Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1873-08-08
To ADVERTISERS.
/" RDuy'I.v brood"
SOME ACCOUNTS OF THE AUTHOR.

The published accounts of the version of
Edwin brood, now in course of propara-
ton by a so-called spiritual medium" of
this place, purporting to act as Dick ons's
amanuensis, calls forth a great diversity of
comment, some highly complimentary TO
the character of the work and some derog-
atory. Inquiry has naturally been made
as to the character and antecedents of the
writer, who has been a resident of Brattle-
boro but a short time and as was to have
been suspected in view of the secrecy un-
der which he has attempted to veil himself,
the result is not particularly favorable. The
following is from the Boston Herald of
Wednesday:
We have given hitherto the substance of
the announcements concerning mysteri-
Gus man up in Vermont who Is just now
serving as medium through whom Dick
ems is completing his Edwin brood. The
charge has been openly made that the pub
fishers of the newspaper which first gave
publicity to the story are to publish this
mediums" production if he ever finishes
it, and that their present eagerness TO spread
the story of the Braltleboro medium and
his NOIh Is OHlN IL SbItMu
dodge. This seems very probable. Re-
cent developments show the fnisher of
Dickenss work in very uniayorable light,
ana cast great doubt upon any of the sto-
ries he or his future publishers may have
to tell. The Nashua, N. H., Telegraph
gives the following account of his opera
tions before beginning the present swim
die:
After our publication last week OF the
extracts from the remarkable article that
appeared in the Springfield Union, pur-
orting 10 be an account of the finishing of
Edwin brood by Brattleboro medium,
we heard that the medium in question was
Mr.. Thomas p. James, whom many of our
citizens will remember as foreman of the
Telegraph job printing department some
three years ago. Having satisfied ourselves
that the Brattleboro "mechanic" and our
whilom printer were one and the same, our
conclusions in reference to the character Of
the "fnish'' were very different from those
arrived at by the deceived or deceiving re-
porter of the Springfield Union.
Mr.. James entered our employ in 1860,
coming from Portland, Me. He represent
ed himself as skilful job printer, and, on
trial he proved to be above the average of
workmen. He was about thirty years of
age, rather slight, but well formed, and
remarkably self-possessed man. He had
formerly been in business in Lowell, where
he failed, and subsequently found his way,
we believe, TO Philadelphia. He had in
fact seen good deal of the world, and in
,ic uop1arpoc 40 had nlla, IN xtitI, NJ re
Scott, former resident of Nashua, whom
he married, though she was many years
his senior. For year James proved TO be
an industrious workman, when circum-
stances arose that aroused our suspicion
that his veracity was wholly unworthy of
dependence. On leaving our employ he
engaged with his son-n.law, Mr.. G. c.
Scott of Low ell, ard on the removal of the
Globe" Office 10 this city, James once
more returned. About two years ago the
fact was developed that improper relations
existed between him and pretty opera
tive in the Jackson Mills by the name of
Hill, who had become an inmate of his
family. An explosion followed and James
suddenly left town, leaving behind him
bad record of mismanagement at the Globe
printing Office, and a social stain upon his
character Of the darkest kind.
II was given out that James had fled to
New Orleans, but it is doubtful if he really
went farther than New York, where he was
subsequently heard from. Last fall, it APP
pears, he made his way to Brattleboro ac-
companied by his pretty victim, where it
would seem, from the Unions account, he
has played the open role of an industrious
printer and the secret one of mediumst-
ic finisher of Edwin brood. Knowing
James pretty thoroughly, we are not sur
pfised that the Springfield Union man was
''taken in" by his consummate assurance
and duplicity.
Although ii is evident from the extracts
given to the public that the "finish' of Ed
win brood is entirely unworthy of the
ORR inal, it is probable that James has a
confederate of more scholastic finish than
himself He is hardly up to sustained
narration, however great his familiarity
with Dickens works which he affects. Still
we must give him credit for considerable
ingenuity, as the imposition he has attempt
ed is one of the cleverest in conception and
execution of modern times. And we shall
not be surprised if he attempts, with his
infinite assurance to bluff it through.
The Boston Traveller of Friday last con-
tanned the following:
From reliable authority ii appears that
the individual in question, Thomas Pow
ers James, in early life was resident of
Nashua, N. H., and that he there espoused
NJ RS. Scott with whose children he had
been quite intimate in YOUTH, and who is OF
course some years his senior. From Nash
u he removed TO Lowell, where he failed
in business printing, and for some time
after acleu as foreman 10 his step-son, who
Grd him in business. Returning 10
Nashua, he acted in the same capacity and
employment until he became an ardent adj
mirer of a young girl who lived with his
wife, and, giving up his position he left his
wife and came to Boston. We next hear OF
him at Fall River, and afterward at New
York, still working at his trade, of which
he is said to be a master. In all his wan
behring's he has been accompanied by the
girl, and now we find in him the "young
mechanic" of Brattleboro, through whom
the spirit of Charles Dickens is preparing
an unprecedented message from the dead
to the living. The name of Hill given in
other journals as the signature used by him
in his mysterious communications to the
outer world, is the surname of the compan-
ion of his wanderings. He has the charac-
ter of a smart, enterprislng adventurer
with no nice scruples of honor to embarras'
his energies; with little education save
what has been picked up in his business
some thirty-flve years of age plausible