St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-03-24
means, do now declare that he is not a

L
Frenchman, but"
''Holdl" cried the great general. eff dit
will die as q Frenehman. Let the past b.
buried with mel'
He died as he had lived. Murat, the
brother-in-law of Napoleon, and king OF
Naples, begged that the soldiers would spare
his face. He was very handsome man and
proud of his looks, although as brave as
lion.
Ney drew himself up to his full height
folded his arms, declined to have his eyes
bandaged, and said:
''Fire where you will. have faced death
too often to fear it now"
''Readyl aiml-a long, level row OF
muskets pointing at the doomed man
''Fire!" A streak of fire runs along the
line, puff of smoke, report, and the soul
OF the brave Ney had goneto join its maker.
Twenty-Five years ago this story of the
judge advocate was told to DR.. Earle, q
learned savant of Philadelphia. Dr.. Earle
| travelled over many battle fields in search of
information concering the life of Marshal
Ney. He heard the judge advocates story.
He learned from him that Ney had said that
he was an American land that his right
name was Rudolph. The doctor was con-
WINGED that Ney had been in America. But
where could he find the Rudolphs? The
French claimed the honor of his birth. 1t
remained for DR.. Earle to meet nv inform
| ant, Col. Delaney, who had heard the story
| of the Rudolphs, or his informants, DR.. Tobias
Watkins, or other residents of ANNAPOLIS
during the times referred to, if they were
living, which they probably were not. Bv
accident, Col. Delaney and DR.. Earle, met in
1914. Col. Delaney learned that the doctor
had madel extensive inquiries regarding
the career of Marshal Ney. The colonel knew
the story of Michael Rudolph. The doctor
knew the story of Marshal Ney's death and
his confession to the judge advocate of his
earlier career, out his stern refusal to save
himself by claiming foreign citizenship.
Another link had been added to Col. De-
laney's evidence, and lie felt that it was
| about complete.
Two more incidents give absolute PROOF
and all the color of a wild, weird romance to
this strange story. l give them as my in
formant heard them from the mouths of liy-
ing witnesses.
In 1915, the French fleet, commanded by
D'Estaing, being hotly pursued by a superior
English fleet, made for the neutral waters of the
United States, and put into the harbor of An
napolis. a number of French officers came
ashore. Living near the city was Nicholas
Randolph, the brother of Michael, who had
been lost to the family for so many years,
and the very counterpart OF his brother. Tall
and strongly built, with blue eyes and thick
mass of red har. He was walking along the
street, when suddenly a French naval officer
threw himself into his arms and exclaimed A:
''C'est lie grand marechal! Cest Marechal
Neyr'
The French officers crowded around the
astonished Nicholas Rudolph. He was the
grand Marechal Ney, When did he get to
America? 1t took Rudolph a long time 10
convince them that he was not the man, and
even then they were 'of the same opinion
still''
This was after the battle of Waterloo and
on the very day when the treaty of peace was
signed. But there was no submarine cable
then. No ocean steamships, and news
travelled slowly. The French knew nothing
of Napoleon's escape from Elba. Nothing
of his triumphal march through France and
his defeat ninety days afterward on the fatal
field of Waterloo. The genuine Marshal New
was even then prisoner and doomed to be
shot as traitor to the victorious allies. The
French thought they saw the genuine Mar
shall Ney, and that he had escaped from
Franch after Napoleon's abdication 1t took
honest Nicholas Rudolph some time to get
this through his head, and even then it was
hard to understand that he had been mis-
taken for his brother Michael, who, as is
now known, had been fighting the battles of
the French empire so gallantly.
One more incident and the story is com
plete. About 1880 two young men came to
Savannah and made inquiries concerning
the whereabouts of Nine. Rudolph The city
was full of French eXiles who had broken
their parole, and only managed to escape
with their lives after the great defeat at
Waterloo. As the young men were pursuing
these inquiries they met French Off
Ger, an exile, who rushed to the eldest, ex
claiming: an. Victor! NJ Victor NeyI'
The young men got away as quickly as
they could, and were seen no more. They
were undoubtedly in search of their mother,
Nine. Rudolph, whom their father had aban-
doned for her suspected inidelity over
quarter of century before.
Such is the strange story of the career of
Michael ssRudolph-Marshal Ney, and the
facts seem worthy of publication as part of
the unwritten history of great mana man
who lived in a time full of the most stirring
events-and who, while his battles were
fought under the eagles of France, was still
one of the greatest generals which the Amer
lean eagle ever nurtured under her brooding
wing.