The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1876-05-10
Was MARSHAL Ney Executed.


Although more than sixty years have
elapsed since the reported execution
of Marshal Ney, the .'bravest of the
brave" of Napoleon's officers, your
correspondent has been placed in pos
session of a remarkable account which
leads to the impression, that this re-
markable parsonage died and now
sleeps beneath American soil. In
proof of this declaration, we cite 4
lengthy statement made by Col. Thorn
as F. Houston, a well-known and cred
liable citizen Of this county, residing
near Houstonia, published in the Sc.
dalia Democrat, and corroborated in a
late number of the Southern Home, by
Mr.. w. O. Sheriff., of Newton. N. C.
According to his statement Peter Stu
art Ney as he was known in South and
North Carolina and Virginia. landed ut
Charleston, Jan. 7, 1916. In January,
1880, he became his pupil, and so con-
tinued for five or six years. ABORTION
of this time he boarded in his father S
family. He was nearly six feet in
height, muscular, weighing 200 hun
dred pounds, and about 60 years Of age.
He showed his military training in his
step and bearing. His head was quite
bald, showing scar on one side,
which he said was cut by sword in
battle. He was an excellent scholar.
and taught school more for the pleas
ure of imparting knowledge than for
pecuniary compensation. His leisure
hours were passed in reading and writ.
ing, and occasionally he furnished
letters for the National Intelligencer,
Washington City. and the Carolina
Watchman, at Salisbury, n. c. He
slept from four to six hours in twenty.
four, a habit contracted in the army.
He was great admirer of Napoleon,
and spoke of him with great admira.
ton. At the death of Napoleon's son
in 1884 or 1835-he was greatly agi.
tated, burning a number of papers,
throwing his watch on the floor. and
dismissing school. Fears were enter.
tanned that he would commit suicide.
Previous to this event he had ex.
pressed determination to return to
France, but never afterward. He was
very reticent, and rarely spoke of his
connection with the French army, ex-
cepting when his tongue was loosened
by an extra glass of brandy. On one
occasion when in stupor from drink.
he was placed across a horse. This
aroused him and his first expression
was: ''What put the Duke of Elchin-
gen on horse like a sack ! Let me
down.:
He related the circumstance of his
supposed execution. The soldiers de-
tailed to fire belonged to his command ::
that as he walked by them he whis.
pered to fire high. His old command
was to lain low, at the heart He
gave the command fire, then fell, was
pronounced dead, and his body given
to his friends. He shipped from Bor.
deaux, France, as seaman, in Decem.
Der; 1915, landing at Charleston.
Colonel Houston now has a Latin
grammar published in 1918, once the
property of his old preceptor, in which
are many autographs of Mr.. Ney, al
most Identical with those under his en-
craving as given in the life of ''Napo-
leon and His Marshals.'' He also has
and is using the spectacles worn by
Ney. The following stanza is in Ney's
handwriting, with the note :: ''As
written in a letter to |. f. Poellintz,
8th of May, 1928, from Abbeville.
Va.:''
Oblivion is the common lot
OF common men-they die forgot;
He who would live in memory warm.
Must do much good or do much harm.
Fame lifts her voice above OH high
For those who fill the public eye;
Down in the brief ephemeral tide,
Sinks every manikin beside.
Ney died in Rowan county, N. c., in
November, 1916. John Ford was his
administrator. He left a large book
of stenographic manuscript, supposed
to be a biography of himself. This
was given into the hands of Mr.. Pin
ney Miles, member of the New York
Historical Society in 1847, with the I'm.
derstanding that he was to unravel the
mystery as to whether P.S. Ney was
Marshall Ney. It seems that Mr..
Ney never fulfilled his promise, al