The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1897-05-21
THE MAN In UNIFORM
WOES OF A NAVAL OFFICER ON THE
BROOKLYN sRioGE PLATFORM.

! ol hNAHtAe anu Ae,'
at Last From BABY.
a man in the navy rushed aboard his
ship in the Brooklyn navy yard the other
day as IL something terrible was after him.
The men in the wardrOom looked up
amazed as he entered and sank down on
the leather couch.
What's the matter, old mani" asked
one of the officers why, where are your
friends? / thought you got permission to
leave the ship to go 10 the Brooklyn bridge
to meet some friends who were coming
aboard.
II did, )" came n response in a muffied
voice That's where I've BEEN
"But where are your friendsy" persisted
No 4.
II don't know, for l didn't wait for
them.
Didn't wait for themY' exclaimed a
chap whom they all call Lord Chesterfield.
"why, that was a beastly thing to do"
"Blankety, blank, blank" exclaimed
the exhausted one, jumping TO his feet.
"Wait till you hear my side of the story
before you condemn my manners. look
as if l might have been bunkoed sandbag
ged or set upon by gang of street thugs,
don't 1! Yes. Well, l haven't been.
| merely made the mistake of going ashore
In uniform.
"You see, I'd been very busy working all
morning, and when l looked at the clock
l found that l barely had time TO got to
the bridge TO meet these friends, much less
to stop TO put on civilians attire. got
permission to leave the ship and started on
a run, without once thinking of my uni
I l.rsf h., =. IL 4
| 20 realize what / was wearing oh I
| thought 10 myself, L have on my service
! dress uniforIn-plain blue trousers, "A rather
neat but not gaudy blouse, with consider
| able black braid on It, and an anchor on
the collar Good. This won't attract much
| attention. Then / looked at my cap, with
| its sloping visor and its broad gold band
around the front ornamentcd with the
! crossed anchors, eagle and shield wrought
| together Fine, l said TO myself. No
body viii guy me- I'm sure, though, did
wish had thought i'm time to put on my
cts.
"When 1 landed at the bridge, got
permission, as q special favor, TO go up on
the second story landing TO meet my
friends as they got out of the train Sew
eral people pipod me off as | went up the
steps and that was the beginning of my
finish. L stood there gazing at two trains
as they disgorged themselves without be-
ing interfered with. When the third one
came up, a man got out came up to me
and said:
Which is the way to the Kings Coun-
ty "Lg''
Il don't know, l answered
Why don't you know he asked.
/ don't know that, either, was my
reply, and he passed ON, glaring back at
me as if he would enjoy nothing more than
taking my scalp. by this time the next
train was in, and a woman got out and
made for me-
. Which way 60 you get to the navy
yard?' she asked.
Go down stairs and take the car un-
der the bridge to your right, madam, l
answered.
Can't you go down and show me the
wayg she qucricd next
I'm sorry l can't, answered. and |
I'll be blamed if she didn't let in and say
that was a disgusting thing and asked
me what was paid for.
Il Strengthened up as high as / could,
thinking that if ! assumed military air
1t would be protection but il didn't
work. Although standing with heels and |
knees together, toes out at an angle of 40 !
degrees, chest out and shoulders thrown |
back and chin held high i'm the air, my |
posture didn't produce the desired effect. |
Soon / became aware from series of short |
whistles, such as are commonly used TO J
summon bootblacl or cabby, that some |
one in the crowd from the next car was !
making persistent efforts to attract my at |
tention. 1t was man. turned to cast a !
whitening glance. He grabbed me by the |
elbow with his umbrella handle, harnessed |
me up 10 him and said: Although there |
are signs in the cars prohibiting people |
from indulging in a certain pastime, either |
In the cars or on the platform. the man
who sat next to me coming on the bridge
spit on my foot, and / want to make a
complaint against him. There the son of
a gun goes now / thought of what Bill
Nye said when he was writing about one
of his personal difficulties with an enc
my i clinched my teeth and struck him
with bed Stat. If you don't believe it. j
can show you the cknched teeth and the
bed slat
1.-The fellow had his foot there all right.
and he thought he had his man, but he
could prove nothing. l told him that
could say nothing except that 1 regretted
the occurrence, and / promised him that
IL should never happen again and remind
ed him that, although the offense was a
heinous one, there was no specific penalty
for 1t. was unable to arrest the offender
and would have to let him go. He thank
ed me again and again and said he was
glad to know that, along with other i'm
tho bridge officials had secured
such intelligent employees.
- was about used up by this time and
kept wondering If my friends would ever
come Surely they'll be on the train Just
coming in, thought 1t came to a stop.
and young, fairly well dressed woman
to me from the platform. Not
noticing anything unusual, 1 fastened
up to the car and found to my distress
that she had a baby about months old in
her arms. She said she had a very heavy
basket in the car and rather suggested by
a motion toward the baby, as she drew up
to me, that take that while she went I'm
after the basket. But / didn't catch ON
and rushed in and grabbed the basket by
preference.
when 1 came out with 1t, she said she
thought she'd better take the basket down
M 4 I..I At L