Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1890-10-23

At the club the men shook hands over
the news and sent kilograms OF praise
and congratulation to Noel and drank
his health in bumpers, and two or three
old "soreheads," who ventured to point
out that the official reports were not yet
in, were pooh poohed and put down.
Amos Withers had left for Washington
on midnight train Immediately after
furnishing The Chronicle with the con-
tents of his dispatch, making no allu-
sion to that part of it which said, ''Now
push for that vacancy. Not an instant
must be lost" Nobody could say nay to
the man who had subscribed the heavi-
est sum to the campaign fund in his own
state, and therefore both its senators and
half its representatives in the house
went with him to the president to urge
| the immediate nomination of Capt. Noel
to the majority in the adjutant generals
! department made vacant by the promo
! ton consequent upon the retirement of
! one Of its oldest members. Already the
war department had furnished the ex-
| ecutive with the names and records OF
! the four men whom it considered the
most deserving, and Gordon NOels name
was not one of the four. But what was
| that in comparison with the eminent pc
cuniary and political services of Mr..
Withers, when the nephew had just be-
haved so superbly in action?
Meantime, the Apaches had scattered
through the mountains, and escaped
across the border, the remnant of Lanes
troop taking part in the pursuit, and
they, with their commander, only slowly
returning to the railway. For three or
four days Noel had the wires and the
correspondents pretty much to himself;
but then some of those enterprising news
gathers had been getting particulars
from the men, and there were two or
three of K troop in the detachment who
| could not conceal their deriSiOn and con-
tempt when the newspaper men spoke of
the bravery of their captain. This set
the correspondents to ferreting, and then
the dispatches began to take a different
color. The very day that Mabel re-
ceived her first letter from her husband,
and was reading extracts from it to en-
vious friends who had come in to swell
the chorus of jubilee and congratulation,
an evening paper intimated that recent
dispatches received from the seat Of war
revealed different state of affairs than
was popularity supposed.
But by this time interest was waning.
1t is the first impression that is always
the strongest, the first story that islong-
est remembered, and no man who has
believed one version will accept the truth
without vigorous resistance. In his let
ter to his wife Noel had spoken modestly
of himself and slightly of his wounds.
This only made her worship him-her
hero, her gallant Gordon-the more in
sanely. He intimated that he had been
compelled to place in arrest one of the
most prominent officers of the regiment
for misconduct in the face of the enemy;
and this and previous matters, he said,
would surely make of this officer an I'M
relenting foe. She need not be surprised,
therefore, if this gentleman should strive
to do him grievous harm. Mabel blush
ed becomingly as she read these lines to
some of her friends, and that night at
the club it was limited that Lane had
been placed in close arrest for failing to
support Noel in his desperate assault.
Just at this time, too, Mr.. Withers came
back from Washington looking mys-
terious.
The next published dispatches were
from the general himself. He was in
censed over the escape of the Apaches.
Measures for the capture were complete,
and it was broadly limited that a certain
officer would be brought to trial for his
failure to carry out positive orders.
at IS believed" said The Chronicle,
''that the officer referred to is well known
in our community, as he had, oddly
enough, been a predecessor in the re-
cruiting service of the actual hero of the
campaign"
Two weeks went by. There was no
announcement of NoeIs name as pro-
NOTED. Other matters occupied the at
tention of the club and the coteries, and
no one knew Just what it all meant when
1t was announced that Mrs. Noel had
suddenly left for the frontier to join her
husband. Perhaps his wounds were
more severe than at first reported. Then
it was noticed that Mr.. Withers was in
very nervous and irritable frame Of
mind, that constant dispatches were
passing between him and Capt Noel in
the west, and that suddenly he departed
again on some mysterious errand for
Washington. And then it was an
nounced that Capt. Noel would not be
able to visit the east as had been ex-
pected.
All the same it came as shock which
completely devastated the social circles
of the Queen City when it was announced
In the New York and Chicago papers that
a general court martial had been ordered
to assemble at Fort Gregg, New Mexico,
for the trial of Capt. Gordon Noel, Elev-
enth cavalry, on charges of misbehayior
IN the faceof the enemy and conduct I'M
becoming an. officer and gentleman.
The Chronicle made no allusion to the
matter until after it was heralded over
the city by the other journals. Then it
announced that it was In possession of
information showing conclusively that
Capt. Noel was the victim of the envy Of
certain officers in his regiment, and that
the charges had been trumped up from
the false and prejudiced statement of the
man whom he had been compelled to
place in arrest for misconduct in action.
Capt. Noel had demanded a court mar
tal, said The Chronicle, "that he might
be triumphantly indicated, as he I'M
doubtedly would be-"
AT the club several men surrounded
1