Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-06-04

as the officer of the deck cares to have an
iiicted upon him. 1t all depends upon the
state of the liver of the officer of the deck.
Now, in the old navies of the world. when
the cat y nine tails was a recognized in
stitution-and as for the American and
British navics that was more than 30
years ago-thc man formally sentenced by
court martial to be whipped had at least
the consolation of knowing that he was to
be whipped by a superior in rank. An old
time Dos ms mate was ordinarily delegated
70 perform the whipping, and petty officers
were not whipped at all. Not so in the
Spanish navy. From the chief petty Off
ccrs-who in our navy are men of dignity,
experience and character, as they must, be
to gain and hold the confidence and re-
spect Of the rest of the enlisted men-down
TO the newly shanghaied landsmen, all
hands forward are whipped, and sorely
whipped. Nor Is the task of whipping
them delegated to superiors in rank. 1t is
an actual fact that the apprentice boys in
the Spanish navy are the recognized ships
whippcrs The spectacle of an understood
lad laying the lash on the naked back of q
chief petty officer, from whom the lad is
supposed todcrive his sea knowledge, is
Enthusiastically Spanish and Abyssinian.
The rule o. thumb" is another common
punishment in the Spanish navy, the sus-
pending of offenders by the two thumbs,
SO that their feet barely touch the ground,
from overhead gratings. The writer once
attended a mass on board Spanish cruis-
or in Chinese waters. The mass was cele-
bratcd on the berth deck forward In full
view Of all hands who attended the mass
was the ships brig on the berth deck, ND
in the eyes of her. Eight men were sus-
pended bytheir thumbs from the grating
covering the hatch leading from the top,
gallant fo'c'slc, and their groans were
mingled with the responses of the men to
the words of the chaplain.
Another feature of the Spanish navy's
punitive system is the solitary and fish"
infliction. This consists in locking up
minor offender in an unlighted and prac-
tically unvcntilated compartment and in
feeding him upon salt fish and no water
Whatsoever for a couple of days at stretch.
Men who suffer this ordeal have always to
be lifted out of their place OF, confinement
when II is over, with their swollen tongues
hanging out of their mouths from thirst,
and men have been taken out of the glory
hole dead after undergoing this barbarity
The wonder is truly not great that slum-
bering devil OF bitterness seems always to
look from the eyes Of the Spanish man
forward There have been many mutinies
in the Spanish navy, but they have always
been suppressed, after serious loss of life,
by the marines, for the Spanish naval Off
GERS are crafty enough to treat the marines
well. The Spanish marine gets all the
best OF it, and he is even coddlcd by the
officers aft. 1t is not an uncommon thing
for private marine aboard Spanish
man-of-war to slug chief petty officer
without receiving the slightest punish
mcnt for it. Indeed the marine who does
this is privately applautled by the officers
In return for this sort of coddling treat
ment at the hands OF the officers the ma
rineS are the officers protectors, and on
every occasion when the bluejackets have
risen in revolt-and they have done this
within the past ten years on several nota-
bic occasions-thc marines, instantly tax
ing their stand on the poop behind the
rapid fire guns and with their rifles ready,
have awed the sailors into submission.
not, however, on a few occasions, without
first pouring n yellcy into them.