Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-14
THE PETERSEN TWINS

Il don't suppose-the Petersen twins had
ever heard or read of the two Dromios,"
said an x-master-at-arms in the United
states navy, now a clerk in the Navy De-
partment. "but &hen they were In the
American line of fighting packets. way
back In the late seventies, they certainly
did put UP series Of incidents between
them that madeLthe simply funny, topsy-
turvy happenings to Shakespeares pair of
characters look uninteresting. The Peter
sen twins, Peten and John, had been In
the navy Tor six years each when they
were hrst assigned to my ship, the Swa-
TARA few months before she was sent
from the Pacific coast to China. They
were ooth magnificent sailormen, Norwe-
gians and Vikings by the looks of 'em If
ever palr OF men were. They were ex-
actiy ailke in appearance. Now, 1 had Of
zen neard that exactly alike statement
lnaue Win reference to male twins, but l
could never see 1t before l met I'D with the
fetersens. Before saw them l had never
sot next TO pair of alleged exactly alike
t"i w, OF the male gender that 1 couldn't
zen apart from some little popularity of
shape, countenance walk voice or man
ner. But these Petersen fellows were abb
soluteIy indistinguishable. No living man
could have told 'em apart They were both
over six feet in height. they both weighed
Io9 pounds, they both had fiaxen, fiossy,
CURING halr and the same red-rosy mark
l li.s;, on their fiorid compilations. they
walked precisely alike, they talked exactly
alike to the most minor infiexion they
smoked ana spat just alike, they ate lust
aLkea and-Well, was just about to say that
they thousht just alike, but they didn't.
Jonn was the better man of the two-I
don't mean better mentally or physically
pat squarer man and a better shipmate
refer mad a tendency to drink lot of rum
Mnen ne Went ashore, and he used often to
get INTO trouble over it. He'd occasionally
break his liberty for four or five DAVIS at
stretch. and the result was that he was
almost always on the fourth-class conduct
tetthdt is, restricted, or. better, quaran-
tiheu. ABOARD ship except once every three
months. when the regulations demand that
an memo wars men must have shore
npefty. Now, John didn't drink at all and
.ne result was that he kept out of trouble
ana was always inscribed on the first-cIass
CONDUCT list, which permitted him to go
as ashore every day in port if he wanted to-
me Twins were greatly attached to each
9 U, IN quiet, administrative way, and
refer nabit of getting himself into scrapes
USED to worry John good deal He often
TAXED quietly to his brother about his
CONSUMES, and was listened to attentiveIy,
anu , me very next time Peter went ashore
ne get boiling drunk and smash some
pody, and then come aboard with a pnard
altehuihs MIN, to go up to the stick and
'a ne ms medicine from the skipper
qlur mention the fact that both Peter
ana John were tattooed precisely alike The
same japanese had done the work on their
bodies on a previous China station cruise
ana both of EN- had huge Japanese dragons
oii !neir orawny right fore-arms, American
! eagles perched on anchors on their left
iofe- arms, and full-rigged ships on their
CHESTS. L never knew that the twins were
taltoed exactly alike until one afternoon
when Peter got ashore on me- right before
the eyes of the officer of the deck when
as matter of fact, he was undergoing a
1vh-ody sentence in the brig without irons
rms was at Mare Island. Cal Peter had
ana dlsorderly on his return to the shin a
rev days before, and put in the brig below
forward on the berth deck. 1 was a sec
.shi,,ss mas4er-as-arms at the time
snip corporal they call it in the serv-
ice. Wen. on this day, John had put his
name down on the liberty list In the morn
ing and when the liberty party was called
Off, he appeared. spick and spap as usual
and went over the side When he returned
ABOUT o'clock that evening 1 noticed. as
L was searching him for rum-only a form
IN ms case. beoause' he had never SNUG
gied rum off to the ship-I noticed the smell
OF liquor on his breath This puzzled me
a heap. Nobody in the service had ever
remembered John Petersen of the Petersen
wins taxing drink. Finally an idea struck
me- and | took quiet sneak down below
u the outside of the brig and stood in the
shadow of some 3ust-slung hammocks to see
what ! could see The marine guard at the
door looked worried and cast giances
I around but he didn't see me- Peter Peter
sen. the twin who had been ashore, was
hastily taking off his mastering clothes,
+ ana when he had finished and put on an Did
! uniform, John, with a cautious look
around came out of the brig. I nailed him
without saying anything and when we got
up to the to'gallant foc'sle I said:
=" SO 1t was Pete that was ashore, ehg
He told me the truth about It, He said
that Peter had a sweetheart ashore whom
he was very anxious to see before the ship
started for the Asiatic station, and they
had cooked up that dodge between them.
The marine guard en- the brig door had been
tempered with for the price of few bot
ties o., whisky, and the thing had gone
through all right.
: Did you ever work that one before,
John? I asked him.
:" Not this ship. replied John. for he
was truthful man If ever I knew one
We'll, you're a darned good chap to
your brother, but don't try it on again
while I'm Jimmy Legs on this ship, will
you?
He promised he wouldn't. and so I kept
my head closed But when Peter was TAX
ing off his mastering clothes I had a chance
to that his tattoo marks were precisely
the same those his brother John,
who sat in the brig in gauze undershirt
Two months after struck the Asatic
station-it at Yokohama-Peter got at
the alcohol chest somehow or another,
loaded himself UP to the gun'ls with the
raw stuff, ara sliced a shipmate up with his
knife. He got a sentence of two years in
Mare Island naval prison when he was tried
by general court-martial He was confined
in the brig in double irons, awaiting ship
ment back to California on one of the re-
turning men-of-war. One day John-who
in his INEXPENSIVE kind of way, had been
whole lot broke UP by Peters conduct
went ashore in Yokohama on liberty He
didn't come back. After ten days he was
declared deserter. Then I had an idea
went below and saw the ironed twin who
was supposed to be Peter He smiled bland
ly at me when he saw the expression on
my face.
Well he said, in his dialect. I guess
Peters got a ship and is doing some heavy
weather sailoring by this time
Il reported the whole business to the
officer of the deck. John was brought to
the mast.
!" How are you going to prove that you
are John and not Peter Petersen?' the COM
manding officer asked him.
I've got blue compass tattooed on my
right foot and Peter HASN'T replied John
The surgeons records will prove that
"And prove it they did. John got gen
eral court-martial for aiding and abetting
in the escape of a naval prisoner and he
was sentenced to serve out his twin broth
er's time. The marine guard on the big
door declared that he wasn't a party to
the conspiracy, and that he hadn't seen the
exchange of clothes and irons, but he got
two years, too. When the Secretary Of the