Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1916-05-22
DID MARSHAL NFy
C0METO AMERICA,
The Mystery of Napoleon,s ~.
shall Who Taught School +
Carolina After DEATH

to posterity, to Godp man
MY brave comrades, when -.
hand upon my heart fret sao ~, my
take sure aim at my heartIo ee you
The doomed prisoner ther -,
the hring squad, composed of Ga v.t.. .,.1 %
of his own armies: e'efans
Raising his hand to his bov,o, -.
gave the terrible signal. Thor. mug
ragged, nervous cracking of mus,as.
and Michael Ney, erstwhiIs Moss.N
France, Duke of Elchineen. pr,nSu aa' q
MostVa' cropped upon the ground ~.
face turned slightly to one side "is
The dust beneath him becama o.,..
with his life blood. The soldiers u,.sas,.
away And then a squad appeared s.,.. .a
litter, on which the corpse was ss .a
to an adjacent hospital, there 70 bo Nm. s
in leaden coffin encased within = .el
OF oak. Early next morning II was No..
to the cemetery and buried.
such Is history's account of tho -.
hero's tragic ending. His crime had ~
loyalty to his old commander Nanoi..-
Placed at the head of an army saat,
Louis XVIII to capture the fugitive s..I
Elba, Ney had fallen upon his kna.. u sn
lore mis- former Emperor and brought hIr,
victorious into Paris. Then had come ~
surrender to the Allies, Napoleon,s avn
to st. Helena, Ney's own flight. his c.S
ture in friends castle, his trial ana oos
demnation, his execution on December
1916.
The day following the fnarshar. e.,
neral Philip Petrie, sailor, while hoIv,
stoning the deck of vessel bound fros,
Bordeaux to Charleston, s. c., glanced nm
and, recognizing ruddyfaced indv,dus,l
saluted respectfully.
"Who do you think I am1" asked ~
passenger.
MY old commander, Marshal News
said Petrie, very positively.
Marshal Ney was executed two dsv.
ago in Paris" replied the stranger. with
a scowl; and during the remainder Of tbs
voyage he remained in hiding in his cabin
A few weeks later several French I'm.
migrants meeting a familiar figure upon
the streets of Georgetown, s. c., cried out,
Mon Dieu, lie Marechal Neyr' whereupon
the parsonage thus addressed vanished
like breath into the wind.
1t was about this time that a myster
GUS stranger, calling himself Peter Nav
appeared at Cheraw, S. c.. and there en-
gagged himself to teach the school al
nearby Glancing at a news
paper one morning in the schoolroom no
fell in a swoon and school had to be dis
missed. That night he was observed to
be burning documents, decorations and
badges. Next morning he was found in
bed with his throat cut, the blade OF his
pocket knife being broken off in the
wound, which, thanks to good nursing,
healed. The newspaper which caused the
fit contained news of Napoleons
death. Later, when shown a paper en-
the death of Napoleons son.
the schoolmaster suffered another paro1
ysm and proceeded to burn more manu-
scripts.
One morning while at Statesville, sc.
John Snyder and Frederick Barr veter
ans Of the Napoleonic wars, recognized
the schoolmaster as the Field Marshal Of
France. Snyder went so far to accost
Peter Ney and received only black looks
for his pains.
The schoolmaster while on his death
bed in the early winter of 1S46. was
pressed by the physician to clear up tho
mystery of his identity.
II am Marshal Ney, of France" the
Frenchman gasped with almost his dying
breath. And after his funeral one Of his
intimate friends, Mrs Mary c. Dalton
Of Iredell County, N. c., revealed what .
she claimed to have been a confession
made to her by Peter Ney shortly before 7
his. death. According. to this story, the
teacher was the great Marshal of France
Wellington had interceded and saved his
life. The firing squad had been INSTRUCTED
to fire over his head, but not until no
should give the signal by pressing MS
hand to his heart, by which action no
burst bag of red fluid secreted beneatn
his shirt. To further these decepuons
trusted men from his own army were So +
ected to fill the firing squad. At the nos
pital, whittier he had been brought upon
a litter, he was that night disguised IN III
fitting clothes and started on his way 70
Bordeaux. There, posing as a servant
carrying valise, he embarked ior
Charleston.
History proves that Marshal Neys
rial and it's prelimlnarles were conductep
oy secret methods. Members OF the AZ
sembly who voted for his execution oa
20 with the understanding from the hins
that the death sentence was TO be COM
nuted to life exile.
Wishing to satisfy himself as 70 ths
mystery clinging to the Ney case LOUIS
Napoleon, after coming TO the throne, 0f'
Tered the marshars grave opened. "hen
searched the inner coffin contained NOT
bone, not one relic of a human corpse
CaroIinians, who knew Sehoolmas's.
New. when shown portraits of the gleA'
Marshal of France, pronounced the nAs'
1ess as precisely like that of their irlena'
Both the teacher and the marshal W..
.uddv of face. Each slept but fiye houls
night; each was a good feneer' a ieai
ess horseman,. a skilled mathematics
md a clever performer upon the mute.
But IL Marshal Ney did escape 70 ans.
ca. why did he not return to his Delosss
france after amnesty had been siaA''
o all political exiles?
NyArIoNAI, POINT OF VIEW