Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1917-06-13

them, from the myths which have been
told about this man for forty years.
The fellows used to say he was the
"1ron Masks" and poor George Pons
went to his grave In the belief that
this was the author of "Junius," who
was being punished for his celebrated
libel on Thomas Jefferson. POns was
not very strong in the historical line.
A happier story than either Of these /
have told is Of the war. That came
along soon after. I have heard this
affair told In three or four ways, and,
indeed, It may have happened more
than once. But which ship it was on
I cannot tell. However, in one, at
least, Of the great frigate duels with
really baptized, it happened that a
round shot from the enemy entered
one of our ports square, and took right
down the officer of the gun himself,
and almost every man of the guns
crew. Now you may say what you
choose about courage, but that is not
a nice thing to see. But as the men
who were not killed picked themselves
up, and the surgeons people wofe car.
rying off the bodies, there appeared
Nolan, in his shirt sleeves, with the
rammer In his hand, and, just as If he
had been the officer, told them off with
authority, who should 60 to the cock.
pit with the wounded men, who should
stay with him, perfectly CHEEKY, and
with that way which makes men feel
sure all is right and is going to be
right. And he finished loading the
gun with his own hands, aimed it, and
babe the men fire. And there he
stayed, captain of that gun, keeping
those fellows in spirits, till the enemy
struck, sitting on the carriage while
the gun was cooling, though he was
exposed all the time, showing them
easier ways to handle heavy shot, max.
ing the raw hands laugh at their own
blunders, and when the gun cooled
again, getting it loaded and fired twice
as often as any other gun on the ship.
The captain walked forward, by way
Of encouraging the men, and Nolan
touched his hat and said:
II am showing them how we do this
In the artillery, sir"
And this is part of the story where
all the legends agree; that the commo.
dore said:
II see you do, and I thank you, sir,
and shall never forget this day, sir,
and you never shall, sir"
And after the whole thing was over.
and he had the Englishman's sword.
in the midst of the state and ceremony
of the quarterback, he said:
"Where is Mr.. Nolan2 Ask Mr.. No.
Ian to come here"
And when Nolan came, the captain
said:
Mr.. Nolan, we are all very grateful
to you today; you are one of us today
you will be named in the dispatches"
And then the old man took off his
own sword of ceremony, and gave it to
Nolan, and made him put it on. The
man told me this who saw it. Nolan
cried like baby, and we'll he might.
He had not worn sword since that
internal day at Fort Adams. But al
ways afterward, on occasions of cere.
mony, he wore that quaint old French
sword Of the commodore's.
The captain did mention him in the
dispatches. It was always said he
asked that he might be pardoned. He
wrote special letter to the secretary
of war. But nothing ever came of 1t.
As said, that was about the time
when they began to ignore the whole
transaction at Washington, and when
Nolan's Imprisonment began to carry
itself on because there was nobody to
stop it without any new orders from
home.
1have heard it said that he was with
Porter when he took possession of the
Nukahiwa islands. Not this Porter.
you know, but old Porter, his father,
Essex Porter, that is, the old Essex
Porter, not this Essex. AS an artil-
lery officer, who had seen service in
the West, Nolan knew more about for.
tif1cati0ns, embrasures, ravelines,
stockades, and all that, than any of
them did; and he worked with a right
good will in fixing that battery all
right. have always though it was
pity Porter did not leave him In
command there with Gamble. That
would have settled all the question
about his punishment. We should
have kept the islands, and at this mo-
ment we should have one station in
the Pacific ocean. Our French friends,
too, when they wanted this little wa
tering place, would have found it was
pre-occupied. But Madison and the
Virginians, of course, flung all that
away.
All that was near fifty years ago.
r. Nolan was thirty then, he must
have been near eighty when he died
He looked sixty when he was forty,
But he never seemed to me to change
q hair afterward. As I imagine hia
life, from what have seen and heard
of 1t, he must have been in every sea.
and yet almost never on land. Id
must have known in q formal way.
more officers in our service than any
man living knows. He told me once,
with grave smile, that no man In the
world lived so methodical life as he,
you know the boys say I am the
Iron Mask, and you know how busy
he was" He said 1t did not do tor
anyone to try to read all the time, more
than to do anything else all the time i,
| but that he read lust five houra n flav.