The times., 1898-11-18
Night IN KEY west
rfrt
Man.o'. Wars Men Ven on a Bolster
GUS Janiboree.
AN INCIDENT OF THE WAR
Returning From the Cuban Coast
Blockade They Assume Possession
of the TOwn-They Drink and Eat
and Fight and Stir Up n Big Com
motion-He Fought for His Country

The jackies had all come ashore and
the town was full of them. They owned
] 1t and they wanted everybody to know it..
Nothing could cope with them. not even
| the few soldiers up at the barracks, II 1t
! came to an up-and-up fight. They had
| been down on the south coast of Cuba
! doing blockade duty for twenty-nine days
| without bit of grog or a bottle of beer,
! and now, with souls and bodies free to
! do as their own sweet wills determined,
they were drinking from, the cup Of
pleasure in the wonted fashion of men
| with lusty limbs and passions lifted from
beneath the restraining influence of a
warship's discipline, says the New York
| Sun
| Key West, for this is a story of that
dreary coral reef is not the most inviting
place in the world for man to have his
fling. Its principal inducement TO wander
from the straight and narrow path is
the rumshop, and upon this occasion the
invitations extended by the glare Of the
gaslight through many swinging doors
We're being heartily accepted. Men were
drinking in all the saloons along the
water front and up the main thorough
fare of the town-Duval Street. 1t was
scarcely o'clock, and yet wandering
through the streets everywhere were
drunken jackies laughing and shouting in
pure exuberance OF spirits. The crowd of
guests who nightly sat upon the broad
piazza of the principal hotel were watch
ing the exhibition with great interest,
for they knew the man-of-wars men
enough to suspect rousing time before
the night was over.
Bet you" said one man to another,
'that we'll have fight before long,
Sure thing, replied his companion.
There's trouble brewing"
Two minutes later there came the
sound of running feet down the block to-
ward the water front \ jackie came fly
ing up the street. Behind him came Two
other sailors.
There he goes, Jim!7 one of the pur7
suers shouted to the other. Catch him,
and wen kill the -
The man who was running stopped in
front of the hotel. In his right hand he
carried a beer bottle He prepared to de-
fend himself and when the forward one
of his pursuers came within his reach he
smashed at him vici2usly " tn the bottle.
His intended victim dodged and before
another blow could be struck the other
pursuer sprang on the man with the bot
tie, threw him down upon the sidewa
and choked him into insenslbil.ty before
he could be torn off, -
Cheated of his prey the successful
sailor staggered into the MIDDLE of the
street and surveyed the crowd on the
piazza lie was splendid man physical
ly, a typical tar with a great. deep chest
and shaggy beard. He was barefoot. witt
his sleeves rolled up and his sailors 5
blouse exposing TO the full his red, mus
cular neck. And he was so defiant so
full of the lust for battle.
He was drunk, to be sure, and brutal,
and disgusting but as he stood there,
beetle-browed and ugly, his splendid
muscles swelling in his anger, you knew
that he was a man who would tight MS
shin until the water closed over his
bullet head and bulging ears to carry him
down forever to the locker of Davy Jones.
He was not handsome. ne was not intel
Iectual. he was not refined, but he was
fighter. and, those being war days. you
were to be pardoned, perhaps, for depart
ing from the standards deemed essential
nowadays to the higher civilization.
And he declared himself with lungs as
full of power as his figure betokened.
MY name is James Wright, ESQ"
he cried. land | fight for the United
States Government. IL there is any man
who don't like me, let him say So
Everybody there had a great admiration
for James just at that moment although
he had been bit rough with his sailor
friend. and. receiving no answer TO his
implied challenge. he staggered up the
street TO Mr.. Sweeney's barroom, a resort
notorious for its bad whisky and the con-
sequent bad blood therein engendered.
Sweeney's had been the scene all even
ing of turmoil absolutely unique and in
describable. 1t was jammed full of sail
ors. fierce and red with liquor which had
reused the fighting blood of these fight
ing men to a pitch far beyond their own
control. 1t is only an ordinary saloon.
with a bar in the front room and two pool
tables in the room at the rear. Behind
the bar was the customary mirror. ex-
tending its entire length. Three bartend-
ers were dispensing liquor to the thirsty
crowd before them, while two violinists
scraped desperately away at their nstru-
ments, making music that would certain
ly Hdhe you udnce, II not from JOY, from
grief.
There were perhaps 100 sailors in the
place, and every man jack of them was
bent on fghting-not because anyone
was particularly angry at anyone else,
or because there was any reason for
1t, but just simply because they loved it.
They loved to swing their great brawny
arms and hear the crack of their hardy
fists on jaws that merely jolted back and
went on wagging. They loved to pull and
haul and howl, and when blood flowed
they loved that, too, for they were fight
ing men-men of many nations enlisted
under one flag because they put above
their lives the love of the god of war.
James Wright, ESQ, stood in front
of Sweeney's door and beard the riot of
this bowling mob and into his eyes there
| came again the thirst for battle
Il amt lookin' for trouble" he said
with all solemnity, as he gave his trou-
sers the sailors hitch II amt lookin'
| for trouble. but I'm geif in there"
Steadying himself. he took good, care
| full aim, and hurled his bulky figure
| straight through the swinging doors. He
stood for minute gathering the situa-
| tion into his foggy brain. while his COM
rades howled and pushed and showed and
punched. with roars of merriment and a
curse for every laugh. Then the fever
caught him, and in he plunged, smashing
with unreasoning fury at every figure be-
fore him. Crack, crack, went his fists
| on those hardened heads The tumult
doubled. There was whirl of red-faced.