The Dickinson press., 1899-01-07
EWANTEDTHESHI
THOUGHT HE WAS EL,e,eLe rocom-
MAND A CRUISER.

THOUGHT HE WAS ELIGIBLE ToicoM-
MAN0 A CRUISER.
vhe shabby Trick Played Upon .
Patriotic Greek Boiler Maker By
some slssUAcle Sans sailors with
wAon He Had Shipped.
"About 3onr years ago the cruiser on
which s. wss serving shipped a boiler
maker MhileSwe were on the Mediter-
zanean station." said a Washington
chief petty officer of the navy, now on
leave Of absence. "Our former boiler
makers time expired while we wers at
Gibraltar, and az he wat not in good
physical shape he wasn't re-enlisted,
but took his discharge and returned to
Fthe United States by mail steamer. So
the ship was shy q boiler maker. a very
Etmportant and necessary petty officer
down below in the engineers depart
nasntl and when the ship pulled into
Naples harbor the chief engineer went
ashore to see If he couldn't dig up q
boilersmaker.
".There's a clause in the enlistment
regulations permitting commanding
officers to ship necessary men on foreign
stations In short handed emergencies.
Tho chief engineer brought back to the
ship . Greek named Charlie Marc. The
man couldn't speak any English-to
speak of-but he was a good man at
the boiler making business, and he wat
duly shipped aboard of rs for three
years. He was a wild, hairy looking
lot, Marc was, and he got q good deal
of q laugh at the hands Of the crew, es-
pecially the younger. fellows, from the
time he first came over the side.
"Maro thought that there wasn't
any other country on the map except
Greece. he thought that the 'Greeka
man wal the hottest kind of a tamale
when it came to scrapping by land or
sea, and after he got hold of enough
Engltshr to make himself understood he
used to take some Of the young appren-
tice boys up into the eyes of the ship
and tell them with many gesticulations
and furious words of the different kinds
of tar Greece would knock out of Turkey
it the two countries ever came to an
| open rupture.
"The ship was around on the Pacific
station when the var broke out between
Greece and Turkey. When the news Of
the outbreak of the war got to Marc, our
boiler maker, he nearly had heart dis
ease and a whole lot Of other sudden
things from pure excitement. He Just
couldn't hold himself in, he looked so
tickled.
"'Da Greeka man villa BIN! BIN!
BIN! do Turka man, was Charlie
Maro's way of putting it, and he didn't
see that, the Turk had a ghost of a show.
All hands forward encouraged him in
the belief. They all acquiesced in ex.
pressing the belief to Marc that Greece
would simply eat TurkeyFnp.a Then a
bo'sun's mate who knew how to crack
the most impossible kind Of steers with
a face as solemn and wooden as an In
dams took Charlie in hand and told
him some things. He told Marc that the
United States was SO much in sympathy
with Greece in the struggle with Turkey
that the navy department had decided
to turn v all Of the ships Of the
American navy to Greek commanders.
"'Here's a big chance for you,
Maro,' the bo'sun's mate told Marc.
You juet want to work your edge.
Here you are already shipped on this
cruiser, and it's dollars to doughnuts
that if you ask for the command Of this
ship in order to take her over to Greece
to mix it up with the Turks you'll get
it hands down. Better try it on
"That idea impressed Marc a heap.
he asked the bo'sun's mate whom he'd
have to apply to to get command Of the
cruiser.
"'Why, to the commanding officer.
Of course was the reply.
"Maro was tremendously important
for q day or go while he let this huge
idea grow within him, and he bulljed
the men detailed to work with him
down below in the boiler room a good
deal. The bos'n's mate kept working
him up to it, and finally Marc appeared
on deck one morning logged out in his
very best mastering suit Of bluejacket
clothes and went up to the officer of the
deck and asked permission to see the
commanding officer at the mast. The
officer Of the deck was rather surprised
to see the man all done up in his mus.
tering toys when all hands were at
work, but, as he is obliged to do when
an enlisted man requests permission to
see the commanding officer, he sent
word to the skipper, who soon. emerged
from bis cabin and appeared at the
stick
n Well, my nanr said the skipper
to Marc, who stood bolt upright and
saluted with a flourish.
"'Sare,' said Marc to the skipper, i
have-a da honor to her-a-by taxa da com.
mand Of a da ship.'
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