Historical editorial: The deserved fate of Mr. Nolan

Editor’s note: This historical editorial originally appeared in what was then called The Bend Bulletin on March 8, 1907.

While the charges brought by Register Nolan against The Dalles land office were under investigation it was proper to suspend judgment. Now that the case has resulted in the removal of Mr. Nolan for making baseless charges the marks of desperate politics, which The Bulletin spoke of at the time, seem to be clearer. Mr. Nolan’s arbitrary course had long lost him the confidence of the people who came in contact with the office and it brought much inconvenience and hardship to innocent persons. Before he had learned the business, he was an arrogant disaster. He had long sought to discredit his associate, Miss Anne Long. She, having almost been “brought up” in that land office, familiar with every detail, jealous of its record, and being a clear-headed business woman, naturally chafed under the criticism which the register’s course brought upon the office. But she made no “roar.” She let Nolan dig a pit and fall into it.... Nolan seems to occupy the position of a man who, having set out to pull a house down, merely fell off the steps and broke his own neck.