he guilt or innocence of Henry
Ward Beecher. They never caught her off guard and she steadfastly
refused to reveal to them, or to the lawyers of either side, who
astutely approached her, the story which Elizabeth Tilton had told her
in confidence. Yet in spite of her continued silence, she was twice
quoted by the press, once through the impulsiveness of Mrs. Stanton,
who expressed herself frankly at every opportunity, and again when the
New York _Graphic_ without Susan's consent published her letter to
Mrs. Hooker.

The sympathy of the public was generally with Henry Ward Beecher,
whose popularity and prestige were tremendous. A dynamic preacher,
whose sermons drew thousands to his church and whose written word
carried religion and comfort to every part of the country, he could
not suddenly be ruined by the circulation of a scandal or even by a
sensational trial. Behind him were all those who were convinced that
the future of the Church and Morality demanded his vindication. On his
side, also, as Susan well knew, was the powerful, behind-the-scenes
influence of the financial interests who profited from Plymouth Church
real estate, from the earnings of Beecher's paper, _Christian Union_,
and from his book the _Life of Christ_, now in preparation and for
which he had already been paid $20,000.

Susan and Mrs. Stanton paid the penalty of being on the unpopular
side. When Elizabeth Tilton was not allowed to testify in her own
defense, they accused Beecher and Tilton of ruthlessly sacrificing her
to save their own reputations. In fact, Susan and Mrs. Stanton knew
far too much about the case for the comfort of either Beecher or
Tilton, and to discredit them, a whispering campaign, and then a press
campaign was initiated against them. They and their National Woman
Suffrage Association were again accused of upholding free love. Their
previous association with Victoria Woodhull was held against them, as
were the frank discussions of marriage and divorce published in _The
Revolution_ six years before.

Actually Susan's views on marriage were idealistic. "I hate the whole
doctrine of 'variety' or 'promiscuity,'" she wrote John Hooker, the
husband of her friend Isabella. "I am not even a believer in second
marriages after one of the parties is dead, so sacred and binding do I
consider the marriage relation."[319]

Although in public Susan uttered not one word relating to the guilt or
innocence of Henry Ward Beecher, she did co