El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1899-10-31
ANECDOTES
OF DEWEY.
From the Ladies' Home Journal.

In hot fight in the civil war the
"Mississippi" was aground, and ablaze
from the confederate fire. Captain
Melancthon Smith had given the order
to take to the boats, when Dewey no
ticed that his orderly was setting a
bad example for the men by his appar-
emit haste. Dewey was executive off,
Ger, and he promptly knocked the man
down. Ten minutes later the orderly
Jumped from the boat to rescue q
wounded man who had fallen over
board. AS publicly as he had punished
the man, Dewey praised him for his
bravery, and promised to recommend
him, after the battle, for promotion.
At one time q little brush occurred
tain Francis B. McNair, now rear-ad-
miral. who was then superintendent Of
the Naval Observatory, one of the
subordinate officers of the Bureau of
Equipment. There was some pTrtty
warm talk between the two Oft 'e:-,
which was terminated by Dewey as
sorting his authority. McNair. though
senior in actual rank, accepted the
situation gracefully and quietly with
drew.
When the little affair had passed,
Commodore Dewey was told by trusted
friend that he. had committed an error.
Instantly be wrote to Captain McNair,
although not five minutes had elapsed
since the talk:
"MY DEAR MCNAIR: lam informed
that 1 was in error in respect to some
of the facts of our little talk just now,
and, as you see, I am losing no time in
rectifying any sense of injustice that
you must have felt this morning. l
was wrong and you were righs-as you
always are.
''DEwEY."
DEWEY'S PROMPTNESS IN BUSINESS.
Dewey's quality of preciseness ex-
tends to his work, his correspondence,
his discipline, and to everything that
he does. He is great "stickler" for
proper salutes of rank and recognition
of every grade. He always exscts this
from everyone who works with him.
He is tireless worker himself. ana
will have around him none but those
who believe in methodical business
principles.
Soon after the now famous admiral
took charge of the bureau of equip
ment one of the old navy clerks went
to him one day, about three O'Clock in
the afternoon, for orders regarding the
subject-matter of a letter that arrived
from one OF the navy yards in the two
O'Clock mail.
"The Bureau regrets to refuse.
Write good letter telling why" said
$50 that they may know
at once"
"Why, commodore, it's impossible!
It can't be done today, there really
isn't time" exclaimed the astonished
old clerk.
Impossible? impossible?" repeated
Dewey. 81 don't like that word, sir.
Go at once and write that letter. 1 will
wait to sign it," And he did.
HE MADE 1.-THE PUNISHMENT FIT THE
CRIME"
When Dewey was the executive Of
fcer of Colorado" Admiral Far
ragut's flagship, it happened that for
some misdemeanor two sailors were
confined in the "briR,' as the ships
prison was called. When Dewey was
making his regular tour of inspection
over the ship he heard one of the pri-
soners say: Anyway, I've got some
matches that were overlooked in my
pocket, and I'll burn his old ship un-
der him.
Dewey said nothing. but stepped on
deck and rang the fire bell. Fire in
ships Brig" said he, as the crew
rushed up in answer to the sum-
mons.
INSTANTLY four streams of water
we're pouring into the brig through the
uOleS III buS uOOr, duO LII b io" mO-
ments the two prisoners. alarmed at
the situation, were bowling to be saved
from drowning. When he thought
they were sufficient wet down, Dewey
said, Fires outs And as he walked
away he remarked. 81 guess their
are pretty we'll soaked by this
time"
A STORY OF HIS WONDERFUL FORTH
tube.
In the late eighties, when Dewey
the flagship "Pensacola"
of the Mediterranean Squadron, he
was stricken with what Is known as
the "tropic liver" His condition WAS
critical in the extreme. The fleet sur
geon told the sufferer that his case was
hopeless. The only chance was al
operation the issue of which was ex-
ceedingly doubtful. Dewey was so in
formed, and he asked, "What would
be the chances of my getting
through?"
The physician said, zone chance in
fifty" Thereupon Captain Dewey
said, 81 will take that one chance"
At the time this operation was per-
formed there were by precise count
only five cases in the history of surge
~ in which a subject had survived this
operation: but in Dewey's case success
seemed to be complete.
WITTY THRUST AT HIS COLLEAGUES
WEAKNESS.
With Captain Willard 81. Brownson
and Commander William Fl. Emory,
Dewey shares the reputation
of being one of the best-dressed men in