The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1879-03-06

Kew. i1r. AIDea, an aged clergyman at
Winston, \. c., Wilfred Turner, of this
place. aud Ms. Mary G. Dalton, of
Eagle Mills, near here, all of whom were
pupils Of this man. / have also letters
from various other persons who knew
Ney well. from which viii subsequently
quote. According to my information
Peter Stuart Ney landed at Charleston,
S. c., on the 20th of Janury 1916. He
lived in S. G. awhile but moved to Vir
ginia, in various parts of which state he
resided until 1924, when he came to this
IredellJ county, and was engaged by
Col. Francis Young to teach the Ian
guages to his children at Oak Hill acad
envy He continued TO teach IN this
neighborhood at intervals until 1888,
being able to secure q school whenever
he wished. During most of this time he
boarded with Mr.. Z. Huston, the father
Of Mrs. Dalton, the lady from whom
most of the Information upon which this
sketch is based was obtained. He was a
man Il little under six feet in height, not
very feshy, but quite muscular, and
weighed about 900 pounds. His head
was nearly bald, and showed a scar on
one side which he said was a sword
wound received in battle, and his face
was slightly marked with smallpox.
Ney was a good scholar. and, possessing
the rare faculty of easily imparting
knowledge to the young, he was regarded
as a first-rate teacher. He was a spledid
mathematician, and seemed to take great
pride in working ont difficult problems.
II S hand writing, many specimens of
which have been shOwn me by Mrs Dali
ton, was simply magnificent, abounding
in all kinds of grand and difficult -four
ishes. Ney was an expert fencer, and
taught his male pupils the art, and after
school duties were over he would fence
with them for hours, seeming never TO
tire of the sport. As a teacher he was
very strict. and was regarded by his pa
irons as the best disciplinarian OF his
day, but at the same time he was very
popular with his students. all Of whom
loved and revered him, and, to use the
language of one Of them, "would have
fought for him and died for him had it
been necessary.
He spent his leisure hours in reading
and writing, and would occasionally fur.
nish articles for the press. He took a
large number of leading newspapers, and
read them attentiyely. 1t was his Gus
tom to sit up quite late at night. only
sleeping from four to six hours III the
twenty four. When questioned by his
rural friends in regard to his (5o them)
strange habit, he said he acquired it in
camp while in the army. He was always
reticent when with strangers, and rarely
if ever, spoke of his connection with the
French army even to his intimate friends
unless, (as was often the case) the hinges
of his tongue were loosened by an extra
glass Of wine or brandy, when his char
acteristIc reserve would be thrown off
but even then he maifested no boastful
disposition, merely speaking sometimes
Of tie grand army and the part he had
borne IN its campaigns.
ANOTHER VERSION OF THE EXECUTION.
On one occasion, when he had become
very much intoxicated, he narrated to
Col Thomas L. Huston, brother of
Mrs Dalton, all about the famous retreat
from Moscow amid the SHOWS and across
the rivers upon ice; how the ice bridge
gave way under the men and drowned
many of them; how they perished from
hunger and cold; how the Cossacks hung
upon their rear and fianks, cutting Off
his men and slaughtering those who
from cold and exhaustion struggled away
and lay down III the snow to die; how he
marched on foot with his brave men, and
finally brought up the famous rear guard
with only q few hundred, and how Ma
poleon embraced him and called him the
''bravest of the brave" At another,
time, when he was lying on a bed under
the influence Of liquor, he mumbled to
himself the circumstances of his supposed
execution. He said it was not true that
he was executed. 1t was true, however,
that he was sentenced and taken out to
be shot, but the men who had been de
tailed to do the bloody work were sol
diers of his old command, and they had
been secretly told to "aim high" He
refused to have his eyes bandaged, and
took his position in front of the plantoon
aud gave the command to ''ire!" himself.
They fired above him, but he fell, and
was pronounced dead by the attendant
physicians, who were in the conspiracy,
when his body was turned over at once
to his friends and secretly conveyed to
Bordeaux, from whence he sailed to
America, ladding at Charleston on the
18th OF January, 1916.
COGROBORATINE TESTIMONY.
! few years since Col. Huston, who
heard the above. met in the west, where
he now lives, a Frenchman who related
the following strange story: Said the
Frenchman, Il once belonged to Mar
shal Ney's command, and after the fall
of Napoleon and capture Of Ney | desert
ed the French army, and, making my
way to BCraeaux in December, 1915,
shipped as a seamcn on board Z vessel
bound for Charleston. When several
days out ! noticed a man on board whose
appearance struck me fOrcibly, and
thought knew him. l tried for several
days to determine who it could be, and
at last it flashed across my mind that it
was my Old commander, Marshal Ney.
| sought the FIRST opportunity to satisfy
myself, and the next time the mysterious
parsonage came on deck / accOsted him
and told him | thought l knew him. He
replied, Whom do You think that ann
| said my old commander, Marshal Ney.
In very gru1f tone he responded, Mar.
shall Ney was shot at Paris, sir, and then
turning abruptly upon his heel, he went
TO his cabin and | saw him no more,
though we We're thirty-fve DAYS reaching
SuaIIGStOu L LIS Il iGilslulau y ldll6
was Philip Petra, and he was living two
years ago. If he is stiu living, which is
probable, he is an inmate of the Soldiers
Home either at Evanston. H., Detroit,
Mich, or Milwaukee, Wis.
EEY'S SUPPOSED WRITINGS.
Mr.. Ney was stenographer, and it is
believed that the many letters which he
penned to France were penned in short
hand. Certain it is large quantity of
manuscript thus written was found
among his effects when he died, most OF
which, unfortunately, has been lost
without having been translated. He had
large correspondence wi.h persons in
France, receiving many letters from
there. all Of which it appears were re-
mailed to him from some point IN New
/ Jersey, the name Of which place lny in
formant has forgotten. The following
verse, written in Ney's hand, was found
among his effects:
f2FNi{g-;l u, - rha c-r,,,,,N-,