The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1871-07-25

VOLUME XI.-NUMBER !
fHE ROMANCE OF REALITY.
TIE STRANGE STORY OF THE EARL
WHO TURNED SAILOR
-
The Tendency to React from High
Civilization.
lFrom the London Saturday RevieWl
The law courts are running the noVensIs
hard. and the r0manosfo Of real life threatens 20
csst Into the shade the most thrilling sensat.
lions of Mr.. Nudes purveyors. While Loro
Chief Justice Bovill and his patient jury are
enaaged in. their intermlnable inquiry as to
whether Roger Doughty Tichborne, supposed
to have been drowned at sea seyenseeG se year yeaas
breaker of Dargo In the Australian bush, one
of the Scotch sheriffs has been very busy with
A somewhat similar question as 10 the Identity
of. George d. Osborne, second mate OF the
Hera, from Boston to Melbourne, VINO was
George Hamilton Gordon, sixth Earl or
Aberdeen, whose family had lost an
trace of him some time previously. IL
in a striking and very creditable proof OF tne
dsctpline OF the English press, tnaG as regarQs
the TlchbOrne case IL has been content SIMPLY
to report the proceedings, and has scrnpu.,
lously abstained from. all further reference taai
question which Is probably uppermost IN tle
minds of most of the readers OF newspapers,
which everybody is talking about With the Ut
most freedom in private society, ana Whicn ls
every day the subject OF innumeraole rumors,
comments aud coDjectures or tne most e1tra-
ordinary character. In the Aberdeen case,
however. the same reasons for rettcence do
cot exist, for 1t has practically, though not
formally, been decided, and there are no nos
= tile interests at issue IN regard to II. Inc
STORY OF the young Earl is very curious euu
thnn mere personal interest. What phystol-
,oqists tell us OF the difficulty Of keeping up Q
highly cultivated breed, and the constant ten-
.dency it displays to return In one respect or
another to its primitive Wildness, Is also IN
some degree applicable TO society,". ~
may be observed a similar tendency
to revolt from the artificial Developments
and refined tamenesss which mark the
asocial condition. There Is vague, longing
for the rude simpliclties OF life when wild IN
.woodst the noble savage ran" or when at least
the limitations OF personal freedom were less
Oppressive than they are now, and there was
more room in the world for the swing and
play of;indlvidual character. In most OF us
this remains mere sentiment, but IN some
cases 1t breaks out In startling eccentriclues
which puzzle many worthy people very muca.
There was evidently some influence OF TINS
Kind at work on young Aberdeen, When, ne
suddenly threw up his name and rank and
plunged as commeH sailor, under an assum-
ed name. into the dirty drudgery and OBSCURE
.companionship.o OF seafaring career. When
this happened he was twenty-five years OF age,
had JUST succeeded bis father 1ntne ute ana
estates, and had, as It seemed, every promise
ofa happy and distinguished career. sHe'had
shown rood paris in bis college course az
.St Andrews, though his tastes led him ratheri
towards athietic exercises. He was one oltnes
best rifle shots In the countryf and could. oring
down his stag with the best OF them. he ives!
'on good terms with his family and deeply at
tac6ed to hls mother An alert esolnte,i
thoughtful youth, with something both of his
Srahdfathers still reserve aud ahard d-headen
common sense, mingled with his fathers ear
nestness and tenderness OF; character, regard
ed hopefully by his elders and pre-eminent IN
those exercises which sultec his age and posi-
tion and made him popular with his COM
panions, ne seemet TO start In the race Win no
Ordinary advantages. But the race was MOTTO
his mind, and he turned away from It, onhis
fathers death his own health had shown some
signs of delicacy, and ne resolved tosTavei;
ACCOMMODATING two friends, Lord Gosford and
Mr. Peterkin, to America, he parted with them
at Boston in the spring OF 1866, and was never
afterwards eeen by any one who knew him by
his real name. He dropped his little, chose O.
,oseudonym, and seems TO have been adopted
at once and Without challenge into the nnuti-
cal society Of Boston. /
alone testified to his existence, and gayea
hintof his erratic movements. In October he
had come back 10 Boston from voyage, and
found himself much stronger atfer 1.-THE long
spell OF warm weather and sea-air,n bue NOT
disposed then, just to risk g return tofhe
bleak English winter. Besides be had become
enamored Of. the social liberty be; enjoyed, md
could not bear to leave that .land or freedom
and common-seIse. ~ He had had an Invitation
from some missionaries to join them IN an exJ
pedition To Honolulu and the Friendly Islands,
.ahdth0ughtof OF accepting 1t. A few months
later heg gave aspasmodlcallY ylvia g accennt @ Z. o
Ms life at sea, showing great zest for AL the
little adventures ofsthe yoyage ,Ss.I neYef told
you,n he wrote, "my adventures on the Airiy
can voyage, or about loading salt IN the West
indies or about the mysterious man, or1h0ut
the wounded cook turned sailor, or the sm9rs
ous mate, or the mate In fts cailinls on
his mother, or about the cook zdMnk,
a aFrenchman crying, the socond mats bullying,
or about the captain drunk, the mate tnreeS
quarters drunk, the second mate greer, and
the ship running on. Georges Shoal, and being
saved BY the undersigned, who was not drunk;
about the talking parrot overheard, saved,
saved, saved-about the honest soldier-about
the happy island, the Arcadia Of the Atlantic:
about the French cook good times now for
the shell backs, plenty to eat, and good at that
Lor "A shark, shark T pork the hook9heis
caught, haul him aboard; frantic terror OF the
parrot-he tries to commit sulcidelthe shark
Is kllled--shark steaks for breakfast; or about
the undersigned sick with cholera; he gets
well; he gets his toe crushed; he knocks Off at
$50 P. N, he turns-to again at ga. II. next
day-spanish pilots" and much more In the
same strain.
After time all letters ceased; his family ma
turally became anxious, and his former tutor,
the Rev. W. B. Alexander; was dispatched to
America to search for him. While thus en-;
gagged. Mr. Alexander, in 1870, heard of the
itcss Of one sGeorge q. Osborne, second mate
of the Hera, who was washed overheard and
drowned In mid-ocean,- and who, II was
thought, might prove to be the young man he
was seeking. Theevidence laid before one OF
the Scotch sheriffs to show the identity OF
George Osborne and Lord Aberdeen seems to
be sufficiently conclusive, though spme further
information In minor points has yet, for the
sake Of legal completeness, to be adduced.
American photographs Of the mate tally With
English photographs Of the; Earl, and Lady
Aberdeen. has recognized them. all as without
45ubt portraits. of her deceased SON." Osborne
and The Carl were alike capital rifle shots, and
the Earls rifle identified by the makgr,)
was proved to have been sold by Osborne to
nj Nd In h Nnff foa /.