The Death of Charles Clement Johnston (1795-1832): Take II

[Thomas Tyler Bouldin at Washington City to Joseph Eggleston Johnston at Old Point Comfort, Virginia, June 18, 1832, folder 59, Trigg-Floyd Collection, Special Collections, John Cook Wyllie Library, The University of Virginia's College at Wise -- formerly Clinch Valley College -- Wise, Virginia. This is my rough transcription].

Dear Sir

It is my painful duty to inform you that your Brother my friend Charles C. Johnston is no more; he left us on yesterday evening and went to Alexandria on a visit and this evening a note from the coroner there informed the speaker that he was found drowned by the side of the warf [wharf], he left Newton's about half after eight o'clock in the evening intending to take the steam boat from Fredericksburg that touched at Alexandria about that time and he was no more heard of until about six o'clock this evening when the body was found floating in the water, the supposition is that in attempting to get from the warf [wharf] to the boat in the dark and perhaps as the boat was moving off he fell in and in the bustle and confusion was not observed by any one. I fain would now say something that would pour oil over the wounds my letter gives but that I need to be ministered unto, more than I have power to minister, I found and lost in him a friend whose kindly feelings and constant acts of friendship to me were mixed as little with the alloy of any selfish principle as is allowed to govern the purest of human soul that lives or ever did live, I will not attempt the decription of the shock which the intelligence gave me and all our mess and other friends to tell you we feel with and for you and for one another is all I can do.

yrs truly
Thomas T. Bouldin

P.S. His watch & pocket book were in his pocket so there is no reason to believe that the matter occurred otherwise than in some such way as is conjectured  above. Govr. Preston is here and almost entirely unnerved at present I expect he will write to you and to your brothers as soon as he can. I have locked up his papers & taken possession of his trunk. 

[As asked in an earlier post: Was the death of Charles Clement Johnston an accident, suicide, or murder? Joseph Draper (1794-1834) had narrowly lost to Johnston in a contested election in 1830; final victory had been awarded to the latter (who was already seated in Congress) after review by the House of Representatives in June 1832. Draper gained his seat after Johnston's death, but then prematurely died himself in 1834.

As for Thomas Tyler Bouldin (1781-1834), he served in the House of Representatives with Charles as a fellow Jacksonian Democrat. He was succeeded by John Randolph (1773-1833) of Roanoke Plantation, Charlotte County, Virginia, and was then appointed to fill the latter's vacancy upon his death. Weirdly, Bouldin dropped dead while giving a eulogy for Randolph in Congress and was then superceded in Congress by his own brother James.] 

[Journal of the House of Representatives of the United States during the First Session of the Twenty-second Congress Begun and Held at the City of Washington, December 5, 1831, and in the Fifty-sixth Year of the Independence of the United States (Washington: Printed by Duff Green, [1832]), page 900]:

TUESDAY, June 19, 1832. Mr. Bouldin announced the death of Charles C. Johnston, one of the Representatives of the State of Virginia, which took place at Alexandria, in the District of Columbia, on the 17th instant, by drowning: whereupon, The following resolutions were passed unanimously, viz. 

1. Resolved, That the members of this House will attend the funeral of the late Charles C. Johnston, this day, at 4 o'clock P.M. 

2. Resolved, That a committee be appointed to take order for superintending the funeral of Charles C. Johnston, deceased, late a member of this House from the State [Commonwealth] of Virginia. And Mr. Bouldin, Mr. Clayton, Mr. Polk, Mr. Dearborn, Mr. Nuckolls, Mr. Conno, and Mr. Daniel, were appointed the said committee. 

3. Resolved, That the members of this House will testify their respect to the memory of Charles C. Johnston, by wearing crape on the left arm for the remainder of the present session of Congress. 

Ordered, That a message be sent to the Senate to notify that body of the death of Charles C. Johnston, late one of the Representatives from the State of Virginia, and that his funeral will take place this day at 4 o'clock P.M. And then the House adjourned until to-morrow, 10 o'clock A. M.