Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-12-01
RESENT THE SIGHTS

1.-THE great majority OF otacers. both
army and navy, keenly resent the Sights
put upon enlisted men OF good behavior by
persons to whom the uniform Is the livery
Of degradation" said q naval officer. mo
less man than Admiral Bob Evans rave.
a few years ago in San Francisco. a fine
illustration Of his own feeling in this re-
spect.
at happened in the Palm Garden of rne
open court Of the Palace Hotel. Admiral
Bobs fleet. not long back from the Asiatfc
station, was anchored In the bag, and he
was stopping at the Palace. One evening
he was seated at a table in the palm gar
den, with three or four cronies, all promi-
nent men. listening to the music of the or
chestra, when bunch Of half q dozen
bluejackets from his flagship appeared at
the entrance from the street. They were q
spick-and-span looking lot, all cold sober,
and merely curious to have peek at the
famous palm garden. The manager Of the
garden. who happened to be at the door,
waited them back with lOrdly gestures.
Strict rule of the house he told them.
No bucks or deck hands in uniform
THE manager turned, to confront the adj
miral, and the admiral looked bit hostile,
though quite self-contained.
WHATS the matter with those men?
Why don't they come in? he asked the
manager.
THE manager. who was quite well aware
of the admiral's pull at the hotel, and who
quickly perceived. too, that one of the San
t,ranciscans at the admirals table was a
big stakeholder in the hotel company,
stammered something about the rule Of
the house as to enlisted men.
Enlisted ILL., remarked Admiral Bob,
aren't they?'
The manager said that If the admiral
insisted upon it, why, OF course
Lay aft you hearties.' sang out the
appearing down the passage way
wheeling and recognizing their admiral,
the bluejackets walked back to the en-
trance IN order, saluting as they came to
a halt
g Good orchestra here. sons said the
admiral to the men, not letting them know
that he'd made any point about their get
ting In. No use steering of yet. Come
on In and hear a tune or two and Admiral
Bob led them smack to his own table,
where his amused cronies still sat.
Pull up chairs said the admiral to
around the table. What's it going to be?
and the admiral summoned a waiter.
THE admiral entertained his men for an
hour or SO, giving his civilian cronies Il
chance to pick right interesting talk out
Of the well-behaved sailormen. Nobody in
the immense palm garden was snobbish
enough even to think OF Directing to the
presence of the bluejackets.
When Commander Ingersoll was ex-
ecutive officer of the unfortunate Benning-
ton, ten years or SO ago, he figured in an
incident of similar sort in San Francisco.
An even dozen Of the Bennington's crew
had bought at one Of the hotel theater-
ticket stands seats for a grand opera per-
formance at Baldwin's Theater. Seasoned
men-o'-war's men who have served q good
deal of time on the Mediterranean station
develop liking for high-grade opera. These
bluejackets had paid S. apiece for their
seats, which were In the very first row of
ha cfro I'D
the way from the Mare Island navy yard
to take in the opera.
But when they got to the gate they
were turned back. 1t was the business
who considered that the bluejackets in uni
form wouldn't help to dress the house.
and, anyhow. the business manager was
glad to seize the opportunity to oblige some
San Francisco friends who had been unable
to obtain seats for the performance He
saw his chance to nab the sailors tickets
and purvey them to his friends.
No uniforms he gruff1y told the Ben
nington's men. You can turn your seats
in at the box Office and get your money
back
You can have the money. matey,' said
one OF the sailors, and they turned to leave
the lobby.
acknowledgements Ingerson, as he
then was, had arrived In the lobby in time
to take in the incident.
Turn in your tickets. boys. he said in
They had 10 sooner got their money back
than Mr.. Ingersoll, who was in evening
dress. stood before the box Office man.
" I'll take those twelve tickets just turned
in he said to the box office man, and the
latter. not yet having got the signal from
the opera company's business manager,
passed them over to Mr.. Ingersell.
Fall in behind me. boys said Mr.. In
gersoll. and he walked at the head of the
dozen bluejackets to the entrance door with
his own ticket and the twelve tickets Of the
men in his hand.
There are thirteen of US, he said to the
ticket taker. Myself and my guests
But spluttered the business manager
of the opera company, these fellows
Are my guests at this operate enter
tainment,' put in Mr.. IngersoIl. I have
purchased seats for them
=" And in they CO. said the manager of
the theater. who happened along just at
that opportune instant. The biuejackets
filed in after their executive officer while
the manager of the theater told the opera
company's manager a number of acidulous
things"