The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1916-05-31
The World In Its Queer
CompIexity.
A TRAGIC INSTANCE RECALLED
In the Case OF Marshal Ney,
Who CapituIated To His
Old Commander.
A MYSTERY OF THE LONG AGO

country, against this sentence that
has condemned me. | appeal from
it to man, to posterity. to God!"
The doomed prisoner then turned
to the firing squad, composed of 60
veterans of his own armies
my brave comrades, when place
my hand upon my heart, fire! See
that you take sure aim at my
heart!"
Raising his hand to his bosom, he
thus gave the terrible signal. There
was a ragged, nervous cracking of
musketry, and Michel Ney, erstwhile
Marshal of France, Duke of Elchin-
gen, Prince of Moskva, dropped
upon the ground, his face turned
slightly to one side. - 81 ~n
The dust beneath him became
crimson with his life blood. The
soldiers marched away. And then a
squad appeared with litter, on
which the corpse was borne to an
adjacent hospital, there to be placed
in a leaden coffin encased within a
casket of oak. Early next morning
it was borne to the cemetery and
buried.
Such is history's account of the
great hero's tragic ending. His
crime had been loyalty to his old
commander, Napoleon. Placed at
the head of an army sent by Louis
XVIII. to capture the Fugitive from
Elba, Ney had fallen upon his knees
before his former Emperor and
brought him. victorious, into Paris.
Then had come the surrender to the
allies, Napoleon's exile to Helena.
Ney's own fight, his capture in a
friends castle, his trial and con-
demnation; his execution on the 5th
day of December. 1915.
The day following the Marshal's
funeral Philip Petrie. a sailor, while
holyston1ng the deck of vessel
bound from Bordeax to Charleston,
S. c., glanced up, and recognizing a
ruddy-faced individual. saluted re-
specially.
"Who do you think | am?" asked
the passenger.
my old commander, Marshal
Ney,'' said Petrie, very positively.
Marshal Ney was executed two
days ago in Paris" replied the
stranger, with a scowl; and during
the remainder of the voyage he re-
manned in hiding in his cabin.
A few weeks later several French
immigrants, meeting a familiar fig
ure upon the streets of Georgetown,
S. c., cried out: "Mon Diem, lie
Marechal Ney!" whereupon the per-
sonage thus addressed vanished like
breath into the wind.
1t was about this time that a mys-
FERROUS stranger. calling himself
Peter Ney, appeared at Cheraw. S.
c., and there engaged himself to
teach the school at Brownsville, near,
by. CHANGING at a newspaper one
morning in the schoolroom. he fell
in a swOOn. and school had to be dis
missed. That night he was observ-
ed to be burning documents, decora-
lions 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 fainting fit contained news of
Napoleon's death. Later, when
shown a paper announcing the death
of NapoleOn's son, the schoolmaster
suffered another paroxysm and pro-
ceeded to burn more manuscripts.
One morning. while at Statesville.
s. c., John Snyder and Frederick
Barr. veterans of the Napoleonic
wars. recognized the schoolmaster
as the Field Marshal Of France.
Snyder went so far as to accost Pc
ter Ney. and received only black
looks for his pains.
The schoolmaster. while upon his
in the early winter of
1876. was pressed by his physician
to clear up the mystery of his iden-
tity.
II am Marshal Ney, of France!"
the Frenchman gasped with almost
his dying breath. And, after the flu
neral. one of his intimate friends,
Mrs. Mary G. Dalton. Of Iredell
county, North Carolina. revealed
what she claimed to have been a
made to her by Peter Ney
shortly before his death. According
to this story, the teacher was the
great Marshal OF France. Yelling
ton had interceded and saved his
life. The firing squad had been in
81 al IL A. l. Il