Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1917-05-10
PART j.

II
III young officer as there was In
I'll the Legion Of the West" al
- the western division Of our
.. army was then called. When Aaron
Burr made bis Arst dashlpg expedition
down to New Orleans II 1905 at Fort
Nassac OF somewhere above On the
river he met as the deYi would have
n, tb.5 gay, uashing, bright young fel-
low at some dinner party, ! think.
Burr marked him. talked to him. walk
Cd with him, took him day or two'S
voyage in his 6atboat 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
Mn to write to him. The other boys
in|tbe. garrison lsneered at him because
ne sacrificed In this unreQuited affec-
ton for politician the time which
they devoted to monoDgahela. sledge
and high-low-jack. Bourbon. euchre
ard poker were still unknown. But
one day Nolan had his revenge. This
time Burr came down the river not rs
arl attorney seeking place for bis Of
Gee, but as disguised conqueror. II
was rumOred that he had an army be-
hind him and an empire before him.
1t was a great day-his arrlval-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 skin to show him cane
brake or a 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 It, be lived
MS "a man without country"
What Burr meant to do ! know no
more than you, dear reader. II 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 string OF court
martiaIs on the officers there. One
and another of the colonies and majors
were tried, and, to All out the list littie
Nolan. against whom. heaven knows.
there was evidence enOugh-tha ne
was sick Of the service. had been Will
ing to be false to II and would have
Obeyed any order to march anywhitber
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 flies es-
capped rightly for all ! know. Nolan
was proved guilty enough as | 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 he wished to say any
thing to show that he had always been
faithful to the United States he cried
out In a lit of frenzy:
d the United States! | wish |
may never hear OF the United States
againT'
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" aud all the rest He
had been educated Oh plantation
where the finest company was Span
fish officer or French merchant from
Orleans His education. such as II
was, had been perfected In commercial
expeditions 10 Vera Cruz and think
he told me his father once hired an
Englishman to be n private tutor for
winter on the plantation He had spent
half his youth with IN older brother
bunting horses In Texas, and, In word.
to him United States was scarce
ly reality Yet he had been fed by
"Udited States" for all the years since
he had been In the army. He had
sworn on his faith as a Christian to be
true 10 United States" II was Unit
ed States which gave him the uniform
he wore aud the sword by his side.
do not excuse Nolan. | only explain to
the reader why he damned his country
and wished he might never hear her
name again
He never did hear her name but
pnce again. From that moment. Sept
%. 1907. TIL the day he died. May II.
1863. he never heard her name again.
For that half century and more be was
q man without country.
Old Morgan. as / said, was terribly
shocked. He called the court into hts
private room and returned in fifteen
minutes with face IKE sheet. to
cay:
Prisoner. hear the sentence OF the
court The coBrt decides. subject 10
che approval Of the president. that you
never hear the name OF the United
States again
Nnlan laughed. But nobody else
ls'...h,-d slid MORGAN was too solemn