The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-10-14
LAST LETTER 0F R. [. NOLAN GIVEN OUT BY HIS FAMILY Statement Made Which Sets Clear Some of Doubtful
 Points About First
 Publication

A statement has been made to The Age Herald by the family of Robert Emmet Nolan. the young Birmingham attorney who recently took his life by Jumping from Manhattan bridge in New York.
 The statement calls attention to the fact that the papers did not use the full text of the letter left by MT. Nolan.
 This letter" continues the stata- ment, "of course. was meant for the Birmingham public, since he had enough sanity left to realize that his friends and acquaintances in that city would not understand and would marvel at such an act committed by him. We have since come into tb,. possession of his letter and quote the exact contents:
 have made a mess of evervthino With the best of home training. educa- ton, friends and opportunities I am n failure.
 In striving to keep my honor in- violate towards the people generally. have lost my honor towards those near me. I've tried awfully hard to succeed in my profession. I have given the law my labor, my love and my honor; it has ruthlessly taken all; 1t may now have my life. I evidently lacked something-maybe I dreamed too much
 He has stated in his last message to the world that he has preserved his honor to others. About this there is no question. as the testimonials of scores of friends during our bereave- ment have proven, and we know that he was ever jealous and careful to preserve his professional integrity
 About his having lost his honor to- ward those near him, we declare that we are fully satisfied with his honor in all respects; that as far as we are concerned it was stainless
 "He was evidently in an excited and overwrought mental state in which he magnified small and inconseuuental matters to such an extent that they preyed upon his mind to the point Of temporary dementia which led him to his untimely death. Mismanagement and misjudgement do not constitute loss of honor, and he was young in years and experience and none of us can claim absolute infallibility of judg- ment. Besides his judgment in private family matters which he believed wrong has not been proven SO.
 The greatest Man that ever lived has told us that a mans life doth not consist in the abundance of things he possesseth," which. of course, means that we are not to gauge the success of a mans life by his accumulations of worldly wealth or his failure by the lack thereof, and since the glowing tributes of public praise and the high testimonials of friends have confirmed our previous Knowledge of our sons and brothers exalted ideals of honor and honesty and his noble and gener- ous personal character, we consider that his life was a pronounced success and we would prefer, 8 thousand times to see him dead, terrible as 1t is to seek one's own destruction, than that he should ever stoop to gain a liveli- hood by resorting to shyster methods or the tricks and low ideals of unethical legal practice by which the poor, ig- norant and distressed should suffer. In this respect he had the true spirit of the Master within him which may ob- tain for him great mercy and in sense he was a martyr to the cause of a high, pure and righteous practice of the law, and if his sad and lonely death will in any way be an influence for a higher idealism in this respect, desolate as we shall be without him, we shall try to bear the sacrifice. THE FAMILY OF ROBERT EMMETT
 Nashville. Tenn. october 1s. 1914"