Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-09-25
FIGHTS AMONG TARS.
SAILORS OF THE NAVY EVER READY
 WITH THEIR FISTS.

pie Things Start the ouarrels' and Then
 They Must Be settled Bruised Com
 batants "Feli Down Ladder"
 The regulation against fighting is per haps the deadest Of ell naval regula- tions It is impossible of enforcement. If 1t were enforced 10 the letter, pretty nearly all hands amoug the men for ward would be in the brig" from one years end to the other Fighting is practically necessary evil among men who wear their country's uniform for a livelihood Officers of experience blink at it. They know the bad, con taminating results of bitterness between pair of blueiachets under the foreoas- tie They have learned that it Is better the thing s4ot,ld be fought out and done with than that dozens of men should be drawn into quarrel that testers and grows unless the head of it is broken by decisive battle between the TWO men whe have been .narlir9 at | :h 2 People who have made ocean ,o5 isses often dwell upon the wealiHess which has overcome them Ut the sight of their fellow yoyaqtrs eountenanees toward the end of Fassage. This is Il feeling which is aggravated thousandTold amid the uncomfortable surroundings of q war vessels foreeastle, the hundreds of occupants of which are obliged to be constantly together for trem one to f lfp oughly aware of all his mates little characteristics and after awhile, wheth- CT these characteristics are good or bad, they jar upon him, if only on account of their monotony. Thus friction is gen. erated. and it is for this reason that the crew of q man-of-war just returned to the United States after q three years cruise in foreign waters is generally such sour looking lot. even as concerns the officers aft, who become quite as sick of each other as do the men for ward
 Hardly a day passes that there is not at least one scrap on board most men, of-war. with the promise of t heavier battle to follow X blueiacket seats himself on another's ditty box, and, on being roughly ordered by the box s owner to vacate, ne refuses and con signs the owner to a much less moist place than Davy Jones locker. The men come together, two or three blows are exchanged. and then, as by common consent, each man draws away, both feeling that the jimmy legs" i, Q, the master at arms) is not far distant and neither caring for trick in the brig Having thus become involved in the minor fstic argument of the deck, the two blueiackets are looked to by tue entire ships company to bring their affair to q satisfactory conclusion. The mere exchange of growls between the two men doesn't go. Pipe down there, ye men-of-Bar ehaws, and settle the thing right, . Is the general remark hurled at them by all hands when they meet in mere contests of euss words and the sailor who is considered to be the aggrieyed raan is watched carefully to see if he makes any preliminary moves toward arranging a regular fight He almost always does,
 Nearly all the regular fights between bluejackets aboard ship arc pulled off down below in one of the firereolns or in an empty bunker The empty bunker is preferred on account of its greater isolation When fight is to come off between two bluejackets below, all hands know all about it, often includ- ing the master at arms himself but very few of the men, unless they are intimates of tho combatants. expect in- vitations to the fray. There isnot room in bunker for more than half dozen friends of each man, and even with this number tho space is rafher contracted.
 With a second each and q referee agreed upon by both, the men, stripped naked to the waist, go at it. The fights are not of the rough and tumble order The men fight according to regular prize ring rules, and their shipmates are present to see that the rules are complied with. As many as 50 rounds are sometimes fought Ordinarily one of the men goes under by the time the tenth round is called If the men are unequally matched and one of them is getting palpab!y the worst of II. all hands in the bunker agree that the thing should stop. ard it does stop If the contestants are about of a sort, the fight Is carried on to tho end until a knockout blow Is planted by one Of them or both are too weak to go on At the conclusion of the fight the on. lockers quietly depart from the bunker and ascend to the deek by different en zine room ladders 50 as not to attract the attention uf the officer of the deck.
 Both men generally get pretty thor oughly maulcd and praised up ill these bunker fights, and when the battle is over they jump into their uniforms and repair 10 the sick bay to get themselves ps.tes4sSs ap Taifk &Friics, coCrr plaster, etc The surgeon knows at q glance what ails them. but for the sake of form he asks them what the trouble is They have both fallen down ladder. Both at the same time: No, sir; they fell down different ladders hat $ cu- rioRs" nulmus the surgeon, with q smile and faraway look in his eyes, Seribbling all account of their injuries in his record, and then he orders the apothecary to dress their wounds. Washington Star
 Long Wait.
 Grandpa, how old are you?''
 C I am Ss cf.ar.e old my dns,, ,3