Western liberal. (Lordsburg, N.M.) 1887-1919, 1917-05-18


1 suppose hat 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 U. S. Cor
vette Levant, Lat. % IL" s., Long. 1917
W., on the 18th Of May, Philip Nolan"
1 happened to observe 1t, because
I was stranded at the old Mission
house In Mackinac, waiting for a Lake
Superior steamer which did not choose
to come. and l was devourlng, to the
very stubble, ali the current literature
I 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 win see, as he
goes on, that / had reason enough to
remember Philip Nolan. There are
hundreds of readers who would have
paused at that announcement, II the
officer Of the Levant who reported Il
had chosen to make 1t thus: "Died,
May 18th, The Man without o COM
try" For 1t was as THE Man with
out a Country" that poor Philip Nolan
had generally been known by the Off
GERS who had him In charge during
some fifty years, as, indeed, by all
The men who had sailed under them.
{ dare say there is many a man who
has taken wine with him Once a fort
night, in a three years cruise, who
never knew that his name was mo
IAN" or whether the poor wretch had
any name at all.
There can now be 40 possible harm
In telling this poor creatures story.
Reason enough there has been till
nOw, ever sin e Madison's admlnlstra-
don 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 1t speaks well for the es-
prit de corps of the profession and the
personal honor of its members, that to
The press this mans story has been
wholly unknown, and, l think, to the
country at large also.
l nave reason to think, from some
Investigations / made in the naval
lrchives when l was attached TO the
bureau Of construction, that every Of
iclal report relating to him was burned
when Ross burned the public buildings
It Washington. One Of the fuckers,
,r possibly one Of the Wntsons, had
Nolan In charge at the end OF the war;
md when, on returning from his cruise,
ne reported at Washington to n Of
he CrOwninshields-whO was in the
lavy department when he came home
he found that the department ig-
lored the whole business. Whether
hey really knew nothing about IL, or
whether It was a non mi ricOrdO, de-
.ermined on as a piece Of policy, / do
lot know. But this / do know, that
since 1917, and possibly before, no
naval officer has mentioned Nolan In
lis report OF "a cruise.
AS l say, there is no need for Sc
crecy any longer. And now the poor
creature Is dead, II seems to me worth
while to tell a little of his story, by
way Of showing young Americans Of
lOOay what IL Is 10 De
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 her called. When
Aaron Burr made his first dushing eN-
petition down to New Orleans In 1903.
at Fort Mussac, or somewhere above
on the river, he met, as the devil
would have II, this gay, dashlng, bright
young fellow, at some dinner party,
/ think. Burr marked him, talked to
him, walked with him, took him a day
or twO's voyage In his fatbOat, and,
In short, fascinated him. For the next
year barrack life was very tame to
poor Nolan. He occasionally awaited
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 decelver. The other boys In
the garrison sneered at him, because
he sacrificed In this unrequlted affec
ton for a politician the time which
they devoted to MOnOngahela, sledge
and h~ighlOw-jack. Bourbon, euchre