Omaha daily bee., 1919-06-29

crew was the shrill blast from a
:ife drawn by az American musician
who was ? prisoner aboard the Brit
ish frigate Leander, Capt. Sir
George Collier, in the following
year. The fifer was a natural
born musician" as he himself declar-
cd: He came from the hills of Berk-
shire in Massachusetts where he had
been the leader of the choir and was
the official fifer" of the local Mill
tary organization. Having triumph
ed over every rival in the musical
line on land, he desired to extent his
conquests to the ocean and enlisted
in the famous private-armed brig
Prince de Neuchatel, which sailed
out Of Boston in December, 1914
and few days later was captured
by the Leander. Our fifer was a
thoroughbred American. Every
thing in America was better and big
ger than anything else in the whole
world'-and he lowed that he could
draw bigger blast from his fife
than could the Leander's fifer.
Naturally this led to disputations
with the stur dy English fifer and in
the heat of the argument the Berk-
shire champion lbefore he could be
stopped) sent forth blast that was
vcritably ear splitting Unfortunate
ly. at that moment Sir George was
inspecting the Leander's marines
drawn up at attention" on the
quarter deck. 1t was solemn mo-
merit. So quiet was everything
aboard than the fall Of a pin might
have been heard, when this ear split
ting blast resounded over the craft.
The unexpected discharge of a
hroadside could not have produced
greater CONSERVATION aboard the
Leander. Our over-patriotic musi
eian was promptly seized and thrust
into the cable tier where he was
kept on hard tack and bilge water
for three days. Such is the power
OF music.
There is no one class of profes-
sional men more susceptible to the
influence of music than the true sail
or. He has been rocked to sleep
with the lullahies of soft zephyrs he
had heard the staccato of rain drops
on the deck just above his ham
mock and he has faced the crashing
srescendo of the raging tempest. He
knows every note of natures music
Vet, with all his love for the muse.
he too frequently affects disdain.
In the days preceding our civil
war bandmaster approached Cap
tain Mervine with a request for an
additional instrument. why, sig
nor, how is thats Can't you make
enough noise without getting
piccolo?" A decade or so later, when
another bandmaster put i'll a requisi-
ton for a trombone, the old seadog
OF a commander exclaimed, Haven't
we got enough 'shootingirons' on
board this ship without you getting
, one of those sliding jointed. knock
out machines?"
And yet, it was we'll known in the
service that no one appreciated mu-
sic more than the two commanders
above quoted. 1t was the fashion in
those days for warriors to affect dis
dain for the softer muse-even
though they realized and tacitly
acknowledged its beneficial influ-
ence in their profession.
Kidnapped Music Band.
In spite of the affected indiffer-
ences of some of our early sea
commanders for music, it would
seem that one of them loved the
music so much that he kidnapped a
whole band of music. This was
Capt. Daniel Mcneil while in the
Mediterranean station on our war
ship Boston, in the year 1902. Touch
ing at Messina, Mcneil had a band
from one Of the local regiments
come aboard and play for him. He
was so pleased with their render
ings that he promptly hosted an
chor and sailed for the United States
with the band aboard, in spite of the
vehement protests of the musi-
clans that they had not made pro-
vision for the support of their taml-
lies in their unexpected and en-
forced absence.
OF course, Our government dis
avowed Captain McNeil's act and
took mea sures for "the Immediate
return of the musicians. But Off
cial action, in those days, could be
remarkably slow if need be, and
there is reason to believe that this
band made so many friends in Amer
| ica that ist return was purposely de-
layed. Anyway, it does seem little
queer that it was not until five
years later. or in 1907. that the kid
naped musicians were returning to
Europe in our frigate Chesapeake
when that ship was attacked by the
British war craft Leopard and was
compelled to return to portland
again the return of these musicians
to their Sicilian home was delayed.
Evidently these musicians had
taught Americans what real music
| was. Without doubt, they whlled
away the years of their captivity"
| in the United States by playing in
public Previously to that our mar
tial MUSIC seems to have been limit
ed to drum and fife eorps-at least,
the writer has found no record that
would indicate that the government.
previously to 1902, had established a
band of music in either its navy or
army.
Our present marine band came
into existence under the law ap-
proved by President John Adams
July II, 1898, which provided for a
corps to consist Of Is drummers and
similar number Of ffers. Without
| doubt the powers Of the day" heard
the kidnapped Messina band play,
for it was soon after their arrival
in the United States (lS02) that
Lieut.. Col Archibald Henderson,
hsd n e. Il Il sI;ag b,fIaghf mns;si,ns nsam Eur0ps
Almest as luckless as the sicilian
band that Captain Mcneil kidnapped,
was that which Captain Decatur
captured in 1872 aboard the British
fFigate Macedonian. The latter band