Dr. Tumblety, who has been cutting large figures about Washington for the past six or eight months, and who was reported at one time to holding the position of Senior Surgeon on the staff of General McClellan - an idea that was probably created by the superb air of distinguished importance that the fellow knows how to wear - has come to grief, it appears, and is having his pretentious charlatanry exposed. The proprietor of a place of amusement in Washington called "Canterbury Music Hall", has had the audacity, it seems, to make the "eccentricities" of the Doctor a subject of dramatic ridicule, producing upon his stage a roaring farce entitled "Dr. Tumblety's First Patient." Such an outrage upon his magnificent dignity was not to be tolerated by Dr. T. of course, and he has brought suit against the presumptuous manager for libel. The Washington Republican, reporting the trial of the case, says:- "The Doctor stated that he had already been injured in his business, one of his patients (a lady) having ordered him to leave her house, and that he had been treat (sic) with disrespect at his boarding house, all in consequence of the appearance of his name in the burlesque. The Doctor also exhibited his diploma to prove that he was a regularly authorized physician, and a gold medal testimonial to his efficiency as a physician, which he has received in Canada."
The case has not yet concluded, and we wait for the result with interest.
From the following remarks by the Republican, it appears that Tumblety has been running a prosperous career in Washington. It will be strange if the present suit does not result in its being, as the slang phrase has it, "played out."
The Doctor, who, by the way, is a very handsome man, is rather eccentric and odd in his manners, appearing at times on the streets dressed as an English sportsman, with tremendous spurs fastened to his boots, and accompanied by a pair of grey hounds lashed together, and at other times in full highland costume. His skill as a physician, however, is undoubted, his practice in Washington, being very extensive, and among the higher classes of society.
