The Printer's Kiss: The Life and Letters of a Civil War Newspaperman and His Family

20. Freedom’s Casket

240 ChAPTer TWenTY } Our farewell must be brief. readers will remember that we have never misled them in our personal charges. What we have said and done has been with the design of sustaining loyalty and crushing traitors. so endeth “LOYAL sCOUT.” —Loyal Scout, October 10, 1863 Freedom’s Casket The elections for Ohio’s governor and state legislators were over, and once again Tomlinson had no newspaper to publish or the means to start one. he must have been at loose ends, wondering if he would ever have another opportunity to influence the political landscape, especially during a critical juncture in the nation’s history. The trail ahead for him probably looked less exciting than the one behind, and, as a man of pas­ sion and action, he would have needed a focus for his energy. On the evening of Friday, november 27, he evidently found one. six days later the Ripley Bee published the following article: fatal affray.—Last Friday night, will. tomlinson was shot in the side by richard Mitchell of Kentucky. The wound was fatal. Mr. Tomlinson died sundaynight.We have heard various and conflicting accounts of this lamentable affair, and are unable to give a reliable account of it. in the rencontre, Mitchell was stabbed several times severely, but not dangerously, by a son of Mr. Tomlinson, about 16 years of age. For obituary notice of the deceased, the reader is referred to the appropriate column.1 freedom’s casket } 241 * * * * * The Ripley Bee’s obituary notice included a typographical error for the date of Tomlinson’s fatal injury; it was not December 28, as reported, but november 27. Tomlinson died two days later, on sunday, november 29. The following obituary was published on December 3, 1863. will tomlinson, whose remains were on Tuesday last interred in the ripley Cemetery by a great concourse of his friends, died from the effects of a pistol shot received on the night of the 28th of December 1863. since 1844 he has been connected with the newspaper busi­ ness, and is well known as an able editor, having conducted several prominent journals in Ohio, and at one time the “iowa state Jour­ nal.” he has filled several civil offices, once one of the Clerks of the iowa house of representatives and Justice of the Peace at the City of Desmoines. At the breaking out of the rebellion, then at Cincinnati, he was among the first to go at his country’s call and joined a company principallycomposed of printers, and was elected Lieutenant, which company camped at the first camp made in Ohio, camp harrison. After serving in that capacity and fighting the rebels in West Vir­ ginia, he raised a company there and was elected Captain. he was compelled to resign on account of a disease of the lungs contracted in the Virginia Mountains. his last editorial efforts were made in the publication of the “Loyal scout” at this place which publication done much to change the political opinions of the voters of Brown county, a well known Democratic county. he himself, from the time he became a natu­ ralized citizen (being of english birth) identified himself with the old Democratic party. But his adopted country being assailed, he at once knew on which side to stake his all and that was, “for his country first, last and all the time.”2 Other newspapers that Tomlinson had been associated with also reported his death and the circumstances precipitating it. On Monday, november 30, the Cincinnati Gazette noted the following in “Melancholy Affray at ripley, Ohio”: 242 } the printer’s kiss We learn by private advices from ripley, Ohio, that a difficulty oc­ curred that place on Friday evening last, between Mr. Will Tomlin­ son, of ripley, and a Mr. Mitchell of Charleston Bottom, Ky, in the course of which Mr. Mitchell drew a pistol and fired at Tomlinson, the ball taking effect in the left breast below the heart, and produc­ ing a wound which it thought would prove fatal. At this juncture, a son of Tomlinson, who was present, attacked Mitchell with a small pocket knife, and inflicted a number of very severe wounds in differ­ ent parts of his body. Mitchell’s condition is considered verycritical. This sad occurrence will be a source of sorrow to the many friends of Mr. Tomlinson in this city and elsewhere, and also to his numer­ ous...