The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #118561   Message #2570823
Posted By: Rapparee
19-Feb-09 - 08:58 AM
Thread Name: BS: Reverend Wright said, God Damn America'
Subject: RE: BS: Reverend Wright said, God Damn America'
This thread has, from the outset, reminded me of this. Edward Everett Horton, 1863:

...Nolan was proved guilty enough, as I say; yet you and I would never have heard of him, reader, but that, when the president of the court asked him at the close whether he wished to say anything to show that he had always been faithful to the United States, he cried out, in a fit of frenzy,—           
"Damn the United States! I wish I may never hear of the United States again!"...           
    He never did hear her name but once again. From that moment, Sept. 23, 1807, till the day he died, May 11, 1863, he never heard her name again. For that half-century and more he was a man without a country.        
    Old Morgan, as I said, was terribly shocked. If Nolan had compared George Washington to Benedict Arnold, or had cried, "God save King George," Morgan would not have felt worse. He called the court into his private room, and returned in fifteen minutes, with a face like a sheet, to say,—        
"Prisoner, hear the sentence of the Court! The Court decides, subject to the approval of the President, that you never hear the name of the United States again."        
Nolan laughed. But nobody else laughed. Old Morgan was too solemn, and the whole room was hushed dead as night for a minute. Even Nolan lost his swagger in a moment. Then Morgan added,—        
"Mr. Marshal, take the prisoner to Orleans in an armed boat, and deliver him to the naval commander there."        
The marshal gave his orders and the prisoner was taken out of court.        
"Mr. Marshal," continued old Morgan, "see that no one mentions the United States to the prisoner. Mr. Marshal, make my respects to Lieutenant Mitchell at Orleans, and request him to order that no one shall mention the United States to the prisoner while he is on board ship. You will receive your written orders from the officer on duty here this evening. The court is adjourned without day."