, 1855-10-12
Decidedly Rich.

The Barnwell rs. C.) Sentinel publishe,
the most amusing rely Of the postmaster o.
that place, to the publisher Of some maga
zine at the North, who sent to him TO have
his daguerreotype taken, and to send it
with some biographical account of himself
for insertion in the said magazine, among
the Portraits and Memoirs of Eminent
Living Americans" .
The reply of Mr.. Postmaster Tobin is
one Of the best things in its way wo have
ever seen. 1t was as follows
Dear Sir-The above communication
reached me last week, and in replication, I
beg leave to state that if | have ever done
anything worthy Of the Immortality your
magazine is likely 10 confer upon me, am
not conscious of it. However, as true
merit is always modest, it may be to that
virtue that ! owe my ignorance, at all
events, (and / am anxious the world OF
large should know it), have not sought
fame, but fame has sought me, as Alcxan.
der Smith, the poet, would say,
Fame Fame next grandest word IN God -
In taking the retrospect Of my early days
eau discover nothing worthy Of record
unless it be the stealing Of few watermel
ons at school, for which l was beaten with
many stripes, or the riding of few quar-.
ter races, for which l received an occa,
sional and solitary ginger cake, or adven-
lures Of similar import. r
AT II ran away from my venerable old
guardian, the Rev Hansford Dadc Dun
can, (long life to him and vamosed to the
great Far West, where flourished for a
short time, and q short time only, and upon
returning lost all my money upon game
yulgarly called "poker," of which, Of
course, you know nothing, upon one OF the
boats Of the Alabama river. This was
about the time the Ben Franklin bursted,
and killed so many, and had not been
standing near the stern Of the vessel, you
would never have had an opportunity oi
handing my name, fac simile, character and
adventures, down to an eager posterity in
the columns Of your justly celebrated magn-
zine. i..-. - ....t..., .
/ returned to my own, my native land,
fundlcss, and perhaps somewhat seedy in
appearance, and run for LIST lieutenant in a
distinguished military company, but was
unfortunately beaten by the loss Of one
vote, by my worthy competitor, 4, i..,,-
In the year of our Lord, lS49, my illus
trious friend, Thomas d. Condy, gave me
the Office OF Assistant Deputy United
States Marshal for the District of Barn
well, and while taking the census / killed
one horse and another ran away and broke
my buggy, upon which occasion I rode my
horse bareback fourteen miles in forty
inmates, Of which fact Col. b. II. Brown
is a living witness. yaf, e1f --o.e : %
After / had concluded this herculean
undertaking, a man calling himself &C.
Frank Powell" wrote me from Washing
ton that IL / would forward a certain
amont of money to him, he would prose
cute my claims for an increase of pay suti-
cient to cover these disasters, but / grieve
to say that from the time / sent the money
have not heard word from the afofe.
said aud never to he forgotten @. Frank
Powell, he probably having gone TO parts
unknown. However, ] still entertain strong
hopes Of seeing his distinguished name and
fac simile in your widely circulating maga-
zine. eti ,hiN +lNQH 3.
Last year l ran fOt tax collector in this
important township, and was beaten so
badly by base combination, of which i
was wholly unconscious until few moments
before the closing Of the polls, that have
not since entirely recovered my equanimity.
AS a salvo, however, 10 this disaster, and
Just at this crisis, my distinguished bnt be-
nighted friend, the Hon. James Campbell,
Postmaster General. gave me the post