Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-03-26


fcoishly lays the foundation of years of
uHpopularity for himself by taking advan-
tage OF his authority to make it as warm
as possible for the biuejackets. Such re-
cruit, however, is quickly called down by
the older men of the marine guard aboard.
As rule, the marines and bluejackets are
on the most friendly terms. There are few
liberty parties of bluejackets bound for a
good time ashore thai are not accompanied
by favorite sea-soider or two, invited
along to help the sailormen get rid of their
money. for out of his $13 a month the I'M
der-paid marine does not have "a large
amount for shore hilarity.
The accusation has occasionally been
made against American marines of unnec-
essary severity in dealing with bluejacket
prisoners in the brig over whom they
have stood guard. Careful investigation
has almost invariably proven that the
verify was necessary. Some officers of the
line of the navy have frequently advocated
the abolition of the marine guard, and hay
ing the necessary guard duty aboard men
of-war, such as the watching of prisoners,
placed in the hands of regularly detailed
bluejackets. But it has often been found
Tin the absence of marine guards on land
ing-party duty ashore) that a bluejacket
put on guard with a cutlass over another
blEeJacket is much more severe in his
treatment of the prisoner than a marine
ever is The manner of this having been
ascertained is that there have been several
cases in which the guarding bluejacket has
laid the fractions prisoners head open with
his cutlass.
Prefer the Marine Corps.
1t Is a fact that, notwithstanding the
more rigid discipline and the greater hard
ships endured by marines, men who have
served as soldiers on land and sea almost
invariably prefer the marine guard to the
army. After a man has made a cruise as
marine, what the Germans call wander
lust takes possession of him, and he finds
1t hard to endure the quietude and nonoto-
ny of regular army garrison life. On one
of the ships of the Pacific squadron there Is
an erect, gray-moustached. nne-looking
marine corporal named Alexander Woods.
He has worn the uniform of the United
States for thirty years, lacking a few
months First he was fifteen years
in in the he. marin marine guard. He got tired
the man-o-war mans expression for
turning into his hammock at pipe
down'-and so he decided to try an enlist
ment OF shore soldering. He went into an
infantry regiment, and was sent to Fort
Sidney, Neb. There are few military posts
outside of, Fort Yuma, Ariz., and one or
two French posts in interior Algeria per-
maps, quite SO lonesome and desolate as
Fort Sidney. 1t was doubly gloomy to
Woods. who had passed ten years of his
naval life on ships jumping around on the
mediterranean station from Naples to Tan
ger or from Genoa to Nice. Woods speaks
OF his flve-year cruise at Fort Sidney as
a horrible nightmare. When it was over
he lost no time in getting across the CONT
rent to San Francisco, where he once more
oonned the marines uniform, and he has
worn 1t ever since. In a few months he
will be retired, and he will end his DAYS in
a little Chinese village that he has picked
out as his ideal spot on the globe-a queer
choice, by the way.
Handling the Rifles.
1t is a peculiar thing, one that watcl and
division officers of the navy often wonder
over, that bluejackets can never be taught
to handle their rifles in soldierly fashion.
The sailor men of the United States navy
are recruited from the same class of men
as the marines, and they get almost as
much rifle drill as the marines Yet a
Dlue1acket, who can do all sorts of thines
nandily, who Is as active as a cat in going
aloft and in all manner of deft exercises
n N MS magazine rifle as clumsny as
IL II were made of lead. A division of blue
jackets drilling by the numbers in the
manual OF arms often makes a poor show
ing with ten men at a shoulder ten ar a
POI ana the rest at a present. while on
the same deck a company of marines 90
through the rifle drill with the spap ard
precision of experts.
me guard duty performed by marines on
a american SHIPS Is extremely wearing. At
a tWo-company post of the regular army
the soldiers make bitter moan when they
are compelled to go on guard at shorter in
terVais than ten days. The land soldiers
he walks his post only eight hours in that
t1me-two hours on post and four Off The
marine is practically on post all the tim,
Ihere are ships in the American navy, usu-
any the smaller gunboats, on which the
marine guard soldier Is on post for two
hours and then gets only two hours off be-
lore buckling on his belt again month in
ana month out This sort of thing involves
breaking up of SLEEP that tells severely
on marines serving on small shirs and it Is
Tor this reason that American sea-soldiers
are are SO partial to iagships. and exhaust all
the means in their power to be assigned to
such large vessels of war.
The Mail Orderly.
For the privat. marine there is one real1v
hrst-rate billet on a man-o-war, and that
is the mail orderly's job. The mail ORDERLY
Is the official messenger between the ship
and the shore. He attends to all manner
OF errands for officers and men, and is a
general buyer of trinkets for all hands
quarant1ned for misconduct. His commits
sfons are good, not to speak of the TIPS
which are given to him for performing lit
Tie diplomatic tasks ashore for the men
forward, and great deal Of money passes
through his hands. A marine mail orderly
commonly leaves the service at the expira-
tlon OF one cruise with snug sum tucked
away.
A poker sharp enlisted in the United
States marine corps few years ago. When
MS ship was on the South Atlantic station
fooA vi dCCOuul Ol the ySltO" Jlck
this crafty marine began to play loker
with members of the crew who thought
they knsw something about tie game of
draw. The marine got 5000 i'll gold of
money belonging to all hands-for he knew
how 10 shuttle and to dish them in all sorts
of ways-and deserted with the wad at
Pernambuco. He is still going.
The first sergeant of marine guard on
a ship that is not largo enough to rate one
or more marine officers, is a heavy weight
ard a really dignified man, who has a re-
sponsible and exacting place. and is treat
ed with great consideration by the officers.
To all intents and purposes he is an officer
himself. He may go ashore when he
chooses without putting his name down on
the liberty list, and when he comes back to
the ship from shore leave he is not search
ed for liquor. an immunity which he shares
in common only with the ships chief mas
ter-at-arms. The first sergeant is respon-
sible for the conduct of his men, and IL
they make breaks he is reproved much as
If he were an officer. For the preservation
of discipline he is required to hold himself
as much aloof from the members of his
guard as possible, and he associates, and
some times messes, with the ships chief
petty officers. 1t takes a clever man to get
the chevrons of a first sergeant, surmount-
ed by the diamond. The examinations for