The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1898-05-20
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OurDewey


kindly officer to the men forward. AS a
commanding officer he seems to have
been intolerant only Of liar. For the
liberty breakers, forecastle scrappers,
overnight drunks and other petty offend
ers aboard the ships under his command
he has always had an exceedingly unob-
serving eye and he has been noted for
some difficulty he has had with his hear
ing apparatus when such offenders have
been reported to him in'the course Of
duty.
"Give him a show. He'll be good
now, guess" is remark Dewey used
often to make when as a ship command
er he had to receive the necessary re-
ports of deck officers about the little
breaks made by men forward. But he
was q terror in his handling Of liar.
A bluejacket who would stand at the
mast before him and try to give him
cock and bull story instead Of coming
right out and owning up to his delin-
quency was In for trouble, and whole
heap Of it. AS commander he liked
and demanded candor. No other game
went with him.
Dewey is a man with big, piercing
eyes, said messenger recently in the
navy department at Washington who
made cruise with the master Of Ma
nilla Hes what I'd call little fell
low as to height, but he surely looked
bigger'n Dutch frigate when he stood
ON his side Of the mast and you were
up In front Of him. But he was tender
hearted man on the cruise when he and
! were shipmates. He'd try not to see or
hear things that he didn't want to see
or hear. None Of us knew him-up for
ward, mean-as commander. Some
Of rs had been shipmates with him
when he was deck officer and had
never got the worst of it at his hands.
But we weren't sure how he'd stack up
as q skipper. We weren't long in find
ing out. We had to. sailorize all right,
but there wasn't much briggirg with
Dewey. He didn't like to sec a man in
double irons ON his tours of inspection.
We hadn't been to sea with him very
long before we got next to how he de-
spised liar One of the petty officers
went ashore at Gibraltar, got mixed up
with the soldiers in the canteens up on
the hill and came eff to the ship par
alyzed He went before Dewey at the
mast next morning. He gave Dewey the
two beers and sunstruck' yarn.
You're lyi' :, my man, said Dew
ey. 'You We're very drunk. myself
heard You aft in my cabin. I will not
have my men lie TO me. don't expect
to find total abstinence in q man-o'-
war crew, but do expect them to tell
me the truth, and am going to have
them tell me the truth. Had you told
me candidly that you took the drop too
much on your liberty you'd have been
forward by this time, for you at least
returned 10 the ship For lying you get
ten days in irons Let me have the truth
hereafter. am told you are a good sea-
man. A good seaman has no business
lying
After that there were few men
aboard who didn't throw themselves on
the mercy of the court when they waltz
cd up to the stick before Dewey, and
none of us ever lost anything by it.
He'd have to punish us in accordance
with regulations, but he had a great
way Of ordering the release Of men he
had to sentence to the brig before their
sentences were half worked out.
Dewey was the best liberty grant
ing skipper was ever shipmates with.
He hated to keep quaiantined men
aboard when the good conduct men
were flocking of to the beach. One fine
Christmas day in Genoa harbor all the
men entitled to shore liberty lined up
at 10 o'clock In the morning to answer
muster before taking the running boats
for the shore. There were about 40 Of
us, myself among the number, who
were quarantined aboard for having
raised Cain ashore in Nice few weeks
before. Our quarantine was for three
months, and it wasn't half run out on
this Christmas day. Dewey stood at the
break of the poop, with his hands ON
his hips, Watching the liberty party
line up. Us fellows that couldn't 90
were standing around the gangway,
smoking our pipes and looking pretty
down In the mouth, guess The big
liberty party-there were couple of
hundred men In the batch-fnally got
away, and the ship was practically de-
serted except for us quarantincd fell
lows. Dewey watched us for awhile
out of the tail of his eye. We were lean
ing over the side, watching the reced-
ing running boats with the big liberty
party. Dewey went up on the poop and
walked up and down, chewing his mus
tache and every once in awhile shoot
ing look at us men up forward. Final
ly he walked down the poop ladder and
straight to where we were grouped.
"'You boys hop into your mastering
clothes and 60 on of to the beach. I'll
let you have q couple of the running
boats when they return. Come back
with the other men when you get ready.
Don't raise any more trouble ashore
than You can help
"There wasn't man in the gang of
MS that didn't want to hug little Dewey
for that, and you can gamble that we
gave him n cheer shin that rang around