Omaha daily bee., 1898-07-24
MEN OF THE HOUR.

FhaNN w ~
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Mr.. Il. a. Parmelee OF Omaha, clerk OF
the chief quartermaster, Fourth Army
corps, located at Tampa, writes to a friend
some interesting sketches of life at General
Coppinger's camp. He says General Sher-
man sized II up correctly when he remarked
that war was like the locality where ice
harvests are an unknown quantity. w
have wandered about and fetched up In
Tampa" he writes. "and II | ever reach
home again ] am going TO be awfully good
and this is no deathbed repentance either.
I've worn out my shoes, ruined my temper
and spoiled my complexion, and | know
several fellows who wish they had been
born girls. This town is full OF Cubans and
some OF the Cubans are full. l have not yet
met the senorita for whom l went to war.
1t is pretty well understood here that this
outfit goes to Porto Rico, but there is no
telling what changes may occur. . . This
is the land Of the magnolia, the hooking
bird and the mule, and the mule is the best
of the lot. I wouldn't give IS for the state
of Florida"
A Maine soldier boy writes home an inter-
esting account of n reunion of the blue and
the gray in the trenches at Santiago. The
Arkansas Sentry expressed his sentiments
in these words:
Smear as i can see, there amt much diff
ference atween we uns and you uns, 'cept
that we uns reckon and you uns guess"
That's about all, neighbor," replied the
Maine man. "cept that we can guess a
darn sight better than you can reckon
Commodore Schley's eminence as a hero
of the war focused the searchlight of inquiry
on his antecedents. According to a Balti-
more preacher the commodore is of German
descent, his great grandfather being Thomas
Schley, a German schoolmaster. who came to
Maryland in 1885 from Palatinate with about
100 settlers, part Of whom were Swiss. They
founded Frederickstown which they called
Friedrichstadt. An incident in the career of
the family is that Commodore Schley and
his brother Tench fought on opposite sides
in the civil war, the latter in the Confeder-
ate army. During the conflict the brothers
fought against each other at Vicksburg,
Winfield under Farragut and Tench with
Pemberton in the beleaguered city. Neither
was aware Of the others presence. Both
brothers survived the war and for years
afterward chaffed each other good naturally
about the Vicksburg campaign. Their po-
litical differences were healed and they
twitted each other concerning their personal
appearances, Winfield laughing over the long
feather Tench wore in his cap and Tench
making sport Of the commodore's nose, which
Is said to be a very prominent organ.
The ashes of the late Captain Gridley,
commander Of the Olympia during the battle
in Manila bay, rest on the crest of a bold
bluff overlooking lake Erie, a mile east of
Erie, Pa, the site being a part of Lakeside
cemetery. AS one stands at the circle dedi-
Gated to the memory Of Captain Gridley and
looks westward the view takes in many
places of more than a mere passing historic
interest. In the immediate foreground, a
mile away, is the Pennsylvania Soldiers
and Sailors home, the abiding place of more
than six hundred of Pennsylvania's defend
ers in the civil war, with its high flagstaff
and Old Glory apeak. A little further east
Is a reminder of times more remote than
even proper American history, for there at
the foot Of Paradise street the French fort
ruins are visible, where the Grenadiers made
one of their stations in the series of posts
that stretched from the st. Lawrence to the
mouth of the Mississippi. The blockhouse
where Mad Anthony" Wayne of Revolution
airy memory made his headquarters and died,
with his grave, from which the body was
afterward removed and taken to Chester,
still preserved and shown, stands on the
Soldiers home grounds. Further north, Just
inside the entrance to Pressure Isle bay, or
the harbor of Erie, the shore of the sur
rounding peninsula makes a deep indenta-
ton. This bay is the resting place of Com
modore Perry's squadron, which was sunk
there many years after the war of 1912
closed. An imposing monument will soon
mark the resting place Of one Of the heroes
of the war OF 1898.
A San Francisco paper volunteers an ex-
PLANTATION of the failure of the house of
repres entatives to act on the senate resolu-
ton thanking Lieutenant Hobson and the
crew OF the Merrimac. 1t Is interesting If
true. The story comes from Washing
ton" says the Call, that when an attempt
was made to have the senate resolution re-
ported to the house for action it was de-
feated, largely through the influence of
Dalzell OF Pennsylvania, who went about
and warned the members that II the reso-
luton were passed it would confer upon
the seven seamen who shared Hobson's
heroic deed the privilege of the floor of the
house for life. On that argument the reso-
luton was set aside. A majority of the
house concluded that 1t would be better to
leave the brave men without recognition
than to give them such thanks as, in ac-
cordance with precedent, would entitle the
seamen to enter the august chamber where
congressman hold their deliberations" That
would be terrible. The mere suggestion
that an ordinary fighting seaman might
enter the sacred precincts of the cave Of
the winds is enough to give congressman
| paresis. The heroes Of the Merrimac, how
ever, enjoy the greater privilege-the re-
spect and esteem Of admiring countrymen.
General Garcia, the Cuban leader, now at
Santiago, has received word that his ~favorite
child. a beautiful girl Of Is, is dying at the
house of relatives in the village Of Liberty,
Sullivan county, N. Y. The girl has ex-
pressed a desire to see her father, but Of
course 1t is impossible.
The question of the amount of the bounty
earned by Admiral Dewey and his men in
the battle of Manila has been partly settled
by the judge advocate general of the navy.
The law provides that when the American
war ship is superior to the defeated war ship
of the enemy 500 shall be paid as bounty
for each man on the enemy's vessel, but II
the American vessel Is inferior to the other
then 5000 shall be paid for each member of
the enemy's crew. While some of the
Spanish ships that met defeat from Admiral
Dewey's squadron were superior to some OF
| tba American punhOatS az for axamDIe the