Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-09-02
UNCLE SANS NAVY
IN THE OLDEN DAYS

0'clock announced that the court was ready
to proceed to trial. They sentenced him
to receive seventy-five lashes with the cat
upon his bare back
"Riyes was fiogged in accordance with
the sentence. He was firm, strong, robust
man OF daring courage, and in receiving
ms punishment he never moved limb or
prided himself upon his firmness and a
murmur OF admiration ran through the
ships company, who plainly showed the
looks and actions their pride at seeing him
take his punishment in such good style.
rs
And they gambled heavily. as they
drank and fought nightly, In the old navy
In the thirties an officer OF one of the
frfgates a young southerner, gambled away
three plantations In a three years cruise
In the period Immediately succeeding the
war Of 1872 the American naval officers
were the most notorious dueliSts who sailed
the Mediterranean and seldom made a
port-never British port-that they did
not meet. each other or some foreign officer
on the field of honor The famous De-
catur was chief of the duelists and was al
ways consulted by the youngsters upon any
affair of honor
Once an American midshipman in uni
form leaving the theater in Malta was JOS
tied by a British army officer, also in uni
form. OF course. nothing but blood could
happen after that The mdshipman was a
boy. barely sixteen, and a VIGOROUSLY poor
shot. But Decatur offered to act as his
friend and carry the challenge. He so ar
ranged the matter with the friend of the
British officer that the principles exchanged
shots across billiard table and the boy
killed his man.
Decatur himself was destined to fall in
duel growing out of an incident at a thea
ter. Commodore Barron-then captain
was in command OF the frigate Chesapeake
when she allowed herself to be searched by
the officers of the British frigate Leopard
Years after the war Of 1872 Decatur, being
at theater in Washington, a friend said
TO him: Come with me, l want to introduce
you to the daughters OF Commodore Bar
rom
% I don't care to meet the daughters of
coward replied Decatur. and turned away.
+
The incident was reported by some one
TO the commodore, who promptly challenged
Decatur and killed him on the celebrated
dueiing grounds at Bladensburg. Decatur
was only forty-one when he was killed. but
his years had been crowded ones.
"Dueling was SO common In the Ameri-
can navy In the first half of the last GEN.
fury that the midshipmen. some of them
mere boys of twelve and fourteen, used to
go out before breakfast and shoot at each
other with pocket pistols. When the COM
mander of the Pacific squadron, In 1912.
tried to get these young gentlemen to sign
an anti-dueling pledge he almost created a
mutiny. and the boys of the Yorktown re-
fused point blank to have anything to do
with such milk and water nonsense.
These youngsters used to get drunk and
fight with their elders and. though, accord
ing to all accounts they must have been a
tough lot. out of them came our most cele-
brated naval heroes.
1.-THE capacity of midshipman In those
days was something marvellous. A midship-
man boy of sixteen or so-being sent to
the masthead for some OfIeQge hoard
the old frigate United States, his mess
mates managed to hoist up a bottle of
whisky to him. The boy drank the whole
quart bottle and was still able to come
safely down from his perch when the time
of his punishment was up, though he was
reprimanded for being hilarious.
well. well. how we all have reformed, to
ps surs!''