Year: 1870

i from The 81 Louis DsmoernS


A gentlemen who witnessed the play ol
Enoch Arden Mt DeBar's Opera House,
relates circumstance very similar In Ii
details to that Of the cast-away sailor.
We give the statement In his own words
The play recalls TO mind . circumstance
that happened In my own experience. A
Sergeant In my regiment was wounded
at Chickanauga. and was reported dead.
He was seen to fall In tho heat OF the en-
gagement, and our lines being pushed
back. the body was not recovered until
next day. When the poor fellow was
found he was 50 mutilated by being tram.
pied on by the cavalry that his face could
not be recognized. A comrade. however.
found In his breast-pockst q miniature OF
his wife. and sent It to her, with an &C.
count of his death. Itturncd out that tho
body was not that of Tom C, but q
Sergeant Of another company. Tom,
desperately wounded, fell into the hands
of the enemy. and was sent to Anderson
vile, where tho rebel surgeon cut of one
Of his aims and one Of his legs, and, In
spite of his bad fare he recovered In due
time. never knew why they kept Tom
50 long In prison, except II was for tho
purpose Of exchanging him for q sound
man.


When poor Tom returned to his home
In Pennsylvania, he was n mere wreck Of
his former self. and nobody in the village
know him. His wife had removed to IL
linois with her parents. more than year
previously. Without making himself
known to any Of his acquaintances In the
village, Tom started for Illinois to hunt
for his wife. When he arrived In the
neighborhood where she was living. he
learned that she was married to an old
friend of his, who had followed her from
Pennsylvania. His first impulse was to
make himself known to her and claim
her rs his own; but when he saw the snug
cabin In which she was living. and heard
how kindly she was treated by her hus-
band, he changed his mind. "Suppose I
go and claim herP What can do for
her. with only one arm aud one leg, and
body weakened by months of suffering
at Andorsonville? No; she Is happy and
contented, and thinks me dead. and Il will
destroy her happiness and become bur-
den to her." ...... .,.-


Tom acted upon this resolution and
worked his way to New York, where he
sct up small business rs cnrbstone
merchant, selling nuts and cakes and soda
water. and getting along prosperously.
He soon made money enough to buy him
an artificial leg, and after while got n
patent arm made, and to SEQ him walking
along the street you would not suppose
that he was but little more than half q
man. He was good business man. and
In the course of year enlarged his stock
In trade, and opened n retail grocery.
He made money fast, and became pros
porous merchant, respected by all who
knew him. Hi.. Ir 70.


In his prosperity he never forgot his
wife, and always cherished q hope that
she would be restored TO him. He was q
regular subscriber to tho village paper
published at tho town near which his wife
lived, and read It with great interest. One
day he saw in tho paper the announce
ment of tho death Of the man who had
married his wife. He lost no time In
starting for Illinois. ..I


He found his wife In deep mourning
for her late husband. and she had added
another infantile link To the family circle:
Tom made himself known 10 her. and
was rejoiccd to find that sho still loved
him rs fondly rs ever. II was some time
before no could convince her that he was
not a ghost returned from the other
world. .


In order to make things sure the parson
was called In. and Tom and his vile were
married over again. They went tn New
York, where they are still living, rs hap
py couple rs you will find In Gotham.
They live In brown stone front, and the
family. when l saw them, were preparing