The Beaver herald. [volume] (Beaver, O.T. [Okla.]) 1895-1923, 1917-06-07
Z Rxx&xxxxxxx44x&xxxxxHxxxxa


suppose that very few casual
readers of the New York Herald of
August 18th observed. in an obscure
corner, among the Deaths" the an
nouncement:
"NOLAN. Died, on board q. s. Cor
vette Levant, Lat. % IL" S., Long. 1917
W., on the 11th of May. Philip Nolan"
I happened TO observe II, because
I was stranded at the old Mission
house in Mackinac, waiting for Lake
Superior steamer which did not choose
to come, and l was devouring, to the
very stubble, all the current literature
l could get hold of, even down to the
deaths and marriages in the Herald"
My memory for names and people is
good, and the reader will see, as he
goes on, that / had reason enough to
remember Philip Nolan. There are
hundreds of readers who would have
paused ut that announcement, IL the
officer of the Levant who reported II
had chosen to make ii thus: "Died
May 11th, The Man without a Coun-
try" For it was as "The Man with
out Country that poor Philip Nolan
had generally been known by the ofli-
GERS who had him in charge during
some fifty years, as, indeed, by o'l
the men who had sailed under them.
/ dare say there Is many man who
has taken wine with him once a fort
night, in three years cruise, who
never knew that his name was "No-
lan," or whether the poor wretch had
any name at all.
There can now be no possible harm
In telling this poor creatures story.
Reason enough there has been till
now, ever since Madison's administra-
ton went out In 1917, for very strict
secrecy, the secrecy of honor itself,
among the gentlemen of the navy who
have had Nolan In successive charge.
And certainly it speaks well for the es-
prlt de corps of the profession and the
personal honor of its members, that to
the press this mans story has been
wholly unknown, and, 1 think, to the
country at large also.
i have reason to think, from some
Investigations l made In the naval
archives when 1 was attached to the
bureau Of construction, that every Of
fetal report relating to him was burned
when Ross burned the public buildings
at Washington. One of the fuckers,
or possibly one of the Watsons, had
| Nolan in charge at the end of the war !;
and when, on returning from his cruise,
he reported at Washington to one of
the Crownlnshlelds-wh was I'm the
navy department when he came home
he found that the department ig-
nored the whole business. Whether
they really knew nothing about 1t, or
whether 1t was a non mi ricordo, de-
termined on as piece of policy, l do
not know. But this / do know, that
since 1917, and possibly before, no
naval officer has mentioned Nolan in
his report of cruise.
AS say, there Is no need for se-
crecy any longer. And now the poor
creature Is dead, II seems to me worth
while to tell little of his story, by
way Of showing young Americans of
today what it is to be
A MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.
Philip Nolan was as fine a young
officer as there was In the Legion of
the West" as the western division of
our army was then called. When
Aaron Burr made mis- first dashing ex-
pedltion down to New Orleans in 1905,
ut Fort Massac, or somewhere above
on the river, he met, as the devil
would have 1t, this gay, dashing, bright
young fellow, AT some dinner party,
/ think. Burr marked him, talked to
him, walked with him, took him day
or two's voyage in his flatboat, and,
in short, fascinated him. For the next
year barrack life was very tame to
poor Nolan. He occasionally ayailed
of the permission the great man had
given him TO write to him. Long, high.
worded, stilted letters the poor boy
wrote and re-wrote and copied. But
never a line did he have in reply from
the gay deceiver. The other boys In
| the garrison sneered at him, because
he sacrificed In this unrequited affec
tlon for politician the time which
they devoted to Monongahela. sledge
and ligh-low jack. Bourbon. euchre