The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-12-09

up articles of uniform hastily left out
of ditty bags. unlocks the wrist and
ankle irons of prisoners when il is
time for M prisoners to eat, and has
a sort of secondary supervision of the
ships brig or place OF confinement He
is called h ships corporal. and il is
probably for the reason hat Sharkey
bore this title of ships corporal thai
he has been so often mixed up with
the marines, or sea soldering, end of
the man-of-war's company.
Sharkey was not very much liked ty
his shipmates on the Philadelphia. He
was n of the first men in the navy
to get the title of rubberneck. That
word originated out on the Pacific
coast, and Sharkey's actions on board
the Philadelphia led to it's application
to him almost from the go-off of his
career as a blue jacket with a crow
on his arm. He wasn't a bully: in
truth, there were several occasions
during his career as a second class
master-at-arms on the Philadelphia
on which he was considered to have
shown ack of nerve, considering his
huge body and the reputation which
preceded him as a fighter. The men
who We're shipmates with Sharkey say
that as a ships corporal he a a lab
II OF reporting little things at the mast
before having said anything about
them to the men whom he made the
victims Of his reports. Fol example.
Sharkey's former shipmates say. If a
blu jacket happened to leave an end
OF an unused neckerchief sticking out
OF the box netting. where the sailor
stow some of their clothes, the ships
corporal wouldn't go to the derelict
before inspection and tell him about
IL, but would tell the officer OF the
deck o II first. and then the Of
Tending blue jacket woul have to go
to the mast to answer the charge of
being a SLOUGH. This sort OF thing did
not help Sharkey along any in the es-
TEEN OF his mates. and the oil men
among them never had a great deal
to do with him.
There was quite an element among
the men forward Of the Philadelphia
who stood i'm fear Of Sharkey's prowess
and hes.tated to talk back to him, but
then there was another element that
wasn't i'm the least bit OF fear OF him..
A little l3O-pound first class fireman
named McKnew belonged to the crowd
that didn't stand in any awe Of Shark
ey's fighting ability. McKnew was a
quiet little Irishman 40 years
OF age. during rs of which
he had served i'm the Amer
lean navy. and ne was reported two
or three times by Sharkey for trivial
infractions Of discipline. McKnew I'D
not say anything. but a few weeks
later he met Sharkey at the Clay street
wharf I'm San Francisco. Both men
We're In uniform and unaccomranied.
Mcknew walked straight up to Shar-
key and pasted him hard in the face,
first with his right and then with his
left. Sharkey performed a hold-my-
hat-and-coat act until he was grabbed
by bystanders, and then McKnew. aft
er swapping his fingers right under
Sharkey's nose, walked on the wharf.
Sharkey got up 10 the ship at Mare
Island ahead or McKnew. and when
the fireman went over the sid after his
shore liberty Sharkey. as the ships cor
poral. was the man to search him for
whiskey. New, very few men-of-wars
men return aboard their ships after
shore liberty without having a small
bottle OF liquor concealed somewhere
about their persons. and the right kind
OF a ships corporal Is generally as per
tunctory as can be in his searches Nc
Knew had his pint bottle inside his
trousers. tied with a bit of rope on the
inboard side Of the calf OF his left leg.
Sharkey found the bottle there in the
course of the especially careful search