The Opelousas courier., 1895-04-13
WAS IT ACCIDENT ORR
4 Naval Officer Tells a Story OF q Tragic
Death on q Warship.

4 Naval Officer Tells a Story of q Tragic
Death OH a Warship.
They were telling incidents in the
life of a prominent and wealthy man
who had recently died-the little tricks
he had played to catch his wor!llnen
mapping, the ways he had employed to
impress discipline upon them, and his
successful amer of getting their best
efforts out of them. Then the naval
officer interposed an objection.
II have seen a great many men, and
some of them very bad ones, success
fully handled" he said, sin the service,
but I don't believe l ever knew an
officer to be successful in commanding
men who stopped to little tricks.
There is something in a mans heart
that makes him resent petty persccu-
ton, when he will bear you no ill-will
at all for crushing him under great
provocation. And speaking of petty
persecution, annoying men in lit
tie ways to keep them alive
and doing, 1 remember Y,
poor chap! in the service years
ago, and the mournful way in
which he died.
"X- was a past master in that
small business of harassing m I
remember che of his tricks, when he
found a man sleeping when he should
have been awake, was to dash a dipper-
full of water into his face. He would
not allow men who were awake to
arouse the sleeper, but, selling the dip
per, he would rush up and slap the wa
ter at full force into the mans face.
And | have seen men go wild at the
shock of it, but x could never be
made to see that his way was unfair
and bullying. A man was asleep when
he should have been awake. He really
deserved punishment, but Y did
not punish him. He merely recalled
him to his sense of duty.
II remember one night on deck
when the weather was terrible. It was
as black as pitch, and a man couldn't
see where he was going Or GO where he
wanted to go. A seaman bumped int
x, and quick as a flash x hit
out, striking the nan in the chest. In
stantly / saw in the darkness a great
arm and fist go up, and ! expected to
see X Ia little fellow he was, witha
shrill, h~igh-pitched voice. smashed into
the deck planking by the weight and
strength of the powerful seaman who
lowered over him. But in that instant
x raised his thin voice in an angry
cry:
"'Look out there!' he screamed
shrilly. Remember you are striking
the officer of the deck!' And then |
saw the great fist and arm sink down,
slowly and he sitatingly, as the man
yielded to the officer of the deck. But
the hatred in his heart, the passion
that had prompted him to crush his
officer, the savagery that was in him
the man could not sink them as he
could draw down his powerful arm. ]
don't believe there was wei a mar
hated by his interiors than X,
and all on account of his nagging and
his petty tyranny.
Zone day some of the crew were low
ering the topgallant yard. x stood
under them on deck, directing the
work, looking at them now and then
to nag them with some piping cry.
None Of us in the wardroom ever knew
how it happened. There was no sound
in advance, no cry of warning. no wild
yell as always happens when there is
an accident on shipboard. Suddenly
the top mast came away from those
who were lowering it, caught x,
unwarned and u~nprepared, carried
him down heavily to the deck, and he
was dead. That was allan accident
If ever evidence counted anything.
The men could not explain how the
topgallant yard got away from them.
and when a thing like that starts to fall
there is no stopping it.
But I have often wondered over it.
What could those sailors tell if they
they never do tell any
How strange that there should
have been no warning cry to enable
him to jump aside, and how strange
that it should have been X, who
was SO hated, to die in that way!"-N.
Y. Tribune.
RSrde IN UfntCr Sxorroa a