Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-10-06
FIGHTS AMONG TARS.
SAILORS OF TIE NAVY EVER READY
 WITH THEIR FISTS.

!
 pie Things Start the quafrels, and Then
 They Must Be Settled Bruised Com
 batants "Eeli Down Ladder"
 The regulation against fighting is per haps the deadest of all naval regulas tions It is impossible of enforcement. If it were enforced to the letter, pretty l nearly all hands among the men for ward would be in the brig" from ons years end to the other Fighting is practically q necessary evil among men who wear their counny's uniform for a livelihood. Officers of experience blink at it. They know the bad con, taminating results of bitterness between q pair of bluejackets under the forecas- i tie They have learned that it is better the thing should be fought out and done with chan hat dozens of men should be drawn info a quarrel that festers and grows unless the head of it is broken by a decisive battle between the two men who have been snWling at each other. People who have made ocean voyages often dwell upon the weariness which | has overcome thcm at the sight of their fellow voyagers1 conferences toward the end of passage. This k a feeling which is aggravated a thousandfold amid tha uncomfortable surroundings of a war vessels forecastle, the hundreds of occupants of which arc obliged to be constantly together for from one to three years Each man becomes thor oughly aware of all his mates little characteristics. and after awhile, wheth- CT these characteristics are good CT bad, they jar upon him. if only on account of their nonetoHv. Thus friction Is gen erated, and it is fer this reason that the crew of man-of-Nyar just returned to the United States after q three years cruise in foreign waters Is generally such q 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 a heavier battle to follow A bluejaeket seats himself on anofher's s ditty box, and, on being roughly ordered by the box $ owner to Yacate, he refuses and con signs the owner to q much less moist place than Dayy 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 thc jimmy legs (i. e., l the master at armsJ is not far distant and neither caring for trick in the brig. Having thns become involved in the minor Hstie argument of the deck, tho two bluejaekets are looked to by the entire ships company to bring their affair 10 a satisfactory conclusion. The mere exchange of grcWls between the two men doesn t go Pipo down there. ye men-of-War ehaws, and settle the thing right ? is tho general remark hurled at them hy all hands when they meet in mere contests of cuss words, i and the sailcr WAe is considered to be the aggrieyed man is watched carefully to sec if he makes any preliminary moves toward arranging q regular fight. He almost always does
 Nearly all the regular fights between bluejacbets aboard ship are pulled off down below in one of the frer0o1us or in an empty bunker The empty bunker is preferred on account of it's greater isolation. When fight is to come of between two bluejackots below, all hands know all about l., often includ- ing tho master at arms himself but very few of the men, unless they are intimates of Che combatants, expect iu-
 vitations to the fray There isnot room ] in a bunker for more than half a dozen i friends of each man, and even with this number the space Is rather contracted With d second each and a referee i agreed upon by both, tho men stripped naked to Che waist, go at 1t. Tho fights are not of the rough and tumble order.
 The men fight according to regular . prize ring rules and their shipmatcs are present t0 see Chat the rules arc complied with As many as 90 rounds are sometimes fought Ordinarily one of Che men goes under by che tinlo the tenth round IS called If the men are uneQually matched and one of them is getting palpabiy the worst of it, all hands in the bunker agree chat the thing should stop, aud lt does stop. If the contestaHts age about of sort, the fight is carried on to tho end. until q knockout blow is planted by one of 2 them OF 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 deck by different en- zine room ladders so as not to attract the attention of tho officer of the deck. Both men generally get pretty thor oughly manled and bruised up in these bunker fights, and when the battle is over they jump into their uniforms and repair to Che sick bay to get themselves patl it5,i 0p 75-isa oa;.ia.s, court 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 That's cu- , rious" mprmurs the surgeon, with a smi!e and foraway look in his eyes, scribbling an account of their injuries in his record and chen he orders the apothecaIy to dress thcir wounds -
 Washington Star
 Long Wait.
 "Grandp3, hsw ald are yop?a
 ''I am Si ye;us old, my dear |"
 Then you were born so wears before ? l was What a long time you had alone