The Henry Ward Beecher Adultery Trial (1874): Selected Links
by Kathleen Hall
 
 

 Henry Ward Beecher founded Plymouth Church in Brooklyn, N.Y., in 1847, and became renowned as a preacher and an abolitionist. In 1875 he was tried for adultery, based on the confession (asserted, recanted and re-asserted) of Elizabeth Tilton.  The scandal, popularly known as the Beecher-Tilton Affair, attracted publicity and commentary by, among others, suffragist leaders such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony.  Ultimately, Beecher was acquitted of the charges in civil court, and cleared of all charges in two church proceedings. 

THE TRIAL

Opening for the Defense (Available Through Google Books)

 

Official Report of the Trial of Henry Ward Beecher (Available Through Google Books)

 

The Beecher Trial: A Review of the Evidence (Reprinted from the N.Y. Times of July 3, 1875)(Available Through Google Books)


 

CONTEMPORARY NEWSPAPER ARTICLES

“Mrs. Tilton, Her Written Statement: A Damaging Revelation for Mr. Tilton.” (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 24, 1874)

http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMailGifMSIE&Type=text/html&Path=BEG/1874/07/24&ID=Ar00400&Locale=&ChunkNum=0

 

Beecher: Gradual Clearing Up of the Clouds, Another Bad Day for Mr. Tilton and his Story.”  (Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 27, 1874)

http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMailGifMSIE&Type=text/html&Path=BEG/1874/07/27&ID=Ar00404&Locale=&ChunkNum=0

 

“The Scandal:  Susan B. Anthony’s Statement Contradicted.”  Brooklyn Daily Eagle, July 31, 1874)

http://eagle.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/Repository/getFiles.asp?Style=OliveXLib:ArticleToMailGifMSIE&Type=text/html&Path=BEG/1874/07/31&ID=Ar00201&Locale=&ChunkNum=0

 

WORKS BY BEECHER

Conflict of Northern and Southern Theories of Man and Society
Speech, Delivered in New York City
(Rochester, N.Y.:  A. Strong & Co., 1855)(Available through Project Gutenberg). 

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/25653

 

Twelve Causes of Dishonesty (Philadelphia:  H. Altemus, 1896)(Available through Project Gutenberg).

http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/30392

 

The Sermons of Henry Ward Beecher in Plymouth Church Brooklyn, March-September 1872 (N.Y.:  J.B. Ford & Company, 1873)(Available Through Google Books)

 

The Life of Jesus the Christ, Vol. I (N.Y.:  E.B. Treat, 1896)(Available Through Google books)

 



BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES

http://www.plymouthchurch.org/our_history.php 

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Ward_Beecher