Evening star., 1925-07-12
CRAICE-SOLDIER OF FORTUNE
BY FREDERIC ]. HASKIN

On July 80 Maj. Gen. Letune,
comman ndant OF the Marine Corps will
lose a most efficient aide de camp.
That is the date that Capt. John II.
Craige sails for Haiti to begin two
year detail as commander in the
Haitian gendarmerie.
1t devolves upon the Marine Corps
to police Haiti In 1916 the United
States went into the island to main
tain order after a revolution in which
the President had been decapitated.
had his arms and legs hacked off, and
| had been dragged through the streets
of Port au Prince by mob of his
naked subjects who prodded and
cudgeled what remained of him with
clubs. The marines were sent. After
a squad or two of them had defeated
the entire Haitian army. so-called, the
natives learned TO respect the white
man from the States and order was
restored.
The Haitian gendarmerie was or
ganized II is composed Of native
| troops and is the conStabulary of the
| island. This organization is officered
| by American Marine officers. Hence
Capt. John II. Craige L. s. NJ. c..
| sailing south July 30.
! Capt Jack is a fascinating personal
| ity. From the halls of Montezuma
| only fought his country's battles on
| the land and on the sea; he has fought
! his own and adventured in countless
ways He has followed the highway
! that has no end. and has watched
| the ships of many men sail on all the
! seas. He has crowded into his 80.
! odd years a Kaleidoscope series of ex
| periences which stamp him as the true
| soldier of fortune.
In
| noon-for Capt. Jack is a writer as
| we'll as a fighter-you will find him
at a round table in one corner of the
; dining room giving half dozen
| scribes discourses on almost any sub
! ject There will be tales of prize
[ fighting i'm France. of cowpunching
/ in Oklahoma. of soldering in Central
! and South America, of city editing
| Mr.. Munseys Philadelphia Times. of
! press-agenting the Marine Corps. of
| being the worlds first flying war cor
respondent, of wrestling in the Olym-
| pic games and so on ad infinitum.
, These are his personal experiences.
He early answered the call of ad-
venture and took the long roads. His
| mother wanted him to be a minister.
| His father thought he ought to be
| a civil engineer But he wrecked
| the parental plans at the age of Is
! delphia home.
| A Long Journey to Norfolk.
| His destination was Japan and he
| got as far as Norfolk, Va. after 2s
| days sailing. This was because
| terrific storm played havoc with the
!, square-rigger he shipped on. The long
! cruise around the Horn and visions
! of cherry blossoms faded and the ad-
| venturous boy quit the ship in disgust.
| While seeking work in Norfolk he
was apprehended by his father and
| sent home to go to the University of
| Pennsylvania. Swarthmore claimed
, him for his athletic ability. and he
/ went there to play end on the foot ball
! team. one of the best in the United
| States.
He tired of college, however, and
turned to hoboing. Up and down
! America he roamed, mining, plowing
harvesting, punching cattle, hiring as
mule skinner. working as freight
| brakeman. He made IL trips across
the continent and paid not one cent
| OF fare.
| One day while herding cattle in
| Oklahoma he spied a newspaper
thrown from a passing train window.
He read it while riding his broncho
and found that the United States
wanted athletes for the Olympic
games in London. This was in 1905
He hoped the next freight train 60
ing East and qualified as a middle
weight wrestler. The match in Lon
don was a rough go. Capt. Jack was
thrown. but he found he could fight
and went to Paris.
He took the city by storm and
punched his way to the championship
of France. This was all right until
Sam McVey, the slugging American
negro, dropped over to France and
challenged him. A cold suddenly de-
veloped ard he went to Nice for his
France, but Capt. Jack had tired OF
Europe and came home to pound
typewriters for, newspapers.
He went West to report the Jeffries-
johnson fight and remained. San
Francisco intrigued him and he went
there only to get into fight in which
he was hit on the head with a coal
scuttle. During this melee he COM
pletely wrecked the dance hall in which
the scrap took place, although he re-
ceived a broken jaw and lost few
teeth.
Covered the Madero Revolution.
Up and we'll again, he went to Mex
leo to report the Madero revolution
for a syndicate. Everything was fine
until the syndicate went broke and
Capt. Jack found himself in the pop
ping republic without so much as a
dime To beat the circumstances he
went to soldering, which took him
through Mexico, Nicaragua, Guate-
mala, Honduras and Colombia.
When the first ominous thunderings
of the European storm that broke in
ll914 reached him he hurried back to
the States. He helped organize the
Navy League, and then went to
France with the 11th Marine Regi-
lment.- He came home captain.
Since then he has been aide to the
commandant of the Marines and di-