Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-04-15
STRANGE MEETING

=
''Seafaring men. as rule. have mighty
small idea of the size of the globe we're
living on. and those who have been going
up and down the world for good many
years possess the facts and Instances to
justify their impression that the earth Is
a dminutive sort of an affair, after ALL.
observed al officer of the navy.
"Old man Currie, a machinst in the navy,
who will be well remembered by a great
many naval officers who are now middle
aged. had great many experiences during
his long service. and clinched his belief
| that the world was only poor affair in
| the matter of size.
"Old Currie. whose service dated away
back to the epoch of compound engines and
propeller wells, was stationed at Annapolis
for a good many years. and he taught many
MILDLY now grown grizzed the difference
between a deck pump and ventilating en-
| CINE. Currie used to always carry with him
on board ship as part of his iunnage an old
| fiddles upon which. when the smoking lamp.
was Ut. he'd scrape The Rakes of Kildare
| Soldiers JOY, Irish Washerwoman' and
| other Hfhernian whirligg tunes, and that
old fiddle is part of the story.
| 'One forenoon, about eighteen years ago,
one of the packets of the old navy, that had
been on the China station for a long cruise,
pulled alongside the dock at the Mare
Island navy yard. with her homeward-bo
pennant in ribbons from couple of ty-
phoons she had encountered on the long
drive across the Pacific.
| All hands. fore and aft, of course, were
| WHO to get their feet once more on United
States soil. The ship hadn't been locked
| for half hour before the word was
| passed that all hands of the starboard
| watch could go on three-day liberty.
old man Currie belonged to the star
| board watch, and SO he was one of the
bunch of a hundred and odd men who went
over the side for bit of leg-stretching
| down in San Francisco.
Maybe there were a dozen or SO of sober
men in the party by the time the gang got
| on board the ferry at Oakland to cross;
over to San Francisco, and maybe there
were not Anyhow, old man Currie was
sober. He never drank. He held the most
riotous of his shipmates down best he
could. but when they got over to San Fran
cisco side he broke loose from them; for
there isn't much peace to be had by
sober man with a gang of frst-liberty blue
jackets who have been on foreign sta
ton for three or four years.
On the following morning old man Cur
| rie-who had on the previous night seen his
tumultuous Shipmates raising blaZes all
over San Francisco-went down, soon as
he had breakfast, to the first precinct sta
ton house. to see what he could do toward
getting out the assortment of his Shipma ties
he knew he would find in the cells there
This had been the kindly practice of old
man Currie for great many years. to get
his shipmates out of civil quad when he
his clothes and passing over every cent he
had for the purpose-big- hearted, old rosy
checked boy that he was.
THE desk sergeant at the downtown sta
ton house. impressed with old man Curries
perfect sobriety and his solicitude for the
welfare Of his shipmates. treated him kind
ly and showed him back to the cells, to
give the old machinist chance to identify
the eight or ten of his mates who were
locked up there.
'Currie walked down the line and called
their names on Most of them. having been
nailed but few hours BEFORE were slum-
ber1ng more or less peacefully on the cell
benches. The desk sergeant told old man
Currle that only two or three of them had
had any money when searched, which was
natural enough, considering the number of
thugs there were and are In San Francisco
who make a business of preytng upon blue
Jackets and sailors of the merchant marine
We were some crowded this morning.
SAID the desk sergeant to old man Currie,
and so had to chuck one of your boys in
with civilian, fellow who was picked up
on kearney street with helpless bun and
who had been rolled by some cheerful work.
err before we got him.
THE sergeant took old man Currie to
this cell. where the machinist quickly iden-
titled his shipmate, sound asleep in a corner
of the cell.
Lying on the cell bench, with his face
catching small ray of light that sifted
through the cell window, was the civilian
He was finely built man and wore a long
brown Newmarket coat of rich material,
but despatched with that clinging San
Francisco mud. The rest of his clothing
was of fine material and workmanship, but
soled and disordered. His white silk ascot
tie was torn at the apex. where a pin had
been wrenched from it. His wavy gray
hair was touSled, and a ruffled silk hat Law
under the bench.
''Oid man Currie looked al the civilian for
moment and gave start.
Just let me in there for minute ser
geant,, will your he asked the desk cop.
The sergeant unlocked the cell door and
old man Currie stepped in. The old ma
chinist didn't awaken his shipmate. but he
shook the civilian prisoner by the shoulder
Hey, there, Joe-oh, Joe-its all hands
In the mOrning-turn out said old man
Currie to the civilian.
THE sleeping man awoke and turned his
pulled but very handsome countenance
toward old man Currie without a sign of
recognition on his features.
Get up, Joe, and well take turn in
the affairs fine as wine outside this
morning, said old Currie to the man, and
the civilian sat up and stared at the old
machinist.
"'Whatu 1t take for forfeit to get him
OUT? Currie asked the desk sergeant
Plain drunk-three bucks replied the
sergeant
''Currie dug into his bandana full of gold
coin, paid the way out for all of his ship
mates and that of the civilian. and all the
bluejackets were aroused and lined up in
front of the desk. The bluejackets thanked
the old man, and went their way.
1.-The old machinist waited for the civil
Ian. who walked forward to the desk room
like man in daze. The sergeant told
him that the old machinist in uniform
had paid for his release, and the prisoner
nodded his gratitude. He was apparently
too down at heart to say anything.
Then he and old man Currie walked
out and made for Turkish bath. The
civilian recalled and recognized old man
Currie as soon the machinist revealed
himself. Currie went to the civilians ho-
tel and brought lot of clothes to the
Turkish bath.
when the civilian emerged from the
bath, Strengthened out and cleaned up, he
was a remarkably fine-lOoking individual.
He smiled over old man Curries talk, and,
in smiling, displayed one of the most ia
nous sets of teeth in the world.
"Well, old man Currie took Fritz other
wise Joe Emmett, up to his ship at Mare
Island that afternoon and showed him his
old fiddle
"''Member this fiddle, Joe?' Currie asked
the actOr-singer
Emmett did remember the old fiddle 1t
had been Emmet'S own fiddle when he was