The National tribune., 1888-04-19

Commodore George Brown, q. s. Navy, paced
restIessly about the Ebbltt House rotuuda and
halls last Friday, neTYously waiting the time
to take the steamer to convey him back to
Norfolk, where he is commanding the Navy
yard. He is one officer who never cares to rest
about Washington, and when you SEQ him here
it is safe to ask what order brings him. Enter
ing the service from his native Indiana in 1S49
while only Is years old, he has been uuem-
ployed less than six years, and nearly 20 of his
80 years service has been ah0at. He cannot
stav idle and so he is constantly on duty. He
gained his first command in 1859 when Lieu
tenant and has never been aGOat since that
time without being ruler of the deck he trod.
Whoever commands afoat is called Captain, no
matter what the rank may be, and SO, when ]
chatted with him. inadvertently Kept calling
him Captain for his new honor Of Commodore
is still much less than two years old. After ex-
Cusng myself once or twice for the slip, 1 said:
The fact is can't get used to calling you
Commodore; you have been Capt. George
Brown TO the service for so many years gone
By that my tongue unthiultingiy gives it yet"
"Well" he said drily, there's good many in
| the same boat beside you l commanded q YES
| sci at q years of age, and had a command of
my own ever since. | am hardly used to it
/ vet myself" His brilliant feats during the
/ war are so well known that | need not write Of
| them, but another, as full of daring at that day
/ as any Of the war, and requiring as much pluck
/ deserves recalling. How many at this time
remember the iron plated rebel ram Stonewall
| that came into our possession when we fell
! heir to all the arms and equipments of the
! Confederacy. She was long, rather narrow
craft lying very low in the water with not
more freeboard than one of our monitors, and
was built up over the deck like thereof of a
frame house, with slOping gables fore and aft.
! Her eight windows were ports, and in each was
| heavy gun for those days She was built for
.1,c, o,,I
| Der rightly, to run out Of Charleston and throw
the blockade wide open by eating up anything
| in sight that few the Stars and Stripes. The
war ended too soon for her intentions to be car
ried out, and finally our Government sold her
to Japan, to be delivered at Yokohama. Sew
| eral officers declined the honor Of the cruise
around the Horn and across the Pacific in That
turtle-shaped box Of iron, until George Brown
/ (then Commander) was designated, and he
answered by going promptly on board and
hosting his flag. Such cruise had never
been made, and bets were freely offered that she
would never live through the voyage; bat"
every one said, il any one can take her there,
| George Brown Will" lie did. True, i'll 1865
| the huge d0uble-turret monitor Miantonomah
had crossed the Atlantic to the Baltic to visit
| the Car, and returned safely, but she had the
sl0op-of-war Augusta as consort to save her
| crew If she went down. Brown had no cousort,
and none could then be spared. The Commo-
dore is q rather handsome, bronze-faced man OF
pleasant manners, but he is not stuck " on
what is called here society" In addition to
his command of the Norfolk Navy-yard, where
he is erecting hole in the ground for big
dry-dock for our new Navy, he is President OF
the Board Of Navy Officers engaged in pFepar-
ing a new plan for the transaction of business
in the Navy Department and its bureaux, and
this brings him to Washington about twice a
month, so that he will be here again about the
last of April for a few days.
STIRRING UP THE ARMY.
The most extensive transfer OF troops that
has occurred in many years has been ordered
by the War Department As a result 10 Of the
40 regiments or one-quarter of the Army, will
be on the move within few days. The change
affects all regiments that have been in the de-
partment from which they are ordered since
1880. The Sd and 25th Inf. remain in the Dc
partment Of Dakota, but exchange stations
The 5th Inf. is to be concentrated at Bismarck
OAK, and will then move by boat to such
points on the Missouri River as may be deter
mined upon, aud by rail TO such stations in the
Department Of Texas as the commanding Gen.
eral Of that department may designate. The
10Th Inf will 20 TO the Department Of the
Platte, with headquarters at Fort Douglas
| Utah. The companies Of the 9Th Inf now al
Fort Douglas, Utah, will go to Fort Lewis
Col. The 22d Inf, will 60 to the Department
of Dakota, with headquarters at Fort Keogh
Mont. The commanding General Depart
ment of Arizona is directed to send company
from his command 10 Fort Marcy, n. 81. Tht
18th Inf. in the Department Of Arizona, vii
exchange stations with the oath Inf, in tbs
|, ! Department Of Missouri Battery q, 1st Art.
in the Department of the East will exchang,
stations by rail with Battery T, 1st Art, III thu
Department Of California. The portion of tht
eth Cav. now in the Department OF Dakota will
be concen trated at Fort Meade, Oak, and then
move to Fort Riley Kan. The 8th Cav, nov
in the Department Of Texas, is ordered to thu
Department Of Dakota. All the movement
are to commence about the 1st OF June. Th
cost Of the change will be about 100000.
REDUcTIo AID ABsURDAM.
One of the Auditors of the Treasury Depart
ment, who has become very weary Of the peni
, tertiary system Of the Department with it,
naggiug reports of clerks who may be min
2 ute or so late in the morning, on account 0
, delayed trains or unavoidable accidents, deter
|, mined last week to make an example whicl
! would show up the frivolous absurdity of som
I features of the system. One of his very bes
clerks, who frequently works long over hour
without complaint extra charge, was re
ported to him for being three minutes late
| The Auditor, assuming the manner of deepl,
I outraged guardian Of the Governments inter
1 ests, said he was determined to make an ex
ample of the offender, and organized formida
! Bib CJALb VI inquiry W investigate al VIC TIT
tails Of the offense. The beated clerk, til
> Jealous doorkeeper who reported him. the con
ductor, engineer, fireman aud brakeman of til
: suburban train which was guilty of the Grim
I Of not being on time, aud all persons plura
! and singular, who were nearly or remotel
: connected with the delinquency, were sum
m0ned, and their evidence taken with all tn
!; forms of law, and written down by stenog
! raphers The court made a careful digest {
! the evidence, and grayey decided that th
: train and the tranmen were responsible for tw
!; minutes OF the tardiness but that for the re
Z naming minute the clerk was directly culpa
Z BILE, aud that it should therefore be deducted fro
= his annual leare Of absence; which was done. TIL
= court further assessed the expense of conduct
d ing the inquiry-between $500 and $l00-upo
: the Government.
q GEN. TOM. EWING.
: Last Saturday night there was registered o
r the arrival book at the Ebbitt House here til
o name of Thomas Ewing, n. y" That tai
well-rouuded man, with rudy cheeks an
white hair and mustache, is the man VIII
scorched out the guerrillas in Missouri an
If Kansas by laying waste the whole border
n Counties ia Missouri that harhored the pest
" lential gangs. Had it not been for his famoI
Il order to exterminate the vermin he would haS
IF been on the Presidential ticket in Isl
n with Horatio Seymour and had still chanc