Winter Autograph, Art and Sports Auction
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 2/26/2015
This is an important letter and original Poem related to The Beecher/Tilton scandal which achieved such prominence in the national press that by some accounts it eclipsed in volume the coverage of President Johnson's impeachment trial. This is an ALS from Tilton to Henry Ward Beecher, written on the stationary of the Brooklyn Daily Union. It is a friendly letter dated Dec. 20, 1870 referring to his Beecher's retirement as editor and chief of the "Independent" and even says "success to your labors & peace to your soul.". This is also accompanied with an original handwritten poem by Tilton, which was well published and this seems to be a working draft since there are changes throughout and the finished poem does have differences. The Letter and Poem Pages are attached together along the left side.
Theodore Tilton (October 2, 1835 – May 29, 1907) was an American newspaper editor, poet and abolitionist. He was a poet of note, best remembered for the often quoted "Even This Shall Pass Away." An abolitionist and advocate of women's rights, he was editor (1860-1871) of the journal Independent, which was closely associated with Henry Ward Beecher, the nationally famous Congregational Minister and brother of Harriet Beecher Stowe. In 1872 Victoria Woodhull, a prominent voice for women's suffrage who ran for President that same year (although she could not legally vote), accused Beecher of having an affair with Tilton's wife Elizabeth. Both Beecher and Theodore Tilton at first denied the claim, but later Elizabeth confessed to her husband, and he sued Beecher for "alienation of affection." Beecher's Plymouth Church in Brooklyn exonerated Beecher in two inquiries, and a civil trial ended in a hung jury. The US government arrested and jailed Woodhull two days before the presidential election, claiming that her newsletter accusing Beecher of the affair was pornography sent through the mail. Woodhull's charges against Beecher were said by some to be retaliation for his criticism of her views on women's rights in marriage, which he claimed amounted to "free love." Beecher survived the scandal, although with his prestige much diminished. Woodhull and her husband were bankrupted by it; Theodore Tilton chose to live the rest of his life abroad.
The Beecher/Tilton scandal Letter and original Poem
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