Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1872-09-15
TIE SEVEN pays, woNDER.
Something Further About the Boyd
Mystery.

General Sentiment that It is q Mys.
terry NO LOnger-HoW ID Is Supposed
TO be Cleared Up.
From the Knoxville Press and Herald, Sept. 10
The "Boyd Mystery" does not seem to
the general public 80 great mystery now
as when the horrid details Of the alleged
murder on the lonely mountain side first
startled the community. As one by one
the facts of the affair were learned and in
vestigation stripped from the "mystery"
the dark clouds Of doubt and thick webs Of
fiction which surrounded it, it became
more and more apparent that Boyd had not
been murdered snd that the charred re-
mains found on Tellico Mountain and bu-
ried in Eleazar churchyard amid the tears
of grief stricken relatives and the laments
of sorrowing friends, as all that remained
Of Thomas G.. Boyd, were in reality the
residue of the body of Samuel Bowles, the
colored boy which had been buried in the
same churchyard a week before.
This Is the conclusion to which everybody
has now arrived, if we except some Of the
immediate relatives of Boyd who still
mourn his loss and place implicit confidence
in the story of his tragic end.
1t Is generally supposed that Boyd con-
cocted the affair 10 escape appTehended con-
viction in the United States Court, on
number Of charges preferred against him OF
criminal action in connection with pension
claims, and by persuadiDg people of his
death, relieve his bondsm9n and secure TO
bis family the heavy insurance on bis Life.
Nothing has been heard from Boyd since
the eventful Friday afternoon, when the
five masked men rushed upon the three I'M
travellers drinking che cool waters
of the fountain, and with 6endish malice
murdered Boyd-according to the veracious
narratives of Reagan and Hensley. 1t was,
indeed, announced last evening, that BOyO,
learning that the rise was unsuccessful, had
and wasin Knoxville, last night, but
diligent inquiry proves this to be but one Of
the one thousand and enc rumors Tying on
the wings of every wind. If Boyd IS alive he
is far away from East Tennessee, may be
watching the dancing pillows Of the broad
as he sails to foreign shore, or
else speeding swiftly past the wondering
buffaloes as the train bears him over the
Pacific Railway TO the shores Of the Golden
State.
The father Of young Hensley was in the
city yesterday. He insists that If Boyd
was not killed, and he doubts his death,
that his son was an innocent party to the
deception. ''But" said the old man, "Boyd
could not have fooled me so, though my
ewes had for two months been filed With
blue mud" Reagan and Hensley, the
of Boyd in the unlucky expedi-
ion, were expected in the city yesterday,
but did not arrive. IT is thought that they
will present an appearance in town to day.
The coroner's jury at Eleazer, examined
! large number of witnesses on Wednesday
and will keep the inquest open from day to
lay. No new facts were ELECTED, though
he evidence seemed to point coDclusiVely
20 the fact that the remains were those OF
he negro whose dead body had been
buried in its grave on the LIST inst.
The preacher who delivered the funeral
sermon over the charred remains, believing
hem to be those of Boyd, was in the city
He thinks that two things are
evident, yea, three are patent to every
mind. That the remains were not those
IF Thomas G.. Boyd. That they were those
If William Bowles, the negro. That, as
Boyd is most probably alive, one eloquent
funeral sermon was wasted.