nfide her real feelings to
her diary. She believed that to save himself Beecher was withholding
the explanation which the situation demanded. "It is almost an
impossibility," she wrote in her diary, "for a man and a woman to have
a close sympathetic friendship without the tendrils of one soul
becoming fastened around the other, with the result of infinite pain
and anguish." Then again she wrote, "There is nothing more
demoralizing than lying. The act itself is scarcely so base as the lie
which denies it."[320]

Susan's silence probably brought her more notoriety than anything she
could have said on this much discussed subject, and it heightened her
reputation for honesty and integrity. "Miss Anthony," commented the
New York _Sun_, "is a lady whose word will everywhere be believed by
those who know anything of her character." The Rochester _Democrat and
Chronicle_ had this to say: "Whether she will make any definite
revelations remains to be seen, but whatever she does say will be
received by the public with that credit which attaches to the evidence
of a truthful witness. Her own character, known and honored by the
country, will give importance to any utterances she may make."[321]

She was not called as a witness by either side during the 112 days of
trial which ended in July 1875 with the jury unable to agree on a
verdict.

* * * * *

Realizing that many taboos were being broken down by the lurid
nation-wide publicity on the Beecher-Tilton case and that as a result
people were more willing to consider subjects which hitherto had not
been discussed in polite society, Susan began to plan a lecture on
"Social Purity."

She was familiar with the public protest Englishwomen under the
leadership of Josephine Butler were making against the state
regulation of vice. Following with interest and admiration their
courageous fight for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts, which
placed women suspected of prostitution under police power, Susan found
encouragement in the support these reformers had received from such
men as John Stuart Mill and Jacob Bright. Such legislation, she
resolved, must not gain a foothold in her country, because it not only
disregarded women's right to personal liberty but showed a dangerous
callousness toward men's share of responsibility for prostitution.

She was awake to the problems prostitution presented in cities like
New York and Washington, its prevalenc