Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1884-09-25
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MARSHAL NEY.

History assures US of the execution of
of Mashal Ney, and yet there appeared IN
Western North Carolina a person whose
existence seemed to challenge the truth of
history, and who was believed by his con-
temporaries to be that distinguished soldier
of whose execution clrcumstantlal account
is given on accepted historical authority.
A letter in the London Times throws light
upon the mystery. We quote:
The death of the Duke of Wellington en-
ables me to write what may interest your
readers. No one can wish to recall the
wretched last chapter of life of romantic
courage and consummate skill, or the bitter
controversy that followed the execution of
Marshal Ney. The late Duke of Yelling
ton twice told me that his father did his
utmost privately to save the life of Marshal
Ney and that it was wholly in consequence
of the absolute refusal of the King OF
Frances Ministers to advise him to grant
the Dukes request that he, as a matter of
Louis XVIII this favor. The Duke gave
me liberty to make this public after his
death, and think it right tc do SO. The
late Quentin Dick, a member of the Parlia-
ment of Ireland and the United Kingdom,
saw Marshal Ney shot, and related to me
the facts. The Marshal was brought from
the Luxembourg Palace in a .fdcre, accom-
panied bya Commissionary and two sub-o Off
GERS of police. He wore dark colOred sur
tout, dark pantaloons, white neckcloth, and
round hat with Grape; he was in mourning
for his father-in-law. On his leaving the
coach the pickets at the gate of the LuXem-
bourg Gardens close by were beckoned to
the spot; the men loaded and fired, the
Marshal fell on his face, and his body was
replaced in the coach within three minutes
of his quitting it-almost before the nurses
and children, the only spectators, could as
semble. The official account differs in some
respects. The statement that the corpse re-
mained for quarter of an hour in public
highway bears it's own contradiction. So
unreal does the history seem that one can
not be surprised at the belief held by some
that the man who bore name very like
Ney's who lived and died obscurely in
North America having exclaimed, on the
death of the Duke Of Reichstadt, "Then
my last hope is gone," was the Prince OF
the MoskoWa, spared secretly at the inter-
cession Of the Duke Of WeHingfon;" =,
would seem that the circumstances attend
ing the alleged execution are not irrecon-
cilable with the fact of Ney's escape. The
men did not use guns previously loaded.
They were loaded for that special OCCASION
at the moment. Itwas very early, 9oclock.
The marshal fell on his face and the body
was replaced in the coach almost instantly.
That being true, why should the official
account, which is the accepted version, have
particularly set forth that the body was
exposed to view quarter of an hour? The
hour, the convenient solitude, the Fastening
away of the body, all are favorable to the
possibility that the execution was a mock
affair. The intercession Of the Duke of
Wellington supplied the motive, the exist
ence of Peter Ney here confirms the sugges-
ton. The probabilities that the North
Carolina tradition is true, are greatly
strengthened by this narrative. And yet
the details stated in the accounts contained
in historical works admit of no such pos
SibilitY.