 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:31.120 Tom's Cabin. Uncle Tom's Cabin became the second best selling 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.480 book of the nineteenth century, beaten only by the Bible, 0:09:35.240 --> 0:09:38.600 and had a profound impact on the anti slavery cause. 0:09:39.480 --> 0:09:44.800 Henry had also gotten involved in anti slavery work. Plymouth 0:09:44.880 --> 0:09:48.920 Church became a stop on the underground railroad, and congregants 0:09:49.040 --> 0:09:53.160 raised money to help enslaved people by their freedom. Many 0:09:53.240 --> 0:09:58.360 people did not like Beecher's politics, but his bold progressive 0:09:58.440 --> 0:10:07.920 stances raised his public profile even higher. There was something 0:10:08.240 --> 0:10:12.600 very modern about Beecher's fame. Many people didn't just see 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:17.520 him as a public figure, they saw him as a friend. Today, 0:10:17.720 --> 0:10:22.520 we might call this dynamic a parasocial relationship. Donald Horton 0:10:22.679 --> 0:10:26.960 and Richard Woll, who coined the term parasocial relationship in 0:10:27.040 --> 0:10:31.800 nineteen fifty six, wrote one of the striking characteristics of 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:36.720 the new mass media radio, television and the movies is 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.760 that they give the illusion of a face to face 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:44.800 relationship with the performer. The most remote and illustrious men 0:10:45.360 --> 0:10:48.120 are met as if they were in the circle of 0:10:48.200 --> 0:10:53.920 one's peers. Mass media in the nineteenth century, including newspapers 0:10:53.920 --> 0:10:59.599 in photographs, served a similar purpose. People all over America, 0:11:00.160 --> 0:11:03.600 wanting a small piece of their idol, begged Beecher for 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:08.640 a copy of his photographic portrait, and Beecher sent out hundreds. 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:15.640 Beecher's particular brand of vulnerability and generosity made him especially relatable. 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:20.400 Unlike preachers of the previous generation, he never mocked people 0:11:20.440 --> 0:11:25.600 for their doubts. Instead, he boldly proclaimed his own, as 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:31.520 biographer Thomas Knox put it end quote painted in vivid colors, 0:11:31.559 --> 0:11:35.680 the unhappiness of his thoughts, the terror of his fear, 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:40.640 and produced in their minds the impression that Beecher and 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:46.040 they were one and the same. Debbie Applegate describes his 0:11:46.160 --> 0:11:50.679 fans as having a quote soul affinity for him, and 0:11:50.760 --> 0:11:55.360 their obsession made even the most mundane details of Beecher's 0:11:55.440 --> 0:12:00.720 life precious information. In an eighteen fifty nine column, Beecher 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.480 wrote with annoyed amazement about the life of a public 0:12:04.520 --> 0:12:10.080 figure noting that quote. What you do or say, or 0:12:10.240 --> 0:12:13.840 do not do or say, what you wear, where you go, 0:12:14.200 --> 0:12:16.840 with whom you walk, when you get up, and when 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:22.560 you lie down, all are diligently observed and reported. In 0:12:22.640 --> 0:12:26.880 other words, he was a nineteenth century influencer. Henry Ward 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:31.880 Beecher felt like America's friend, and America was always eager 0:12:32.000 --> 0:12:35.839 to see what their friend would do next. Even those 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:40.160 who knew Beecher personally engaged in a kind of hero worship. 0:12:41.000 --> 0:12:46.319 He cultivated an inner circle at Plymouth Church, filled with ambitious, intelligent, 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.600 and successful young men and women who hung on his 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:54.280 every word. The unofficial president of this fan club was 0:12:54.400 --> 0:13:00.840 Theodore Tilton. Tilton, an ambitious young man twenty years Beacher's junior, 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:04.760 had been hired to help the preacher with his newspaper column. 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:09.640 He spent his days immersed in Beecher's sermons, culling quotes 0:13:09.679 --> 0:13:13.559 that could be refashioned into articles in case Beecher midst 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:18.440 a deadline, which he regularly did, and growing ever more 0:13:18.480 --> 0:13:23.680 in thrall of his charismatic hero mister Beecher, Tilton remembered, 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:28.160 was my man of all men. The two men became 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.640 extremely close referring to one another as father and son. 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:38.680 In eighteen fifty five, Beacher officiated Tilton's marriage to Elizabeth Richards, 0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:43.480 a bright, deeply pious woman. By this point, Tilton had 0:13:43.520 --> 0:13:47.160 even started dressing like Beecher, growing his hair out to 0:13:47.200 --> 0:13:51.319 his shoulders and adopting a beecher esque cloak and slouchy 0:13:51.400 --> 0:13:55.080 wide brim hat. But there's a downside to this kind 0:13:55.080 --> 0:13:59.440 of hero worship too. Even Henry Ward Beecher wasn't perfect, 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:14.679 and the higher the pedestal, the greater the fall. By 0:14:14.720 --> 0:14:19.200 the mid eighteen sixties, the relationship between Theodore Tilton and 0:14:19.280 --> 0:14:23.760 Henry Ward Beecher had started to fray. Some of the 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.560 tension was political. After the Civil War, the Republican Party, 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.480 which had led the charge to end slavery, split over 0:14:32.560 --> 0:14:38.760 how to approach reconstruction. Some Republicans, including Theodore Tilton, advocated 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:43.360 for temporary federal control of Southern States, complete equality for 0:14:43.440 --> 0:14:48.600 black people, and punishment for former Confederates. Others, like Henry 0:14:48.640 --> 0:14:53.720 Ward Beecher and President Andrew Johnson, preached forgiveness and reconciliation 0:14:53.920 --> 0:14:59.560 with former Confederates. Beecher was an enthusiastic supporter of President Johnson, 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:04.800 which struck friends as strange. Beecher had spent years preaching 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:10.200 and slavery, while Johnson, a former slave owner, regularly vetoed 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:15.560 civil rights legislation. Beecher's changing politics rubbed many colleagues the 0:15:15.600 --> 0:15:19.640 wrong way, but few more so than Tilton. In the 0:15:19.640 --> 0:15:23.200 winter of eighteen sixty six, a visitor to the Tilton 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:26.880 house noticed that their plaster bust of Beecher had been 0:15:26.960 --> 0:15:32.120 turned to face the wall. When asked why, Elizabeth Tilton replied, 0:15:32.360 --> 0:15:36.720 quote Theodore says that our pastor has proved himself a 0:15:36.840 --> 0:15:41.600 traitor to the Republican party. There were also professional tensions 0:15:41.640 --> 0:15:45.720 between the two men. In January of eighteen sixty two, 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.400 Beecher had been made editor in chief of The Independent, 0:15:50.000 --> 0:15:54.360 a popular newspaper run by a Plymouth church founder. Beecher 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.840 agreed to take the position on the condition that Tilton 0:15:57.920 --> 0:16:02.320 became assistant editor, which may seem like a compliment to Tilton, 0:16:03.160 --> 0:16:06.480 but in reality meant that Tilton would do all of 0:16:06.560 --> 0:16:10.720 the work while Beecher got the credit. Tilton was gaining 0:16:10.720 --> 0:16:14.160 a reputation for himself in other arenas. He was a 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:19.320 passionate lecturer, a courageous thinker, and an outspoken advocate for 0:16:19.400 --> 0:16:23.560 political reform, but he always seemed to play second fiddle 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:27.560 to Beecher. As I grew older and mingled with the 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:32.520 world and saw other men, Tilton later said, the fine 0:16:32.680 --> 0:16:37.360 gold of my idol gradually became dim and there was 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:48.040 something else simmering too, something more personal. In November of 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.960 eighteen sixty six, Tilton had gone on a four month 0:16:52.080 --> 0:16:57.280 lecture tour, leaving his family behind. Despite the growing distance 0:16:57.320 --> 0:17:01.240 between himself and Beecher, Tilton had asked the preacher to 0:17:01.360 --> 0:17:05.080 check in on his family in his absence. Beecher took 0:17:05.160 --> 0:17:09.359 to visiting Elizabeth Tilton, regularly consulting with her on his 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.320 novel in progress and bringing small gifts for the couple's 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:18.720 young children. Elizabeth wrote Tilton glowing letters about Beecher's friendship. 0:17:19.520 --> 0:17:24.760 Tilton bristled. I think she regarded mister Beecher. Tilton would 0:17:24.800 --> 0:17:30.760 later say, almost as though Jesus Christ himself had walked in. Plymouth. 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:34.640 Church was aware of the strained relationship between Beecher and Tilton, 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:38.440 but it seemed like a private matter, at least for now. 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:48.800 In eighteen seventy two, this private drama exploded into the 0:17:48.800 --> 0:17:54.399 public eye thanks to the infamous suffragist, spiritualist, and first 0:17:54.480 --> 0:17:59.640 female candidate for president, Victoria Woodhull. Woodhull was a good 0:17:59.640 --> 0:18:04.160 friend of one of Beecher's sisters, the prominent suffragist Isabella 0:18:04.240 --> 0:18:08.159 Beecher Hooker, but most others in the women's suffrage movement 0:18:08.440 --> 0:18:12.439 kept their distance from Woodhull because of her radical positions, 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:19.240 including her advocacy of free love. Here's Woodhull herself summarizing 0:18:19.280 --> 0:18:23.920 the political philosophy of free love. I am a free lover. 0:18:24.880 --> 0:18:29.920 I have an inalienable, constitutional, and natural right to love 0:18:30.080 --> 0:18:33.119 whom I may to love as long or as short 0:18:33.200 --> 0:18:36.479 a period as I can, to change that love every 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:40.119 day if I please, And with that right, neither you 0:18:40.640 --> 0:18:44.320 nor any law you can frame have any right to interfere. 0:18:45.359 --> 0:18:49.240 This support for sexual freedom and non monogamy might not 0:18:49.359 --> 0:18:53.760 sound particularly wild now, but for the eighteen seventies, it 0:18:53.880 --> 0:18:59.919 was deeply shocking. When Woodhull announced her revolutionary presidential candidacy 0:19:00.080 --> 0:19:03.800 in eighteen seventy, she hoped that her friendship with Isabella 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:07.439 Beecher Hooker would draw Henry Ward Beecher into her camp, 0:19:07.920 --> 0:19:11.719 but he kept away. Even for a progressive like Beecher, 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.159 who believed that joy and pleasure were gifts from God, 0:19:15.920 --> 0:19:21.080 free love was a step too far. Woodhull was furious 0:19:21.160 --> 0:19:24.240 at his lack of support, especially because she saw it 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:30.840 as hypocritical. Hypocritical how in a September eighteen seventy two speech, 0:19:31.320 --> 0:19:34.920 she hinted at her meaning, alleging that Beecher was a 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:40.000 free lover himself. The speech coincided with Beecher's twenty fifth 0:19:40.080 --> 0:19:44.840 anniversary celebration at Plymouth Church, which got considerably more attention 0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:50.840 than Woodhole's speech. Annoyed, she doubled down, saying, I will 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.320 make it hotter on Earth for Henry Ward Beecher than 0:19:54.480 --> 0:19:59.199 hell is below. She began writing an article set to 0:19:59.200 --> 0:20:02.840 be published in her her own weekly magazine, an article 0:20:02.920 --> 0:20:08.520 that she claimed would quote burst like a bombshell into 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:13.840 the ranks of the moralistic social camp, and boy did it. Ever. 0:20:15.240 --> 0:20:19.800 Within days of its October eighteen seventy two publication, one 0:20:19.920 --> 0:20:23.879 hundred and fifty thousand copies of the magazine were sold. 0:20:24.840 --> 0:20:29.320 New Yorkers could not believe what they were reading. In 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:35.399 the article, titled the Beecher Tilton Scandal Case, Woodhull alleged 0:20:35.560 --> 0:20:40.080 that Henry Ward Beecher had had an extramarital affair with 0:20:40.160 --> 0:20:45.280 Elizabeth Tilton. Her sources, she claimed, were Beecher and the 0:20:45.400 --> 0:20:49.760 Tiltons themselves, as well as some of the most prominent 0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:54.520 political figures of the day, including the suffragist Elizabeth Katie Stanton. 0:20:55.359 --> 0:20:59.800 Her motivation in revealing the affair, Woodhull claimed was not 0:21:00.040 --> 0:21:04.840 personal spite, but rather political passion. By revealing that the 0:21:04.840 --> 0:21:08.600 most famous preacher in America was in fact a practitioner 0:21:08.640 --> 0:21:11.760 of free love, she hoped she could get Beecher to 0:21:11.880 --> 0:21:15.600 preach what he practiced. Sure, but most of the people 0:21:15.640 --> 0:21:18.359 who read the article could not have cared less about 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:23.119 the politics. All they cared about were the dirty details. 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:29.040 Henry Ward Beecher had had an affair with the wife 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:34.239 of his protege. And what's more, the article claimed that 0:21:34.359 --> 0:21:39.000 Theodore Tilton had learned of the affair from his wife 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:43.919 five years earlier, and that the Tiltons and Beascher, aided 0:21:43.960 --> 0:21:47.440 by a mutual friend of theirs named Frank Moulden, had 0:21:47.480 --> 0:21:51.119 engaged in a cover up so that they could preserve 0:21:51.160 --> 0:21:56.600 their public reputations. It was nearly unbelievable, but more facts 0:21:56.680 --> 0:22:00.760 kept emerging in December, Tilton really, at least his own 0:22:00.880 --> 0:22:07.440 version of the story. Papers across the country posted breathless updates. Suspiciously, 0:22:08.200 --> 0:22:18.359 Beecher did not immediately deny the story. It wasn't until 0:22:18.480 --> 0:22:23.160 nearly seven months later that Beacher finally spoke out, writing 0:22:23.200 --> 0:22:26.880 in the Brooklyn Eagle, that the story was entirely false. 0:22:27.560 --> 0:22:32.960 The country went wild, and Plymouth Church decided that they 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:37.000 needed to get control of the story, commissioning an in 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:41.760 house investigative committee to look into the case. To Theodore Tilton, 0:22:42.119 --> 0:22:46.360 the investigative committee seemed to be more interested in silencing 0:22:46.440 --> 0:22:50.720 him than finding the truth, and his suspicions were confirmed 0:22:51.320 --> 0:22:54.760 when the church voted to excommunicate him in October of 0:22:54.800 --> 0:22:59.760 eighteen seventy three. Tilton called for an independent investigation of 0:22:59.800 --> 0:23:05.760 his excommunication, but this investigation, conducted by local churches, also 0:23:05.880 --> 0:23:09.480 seem inclined to protect their star preacher and only lightly 0:23:09.520 --> 0:23:17.080 censored Plymouth's practices. Tilton fumed then, to add insult to injury, 0:23:17.680 --> 0:23:23.440 Beecher's friends went on the attack. Another Brooklyn preacher, Leonard Bacon, 0:23:24.000 --> 0:23:27.560 gave a public speech where he called Tilton a knave 0:23:27.920 --> 0:23:33.800 and a dog. Tilton's fury boiled over, and he published 0:23:33.960 --> 0:23:39.000 several seemingly incriminating letters between himself, Beecher, and Elizabeth in 0:23:39.040 --> 0:23:43.679 the paper, in which Beecher begged for Theodore Tilton's forgiveness 0:23:43.680 --> 0:23:49.080 for an unspecified crime. Elizabeth Tilton, too had reached a 0:23:49.080 --> 0:23:52.920 breaking point. She was sick of having her private life 0:23:52.960 --> 0:23:57.520 splashed across the newspapers. She wanted to tell her story, 0:23:58.400 --> 0:24:02.960 not just be a quote nonentity, a placing to be 0:24:03.200 --> 0:24:06.520 used or let alone at will, As she told her brother, 0:24:07.440 --> 0:24:11.400 She had her chance that summer, when Plymouth Church convened 0:24:11.480 --> 0:24:16.680 yet another investigative committee. Testifying in a friend's home, Elizabeth 0:24:16.880 --> 0:24:20.919 vehemently denied the affair. She had only confessed to it, 0:24:21.119 --> 0:24:25.160 she said, because of her husband's constant harassment and abuse. 0:24:26.040 --> 0:24:30.240 Theodore had been so convinced of the affair that Elizabeth 0:24:30.280 --> 0:24:33.160 eventually felt it was just easier to give in and 0:24:33.400 --> 0:24:36.959 tell him what he wanted to hear. She described her 0:24:37.040 --> 0:24:42.320 husband as a vindictive pettyman who was so jealous of 0:24:42.359 --> 0:24:48.200 Beecher's success that quote the determination to ruin mister Beecher 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:52.280 has been the one aim of his life. Less than 0:24:52.320 --> 0:24:56.040 a week after this testimony, she told Tilton that their 0:24:56.119 --> 0:25:01.600 marriage was over. Now a whole new side of the 0:25:01.640 --> 0:25:06.760 story was inferling. Elizabeth wasn't the only one questioning Tilton's credibility. 0:25:07.720 --> 0:25:11.680 Many wondered if Tilton's sudden willingness to discuss the alleged 0:25:11.680 --> 0:25:15.680 affair after nearly five years of helping cover up the story, 0:25:16.520 --> 0:25:21.200 stemmed from his jealousy of Beecher. Though Beecher had squandered 0:25:21.240 --> 0:25:25.119 some popular goodwill with his controversial positions after the war, 0:25:25.640 --> 0:25:27.679 his star had again been on the rise in the 0:25:27.720 --> 0:25:31.800 eighteen seventies. He was raking in money from appearances and 0:25:31.880 --> 0:25:36.600 publishing contracts. The greatest men in the country consulted him 0:25:36.600 --> 0:25:40.159 on personal and political matters. People stopped him in the 0:25:40.200 --> 0:25:44.639 street to express their admiration. Theodore Tilton, on the other hand, 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:50.080 had been in a year's long downward spiral. His poetry 0:25:50.280 --> 0:25:54.800 was panned by critics, his lecture fees barely covered his expenses, 0:25:55.280 --> 0:25:59.400 and his reputation was in tatters. He would do anything 0:25:59.440 --> 0:26:04.800 for attention, Some said, could his accusations be just another ploy? 0:26:05.920 --> 0:26:10.800 All across America, people clamored to know the truth. They 0:26:10.840 --> 0:26:14.320 were tired of the story trickling out in newspapers of 0:26:14.400 --> 0:26:18.760 living off the scraps of a scandal. They were unsatisfied 0:26:18.800 --> 0:26:23.639 by the private investigations and behind the scenes verdicts. They 0:26:23.680 --> 0:26:28.280 will insist upind the Albany Evening Journal for hearing to 0:26:28.359 --> 0:26:32.800 take place in quote the full eye of the public, 0:26:33.800 --> 0:26:38.520 and they were about to get their wish. On August nineteenth, 0:26:38.960 --> 0:26:44.080 eighteen seventy four, Theodore Tilton commissioned the firm of Morris 0:26:44.119 --> 0:26:48.720 and Pearsall to draft a civil complaint against Beecher, alleging 0:26:48.760 --> 0:26:53.080 that Beecher had quote alienated the affection of his wife, 0:26:53.720 --> 0:26:57.080 causing personal and professional damages to the tune of one 0:26:57.200 --> 0:27:02.520 hundred thousand dollars. On us August twentieth, Tilton swore to 0:27:02.560 --> 0:27:05.119 the truth of the complaint at the Brooklyn City Court. 0:27:05.760 --> 0:27:11.360 A trial date was set five months. Hence Theodore Tilton 0:27:11.560 --> 0:27:15.679 and Henry Ward Beecher would face off in court in 0:27:15.760 --> 0:27:27.960 the bloodiest battle of their combative careers. January eleventh, eighteen 0:27:28.200 --> 0:27:33.200 seventy five, donned cold and glittering, but the weather seemed 0:27:33.200 --> 0:27:36.200 to have no effect on the throngs of people gathered 0:27:36.240 --> 0:27:40.720 outside Brooklyn City Court. They rubbed their hands for warmth, 0:27:41.400 --> 0:27:45.520 puffed out steaming breaths and haggled over tickets to the 0:27:45.600 --> 0:27:50.720 season's hottest event, the Beecher Tilton trial. Only those with 0:27:50.840 --> 0:27:53.879 tickets would be admitted to the courtroom, and the price 0:27:54.000 --> 0:27:58.760 reflected the demand. Tickets went for as much as ten dollars, 0:27:59.320 --> 0:28:02.800 four times the average daily wage of an American worker 0:28:03.680 --> 0:28:07.200 by a quarter to eleven. Those lucky enough to secure 0:28:07.200 --> 0:28:10.959 a spot had filed into the courtroom alongside a bevy 0:28:10.960 --> 0:28:14.879 of reporters. The plaintiffts table was just as packed as 0:28:14.920 --> 0:28:18.960 the courtroom filled to bursting with Theodore Tilton, his friend 0:28:19.040 --> 0:28:24.960 Frank Moulton, and three of Tilton's five lawyers. Beecher's legal 0:28:25.000 --> 0:28:29.280 team was even bigger, consisting of seven men, but on 0:28:29.359 --> 0:28:33.119 this the first day, only one lawyer was seated at 0:28:33.119 --> 0:28:37.520 the defense table. As the eleven o'clock hour approached, the 0:28:37.560 --> 0:28:41.560 courtroom door swung open and the crowd turned to see 0:28:41.680 --> 0:28:46.840 Henry Ward Beecher walk in, accompanied to their surprise by 0:28:46.880 --> 0:28:52.840 his wife. Like many wives past and present, Eunice Beecher 0:28:52.920 --> 0:28:56.880 had made the choice to stand by her man. She 0:28:57.000 --> 0:29:00.920 would attend nearly every day of the trial, keeping her 0:29:00.960 --> 0:29:06.360 face impassive as witnesses discussed intimate details of her marriage. 0:29:06.440 --> 0:29:12.000 At first, many observers found her presence disturbing. Surely, they said, 0:29:12.200 --> 0:29:15.200 her place was at home, sheltered in the bosom of 0:29:15.240 --> 0:29:19.560 her family and friends. But eventually they came to admire 0:29:19.720 --> 0:29:23.400 her dignity and strength, which only lent credibility to her 0:29:23.480 --> 0:29:28.720 husband's case, just as more cynical commentators would say, as 0:29:28.720 --> 0:29:32.960 the defense team had planned it. Before the trial could start, 0:29:33.600 --> 0:29:38.080 the lawyers had one concern. The courtroom was so crowded 0:29:38.280 --> 0:29:41.040 that they barely had enough room to make their arguments. 0:29:41.960 --> 0:29:45.880 They especially objected to the allocation of space to the press, 0:29:46.600 --> 0:29:50.120 who had been given more space than the lawyers themselves. 0:29:50.760 --> 0:29:54.560 In a symbolic illustration of the public's obsession with the case, 0:29:55.400 --> 0:29:59.280 the judge agreed to a rearrangement of the courtroom. Once 0:29:59.320 --> 0:30:03.640 this was done, the real business could begin. Samuel D. Morris, 0:30:03.840 --> 0:30:08.280 attorney for Theodore Tilton, approached the jury box and started 0:30:08.320 --> 0:30:12.960 his opening argument. Because so many facts of the scandal 0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:16.600 were already known to the public, neither side planned to 0:30:16.680 --> 0:30:20.280 introduce much in the way of new evidence. And I'll 0:30:20.280 --> 0:30:23.280 take a moment to note here that because so much 0:30:23.280 --> 0:30:28.960 of the trial testimony was repetitive exhausting and ambiguous. I'm 0:30:28.960 --> 0:30:31.200 not going to go too much into the details of 0:30:31.240 --> 0:30:35.480 each witness. Instead, I'm going to focus on the competing 0:30:35.760 --> 0:30:40.160 stories of the plaintiff and the defense. As Debbie Applegate 0:30:40.200 --> 0:30:44.720 puts it, more than with most trials, the verdict here 0:30:44.920 --> 0:30:49.960 would depend largely on which side spun the evidence into 0:30:49.960 --> 0:30:54.520 the most believable story. Morris's opening was the first chance 0:30:54.600 --> 0:31:06.800 for Tilton's side to spin their story, and spin he did. 0:31:08.360 --> 0:31:11.240 What Morris hoped to establish in his argument were the 0:31:11.400 --> 0:31:15.000 stakes of the trial, stakes that went far beyond a 0:31:15.040 --> 0:31:19.480 simple love affair. This is no ordinary case that now 0:31:19.520 --> 0:31:22.880 engages the attention of this court and the attention of 0:31:22.920 --> 0:31:26.680 the entire community, he said. It is a trial the 0:31:26.680 --> 0:31:31.400 consequences of which reached to the very foundations of society, 0:31:31.920 --> 0:31:35.920 the home, the marriage, relation with all that is dear 0:31:36.000 --> 0:31:40.640 in that relation is upon trial in this case. Upon 0:31:40.760 --> 0:31:43.640 the result of your verdict, to a very large extent, 0:31:43.760 --> 0:31:51.760 also will depend the integrity of the Christian religion. Hyperbolic, absolutely, 0:31:52.600 --> 0:31:55.880 but Morris's description wasn't far off from the feelings of 0:31:55.880 --> 0:31:59.920 the public. America in the years after the Civil War 0:32:00.400 --> 0:32:05.480 was a lost country, ravaged by violence, Devastated by death 0:32:05.720 --> 0:32:09.960 and reeling in the face of radical social and political change, 0:32:10.440 --> 0:32:14.760 Americans were desperate for something to cling on to. Henry 0:32:14.800 --> 0:32:19.240 Ward Beecher, with his warm and welcoming ways, his gospel 0:32:19.320 --> 0:32:23.720