The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-18
NICHOLSON OF MADISON.
A Florida Legislator With a ChecEeIed
and Striped Career.


Sent Out of Russia at Fifteen Because
He Was Nihilist and Knew of a
Plot Against the Czar-Landed in
Charleston and Viotimizad Two of
the Smartest Lawyers in the State.
How He Got Out of the Penitentiary,
and Became a Teacher, an omoe-
! Seeker, a Preacher and a Married
Man.
Georgia, it appears, is not a good place
/ for foreign grandes; that is, of a certain
| brand. While the memory of the adven-
/ lures and misadventures of Lord
| Beresford are still fresh in the minds of
the people, there comes the news that an
other alleged scion of foreign nobility is
| about to take a tumble to Georgia law.
Rome was the especial scene of the En-
! glish lords" notoriety; Quitman, it APP
pears, will have something to do, say and
/ hear about Russian count"
Readers of the MORNING News will re-
call that on Monday the dispatches con
tanned a special from Madison, Fla, to
the Jacksonville Times-Union detailing
how Hon. A. M. Nicholson, a representa-
tive for Madison county in the state leg
! islature, had been arrested for forgery
| committed at Quitman; how he had
slipped down the pillar of a hotel porch
and attempted to make his escape dressed
! in woman's garb, and how he had been
recaptured The dispatch also stated
that Nicholson claimed to be the son of a
former mayor of st. Petersburg, Russia,
and, further, that he had once been a
convict in the South Carolina peniten-
tiary. Both of these statements are true,
in so far as the information goes. An in
ference to be drawn from the dispatch
was that the honorable Count" Michel
son was posing in Florida as an unnar-
ried man, beau, a dandy, AS to that,
some pertinent facts will appear later on.
Nicholson is a man with a record. 1t
is not grand. 1t is not romantic. 1t is
not heroic. But it is interesting It
shows how true to character is P. T.
Ba-num's famous saying that the Amer
lean people love to be humbugged, for
Nicholson is shallow fraud.
The alleged counts" career in South
Carolina was limited to the city and
county of Charleston and the county of
Berkeley. A Savannah gentlemen, for
merly of Charleston and of Berkeley
county, and at one time editor of news
paper at the county seat of Berkeley, is
familiar with the career of the enterpris-
ing young count in this country, and
furnishes the data for this article. The
eX-editor at one time had an application
from the Florida count To be his bed
fellow and his co-worker in country iourn-
alism, which art the Russian wished TO
learn from the ground up. The offer was
| respectfully but firmly declined with the
result that the native had his plant and
good will" intact, when he concluded to
sell out and retire on his laurels.
CAME OVER WITH CAPT. HUBBARD.
During the '7Os, or whereabouts, there
was operated between Charleston and one
or more foreign ports a line of packet
ships in the cotton and naval stores
trade One of the staunchest of these
was the Richard ILL.,, clipper with sky
scraping spars and a hull of heart
of oak. She had the line to St.
Petersburg, and was commanded
by Capt. j. T. Hubbard and
better captain never trod a deck Capt.
Hubbard is well known to Savannahians
by the way. He has long quit deep sea
sailing and is now commander and part
owner of the steamer Planter of Charles
ton, which steamer some times comes to
this port for excursion purposes. She
was here last May week and May week
before, on which occasions Capt Hub
bard made many friends.
Upon his return from St. Petersburg.
upon one occasion, Capt. Hubbard had as
a passenger a slight, dark haired and
bright-eyed youth-boy, rather, for he
was not above Is or 10 years old. The
boy was a Russian, and his name, then
unpronounceable for its wealth of hard
consonants and dearth of vowes, was
finally Anglicised into Alexis M. Michel
son. Who and what he was very few people
knew for some time. But it finally came
out. through his own stories, that he was
the illegitimate son of an ex-mayor of St
Petersburg, and that he had been sent
surreptitiously 10 America by his father
to save him from being sent in chains to
Siberia as a political prisoner. For as
young as the chap was, he was already a
politician, and his precocity in political
matters had led him
INTO THE CAMP OF THE NrHILIsTs
1t is even alleged that the embryo Flor
ida statesmen in those tender years was
privy to plot upon the life of old Car
Alexander, who was finally killed by the
nihiists.
However that may be, there is little
doubt that his nihilIstic association, or
something else unlawful, led to his trans
portation, and no doubt whatever that he
came over with Capt Hubbard somewhere
about the year 1876 with a small sum of
money TO his credit. The prestige of his
family connections and the good Offices of
the oig-hearted captain, and of Col. w
L. Trenholm, lately controller of the cur
rency, were sufficient to get the lad into
the law office of one of the most eminent
law firms in the city of Charleston. The
young fellow was exceptionally well edu-
Gated for one of his years. He was
bright, of neat and pleasing appearance
and had clear brown eyes that bespoke
innocence and appealed for confidence
He learned English rapidly, and could
soon talk like native. He already spoke
French and German. He grasped law
rapidly, and in a short while was able to
draw a conveyance that, would mold as
tight as wax. His patrons were pleased
and no doubt thought they would one day
have the pleasure OF referring to the time
when the brilliant young lawyer was a
student in their Office.
SIGNED SOMEBODY ELsE's NAME.
But that day never came On the
other hand, day came when the firm
found bank checks for small sums coming
in that had been signed by neither Of
them and had never been authorized
A little investigation showed where the
checks originated. When approached
upon the subject the young student con-
feSsed cried and DrOmisad neve,s IN do eo