The Irish standard., 1893-04-01
CAPTAIN MIKE HEALY.
The Commander of the Bear is an Important
Parsonage in the Northwest.

The Commander of the Bear is an Important
Parsonage in the Northwest.
Capt. Mike Healy of the revenue cut
ter Bear is good deal more distinguished
person IN the waters of the far North
west than any President OF the United
States or any Iotentate Of Europe has
vet become. He stands for law and Or
der in many thousand square miles OF
land and water, and if you should ask ID
the Arctic sea, "Who is the greatest man
in America?' the instant answer would
be, why, Mike Healy." When an In
nocent citizen of the Atlantic coast once
asked on the Pacific who Mike Healy
was the answer came: ''Don't you knew
Mike Healy? Why, he's the United
States. He holds in these parts power
of attorney for the whole country" The
reply hardly seems extravaganza when 1t
is known that for twenty years or more
Capt. Healy has been the sole represent
alive of legal authority in much OF the
region northwest Of Port Townsend. 10
tbs Indians of that region he stands for
the United States Government. 10 the
whalers of the Arctic he is by turns
bene6cent Providence and all evenglng
Nemesis He is constantly in the United
States courts at San Francisco, where
everybody knows him, and he has time
and again suppressed disorder and pre-
vented crime IN regions thousand miles
from any legally constituted authority.
He is the ideal commander Of the old
schos !, bluff, prompt, fearless, pitiless in
discipline, but not unjust. He knows
Behring Sea, the straits, and even the
Arctic as no other man knows them, and
his little craft has sailed those waters at
almost all seasons. He is usually the
first man up in the spring and the last
man to leave the Northwest at the ap-
proach Of winter.
With all this he is man of no little
book learning, excellent address, and
uncommonly agreeable manners One
brother is a Bishop of the Catholic
Church, and another priest. Healy
himself was preparing to take orders
when his scholastic career was cut short
by accidents for which he was not alto
gether irresponsible. After managing
to get him out OF school in the East, he
was sent to Roman Catholic school in
Paris. Here young Healy was missed
one morning, and at the same time the
statue OF the Virgin standing just within
the convent hall was found to be un
shipped from it's pedestal. There was a
rope round the Virgins mock, and this
rope had evidently been thrown over
the wall 30 as to enable some one to es-
cape. All these suspicious facts, taken
together with Healy's absence, made it
pretty plain how the young man had
disappeared, and the affair aroused con-
siderable interest. The lad was cap
tured, but be eventually gave up the
plan of taking orders and finally went
into the revenue marine.
Capt Healy is best seen on board his
own craft. He is of medium height,
with figure erect and we'll knit, but far
from stout. A nautical cap partly covers
his gray hair, and beneath it's peak one
sees a pair Of keen eyes, while grizzled,
almost white moustache partly conceals
a firm but not unkindly mouth. Navy
trousers and a pea jacket of unplucked
seal com plete the costume. Unplucked
sealskin is something rarely seen in the
East, though some folks in the North
west think it vastly handsomer than the
brown-dyed affair of commerce
seen in New York streets, It is much
lighter in color than the sealekin worn
by women in the East, and it glitters
like silver in the sunshine. Mike Healy.
pacing the deck in his seal-skin pea
jacket, is brilliant figure beneath a
cloudless Northwestern sky.
Capt. Mike finds time in the midst OF |
busy life to read some books, and his &C.
luaintance with mon and strange places
is SO varied that his talk is msrvellously
interesting. Perhaps no other man in !
The United States has seen as much Arc
tic daylight as Mike Healy. He some |
times takes his wife on his northwestern |
cruise, and an uncommonly presentable |!
natron and agreeable shipmate those who
know Mrs. Healy have found her to be. |
Once, at least, Capt. Healy took his
brother, the priest, for summer yaca-
ion on board the Bear. When the cleri-
;a] brother came aboard he animated
hat something in the way Of religious
service would be the proper thing, but
Capt. Nike replied that he was not only
he commander Of that craft, but priest
g we'll, and il anything in the way Of re- /