Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-03-05
OMAHA DEWEY ON The OHIO
Local Youngster Now Cruising in Troubled
Chinese Waters.
DEPUTY COUNTY CLERKS SON TELLS OF LIFE
Busy Times on Shipboard, with an
Inside View of Foreign ways
and some Incidents Of
Interest.

Queen of the United States fleet i'm Chi
reese waters at present is the battleship
Ohio. which is also the flagship of the feet
In case Of Il diversion with the Chinese
growing out of the present somewhat
threatening condition of affairs, the Ohio
Will be one of the most influential factors in
settling the AFFAIR properly. On the Ohio
at present is an Omaha lad, son of Deputy
County Clerk Frank Dewey, who has been
on the Ohio now tor nearly two years. At
present he has the rating of seaman and
remarks he considers the berth pretty
good birthday present, coming as IL did
Just about the time OF his nth anniversary.
Young Dewey says in one of his last let
tors that the chief gunner on the Ohio was
then expecting to got the worlds record
for gnnnery He has the after twelve
inch turret. the one 1 am in" says the
writer. and adds. III he does, you bet l
will feel good"
He protests about the mails being de-
layed Uhe Ohio was then at Cavite. p l.,
where 1t has been cruising around since
last November), and says they cannot
imagine why. Waiting for word Of the
home folks becomes irksome to the boys,
for, says Dewey in one letter to his mother
There is not much going on here now eN-
cept working parties ashore. but soon as
we have record target practice I guess we
are going back to Hong Kong" The Ohio
has since been ordered to Hong Kong
Boy Life I'm the Navy.
Besides the dull times in Philippine
waters, the jackies on the American ships
have the same trials as the most prosaic
landlubbers. Il have just paid s24 for hav-
In my abnf 10 nj IIaI
says the boy, without any comment He
also remarks in one letter that they had
just arrived at Marking. China, from Che
foo and Woosung, where the men in the
first section got shore leave, but as he is m
the second he had to remain on shpboard
After three days there (Nanking) il was
IT, anchor at 2 bells in the morning and
proceed up the Yangtse Kiang. We were
within a mile OF shore all the time, and
sometimes within twenty-five feet. The
river is something like the Missouri at
home-a sandbar here today and tomorrow
none. The pilot has his own troubles
After leaving Woosung the country is al
most mud fat.
The valley of this river is depended
upon by China for the greater part of its
rice for export and it is nothing but rice
fields, huts with about six families living
in each) and canals. the latter for sam
PANS and for irrigation purposes.
Brush with River Pirates.
Il was upon the forecastle the other even
ing and some sampans were coming down
the river. We did not pay any attention
to them until they came almost alongside,
when We discovered they were river pirates.
They had small gun mounted on both
sides. During that night dropped
anchor OF a place the first 1uff,' called
Pigtown. because of the droves on the
banks. bright lookout was kept all night,
as some OF these river pirates surprised
a German gunboat up here about three
years ago and killed all but one man, They
make "A bomb which we call stink bomb,
and when these are lighted they give OF
an odor no white man can stand. When
they attacked the German gunboat they
threw these bombs aboard and suffocated
all but the one man, who got in one of the
sails aloft above the stink. or course there
is no danger of them attacking one OF these
ships but the commanders are always on
guard.
Moving Up the River.
Next morning all hands called at ). up
anchor and up the river again. At o'clock
we passed the Kiang forts, which arc pretty
we'll fortified. They have batteries on top
of Ave mountains. besides the smaller ones
at and near the base. The Chinese flag
was hoisted in the forts when we passed
and the sentries ON duty saluted us After
passing the forts the country is mountain
Gus and the landscape is swell. We passed
two other sets OF forts before arriving at
Nankng. the old capital of China. We
can't see anything of the city from the ship.
1t is inside of a great wall. Everything
in China is behind wall, The tombs here
are interesting
The trip back down the river was unin-
teresting, says young Dewey, as we were
breaking out gear to coal ship This was
done at woosung. while lying alongside
the good old Oregon and two Chinese
cruisers mot much)."
In. q letter written early in October last
SeomsV Dewey enclosed the programs OF
two concerts given on the Ohio, October s
at Chin Kiang Flu, and october : at Nan
king. FOR Alice Roosevelt" There are
six numbers on each program and BAND
master Genovese made some snappy Sc
lections, among the pieces rendered being
''Yankiana," which, it can easily be
guessed, made Mrs. Longworth think of
home"
Ont of the Way for visitors.
An incident Is mentioned, when Miss
Roosevelt and the Taft party were visiting
the ships, which evidently put some of the
sailormen out a, bit. They were ordered
from one part of the ship where they
evidently would much rather have re-
mained, 80 that some Of the visitors
could have nice little tete-a-tetes, as some
of the lads put it," II is rather limited
that the night of the kind when
moonlight tete-a-tetes would be very pop
ular, even on the other side OF the world.
Nothing is said in the letters from young
Dewey to indicate that the crews OF the
STRONG AS STEEL