J. S.
Idlewilde, Jefferson County, Ala.
October 26, 1872.
Major Geo. E. Tommey, Louisville, Ga.
My Dear Sir: A Birmingham paper to-day gave me the explanation of a mystery that has puzzled my family for several years, when it reproduced your letter to the Atlanta Constitution. Eneas—or the Rev. Eneas Tommey, as he called himself—came here in 1869 with a grey mare, and a splendid young horse, which he claimed was of marvelous speed, and a letter from a friend of mine in Mississippi. He also brought a wife and two children. To the latter he added a third before leaving. My daughter was greatly interested in the old man's remarkable story, and made an effort to help him. She took down a letter to you, which he dictated, made seven copies of it and sent one to every Thomasville in the South. They all came back to her. By good
luck she retained one for her scrapbook, and I enclose it that you may see how the faithful old fellow was trying to reach you. He stayed around here farming and preaching until 1870 when, hearing from a horse trader of a Macon and a Sparta in Tennessee, he moved on. He had no trunk with him, and I am afraid your cup is gone.
Very truly,
(Rev.) Amos Wells.
P. S.—I am informed that Eneas participated in a horse race in Birmingham after leaving here, and won a great deal of money.
A. W.