5l ft 1 A 10 X .Wt5 If rill M A AAA if'; ""Jclr" AN INDEPENDENT FAMILY NEWSPAPER. 'a!XA"'' TTol. "VI . . Now Bloomiicld, 3?., TuoKduy, Tui-oli IS, 1872. IV. 11. IS rUUUSMED EVEHT TUKSllAI MOKSINU, UT ; FRANK MORTIMER & CO., At New Bloomiicld, Terry Co., Ya. Jtelnff provided with Ptenm rower, anil large Cylinder mill .Puli-I'iesse. we are prepared to tn ml kind of .loh l'iliiUiiK lu , good Btyle mid at Low 1'ilees. ' ADVERTISING KATES J ' Trantimt 8 Cents per line for one Insertion. 18 " " ' two Insertions 15 " " "three Insertions. Business Notices In Local Column 10 Cents per line. Notices of Marriages or Deaths Inserted free. Tributes of Kespect, &c., Ten cents per line. YEARt.T ADVKKTISEMENTB. Ten bines Nonpareil one year 1 10,00 Twenty lines " " " S 18.00 V 1'or limiter yearly adv'ts terms will be given puu application. A REMARKABLE IMP0STER, on The Deacon's Mistake. rilllE villago in uno of the Middle States JL in which iny boyhood and early youth wwe passed was and is a quiet agricultural centre of about one thousand population, It hud tho usual complement of country tores and inns, nud a largo and imposing academy. In the traveling season it was enlivened for an hour daily by the transit through Its "Main Street" (and what city or village in tho country has not that Stereotyped name?) of passengers from the railroad depot to tho steamboat; but for the most part it dozed amid the great events of the world, npait from its excitements and its bustling activity. Let it not bo under stood, however, that this place had nothing In particular to distinguish it from the Joiicsvillos, Pottstowus and Smithburghs, in which those States are prolific. It was an old and historic place, celebrated in tho Annals of at least one of our wars; its situ ation on the bank of a great river, nestling under a mountainous elevation of table land, was exceptionally romantic; it was embowered by trees of patriarchal growth; and among its people there was a goodly sprinkling of education, refinement and wealth, with some old and rather ex elusive families to give a tono to its society. It was a place, in short, of such natural beauty and rural quiet as to make it the domicile of a number of that most envied olass they who livo on tho interest of their money. In this community there were several ohurchos; at least two more than could decently support a pastor. Tho largest of those societies, as well as tho wealthiest, and one second to none in worldly resocta bility and icligious character, had parted with its last shepherd some months before. A painful want of harmony had arisen in thU Hock; schisms had crept in, several members had been expelled, social breaches had consequently occurred, and the society bad become divided, distracted, and power less to accomplish" Christian work. The church edifice had been permanently closed, and there seemed no immediate prospect of bettor things. At this juncture a person arrived in the village bearing a letter of introduction to one of tho deacons, which was duly present ed, and out of which grew momentous con sequences. The bearer of this letter was a man of thirty-five or forty years of age, habited in Mack, but without the conventional white neckcloth of the ministry. He wore an amount of jewelry upou his person that seemed quite unclorical; but his general demeanor was grave aad decorous, while tils manners and address were those of the most courteous refinement. Personally lie was rather undorsized, uite spare, and with a face that at once denoted mental activity. It was certainly an attractive ace, set off as it was with curly black hair and whiskers, illuminated by a pair of such brilliant eyes as is not often bestowed upon Ida sex, and embellished by a half-smile that was at once winning and habitual. The outside of this man, in short, was decided ly interesting, and provocative of inquiry as to who and what he was. ouch at least, was the impression made upon the deacon, wko politely invited bit visitor to be seated while he mounted bis spectacles and read be letter. . "The worthy man was instantly filled with a sense of awe and importance to find tilmseU addressed m writing as the dear respected brother of a dootorof dlviulty resident of an Eastern city, whoso name may be hero omitted, but who occupied tho very highest place in learning, picly and in fluence in this denomination; one of thoso bright and shining lights known to all good Christians, but whose beamings our good deacon had never thought would rest par ticularly on him. Glancing with pleasure and pride upou a religious work by this very doctor that ho had just been reading, the deacon proceeded to acquaint himself with tho contents of tho epistle. It was substantially as follows, barring date, ad dress and superscription: " I desire to present to you, iu the bear er of this, tho Itev. Albert Wynne, a clergy man of our denomination. For some years past iu charge of one of tho largest of our Eastern churches, he has boon compelled by ill-health and an unfavorable climate to relinquish his charge- and seek a more congenial atmosphere. His relations with his peoplo were sundered with the utmost reluctance upon his part, and with tho last ing regret of the whole society. Ho is a young man of extraordinary gifts, and, if Providcnco shall spare his life, willbecomo in a few years a priceless treasure to us all. Therefore I nm personally solicitous as to the preservation of his health; and to this end I liavo recommended him to seek a charge in somo quiet locality like yours. You may secure him for a time and I learn that you are without a pastor and though his connection with you cannot, as you will understand from my premises, be lengthy, yet your peoplo have cause to re gard themselves as fortunate beyond other men in securing him at all. One caution, however; I charge you and your co-workers, as brethren in Christ, to guard his health assiduously. You must sco to it that lie takes suflicicnt physical exercise, and does not injure himself by overwork or study. " As I am about to depart for an extend ed tour of duty at tho South, and as the reputation of your people and yourself is wetl known to me, no answer to this will be necessary. I trust Brother Wynne to you with tho assurance that all will be well." Thisletter, of course, secured the rever end gentleman a hearty welcome at tho hands of the deacon and his family, and ho was most hospitably entertained. The deacon at once obtained the necessary con cent that Mr. Wynne might preach tho fol lowing Sabbath; but ho was troubled and vexed to find that ho could create very little interest iu tho matter among tho people. Tho general feeling in tho society was ono of apathy and indifference, which even the letter of this distinguished doctor, widely as it was circulated, was not powerful enough to remove. Tho good deacon was restless, nervous, almost wretched. Not withstanding his utmost exertions to create a furore in favor of the new-comer, ho was conscious of having failed; and on Sunday moriiing.on the way to tho place of meeting, he bunglingly stammorcd his fears and ex cuses to his guest. "Pray don't be troubled, my dear broth er, responded Mr. Wynne, with smiling suavity. " Let us see if I cannot advertise myself to this peoplo to-day." And advertise himself he did, most thor oughly. To the two dozen assembled in tho morning he preached such a discourse as the old stones of that church had never be fore heard. It was fervid, earnest, elo quent, convincing iu argument, powerful in diction, and so impressively delivered as to kindlo enthusiasm in the ihillost of his few heareis. The fume of this efi'ort flow over the whole village during the day, and at night the church was crowded with curious listeners. The evening's sermon Was in no way inferior to that of the morning; both the prayer and the preaching of this man, so different from all that those peoplo bad been accustomed to, wrought powerfully upon the minds of all present. On the fol lowing morning a committee waited on Mr, Wynne to secure him as a pastor of the church. They found no difficulty in ac complishing tills object. In answer to the tender of a larger salary than the society had ever paid, made with apologies for its smallness, the minister reiterated the reasons which had led him to desire change of location, as expressed in the in troductory letter, and cordially accepted the charge offered him, expressing the hope that he might, by the blessing of God, be permitted to forward his work in this place, And he Immediately entered upon his min istry. I shall not attempt to detail tnlnntely tiie history of Mr. -Wynne's connection with this church and peoplo for the next sis months.' Both church and people were takes by storm, if I may so phrase it, and surrendered at discretion. The new minis ter was tho lion of the town, tho foremost themo of public and privato conversation, tho observed of nil observers.- Everybody was enthusiastic in his praise; all were delighted with him, savo the elders of other denominations, upon whoso membership his pastorate threatened a heavy draft. Ilis zeal was unbounded, out of the pulpit as well as In it. Not only did tho fervor and charm of his preaching (ill tho church twice each Sabbath, thereby greatly aug menting its revenue, but his inquiry-meet ings, earnest and stirring, wcro largely at tended, and made important additions to' tho membership. lie healed nil tho social di (Terences in his Hock; he investigated tho ascs of some who sulferod expulsion, proved their errors venial or their peni tence sincere,and accomplished their restor ation; he lent his potent encouragement to aid societies, ever dear to the kind hearts of the matrons; ho built up the languishing Sabbath school iu fact, lie made himself effectually useful about everything that concerned the harmony and prosperity of this church and society. That he became immensely popular follows as a natural consequence from the above statements. Aside from tho high favor that ho enjoyed among the membership as a talented and levoted minister, his fascinating address and brilliant conversational powers made him tho acknowledged leader, tho facile princf.pi of tho best society of the place. Beyond this, young men liked him because ho was always companionable; the young women (could it be otherwise?) thought him as handsome as Hamlet on the stage, and not unlike the melancholy philosopher, wliilo many of them sighed secretly at thought of liini. For six mouths or more all wont swim mingly with Mr. Wynno and liis people; and as he expressed a warm desire to ex tend his term of seryico hero indefinitely, there seemed a good prospect that the con nection might bo a long and spiritually prulitablo one. Suddenly ono weak auda cious voice was lifted up against him. A journeyman tailor, a man of extensive read ing, if humble occupation, heard i one of Mr. Wynne's astonishing discourses one evening, and discovered that its language soundti strangely familiar to him. lie turning homo with tho idea fresh in his mind, ho took up a volume of Chamiing's published sermons, ami there found the one ho hail jnst heard, word for word as Mr. Wynne had rcpoated it from the pul pit. The tailor mado known his discovery, and created a little buzz of excitement and inquiry. Tho candid few who took tho trouble to examine the proof of this clerical piracy jvcro convinced, and denounced Mr. Wynne as an impostor; but tho popular tide had been setting too long and too strong to be suddenly checked. As the minister indignantly denied tho charge. most of his admirers were perfectly willing to dismiss it at once; others believed, or af fected to believe, that it was merely a re markable coincidence of language nud ideas; and the insinuation was speedily hooted down, leaving a very sninll minority who believed in it. A more dangerous rock than this, how. ever soon after threatened tho good fame of tho minister. The deacon to whom his introductory letter happened to be ad dressed was very littlo of a letter-writer, and under ordinary circumstances tho inti mation with which this letter closed, con. corning tho doctor's proposed absence, would have been sufficient to prevent a re sponse. But about this time tho deacon had become so deeply lmpressod with the merits and talents of Mr. Wynne, and so grateful to tho learned doctor for securing him to this place, that ho wrote and posted to the latter a letter of awkward acknowl edgment, briefly setting forth the great success of his protege iu Ids new charge A reply came promptly, and conveyed some rather startling intelligence. The doctor acknowledged the receipt of the deacon's letter, and emphatically repudiated the Rev. Albert Wynno. Ho had never before wiilten to the deacon, he said, nor did he know any person, minister or otherwise, of the name given in his correspondent's letter. He had written no letter of introduction for a year; and he hod not been, nor had he in tended to bo, absent from the city of his residence for more than a day at a time during that period. The deacon felt as if struck by a thunder bolt. He seized his hat, and rnshing to Mr. Wynne's study, threw the letter down before him, and anxiously, breathlessly, asked him to read it. The minister did read it, : calmly and without change of countenance, and then musingly replied: " Why, this is strange oiiough t ' What oan it mean" ' ' ' I don't know," the deacon said. ' Don't you know?" ' There is some awkward blunder some where," replied the minister, taking a turn across tho floor. "Doctor not know me, indeed ! Ho is my father iu tho minis try. I nm inclined to think that this letter you have shown mo is tho mistake of his amanuensis." " Perhaps so," said tho deacon, catching ;it this awkward explanation with a sigh of relief. "I'm certain of it," cried tho pastor, with animation. "Now don't say a word about this, my dear brother, and I will write at onco to the doctor. I am conn that his answer will set everything right." The too credulous deacon promised and return home, secretly rejoicing that his confidence in Mr. Wynno was unshaken. Had lie nt once mado public the contents of this letter, the final cntastropho would have been averted; but with his blind faith in tho wonderful pastor ho held his peace, nnd only revealed his damning information when it. was too lato to prevent tho mis chief that this wolf in sheep's clothing was even then meditating. It is unnecessary to say that Mr. Wynne did not write to the doctor. It has been said that Mr. Wynne was pe culiarly a favoiito with tho young ladies of his flock. Several of them, indeed, hal been up to this time successively tho ob jects of his particular attention; and it was more than whispered that ho had trifled with tho affections of three or four of tho villago belles in a very cruel way, flitting from ono to another, and engaging tho hearts of all at the samo time, like a professional lady-killer. Such reports, however, mado but littlo headway against tho strong current of popular favor; nor was this favor materially diminished when it became known that ho was engaged to marry tho young and beautiful daughter of a wealthy memberof another denomination. The announcement created a great flutter, of course; somo of tho younger ladies in dulged in bitter comments, which evi denced anything else than a lack of inter est, and somo of tho matrons expressed tho opinion that it was decidedly wrong in Mr. Wynne to look beyond his own flock for a wife: but tho intelligence, on the whole, was well received, nnd tho approach ing union bado fair to establish Mr. Wynno more lirmly than ever in tho affection of the wliolo village. The wedding-day drew near; and in the mean time certain impalpable rumon touching tho fair fame of his proposed sou. in-law reached tho lady's father. Solicit ous for his daughter's happiness, tho parent gave them such investigation as they were capable of, and ascertained that they had no more substance than this, namely: that a few persons, confessedly hostile to Mr. Wynne, had said of him, first, that he did not dress like a minister; second, that he wore too much jewelry for n minister; third, that ho wroto three or four different hands; fourth, that he stole his sermons; fifth, that he had flirted with all the girls in tho con gregation: and therefore, taking nil these things together, they believed he was a humbug, or something worse. Attaching some littlo importance to this incongruous indictment, as ho would prob ably not have done had he stood in ordinary relations with the subject of it, tho father sought a private interview with tho pastor, and laying these complaints before him, looked him fairly in tho eye, and demanded to know if their was any geod reason or any impediment to prevent the proposed union. And Mr. Wynne laughingly blew away the charges against him, as too puerile to call for a serious answer; and then looking his catechist squarely iu the eye, and laying his hand on his heart, re plied that there was no such reason oi im pediment, so help him Heaven. The wedding took place nt the appointed time, with all the imposing show, and all the hilarity that attends such occasions among the wealthy and aristocratic The mansion was filled with guest, and was prodigal in its hospitality; the curiosity and interest excited by the occasion was gratified to see both bride and groom ap pear self-possessed and happy, looking never so well; the ceremony was over, the dancing done, the feast had been duly honored, and the newly-made husband and wife had received farewell and godspeed thirty hours past Alien the Impending thunderbolt fell. The deacon, thoroughly awake to the wretched truth, rushed into the house of the late rejoicing with another leeter from the doctor that moment receiv ed. It denounced the man calling himself the Reverend Albert Wynne as a swindler and an impostor; that lie was not a minis ter of tho gospel, although he had assumed in several places to be such, anil that ho had abandoned his wifo and children in New Jersey two years before. The scene that followed is indoscribable. Passing over the emotions natural to sush a distressing revelation, we turn to the pscudo pastor. Being apprised in some un accountable manner, at the hotel in tho city where tho first pauso in their journey was made, of the discovery of his villany and tho pursuit of the father, ho precipi tately abandoned tho poor confiding victim of his deception and lied. Ho was discover ed some hours after ou a railroad train, partially diiguised; and when asked by tho officer wither ho was going, he coolly re plied that charges had been mado against him which required him to defend himself, nnd that ho was going East to investigate them, lie was arrested, detained for a time, nnd then reluctantly discharged for lack of evidence. But justice was not to be thus balked. The father, outraged by the villain's crime in liis most precious relations, and now set himself systematically to work to fasten the clutches of tho law firmly upon this man. Whilo one set of detectives "shad owed" him from place to place, others went to New Jersey and procured tho legal ev idence of liis former marriage, and the at tendance of the deserted wife. In a few weeks tho culprit was re-arrested and brought bock to the scene of his illicit triumphs, now the scene of his disgrace; and under the unromntic name of James Hardy, the only ono to which he could lay rightful claim, ho was indicted, tried and convicted of bigamy, and sentenced to five year' imprisonment. The trial incidentally developed tho fact that the accused was an expert forgo r as well as a vctciau bigamist It appeared that he had at least two wives living nt tho time of this last marriage, both of whom lie had heartlessly deserted; nnd that upon abandoning tho second, in New Jersey, ho had caused tho notice of his death to bo published in a distant paper, followed by tho touching sentiment: " Peaceful be his silent slumber In the cold nnd lonely grave." Copies of this paper had been sent to his late residence. He had been traced through several places, in nil of which ho perform ed the role of a minister, as skillfully and its successfully, for tho most part, as in the last scene of his labors. It is somewhat of a relief to know that this adroit scoundrel died in tho peniten tiary before the expiration of his term ; and that the life of his last victim was not blighted irreparably by his villany. Bho has since happily married, and in tho rela tions of a loved and honored wifo and mother, she may well remember her share in this dark episode only as a troubled dream. I have styled tho career of this man a remarknlile imposture. It may be said that neither bigamy nor the simulation of tho clerical ofliee is extremely rare among us, and that both are occasionaly delected in the fame individual. After this is granted, I must still claim that the real-life villain here presented was tho peer in subtlety, audacity and unadulterated wickedness, of anything in human shape that even tho genius of Wilkie Collins has put in print ; and I nm quite certain that Miss Braddon has introduced us to no more fascinating a gentleman among those of her characters who descrvo gibbeting. I do not remem ber to have read of any of the black sheep of fiction who were possesed of that strong personal magnetism that made people of average common sense the unyielding ad herents of tliis reprobuto, and caused them to reject conclusive evidence of his im position. I hope and believe that such dan gerous gifts are charily bestowed ou man kind. Married Without Delay. A young man in Columbia county, Ohio, courted a girl lor a woek. Knowing that procrastination is the thief of time, he got a can of oysters and a license, invited the justice to the fair one's house at eight o'clock, and then popjied the question, was accepted, pulled out tho document, and informed the maiden that the squire would be there at eight Bho pleaded delay; he couldn't see it. Her silk dress wasn't made; calico would do. There was no stove in the west parlor; off coat, and in ten minutes there was a fire roaring. The squire came, the job was fixed, and the new-made wife cooked tho oysters. ' 13T Without a regular ocoupatlon, no person, male or female, can preserve sound niind in s sound body.
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