Evening star., 1905-11-11

1
denee that the scheme OF nature itself
never contemplated that they could or
| would be thrashed by men in any uniform
VINO don't speak the English tongue
Inc way the American and British men
o-"af men get together when party OF
ether or them is up against trouble at the
nahds or Foreign msn-o'-war's men was IL
at Kiel
The steam cutters Of all the ships use,
ne same landing and floats, and from the
Iithe the English and American ships drop
pea their mudhooks in the harbor there
Nas a decided disposition on the part OF the
SS.ean cutter cox'uns OF tho Italian and
spanish men-o'-war, that were the first 10
.Sach Tue harhor. TO hog the landing and
the hoats. These cox'uns would tie their
Su.'ets np at the floats for hours at time.
| Co. ~ Tu.a they sheer or even a little BIT
ior the arrival and departure OF the cut
teIs OF The ships belonging to the Ameri-
SSsh ana the British squadrons Moreover
viz ,ha COX uns OF the latter succeeded.
Win Vhs exercise OF considerable seaman
snip IN getting their cutters tied up at
the noats. the foreign cox'un-s would slam
,,s isS - uh9s OF steam into their cutter
cyuhders and nose the British and Ameri-
can cutters away The oficers on botS the
American and British squadrons couplaIn-
ca OF thls sort OF thing to the feet COM
fnanoers OF the French and Italian sauad-
rons. but no attention was paid 10 their
complaints. The foreign cox'uns went rislt
| on nosinS the cutters out OF distance from
the fioats.
When the Americans Got Mad.
One morning six American and British
steam cutters. filled with stewards on their
way to the shore TO buy fresh provisions.
cruised around the floats trying to make
landing, while four French and Italian
cox uns gently worked their own cutters
up and down alongside the floats. erectual-
~ shutting on the waiting cutters from
tying up The six American and Rritfsb
cutters drew away for little distance
snd and the cox 'uns Of them held a bit OF con
ference. Then they turned the noses og
their cutters straight for the inviting sides
OF the Italian and French cutters. and.
an OF them giving their tlrottles a half
Wis WIS Simply rammed the offending cut
ters for ten straight minutes They bat
tered up those French and Italian cutters
uh'ii there wasn't square foot OF paint
On me me weather side OF any Of them.
w nile this was going on n big RrnR OF
American and British tars who had been
ashore on liberty all night came trooping
DOWN to the landing to board the cutters
at glance.
They boarded the French and Italian cut
,ers' ana IN twinkling there was a mixed
ounch or French and italian cox'uns, fire
men ana coal feeders spouting stale sea
water alongside their launches These
french anc Italian cutter men were as
a.I1i,i auInbie as they were wet when they were
nhally permitted TO Chamber on board their
boats but the trouble had only begun
large body OF French and Italian liberty
men came along while the sousing of the
COX uns was going on, and they butted into
the fray. The scene that eusued was rIdic-
ulous. They were first hammered unmer-
ciIuIIy by a greatly inferior number OF
american and British bluejackets and then
chucked into the oily sea water in sets OF
fours Some OF them dragged the British
ana American opponents into the water
with them, but let go after being pasted"
few times. There were between tEirtv
and forty French and Italian tars thus
ducked during the progress OF the melee
Then. when the French and Italians had
to go aboard ship in their wet uniforms
the ''rapprochenlent" that followed between
the officers Of the fleets enabled the British
and American cutter coK'uns to make the
landing and the floats without any DIM
Guilty In the world.
Nor have the American and British blue
jackets hesitated to join forces for the
wiping out of foreign naval sailors when
the latter were on their own beaches. There
was an affair of this sort in Genoa About
100 bluejackets from an American cruiser
were ashore in that port, engaged in doing
what Is known among American memo
wars men an ''up-the-stickF act-that
is, making shore liberty on a sober tack.
Liberty parties occasionally do this TO win
wagers from shipmates remaining aboard.
There wasn't single man In this Genoa
liberty party under the influence of liquor
when the batch ran into big gang of blue
jackets from an Italian battleship. then I'm
the harbor of Genoa.
Began to Make Cracks" at Americans.
the Americans. The Americans waded
in The Italians, instead of making a far
fight of it. began to pull knives and to
heave cobblestones. and they were making
some nasty work of this sort of thing when
there was a tremendous yell right in the
rear of them, and they found themselves
surrounded by about 100 tars from a Brit
ish battleship that was also in the harbor.
The Italians then had to cease their cobble-
stone method of warfare for fear OF hitting
each other, and then the Britishers and
the Americans started In to chew them up
in detail. The funny little Genoa policemen
appeared on the outskirts OF the scrap. but
they took their belligerence out In gesticu-
lating madly. A humorous feature of this
scrap was that the American and British
bluejackets who had put their men out
temporarily lifted them up and toted them
on their backs for a block, and then incon-
tinently dumped them into a fountain
basin.
Down in the harbor of Valparaiso a few
years ago the bluejackets from an Ameri-
can and British ship anchored In that
port became engaged in mescal scrap
in the streets. They were fghting fair.
honors about even. with plenty of smashed
heads all around. when big mob OF blue
Jackets from German cruiser that had
DUST arrived in port made an attempt TO
effect a peaceable solution. They endeav-
ored, most unwisely, to pry the Britishers
and the Americans apart, and, Tor their
pains, they suffered the inevitable fate OF
peacemakers. The Americans and the
BrItishers turned the Germans as one
man. thrashed them wholesomely ana
heartily and chased them a dead run
to the water front and into the water.
Then the American and British sailors re-
turned to the place where the hght pc
tween them had been interrupted. resumed
n slugeee each other for a while longer.
declared truce or an armistlce, ana then
settled down 10 fraternizing in :he port
of Valparaiso as long as their SHIPS re-
mained there