The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-23
ODD PHASES OF COURAGE.
rrhinos That Made Officers of Proved Spirit
Faint.
Faint.
Ne,0 York Sun.

even find him. 1t may be too much
to say that the quality called nerve is
mood, but there are many instances
that 60 to show how strong man may
be on one occasion and how womanish
on another.
A regular army cavalry officer, one
of the men to go down with q bad
wound in the first fight before Santi-
ago, had proved his valor in Indian
campaigns when he was wearing his
first shoulder straps. He had been a
witness of many scenes Of violence on
the frontier, and he fought well and
hard before Santiago. He has always
been known among officers and men
who have soldiered alongside of him
as intrepid. A few years ago, when
he was commanding his troop down in
one Of the Arizona cavalry garrisons,
one Of the soldiers of his outfit shot
himself in fit of remorse after pro-
tracted spree. The soldier waited
until mess call for dinner. Then he
got his carbine out of the rack, put a
ball in it, pulled off his right boot,
and, working the trigger with his toe,
sent the bullet crashing into his head,
dying almost instantly. The COM
mander Of the troop. the officer of
proved courage, was on hand in a few
moments. he passed through the
crowd Of troopers, and took one look
at the dead man. Then he put his
hand to his head, reeled dizzily and,
in dead faint, fell into the arms of a
couple of soldiers. He was uncon-
scious for fully ten minutes, and it
was the sight of the blood that did it.
There had been no comradeship be-
tween the officer and the dead soldier,
such as often spring up between en-
listed men and officers who spend
many years together in the same out
fit or post, for the suicide had been
recently transferred to the troop. 1t
was 8 pure case Of willing at the sight
of blood on the part Of the officer, al
though he had been used to violent
scenes since his earliest manhood, and
he could afford to, and did acknowl-
edge it freely.
Capt. Gridley, who died at Hong
Kong, whistler he was carried very i'll
after he had done his share Of the
fighting with Dewey in Manila Bay,
had similar experience wher he was
a commander. He was in some Of the
bad fighting jobs Of the civil war, and
was conspicuously brave and cool
headed man. When he was promoted
to the rank Of commander his first
ship had as member of her crew a
Jacko' -the-dust, who was heavy
drinker, but so valuable man that
the officers overlooked a good many
bad breaks. A Jack-o -the-dust is the
striker" for the paymaster and the
paymaster's yeoman. He holds the
rate Of seaman, and is assigned as
Jack-o'-the-dust to dish out the pro-
visions to the mess cooks and to act
as general factortum for the pay Office
aboard ship. Gridley had not been in
command of the ship for month be-
fore the Jack-o the dust went on a
spree and had to be put in the brig
over night. Gridley had been ship
mate with the man on and off for
twenty years, and liked him, and
hated to see him in trouble. So,
when the Jack-o' -the-dust got sober
enough Gridley had him brought ait
to the cabin instead Of jawing him at
S'the stick, and gave him as clever a
man-to- man talk as blue jacket ever
listened to. Then, instead Of punish
ing him for his spree, ne turned him
loose. This was on monthly muster
morning. The remorseful Jack, on
whom Gridley's kindly talk had press
ed heavily, got into his mastering
clothes and appeared on deck all
right for muster. When the men
were dismissed he went below to stand
in one of the paymaster's store roon>
until the skipper had finished inspect
ing the ship. Gridley made a very
thorough inspection Of the ship il
company with the executive officer
and the inspection was to wind uI
With the officers and store rooms II
the after part of the vessel on tht
berth deck. He walked a few fee
ahead of the executive officer, ane
when he reached the last paymaster
store room and peered inside he fel
back into the arms of the executive
officer, utterly unconscious. The ex
ecutiye officer called out for the sur
geon, and then looked into the stor
room to see what had such an effec