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Speaker 1: The thing at Nolan by Ambrose Bierce. To the south

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of where the road between Lesville and Hardie and the

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state of Missouri crossed the east fork of May Creek

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stands an abandoned house. Nobody has lived in it since

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the summer of eighteen seventy nine, and it is fast

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going to pieces. For some three years before the date

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mentioned above, it was occupied by the family of Charles May,

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from one of whose ancestors the creek near which it

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stands took its name. Mister May's family consisted of a wife,

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an adult son, and two young girls. The son's name

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was John. The names of the daughters are unknown to

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the writer of this sketch. John May was of a

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morose and surly disposition, not easily moved to anger, but

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having an uncommon gift of sullen, implacable hate. His father

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was quite otherwise, of a sonny, jovial disposition, but with

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a quick temper, like a sudden flame kindled in a

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wisp of straw, which consumes it in a flash and

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is no more. He cherished no resentments, and his anger gone,

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was quick to make overtures for reconciliation. He had a

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brother living near by who was unlike him in respect

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of all this, and it was a current witticism in

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the neighborhood that John had inherited his disposition from his uncle.

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One day, a misunderstanding arose between father and son. Harsh

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words ensued, and the father struck the son full in

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the face with his fist. John quietly wiped away the

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blood that followed the blow, fixed his eyes upon the

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already penitent offender, and said, with cold composure, you will

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die for that. The words were overheard by two brothers

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named Jackson, who were approaching the men at the moment,

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but seeing them engaged in a quarrel, they retired apparently unobserved.

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Charles May afterward related the unfortunate occurrence to his wife

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and explained that he had apologized to the Sun for

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the hasty blow, but without avail. The young man not

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only rejected his overtures, but refused to withdraw his terrible threat. Nevertheless,

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there was no open rupture of relations. John continued living

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with the family, and things went on very much as before.

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One Sunday morning in June eighteen seventy nine, about two

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weeks after what has been related, May Senior left the

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house immediately after breakfast. Taking a spade, he said he

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was going to make an excavation at a certain spring

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in a wood about a mile away, so that the

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cattle could obtain water. John remained in the house for

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some hours, variously occupied in shaving himself, writing letters, and

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reading a newspaper. His manner was very nearly what it

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usually was, perhaps he was a trifle more sullen and surly.

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At two o'clock he left the house. At five he

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returned for some reason not connected with any interest in

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his movements, and which is not now recalled. The time

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of his departure and that of his return were noted

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by his mother and sisters. As was attested at his

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trial for murder, it was observed that his clothing was

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wet in spots. As if so, the prosecution afterward pointed

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out he had been removing blood stains from it. His

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manner was strange, his look wild. He complained of illness,

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and going to his room, took to his bed. May

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Senior did not return. Later that evening, the nearest neighbors

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were aroused, and during that night and the following day

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a search was prosecuted through the wood where the spring

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was It resulted in little but the discovery of both

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both men's footprints in the clay about the spring. John May,

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in the meantime, had grown rapidly worse with what the

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local physician called brain fever, and in his delirium, raved

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of murder, but did not say whom he conceived to

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have been murdered, nor whom he imagined to have done

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the deed. But his threat was recalled by the brothers Jackson,

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and he was arrested on suspicion, and a deputy sheriff

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put in charge of him at his home. Public opinion

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ran strongly against him, and but for his illness, he

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would probably have been hanged by a mob. As it was.

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A meeting of the neighbors was held on Tuesday, and

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a committee appointed to watch the case and take such

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action at any time as circumstances might seem to warrant.

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On Wednesday, all was changed. From the town of Nolan,

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eight miles away came a story which put a quite

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different light on the matter. Nolan consisted of a schoolhouse,

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a blacksmith's shop, a store, and a half dozen dwellings.

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The store was kept by one Henry Odell, a cousin

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of the elder May. On the afternoon of the Sunday

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of May's disappearance, mister Odell and four of his neighbors,

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men of credibility, were sitting in the store, smoking and talking.

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It was a warm day, and both the front and

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the back door were open. At about three o'clock, Charles May,

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who was well known to three of them, entered at

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the front door and passed out at the rear. He

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was without hat or coat. He did not look at

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them nor return their greeting, a circumstance which did not surprise,

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for he was evidently seriously hurt. Above the left eyebrow

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was a wound, a deep gash from which the blood flowed,

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covering the whole left side of the face and neck,

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and saturating his light gray shirt. Oddly enough, the thought

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uppermost in the minds of all was that he had

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been fighting and was going to the brook directly at

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the back of the store to wash himself. Perhaps there

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was a feeling of delicacy, a backwoods etiquette, which restrained

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them from following him to offer assistance. The court records

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from which mainly this narrative is drawn are silent as

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to anything but the fact. They waited for him to return,

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but he did not return, bordering the brook behind the

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store as a forest, extending for six miles back to

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the Medicine Lodge Hills. As soon as it became known

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in the neighborhood of the missing man's dwelling that he

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had been seen in Nolan, there was a marked alteration

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in public sentiment and feeling. The Vigilance Committee went out

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of existence without the formality of a resolution. Search along

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the wooded bottom lands of May Creek was stopped, and

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nearly the entire male population of the region took to

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beating the bush about Nolan and in the Medicine Lodge Hills,

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but of the missing man no trace was found. One

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of the strangest circumstances of this strange case is the

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formal indictment and trial of a man for murder of

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one whose body no human being professed to have seen,

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one not known to be dead. We are all more

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or less familiar with the vagaries and eccentricities of frontier law,

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but this instance, it is thought, is unique. However that

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may be, It is of record that, on recovering from

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his illness, John May was indicted for the murder of

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his missing father. Counsel for the defense appears not to

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have demurred, and the case was tried on its merits.

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The prosecution was spiritless and perfunctory, the defense easily established

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with regard to the deceased an alibi. If during the

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time in which John May must have killed Charles May,

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if he killed him at all, Charles May was miles

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away from where John May must have been, it is

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plain that the deceased must have come to his death

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at the hands of someone else. John May was acquitted,

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immediately left the country and has never been heard of

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from that day. Shortly afterward, his mother and sisters removed

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to Saint Louis, the farm having passed into the possession

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of a man who owns the land adjoining and has

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a dwelling of his own. The May house has ever

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since been vacant and has the somber reputation of being haunted.

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One day after the May family had left the country,

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some boys playing in the woods along May Creek found

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concealed under a mass of dead leaves, but partly exposed

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by the rooting of hogs, a spade nearly new and bright,

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except for a spot on one edge, which was rusted

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and stained with blood. The implement had the initials C

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M cut into the head. This discovery renewed in some

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degree the public excitement of a few months before. The

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earth near the spot where the spade was found was

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carefully examined, and the result was the finding of a

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dead body of a man. It had been buried under

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two or three feet of soil, and the spot covered

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with a layer of dead leaves and twigs. There was

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but little decomposition, a fact attributed to some preservative property

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in the mineral bearing soil. Above the left eyebrow was

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a wound, a deep gash from which blood had flowed,

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covering the whole left side of the face and neck,

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and saturating the light gray shirt. The skull had been

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cut through by the blow. The body was that of

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Charles May. But what was it that passed through mister

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Odell's store at Nolan End? The Thing at Nolan by

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Ambrose Bierce