Evening star., 1899-02-04
THEY FOUGHT TOGETHER


are setting forth the new-riveted entente
between the United States and Great Brit
ain in very graceful and sounding phrases.
Their utterances on this subject make good
reading, But Incidents that happened long
before such a thing as an "entente" be-
tween this country and the tight little is
land was even heard or thought of told
more plainly than these lately-delivered
phrases of, the natural relationship that
mas been existing right along between the
two branches of the race that employs the
Englsh tongue. Here is one such Incl
dent which the writer happens to have
witnessed from its beginning to its finish:
When the Venezuelan controversy was
at It's height, and the United States and
Great Britain stood upon the verge of war,
Two Warsh1pS happened into the harbor
or Acapulco, Mexico, on the same day.
one OF them was an American gunboat
ana the other was British cruiser. The
Two shlps dropped their mudhookS within
loo YARDS of each other and the bluejack
cts OF both of them ranged themselves
along the rails and sized up each others
shlps out of the slants of their eyes, dark
~. NO liberty party from either ship was
permitted TO go ashore the first even
ing OF anehoring, SO the bluejackets of
potii vessels got up on the to gallant
10 sizes ana sang at each other across the
stretch CT water ''The Sidewalks of New
from the throats of a couple hundred and
odd British tars. The American bluejack-
cts d1on quite understand how the Britons
happened to sing that Yankee song, but
they were not to Be outdone in cosmopol
tanism, ana so they warbled in unison
nocked En- in the Old Kent Road" and
other coster ditties. All the same. all
hands on both ships had a firmly-rooted
ldea that there was going to be trouble and
plenty of it the first time the British and
the American bluejackets got shore liberty
on the same day
The simultaneous shore liberties We're
granted the very next afternoon. Big
patches Of liberty men went ashore from
both ships almost at the same time. AT
first the Britishers and the Americans kept
TO themselves and wandered about the
shack-built, 0ld-time settlement of piracy
quietly enough. The men from both ships
separated into groups of two or three, and
for a couple of hours after they hit the
beach the usual serenity of Acapulco was
undiSturbed. Then a couple of huge petty
officers from the American shiD-a second
class naster-at-arms and a bo'sun's mate
dropped into palm-thatched mescal bar
Where there were couple of equally huge
British tars already regaling themselves.
The British tars were drinking American
beer at twenty-five cents, Mexican, a bot
tie. The beer warm, for in Acapulco
there was then no manufacturing plant.
When the English man-o'-war's men saw
the American bluejackets enter, they per-
celVed their opportunity to get in a knock
at the United States through the medium
of the warm United States beer. One of
them raised his bottle of beer and poured
some OF the contents on his head.
1T tistes loike bloomin hair OIL" said
the British tar. han that's hall hits fit
fur-blawsted Hamerican bears grease
The American master-at-arms stretched
his arms and walked over to where the
two English man-o wars men sat.
"Oh, | don't know he said, mildly
Drink the rest of it up, anyhow. You like
\ nor rifpayl
it. See?'
Biff. Bang! The ratapIan of huge fists
on hard skulls was a kind of music that
the little trembling Mexican barkeep didn't
like, and he ran shouting into the street
leaving four big, horny handed last-ditch-
Hghting men Of the sea rolling over and
banging away at each other without ever
a wh1mper of distress or call for quarter
only gasping grunts of satisfaction when
their heavy blows told resoundingly
Meanwhile, the running, shouting Mexican
barkeep spread the alarm, and with
suddenness as if they came out of the
ground, British and American bluejackets
appeared on the scene of trouble at a
dead lope. In less than five minutes the in
side of the palm-thatched mescal hut was a
magnificent place to be about a mile away
from. About sixty American bluejackets
and an equal number of British tars were
hammering away at each other with fists
bottles, chairs, any old thing that came
mandy. Smashed heads. twisted ears
wasn't d moan from the bunch. They lust
fought on, with all the enjoyment in life
The alarm had meanwhile spread to the
ships, and in about fifteen minutes strong
patrol guards of marines from both of
them appeared and gathered in the liberty
parties. The marines weren't carcass
Whole, either, by the time they had fin
ished accomplishing this job. At the wind
up, this battle between the American and
English man-o'-war's men might have
been called about stand-off. The sur
geons on both ships had all they could
attend to- and more that night
The commanding officers of the two shins
decided to give no more liberty to the blue
Jackets for while Two days after the
shore fight, Russian corvette dropped
into Acapulco harbor from CaIao and
three days later a French gunboat hap
pened along from Honolulu The French
men and Russians Were given shore lib
erty Immediately. This was at the time
when the Russians and the French began
to become very soft on each other and
therefore these man-o'-war's men assorted
beautifully ashore and got along together
nhe IKE cooihs doves. After about a week of
liberty suspension the American and Brit
iSh commanders concluded that their men
would be good if permitted to go ashore
again, and so they let them go. 1t hap
parties from the Russian and French shlps
went "on the beacn." Peace reigned for
fully fifteen minutes after these four ships
companies began to walk the streets of
Two British coal passers were walking
along the narrow sidewalk in front of Aca-
pulcos main bunch of shops, when about
dozen Russian and French tars with
their arms linked or thrown around each
others necks, came staggering along from
the opposite direction. The Frenchmen and
Russians deliberately shouldered the two
ime-juicers' CHamely, British man-o'-
wars mem into the middle of the street
The British tars, two against a dozen lit
into the Russians and Frenchmen. sending
out that peculiar yelp of the English sea-
man who is lighting against big odds at
the same time.
There was a running and a scampering
along the dngy side streets of Acapulco
compared with which the Pied PiDer of
Hamelin's assembling of the children was
but a bagatelle. The uniforms that ap-
peared Were mostly American and British
with scattering of French and Russian.
Seeing this. the French and Russians sent
out their howl Of Distress and in a jiffy
their comrades too, came up on the canter
OF course, this was only sailors brawl;
but, all the same it surely was an inspir-
ing thing, as illustrating the superior thick
ness of blood as compared with water to
observe the unanimous fashion with which
the American and British bluejackets, with
out word or suggestion or any idea what
of DOING hincr all