Evening star., 1898-08-20

" JOSIE IITNWEIWIf
country for long time past. but they're
sun In effect. You can't work him until
after he's been tried and awaiting sen
tenee, and then you'n have 20 put him ont
with the guard house prisoners. and not
with the convicts.
Three Weeks to Prepare.
The soldier had three weeks in which 70
put in his best licks in the way OF a de-
fense at his trial by general court-rnartiaI
BE declined counsel, and wrote hts own
statement. At the trial ne made the poIt
quite clear that the mere fact of his having
been found sitting in a quartermaster's
boat in the middle of the night was not
snrncient evidence to convict him OF having
had that boat across the channel 10 New
YORK His statement was n model OF terse-
ness, correctness and modeSty. The men,
bers or the court didn't like the confident
manner OF the man, Yet they waVered he
Iore they convicted him They did cauvict
MIN. but they only sentenced him to three
months confinement i'm the guard house 10
De followed by restoration to duty They
also recommended him to the lenience II
the reviewing authority-which was a hard
lnihe Tor off1cers 10 do in the case OF a man
they regarded as a Smart Alec. When the
Judge advocate of the department got hold
OF Ine papers the fact struck him immedi-
ately that the man ufider sentence had the
best OF the case. He was a Judge advocate
famous throughout the service for fair
dealing, and he laid the case as he saw X
partment. another very Just man The
commanding general set down and disap-
proved OF the findings Of the court and
roasted the court for its moor iuagma,f
Then he roasted the officer who preferred
the charge against the soldier for having
entered absurd. trivial charges that had
had no substantiation whatsoever at the
trial., and he also sat down hard rnon
every officer who had had a hand in the
case. The soldier was restored to duty by
telegraph. He might have got another gen
eral court-martial that would no doubt
nave stuck had he stayed on in the service
but his people got him out by purchasing
his discharge. This was a typical case OF
Smart Alec, otherwise educated man. in the
army. and the wonder does not seem great
that the officers prefer to handle men OF or
dinary requirements.
Pleases Some, Maddens Others.
In the navy 8lso the man with the educa-'
ton knows how to display a species Of au-
cacious craftinass that earns for him the
disllks OF his officers, even IT, rightly used
Il earns for him tie loyalty of the men for
ward When the fleet was assembling at
Key West few months ago fireman
aboard one of them came aboard his shbo
one evening just before quarters. The fire.
man was a well-edGcated man. who had
dritted into the service by reason Of gem
eial dissoluteness and indirectness OF pur-
pose ashore The fireman was considerably
Wcozied after his two days liberty nn the
the officer OF the deck all right, and was
marked in the log having returned
aboard clean and sober" which Is a con-
siCerably better-loC king entry than that
other one that So many of the bluelackcts
E2ve TO answer for at the mast on the fol-
lowing day-getting themselves marked in
the log as having returned aboard ship
drunk and dirty" This educated fireman
knew how shaky he was and he didn't
care TO take chances on the rigid irspec-
uon OF the chief engineer al evening quar-
tiers. So he went below to an empty bunker
and fell asleep. The call for quarters went
and the engineers force assembled On the
port side 10 answer their names, as usual.
TTanby. the fireman, remained in his bum
ker. The engineers yeoman called the roll,
ana when he called cut Tranbys name
which was similar enough TO Tranby-Traa-
by wasn't there to answer, of course. So
he finished calling the roll. and when he
turned to report TO the chief engineer he
gerorted, as it was his business to do,
Tranby, first-class fireman, absent with
out Leave" The report was passed along
to the commanding officer. All hands were
dismissed from quarters, and then the eX-
ecutiye officer, who looked over the log
and found that 1Tanhy was aboard the
81 ip, sent his messenger after the missing
fireman. Meantime, the men of the engl-
neer's gang had gone below and told Tram
by that he had been reported absent from
quarters. Tranby Immediately appeared
upon the spar deck, smoking his pipe, and
licking very alert. he was probably max
ing ready for audacious bit of lying that
all ignorant man would never have con-
ceived. much less have been equal to. The
messenger boy found him. and told MIN ne
was wanted at the mast
Could Not Phase Tranby.
''Trauby," said the skipper to the fire.
man, why weren't you at quarters?"
Il was at quarters, sir" said Tranby.
What's that? You were at quarters you
say?'
Yes, SIR" said Tranby
The skipper looked smazed.
Well, why didn't You answer to your
name when the roll was called?' he asked
the man before him.
Il did, SIR said TranDy. y aid answer
TO my name"
what soIt Of muddle is all thIs:" ask
ed the commanding officer, turning to the
officer of the deck. ''Ssrd for the engI-
neeT's yeoman and the chief engineer"
The chief engineer ard the ye0man pres
entity appeared.
Chief" said the captain, this man says
be was present at quarters. You reported
him Absent
IL did, sir, upon the report of the engi-
neer's yeoman," replied the chief engineer
''Yeoman, Tranby did not answer TO his
name in line at quarters. did heT'
'Tranby was not at quarters, sir" said
the yeoman. Il called his name out twica,
and he did not answer either time. i look
ed for him then in both the rear and front
ranks, and he wasn't there. Tranby Sas
absent from quarters, sir.
Il was present at quarters, and answered
to my name twice, sir" said Tranby, firm
ly, addressing the captain.
The captain looked nopplussed.
did anybody see you at quarters, Tram
by? Where did you stand in the line"
Tranby replied that he stood between a
water tender and an oiler. both OF whom
he named. 1t was another piece OF audaci-
ty that thickheaded man wouldn't have
tried. Both men were sent for They
caught Tranby's eye. Yes. they both saw
Tranby at quarters. Tranby stood between
them. The skipper, the executive officer,
the officer of the deck. the chief engineer
and the engineers yeoman, all knew that
TrarDy was lying, ana that Tranby's Two
witnesses, the water tender and the oiIer,
were lying. But Tranby made his case
stick.
"You can't prove anything concerning
enlisted men on a man-of-war," remarked
the captain, drily. "Tranby, you may go
forward. But if you are wise this
trick proves you to BE-, you'll remember one
ship that It will be advantageous for you
not to ship for, when you enlist again."
A Story of the Maine.
While under ordinary circumstances the
old-tfme bleujackets of the navy don't have