The Pulaski citizen. [volume] (Pulaski, Tenn.) 1866-current, 1873-10-02
TomlYn. feelino hinnself crouins- No.


and more unfit for further service, re
signed his commission and returned t,
England, where he subsequently died o
a low fever some two years after thu
event I have been relating.
The mysteriousincident became know
las indeed how could it be otherwise p
to the people OF the town, who CON
municated it freely to their friend
abroad and IN spite of the deprecatinl
efforts of the officers of the regiment
who did all in their power to suppress
all reference to the subject, it became
topic of worldwide speculation anc
wonder. Harley's promise st parting
with Tomlyn, his appearance to hin
on the very night after, and the loss o
the vessel with all en- board, left nC
loop-hole of escape from natural con
clusion and so it was quoted for year.
as one of tnose inexplical1le occurrences
where communications from the dead
must be held to be worthy OF belief.
Time sped on its devouring course
The regiment had long been relieved al
Hamilton, and ha served with distinc-
ton in the Crimes, and also in India,
whence it was once ordered home to
await its inevitable duty of tapping its
drum in some other cline, to that sun
which in the words OF the great Web
ster, never rises or sets without music.
I was now in America, and on my way
to the west, a day passenger on one Of
those Palatial steamers which ply the
lordly Hudson. A fellow-passenger, in
casually directing my attention to the
beauty of a particular point of scenery
which sudden turn IN the river dis
closed, betrayed a voice which struck
me as being familiar. am near
sighted, and depend for recognition of
my friends far more on my ears than my
eyes indeed, voice I have once heard
is never wholly forgotten. Ny excited
attention was, therefore, directed more
closely to the features of my unexpected
companion, whom I had now approached
suite nearly for the sake of continuing
a conversation which accident had be-
gun. "God bless me !" exclaimed, in
genuine astonishnlent, Is this Capt
Wilton?" was both right and wrong;
1 found my old friend Charles (now
Col Wilton at my side; for, since we
had met lang syne, successive promo
tions had placed him at the head of his
regiment, the one hundred and eighth.
He had obtained liberal leave Of absence
after his severe and continued active
service, and was recruiting his health,
which had suffered much, especially in
India, by travelling in this country. AS
our respective families had been near
neighbors at home, and our personal
feelings were always of the warmest,
the Joy of our meeting, SO far from
home, toO-may well be imagined.
Among the many themes of talk for
which '' the deep cavern of memory +"
began to be ransacked as the time for
parting approached, and this was not
till we had spent three merry days to
gether, I alluded inquiringly to the story
of Tomlyn at Bermuda. A burst of
laughter, not wholly unmixed, as it
seemed to me, with tinge Of pity, was.
at first, my friends only reply. As
soon as he recovered gravity enough for
continuity, the dread mystery was un-
ravelled in few words: "Tomlyn was
a stupid fellow and bore. Harley
was overheard IN his devastating by
young L'Estrange,- as merry a lad as
ever breathed, and who, among many
amusing talents, possesses that Of
mimicry in a high degree. He conceived
and carried out, unknown to any one OF
us at the time, the apparitiOn of Harley,
who, and this coincidence was the most
wonderful I ever knew, proved, after
all, to have been indeed lost at sea,
with all on board. When Tomlyn's
health continued to suffer under the
malady which his mental torture had
superinduced, L'Estrange, all repent
ance, for he was truly distressed as the
lasting effects of the freek became appa-
rent, confessed the whole truth and
sought forgiveness with as true heart
as ever pleaded. But Tomlyn was deaf
to everything in the way of explanation.
His mind had been filed with the GA ist
of Harley, and no exOrcist could be
found. The rest you know. We were
concerned for some time on L Estrange's
account, fearing his thoughless practi-
cal joke Gin direct violation of the rules
of the service) might reach the ear Of
the general commanding on the station,
who would, no doubt, have felt it to be
his duty to exercise his authority. But
the affair was left to die natural death,
and lay comfortably entombed till your
confounded curiosity has now exhumed