The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-09-11
TALES TOLD BY MARINES.
NAVY HoAxEs SPRUNG ON SAILORS
ON MEN, or WAR.

ward-The Credulity of Many Sailors.
Every man-of-war has it's star manipulator
Of hoaxes. lie Is usually the mail orderly.
who is tho member Of the marine guard de-
tailed TO 90 after the ships mail. A side issue
Of his shore trips is the running Of errands.
He Is always the first enlisted man to go
ashore upon his ships arrival in a port. His
advantages for the continuance of hoaxes are
therefore great.
The credulity Of man-of-war's men, .espe-
cially on ships on remote stations. is extraor-
binary. The man who carefully deVises a
bit OF fictitious news and employs some elab-
Grafton In springlng It upon his shipmates
has nine chances In ten Of being believed I'M
pllcitly. He is found out to be q fakir In
time, OF course, but his fiction Ii rarely eX-
ploded before he has had his full measure OF
fun out Of 1t, The sailors pretend to believe
nothing, and when a yarn is sprung they make
skeptlcal illusions to It's probable source.
Here's q whopper that that mail chasing sea
soldier Just of from the beach Is passing
around" they say to one another In relating
the yarn. and simplifying 1t as they proceed.
He got 1t out O. the scuttlebutt. OF fished 1t
out o. one OF the bunkers. most like" And
then they 60 on and discuss the yarn from all
points of view. They wind up by believing
II, or q part OF It. They question the man
who L. responsible for the story. He stands
at the ganGway. smoking his pipe and look
ing agRrieved.
Il don't answer no more questions" says he.
II told what was given to me on the beach for
the straight thing, and that's all know about
1t. It's all one to me whether you believe it
or not"
In ports In which the enlisted mon obtain
shore liberty Immediately upon their ship cast
Ing her mudhook, the mail orderly's yarns are
OF course quickly probed; but there are many
ports where the enlisted men get no liberty at
all. and 1t Is In these ports that the mail or
derby gets in his finest ticks. In truth. the
mail orderly has the bulge on a good many
situations. and he does not always employ his
advantage In an entirely honest way. For
example. one Of the Runboats arrived In the
harbor OF Acapulco. Mexico. on the day after
the prizeflght between Corbett and Fitzsim-
mons.
The mail orderly went ashore and the first
thing he did was to ask some American mer-
chants the result OF the big fight. The mer-
chants did not know. The news had not yet
reached Acapulco. The mail orderly sent a
message to a friend OF his UP here In New
York asking how the fight came out. Then he
returned aboard ship with the mail. All
hands surrounded him as soon as he emerged
from the cabin and asked him about the fight.
He told them truthfully that he didn't know
that the result hadn't yet boon telegraphed to
Acapulco and that he had sent u message Of
inquiry to New York. At 2 O'Clock he went
ashore again on an errand for the skipper.
At the telegraph Office there was a despatch
for him. 1t read simply. "Fitzsimmons." He
returned to his ship and again the blueIackets
thronGed ABOUT him to ask him II he had any
news about the fight. No. he hadn't. he re-
Piled. Then he called three or four OF his
ship pals together and tod them to lay all
kinds of money that Corbett had been beaten.
He also had them put down $500 Of his
savings on Fitzsimmons. and got 2 to l for his
money, for throughout the navy the belief
was prevalent that Corbett would whip the
red-haired fighter. At . O'Clock the mail or
derby went ashore again on another errand
for the commanding officer. and by that time
the news was around among all the Americans
In Acapulco that Corbett had been beaten.
The mail orderly brough the news aboard and
collected his S4UO in winnings. He was paid
OIL and discharged upon tho return ol mis- snip
ashore. nileu w IN q Vallejo saloon and gave
away the game he had tIayed on ms snll-
mates GOWN in Acapulco. some OF mis- vlc-
Tins met him on the street a while later with
the result that he had 10 20 10 Il hospital.
When the war was on between tile greeks
and the Turks the man orderlIes throughout
the service improved the opportunity u spring
all manner nt hoa&es upon lnelr hlpnates
One oil Them serving on u cruiser attached to
the ASIILc station came uDodLu MS snip alter
his nrsL shore Trip IN loKonaInl-the vessel
had been ut sea Tor ten uayS-anu sprung tnIS
"Ihe Greek lighting packets have chewed
up the Turkish Navy. They We DomUarued
Constantiuople and razed the town OF smells
TO the ground. A couple OF our ships, The
MarDleneau aud the New YORK. were on nand
10 attend TO American interests ashore. They
got into the line Oh IRE and putn oil EN- were
battered, up. Dispatches ashore say tnat
We TO going 10 mix up III Tie scrap Tor That rea-
sou. anu InaG all the ships on the emma station
are 10 10 .lmimedlateiy ordered TO the MedIter-
rauean. Mnoopee! we're OH III Il DuncnI".
1t may seem incredIule that the whole
ships company tOrwaru should nave swallowed
this ImproUaDIe yarn. Dut that IS Just what
happened. Inc men VINO ulun't llke the CHINA
BtauUn, tut VINO loved tne Mediterranean ue-
cause vi the Cnlanti ami Lne cheapuesS thereof.
huu Jnelr caps In the air as suOn as lue WOruS
were out oil the mail orderly b mouth, and there
was a STIR and DustIe among al hands Tor
ward, there were Il number Ot greeks among
the crew and they could hardly DO held IN.
Iney sJrutted around III great style ana taxed
Navy. Interest III the prospective movement
OF the Cnlna neet TO the AeuIterraneau spread
through tn squadron at loRuhalna. The visit
ing UIucJackets carrying the news from snip
10 snip. On Tie IoilowlnE day UIk liberty
parties from ali the snlps went ON the beach.
and when Iney Returned they were creStlallen.
Inc mail orderly VINO hau concOcteu the AXE
met his at the gangWay with o
Greeks maze for MIN, and they had To be held.
A couple OF weeks before the olympia went
into commission at the Mare lslaud Navy
Yard in 1880 the mail orderly OF the receiving
ship Independence spread the yarn amOngIne
4UU or oUU men ABOARD That the Olympia was
booked tor u cruise OF the globe. de sad that
he had heard the commandment OF the yard tell
the onlcer VINO was 70 10 the skipper OF the
OIympla that the beautiful new ship was TO be
sent around the world TO snow foreign ma
lions what u crackaJucE oil q snip OF war could
be UullC Dy u racine coast urn. Now. u cruise
OF the RloDe on u DeautlIui war vessel Ike the
Olympia Is not 10 DO sneezed ut, ANA the men
on the receiving snip began TO ple III upon
tine executive omcer OF the Independence.
begging tor assignment TO the olympia. n
news spread down IN San FRANCISCO. and
scores oil young men from chat town went UP
TO the receiving snip and enlisted In the navy.
hoping, anu many OF them asking. 10 DO sent
to tho Olympia US soon as That cruiser went
into commission. The recruiting officers could
not understand why there should be such
clamor on the part Of tho new men to be as
signed to the Olympia. When the Olympia
went into commission, and the big gang OF
would-be globe enclrclers got aboard OF ner,
she WAS first sent down TO LOS Angeles 10 the
flower fiesta OF that year. and when she re-
turned To Mare Island IL was announced that
she was TO start for China 10 become the flag
ship OF the Asiutic station. Inc men went
pyar the side of her like rats when thpy heard