Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1914-06-23
PART I.

PART I.
~ 1HILIP NOLAN was as fine
III young officer as there was iI
IL the Legion Of the West" al
~ the western division Of oui
army was then called. When Aaron
Burr made his first dashing expedition
down to New Orleans In 1905 at Fort
Massac or somewhere above on the
river he met. as the devil would have
1t. this gay. dashing. bright young fel
low at some dinner party. l think
Burr marked him. talked to him, walk
ed with him. took him day or two's
voyage In his fiatboat and, In short
fascinated him. For the next year
barrack life was very tame to poor
Nolan. He occasionally availed Of the
permission the great man had given
him to write to him. The other boys
In the garrison sneered at him because
he sacrificed in this unrequited atfec'
ton for a politician the time which
they devoted to mOnongahela. sledge
and high-low-jack. Bourbon. euchre
and poker were still unknown. But
one day Nolan had his revenge. This
time Burr came down the river not as
an attorney seeking place for his Of
fee. but as q disguised conqueror. 1t
was rumored that he had an army be-
hind him and an empire before him.
1t was great day-his arrival-to poor
Nolan. Burr had not been at the fort
an hour before he sent for him. That
evening he asked Nolan to take him
out In his skiff to show him cane
brake or q cottonwood tree, as he said
really to seduce him-and by the time
the sail was over Nolan was enlisted
body and soul. From that time.
though he did not yet know 1t. he lived
as "a man without a country"
What Burr meant to do I know no
more than you. dear reader. 1t is none
Of our business just now. Only when
the grand catastrophe came some OF
the lesser fry in that distant Missls-
sippi valley to while away the mono
tony of the summer at Fort Adams
got up for spectacles a string of court
martlals on the officers there. One
and another Of the colonels and majors
were tried. and. to fill out the list. little
Nolan. against whom. heaven knows,
there was evidence enough-that he
was sick of the service. had been will
ing to be false to 1t and would have
obeyed any order to march anywhither
with any one who would follow him
had the order only been signed. by
command Of His Exc. A. Burr" The
courts dragged on. The big files es-
caped-rightly for all know. Nolan
was proved guilty enough as l say. yet
you and | would never have heard OF
him. reader. but that. when the presi.
dent of the court asked him at the
close whether be wished to say any
thing to show that he had always been
faithful to the United States he cried
out In q it Of frenzy:
D the United States! l wish !
may never hear Of the United States
again"
| suppose he did not know how the
words shocked old Colonel Morgan.
who was holding the court. Nolan
had grown up in the west OF those
days in the midst Of Spanish plot
"Orleans plot" and all the rest. de
had been educated on plantation
where the finest company was Span
ish officer or French merchant from
Orleans. His education. such as 1t
was. had been perfected In commercial
expeditions to Vera Cruz and think
he told me his father once hired an
Englishman to be u private tutor foe a
winter on the plantation. He had spent
half his youth with an older brother
hunting horses In Texas. and. In word,
to him United States was scarce
" q reality. Yet he had been fed by
Omitted States" for all the years since
he had been In the army. He had
sworn ON his faith as Christian to be
true to United States" 1t was Unit.
I'd States" which gave him the uniform
be wore and the sword by his side.
do not excuse Nolan. only explain to
the reader why he damned bis country
and wished he might never hear her
name again.
He never did hear her name but
once again. From that moment. Sept
%, 1907. till the day he died. May H.
1863. he never heard her name again.
For that half century and more be was
a man without II country.
Old Morgan. as said. was terribly
shocked. He called the court into bis
Srivate room and returned In fifteen
minutes with a face like a sheet, to
say:
"Prisoner. hear the sentence Of the
court. The court decides. subject t
the approval Of the president, that yor
never hear the name Of the United
States again.
Nolan laughed. But nobody elst
laughed. Old Morgan was too solemn
and the whole room was hushed deao
as night for minute. Even Nolan LOST
his swagger In moment Then Nor
gan added: "Mr. Marshal, take thu
prisoner to Orleans In an armed boa
and deliver him to the naval com
mander there"
The marshal gave his orders, ant
the prisoner was taken out Of court
"Mr. Marshal" continued old Nor
gan, "see that no one mentions tn
United States to the prisoner. Mr
Marshal, make my respects to Lieu
tenant Mitchell at Orleans and request
him to order that no one shall men
tion the United States to the prisoner
while be is on board ship. You vii
receive your written orders from tn
officer on duty here this evening. Tit
court Is adjourned without day."
I have always supposed that Colone
Morgan himself took the proceeding
of the court to Washington city ant
explained them to Mr.. Jefferson. Ger
tain 1t Is that the president approved
them--certain, that Is, II may be
lieye the men who say they have seei