The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-05-16
STORIES ABOUT DEWEY.
Anecdotes That Throw Light
Upon a Hero's Character.
CANNON BALL AND COATTAILS.

Because His Coat Was Ruined-Three
Mutineers Cowed - A Battle with a
schooiteacher That Dewey Didn't Win.
Commodore George Dewey, whose
name, for his great naval victory in
Manila bay, rings today throughout
the civilized world, is Vermonter, o
taciturn man ON board ship, square
shouldered, and with big forehead
and eyes that look straight ahead.
In the navy department. he has been
looked upon as "a long headed thinker.
Old naval officers knew that Dewey
would fight, and they laughed at the
naval strategy board when it gave
out that alarm was felt for his safety in
Asiatic waters They remembered that
this Commodore Dewey was the man at
Port Hudson whose coattails were shot
away by cannon ball, and who, on
learning this, said:
"D-n it, don't mind the shot, but
they've ruined the coat.
1t was safe to believe that man of
that cool intrepidity would fight his
squadron for all it was worth.
An instance of Commodore Dewey's
cool forethought was displayed at the
naval fight before Port Hudson in the
civil war, when he was lieutenant on
the war steamer Mississippi. Before 60
ing into action he gave orders that the
vessels decks should be whitewashed,
which enabled the guns crews to see
the running gear of the guns, for no
lights were allowed on board the vessel
that night.
Commodore Dewey had many friends
in this city, and it is for that reason
that SO many persons know of him as
man of singularly gentle disposition,
modest manner, unassuming, undemon
strative. ambassador Hay expresses the
thought of many who have met Com
modore Dewey that it is almost incon-
ceivable to associate with the daring
strategy and maneuvering, as well as
cyclonic fighting which characterized
the battle of Sunday, the gentle, quiet
man which Commodore Dewey is, says
the Philadelphia Press.
az was with Commodore Dewey
when he was the executive officer of the
Colorado" said man who served with
him, land 1 remember one incident
which shows the manner Of man he is.
We had q fine crew, some Of them az
powerful men as ever saw. Four or five
of them went ashore one day and came
back fighting drunk.
"Three Of them were men who would
singly have been more than a match in
strength for John l.. Sullivan. The or.
der was given to put them in irons, and
| It was found impossible to carry out
| the order, for the men were dangerous.
| Dewey was notified of the situation. He
was writing letter in his room at the
time.
"He went to the place where these
| giants were, and he told them to come
out and submit to the irons. They did
not stir. Then Dewey said quietly to
an orderly, Bring me my revolvers
and when he had his pistols he again
called upon the men to come out, and
| they did not move. Then he said: j
am going to count three. If you are not
| out here with your hands held up on
the third count, you won't come out of
| that place alive
"He counted one, then he cooked the
revolvers, and he counted two. We all
expected to hear the report, for we
knew that Dewey meant what he said.
| The men knew it too. They stepped out
| Just in time to save their lives and held
up their hands, and they had been par
TALLY sobered by their fright and the
moral effect of Dewey's glance.
! lone of them said afterward that
when he saw Dewey's eyes he knew
! that he would either be dead Jacky in
a moment or he would have to yield,
and when the irons were put upon him
! he was as sober as he ever was in his
| life. Dewey went back tc his room and
! finished the letter he was writing"
Early in the fifties, when Dewey was
hoy, Major q. X. Pangborn, now a
resident of New Jersey and for 80 years
the editor of The Evening Journal of
Jersey ClCy, DelnS tneu Iresn iron Jul
lege, undertook the management Of a
district school at Montpelier, Vt. The
school had been in rebellion for long
/ time, and the boy Dewey was the lead
er of the antiteacher brigade, says the
New York Sun. Several previous teach
ers had been removed, one had been
stood upon his head in snow bank, and
1t was generally said at Montpelier that
nobody could govern that school.
/ When Mr.. Pangborn appeared at
school, the first day of the session he
noticed Dewey throwing stones at small
boys. He told him quietly that he must
stop that. The reply was that the teach
or could Ego to" the place reserved for
q certain class of departed mortals.
School went very smoothly that day,
but there were indications that showed
the teacher that trouble was coming.
So he provided himself with nice raw
hide whip, which he tucked away over
the door, and then placed several sticks
of good hickory on the top Of the pile
in the old wood box.
Next day the fun began. Another boy
who was disorderly was told to take his