The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1897-05-23
UNDER BLUE JACKETS
stories 81 Two Mes, sow Pronfn~nt.
who Hfa Their Identity fn the
MAYA Yeuns Pole Who Was =
victim vfrfusse-onee~s Discus
sing Ordinance Easight~nrd by q
u~..reom Attendant Who Turned
Out TO Be an Expert ~ the Knapp
Works.

the bfae clothes OF Uncle sans sailors.
Driven ~ extremity, there are men VITO
take service ia the navy az refuge, faeh
IN some EASES. Of extraordinary zoaHty-
Prominent names have hidden Inesr iaeh-
thy IN this manner Yer time. and many
are the instances where ward room onlesfs
discover men under them VINO are tnea'
suFsersora In genius or izteIiLSsEcs along
certain llnea.
a story is told OF young Pole WHO
was shipped as q iaudsman aboard . FeS-
eel OF the Mediterranean fleet. while Fs11s
al GIBRALTAR He could speak very httfe
English. bat as a 3andsnaAn his ~ork was
very satisfactory. he suffered sooc aeai
Of rsdieuie uncompIaipingly. His mess
r4stee toked him because when he shipped
his hair was chopped of is the back after
fhe Russian mop1ik fashion. snc because
he was generally a funny sight In the
bluatacket government straight uni
form Through II all the Pole wss bland
aad smiling He kept his Dright-work
well polished, and IL was rot found neces-
sary 20 hale him 20 the mast when he re-
turned frogn shore liberty,
IBe SUNDAY afternoon. at FfIiefranche,
when the Pole had been a Eandsman for
sboGt a month. an irish marine boiling
below In one q the berth deck aieoyes,
took IL into his head 10 break OUT
really fIns old violin which he possessed
wlaoIe ships company. fore and aft. he
was accustomed at long Intervals 10 saw
'-The Rose Of Kildare" The Rakss
ssMaIiow." go 10 fns Devil an Shake
Yourself" Wind That Shakes the Bar
ley" The Meeting OF the Waters" etc
These tunes the marine butchered out
rxgeouzly. but. being a mellow, COM
piaisant Hlbernian, he could not see any
thing wrong with mis- own music. and
enjoyed IL greatly. When he made the
first scrape ~ his how on this sunday
afternoon. the Pole. who Was on the spar
deck was observed 10 cock up his ears
and TO bstrsy some degree % excitement.
He went below. and for few minutes
be neryously watched the big marine saw
on the fine instrument Then he impul-
siseiy reached ont for the violin. The
Irlshman was so overcome with astonish-
meat that he gave up the violin TO the
Pole without a word. There followed an
hour OF music such az probably had never
been heard on nIan-of-war ia the
United States navy. II sounded every
whit as beautiful az the performances Of
ssrsate. Ysaye. Remes'yi. Joachim. VIII
helmi and the rest OF the masters of the
how who have inspired millions. This
awkward. simple-iooking Polish landsman
Was q violin virtuoso. He had not played
two minutes before the officer or the deck
had his head poked through a deck light
listening. They all came forward with
asfonIshed expressions and stood in the
aicoye taking In the Poles music. All OF
the men who could get anywhere near the
alcove crowded down the ladders. Pretty
soon unheraided even by an Attention."
60 enwrapped' were officers and men. the
commanding officer. who had heard the
music from his cabin, tlptoed into the
Hleoye He remained until the musician
was through. Absolute silence prevailed.
<HAf al nnf a ha
way OF formidable violin technique that
the Pole could not do. His bowling was
dazzling. His chords were wonderful. His
tones were perfect; his pathos 50 heart
rendlng that IL made tough old tars gasp.
He made II appear that playing triple
chords up around the bridge OF violin
was the simplest thing in life. At the
conclusion Of Chopin ''Nocturne'' an Of
ncer weakly asked him TO play the
"Rhapsodie Hougroise." The Pole at
tackled the composition as Iiszt used 20
attack II on the piano the pure
fire and fury of Inspiration. When he
finally handed the violin hack TO the
marine. who was IN a Stupefsed condition.
the men went forward and the officers
aft without a word.
The Pole polished no more efight-work
A new place unofficial. but not the less
disaIfied and important. was created for
him aboard tho ship. He became musician
to the commanding officer II was a soft
berth. such as even n naughty sdmirais
cox'un might have desired. The Poles
sale duty was 20 take the marines violin
inta the cabin and play for the sciscs of
the ships commander The commanding
officer fsostea some cf his officers who
f5gGeStef that 50 inc a musician as the
fsaie should he transferred 10 stha flag
ships hand lie wouldn't hear OF such
thing lie went ashore At Genoa and
-. 81.
p had guests or distinction aboard the
ship he would sand Tor the Pole 20 enter
vain them. and the visitors went away
waFrsiiaz. Once In a while. IS a par
tlcular favor. the skipper would lend the
Pole % his officers for wsrdroom musi-
Gale. The musician never got a higher
rate officially then glrat OF ianasman Tor
there was nothing aboard the ship that
the commanding afficer would let him 90
for fear he would inture his hands but
as lanasman be had absolutely no duties
In nerfafm such as feli to the lot OF the
other men at his rating. When his time
was up last August the ships captain
tried hard 10 Induce the Pole . ship
ever, but he ohturately, and quite sensi-
hiy. declined lie was paid OF In New
York ara &c came straight 10 Washing
tor where he has some weil.to-do rela-
tlves and hung out his Sign a violin
teacher lie has more pupils than he can
teach. and more money than he ever
dreamed o. possessing. He reSolutely re-
FUSES q say anything about hts record.
or TO stata how and where he got his
musical education.
AZ Bangkok few years ago an Amer
tcan man-ef-war shipped a German as a
fneasroom attendant TIE man wanted
70 ship on deck. hut there were no va
eanesea 81 ~ took the FneSsFocna bItiet
lie was a fps-iocSing man ~ aoeu, thirty.
who dlt not have much - say 20 any
~ the crew ore Afternoon az sea rot
long after this German had shipped a
tuct ~ ;hn deck efflcsrs were In the ward
raona discussing n rather difficult point
fr ordnance. They ell pFefaeed sheir re-
marks wsth the statement that the point
thev were discussing was trsae over
their heads Tlte German fnessroeun at
tendsnt who VAS watching cat fer TIE
ufsiceys' reests tn the matter - Haul q.
rfe at3 The ueheart-ef thing ~ putting
IN hls osr lie asa Il - quietly ard re-
ssaseffttliy. ard TIRE very rsst words that
~ uttered were decidedly - the peirt
ard slowed - completely thas Ne knew
waas be NaS faikinE ahout that TIE cfH
Gers fauRs themselves listening - him
VITA = Fsns deal ~ Interest II Eve mir
uths the German bad shows them that
Pc as past ~ ster fn ali raattars per
tanning 20 snofern great gua< Tie mazda
vas rea}v O. ere efNeers' questions az .,
where - SAD picked mp az 81 MS inside
Information. bQt there Wa ABSOLUTELY,
-sfhlns regarding ERE armament a. "a
wcrsA's navies nat ~ was ros familiar
With. ire easn'S proGclenev n thls ~.
snecs wss TetserteA - tha cansnasrys- 8
aa8er soA TIE rsan wss eAliasA fnte 80
caste feT an sxaualasisaa. re eeu,srs -
trw Greer eWnezf shat ~ hfgaseis kuevv
ue Atnw NhatpvrF ~ TIE fatesssa-s ~ -