River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1881-01-13

Bertram and ] got the black hole
for it. Napoleon used to hate the sigh
Of us red-coats. Capts. Crockett, Stan
ley, and Maj. Fair went up to Col
Ogilvy and begged me off. | was
orderly serjeant at the time, and / only
obeyed orders. What orders? Why
papers were put up all over the island
iorbidding us to speak to the French
people. Napoleon had liberty to &c
wherever he'd a mind to go, and ht
used to mostly go to a big rock an(
sit for hours looking at the sea, anC
never speak word to soul all the
time"
''But surely he did something beside:
moping all day."
"Mopingl He was stout, short lit
tie chap. People used to say of him
big head and little w.t. but your head
and mine put together don't hold the
half of his. When he was on the island
he started to build a boat, and he'd
work at it at odd times, and then sit in
it with his hat over his eyes and never
say word. The boat was an open
one, thirty-two feet long, and inside OF
it he covered with drawings of birds
and fish and soldiers. l don't think
there was bird or fish that he hadn't
drawn inside of that boat We got or
ders from Lowe to break that boat up
and of course we did so"
Tell me something about his death
and funeral"
"Well, we didn't know for sure that
he was dead for several hours. He had
his own doctor and priest, and other
French attendants, and they looked af
ter him altogether. When he was
dead | was picked out with eleven 9TH
er fellows as being the tallest men on
the island, and we carried his coffin to
the grave, and | was one of the six
who lowered his body into the grave.
His grave was the deepest | ever saw,
close on twenty feet deep, and his body
was put into three collins. The inside
one, which held his body, was made OF
pine, and the outside one of mahogany,
and forget what the middle one was.
! know they were awful heavy. At the
bottom of his grave there was a flat
stone placed, cut TO shape the hole, and
at each end two upright stones were
fitted into the fiat stone and stood up
just bit above the collins when they
were lowered down.
"When his collins were lowered we
lowered French flag and spread it
over the collins, and the priest threw a
handful of dirt on it, and that was all
the covering over him except a big stone
over the top of the grave. The greatest
crime fellow could commit on the is
land was to break the willow trees
around his grave. There were four
willow trees altogether, and sentries
stood guard day and night over the
body for two hours at time. No one
was allowed to go near, except they got
an order from the captain of the guard.
Governor Lowe was good man to us
soldiers, but he was awful strict to Ma
poleon. Why, they had British ships
cruising outside for one hundred miles
around the island, and none but British
ships were allowed to anchor. If a fur
rim ship came along in distress Tor
Wantin' water, the cruisers would at
tend to her outside, but never one of
them was allowed to land man.
Napoleon was buried with the rank
and honOrs due Il general officer.
When Napoleon was dead the French
attendants left-about a month later,
or maybe two, in the guard ship Vigo,
under Admiral Cockburn. To show
you how well they watched him, at one
time there were two thousand soldiers
and sailors on the island. | could tell
you lots more, but | forget it so easily
now. | remember there used to be lots
of parties and dinners on the island
when | was there"
when did you come to Canada,
Brady?'
Il got my discharge in May, 1880,
and came to Canada in 1881 | was
in the Nc Kenzie rebellion. | listed
under Col Cameron, and l went to Nj
agara. Then | joined Col. Kerby and
was with him for six months, and then.
when | was coming to Toronto, | met
Col. Kingsmill, of the queens Niagara
fencibles, and joined him. | shouldn't
have done SO, but Kingsmill was in St
Helena, and belonged to the Goth.