July 30, 2012 
A detail from James E. Cook, “Testimony in the Great Beecher-Tilton Scandal Case Illustrated”, c1875. Henry Ward Beecher, a minister and clergyman and religious celebrity, was alleged to have slept with Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton, wife of Beecher’s colleague at the Independent, Theodore Tilton.1 The affair became a national scandal, though Beecher pretty much survived it, remaining a popular religious figure until his death a decade later. See Altina Waller, Reverend Beecher and Mrs. Tilton: Sex and Class in Victorian America. Published by the University of Massachusetts Press, 1982. More at New York Magazine. ↩

A detail from James E. Cook, “Testimony in the Great Beecher-Tilton Scandal Case Illustrated”, c1875.

Henry Ward Beecher, a minister and clergyman and religious celebrity, was alleged to have slept with Mrs. Elizabeth Tilton, wife of Beecher’s colleague at the Independent, Theodore Tilton.1 The affair became a national scandal, though Beecher pretty much survived it, remaining a popular religious figure until his death a decade later.

  1. See Altina Waller, Reverend Beecher and Mrs. Tilton: Sex and Class in Victorian America. Published by the University of Massachusetts Press, 1982. More at New York Magazine. ↩