The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, January 24, 1897, Page 18

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, JANUARY 24, 189 The Subaltern Made Scapegoat And How the Wife of Admiral Farragut Was the Means of Re- storing a Young Man to Duty in the Navy plate frands of the yeur | d 1n nothing save the | ,484 94 to the Carnegie e officers who were respon- | lect of duty, for : Government were d the defective ships. A few -plates were dis- ed at the New- port News ya batle-ships in of con asa re-| termined | ample of some one. Four at the several steel v the de- ved, are more s irregularity, also been asserted Washington has reising due precautions. y of punishing some- m is En-| 1 T. Coieman, who has failed to es from the iness, n too busy at- maierial, and or less responsible fo to inspection of 1d be noted in this | 1 is the | ection | ! court severely and_biuntiy intir | stranding of the ship. Dickman, July 14, 1856, but the court ex- | onerated the navigator, as he proved to | the satisfaction of tiie court that he had {‘ complied with the navy regulations in in- forming the captain of the changed course, after which his responsibility ceased. | Admiral Farragut was furious, scored the ated that | some one must be held responsible for the | In consequence Master B. L. Edes was hauled up before the court and in short erder was tried, convicted and sentenced to two years’ sus- | pension. | It was not untii March 11, 1869, that | | | Captain Strong was court-martialed at the New York Navy-yard, charged with suf- fering a vessel of the navy, through his negligence, to be stranded; with having neglected to keep a night order-book from April 1 to May 30, 1868, and neglecting to heave the lead while the ship was ap- proaching land. T.e court was unable, it appears, to prove any of the charges, and | he was consequently acquitted. | In the person of Master Edes, however, | it was apparently quite in conformity to the regulations that an example had been | first place should have excluded him from even the acting position of navigator. | Master B. Edes Long, or B. Long Edes, | late misadventure in the Canandaigua was, of course, familiar to Mrs. Farragut and Mrs. Pennock, and when four weeks later a letter came from the Secretary of the Navy to Master Edes informing him that his sentence had been remitted and that he was restored to duty, it was gen- erally surmised that his courtesy to the Iadies at a very critical time had resulted beneficialiy to himself. - Nearly all of the officers mentioned in the above incidents are dead. Uaptain Strong was retired as a rear-admiral in 1876, serving a brief command of the South Atlantic squadron, and died in 1882. B. L. Edes was killed by the acci- dental explosion of a torpedo at Newport, R. L, August 29, 1881; De Long perished in the Jeannette expedition July 1, 1882; Dickman resigned from the navy Decem- ber 31, 1871; Heyerman died last year, and only Converse and Leary remain, the latter the distinguished commanding officer of the ram Katahdin. The Origin of the Zunis. The Zuni Indians tell a pretty story of nd time to attend to corre- | made, although his inexperience in the | the origin of their race. In the beginnine | there sprang up from the earth a race of men. The race increased until it spread oger all. the earth, and after existing for ENCTHE FOG LIETED. @ HE Gial i of a cap- er and & lieu- entenant-Commander ge of all in- the ( me old story in | Jing zoes wrong example by t1s made of the low- the grade who may by any means, foul, be con: d with the affair. abounds in such stories, some th bappy endingsand others ludicrous. An incideat of twent: s ago is an instance wherea baltern was made to suffer for | he faults of higher rank officers, but hap- Iy through the providential interference , women came off without any last- | ing blight on his record. | 1 1868 the United States steamer Canan- | the squadron of Ad- attached to south to join the | i\ nd Krench waters. | Her commanding officer was Captain | James H. Strong; E. P. McCrea, execu tive o 5 rk, navigator, and R. P. Leary, equipment and ordnance officer, | with Mast man and Ensigns Con- d De Long watch officers. The ative was detached, pending promo- | before the ship sailed from Venice, succeeded by Lieutenani-Com- J. Dickman. On March 8, 1868, | tor died, and Lieutenant Leary | ng the honor of assum- | ing navization duties, there were none | others in the ship considered competent | for such service, and it became necessary | to pick out an officer from some other | ship, and Master B. L. Edes, serving on the Saco, was selected. In the latter days of May the Canan- da started for the Mediterranean, and eve z went well. The captain, fond of the gooa things in life which the navy brings to a high-rank officer, took matters easy and left the ship entirely to the care of e executive, and the latter with commendable ambition took upon him- self the duties of navigating the ship. | On the morning of May 30, while the ves- | sel was proceeding under easy steam and sail along the coast of lialy, the shores of which were quite plainly visible, a sudden fog bank obscured the beautiful scenery, and the captain proceeded to take a bath, | On the quarterdeck Dickman and Edes pored over the chart and concluded to change the course, and the former, by virtue of his rank and greater experience in working a ship under such circum- mande the nav mode: stances, took command and ordered Mr. Edes to go forward and attend to the bandling of the sails by the crew. The ship’s course was changed, and in ac- cordance with navy regulations Dickman reported in person to the captain in the bathtub the change of course, to which the latter assented with a spluttering “All | right'” without lacking at the chart. In a few minutes, however, it wasall wrong, for the ship’s keel came suddenly in con- tact with some part of submerged Italian soil, spilling the captain outof his tub and otherwise annoying officers and crew, and when the fog soon after lifted the ship was found with its nosem close proximity to a peaceful and picturesque vineyard, located between Ostussi and Brindisi, at the beginning of the so-called heel of Italy. About forty miles of mountainous land intervened between the bow of the ship and the Bay of Toranto, and the short cut, however desirable as time-saving, was impracticable. After three days’ un- remitting effort, during which lizhters, tugs and boats sent from the friendly people on the coast lightened tne ship, and with a final desperate attempt the vessel and the muddy bottom parted com- pany and the Canandaigua proceeded on her voyage to England. | In conlormity with article 10 of the arti: cles of war Admiral Farragnt ordered s | nearly court-martial on Lieutenant-Commander SHIP WAS FOUND IN CLOSE presumably, a belter | as he transposed his name 1n 1862, entered | countless ages passed away again. 1 the steel | the naval academy in September, 1361, at | ea; the age of 14 years and 6 months, and graduated in October, 1865. He had, there- fore, only about three years' sea exper ence at the age of 21, when selected to | navizatealarge ship like the Canandaigua, | Arizonia, while Dickman, who took charge, six years' and the ca was | credited with twenty-two years’ sea service. However, the court took no cog- nizance of these details, but prompt found him guilty—as they generally do when the accused, in addition to low rank, lacks volitical influence—and the sentence would probably have been carried into effect to its full extent but tor the sequel. | Master Edes, on sentence being ap- | proved, was no longer an officer of the | ship and proceeded in it to England in | order to join some naval vessel bound for | the United States. Arriving in England the entire squadron, including the flag- ship Franklin, bad 8 general good time, enjoying with Farragut the hospitality of British statesmen and others who did honor to the American admiral. During the close of 1868 the Canandaigus, then at Grayesend, was ordered to proceed to | r— had | THE FRIEND France, carrying Admiral Farragut’s wife and Mrs. Pennock, wife of the captain of the Franklin, over to Calais, where they were fo take the train for Paris. ‘I'wo officers, whose names have escaped the writer's memory, but one of whom was a surgeon, were charged to look after the safety and comforts of the ladies, and the trip across the chanhel was uneveat- ful. Arriving in the French port the ladies were escorted to a hotel pending the departure of the train, and the doctor and his friend went uptown on an explor- ing expedition, with tke result that both of them were unable—or forgot—to keep their appointment, and as a consequence Mrs. Farragut and Mrs. Pennoek, after a long, anxious waiting, left the hotel and came down to the depot. There were no escorts in sight, nor was their baggage on band, and but for the opportune appearance of Master Edes the ladies would have been put io great in- convenience, The young man saw the opportunity of his liie and, working as he had never done before, got the baggage from the hotel, secured tickets (including one for himself), and escorted the iadies to theyr destination in Paris, Mr. Edes’ PROXIMITY TO THE SHORE. The th was then devoid of human life fora long time, or until the sun taking com- sion on the earth on account of its loneliness, sent a heavenly maiden to re- veople it. The voung goddess was called gnifying *Maiden Queen.” One day a drop of dew fell from heaven upon Arizonia, and in due time she bore | two children—a son and a daurhter—and these became the father and mother of the m Zunis, and races of the ear! A MODOC HEROINE An Indian Story That Recalls the Ben Wright Massacr s tribe sprang all the N the Klamath reservation, in Ore- :on, there is living an Indian woman, the wife of a white man named Frank Riddle. Her name isun- familiar to the world, her history is un- known to mapy of tnose who ses her IN NEED. daily., With only the companionship of her white-haired husband and her one son, Jeff Riddle, she lives quietly and ob- scurely from day to day. She was born over fifty years ago there in the southern partof Oregon, among the dismal lava beds. Her father was chief of the Modocs, a man of exceptional bravery —tall, strong and well built. They say that he was bandsome and fleet of foot; that the women loved and the men feared bhim, and that this daughtes, wnom he called Wi-ne-ma, was like him. However that may be, it istrue that when Wi-ne-ma had reached the age of 15, Frank Riadle, a young man who had leit his Kentucky home in search 6f rold, fell deeply in love with her, and they were married. Wi-ne-ma had aiways had a strong lik- ing for the white settlers, which was not shared by her father nor the others of her tribe. Her marriage strengthened her re- gard for Ler husband’s people : stie spared no pains to keep peace and prevent blood- shed, and this, mark you, was not an easy thing to do. The Indians hated the white men. Their sense of wrong was keenly developed. A treacherous race themselves, they feared treachery from otbers, and tbey looked with disfavor upon eyery move of the new settlers. In 1850 a band of adventurers who had come West for gold cansed disturbance among the Indians. A few months later the Indians retaliated by swooping down upon them and putting them all to death. As an outcome of this, Ben Wright, atthe head of a number of whites, started for Yreka fully determined to punish the In- dians forthe death of their countrymen. The country was rough and hard to travel over. The Indians knew every inch of the way and they gave Ben Wright's mena hurd chase. Finally they resolved to meet together and make a treaty; a truce was declared and the opposing parties went into camp at some distance from each other on Lost River. On the morning of the day on which the conference gas to be held a young squaw hurried into the camp of tue white men and asked to see Ben Wright. She was a pathbetic sight as she was led before him. Her feet were bare and torn by rocks, her garments were rent, her dark bair hung unkemnpt about her shoulders and her face showed signs of weariness. ‘When asked what she had to say she burriedly exolained that her people out- numbered his, three to one. She told him that the night before, at the council fire, she had learned that while their €hiefs were conferring with the white men they had planned to surround the whole party and kill them. Then Wi-ne-ma, for it was she, refusing to remain a second longer, for fear her people would find that she had been there, stole away back to her lodge. That day the white men went into am- bush and surrounded the Indians. Only twoescaped the slaughter, which is known to history as the Ben Wright massacre. During the years that followed the Mo- docs, like all other Indian tribes in the West, were given a reservation and com- pelled to live thereon. They rebelled against the loss of the wild freedom they had enjoyed. They could not hunt, their lands were appgopriated by the hsated whites, whom they had failed todrive out, the treaties which they made with the Government were repeatediy broken and they were not strong enough 1o avert the punishments that followed. All this time Wi-ne-ma stayed dmong them. When they armed for strile she took their weapons from them, and when she herself could not calm them she warned the settiers and omficers of the army and sougat to have the trouble righted. After twenty-one years had passed the Modocs had become stron: again. There had been small outbreaks during this time, but apparently they were sub- dued. The older chiefs, however, had not forgotten. The fires of revenge had been only smoldering. They kept the Ben Wright massacre with all its terrors fresh in the minds of the younger braves. At last they determined to even up their ac- count by slaughter. After hostilities began the Government sent peace commissioners 10 confer with the savages, but the latter refused to meet them. The only white man whom the Indians had any faith in was Judge Elijah Steele. Although they refused to meet the peace commissioners, they con- sented to meet Steele and two other men and to give up their arms to them on the following day. At the appointed time Steele and the other men were at the place agreed upon, out there wasnot an Indian in sight, so they returned to the military camp. Steele then consented to interview the war chief alone. He re- paired at night to the Indian camp, and had an experience that was frightfully unique. While Captain Jack and a few others sat around the fire taiking, part of the time in Knglish, to Steele on the sub- ject in hand and considering terms of sur- render—in their own langua-e the rest of the time they were-actually discussing the advisability of murdering their visitor. Steele understood their language suffi- ciently well to know what they were say- ing, but he did not betray his knowlecee, and they finally decided to spare his life, that he might bring the officers and peace commissioners to confer with them. Colonel Meacham, who was in charge of the military post at the Klamath reserva- tion, had done all in his power to alleviate the wrongs of the oppressed people. On account of his efforts he had won the gratitude of Wi-ne-ma. At this time Wi- ne-madid all in her power to persuade Meacham not to go to meet the Indians. When she found Lerself unable to restrain him she followed on her pouy. ‘When Meacham arrived at the appointed place he was atiacked by Sconchin, an in- turiated redskin, Wi-ne-ma threw herself upon her countryman beggine him to spare the life of her friend. When the other warriors came up she ran from one to another, turning aside their weapons and begging them not'to shoot. A bullet, however, struck Meacham, rendering him senseless. Then Wi-ne-ma declared that he was dead to prevent his being shot again and snatched the knife with which a brave attempte! to scalp him. The Indian struck her a blow, which dazed her. Realizing that she could no longer control her peovle she bethought herself of a last resource ard cried out that the soldiers were coming. The savages beat a hasty retreat and soon a detachment of troops did appear. \ ‘Wi-ne-ma nursed Meacham back to life, although he always remaincd a cripple, broken in health., She helped him to reach his wife and family in safety, and then returned to her husband. The colonel never forgot fer faithful- ness, but did all in his power to aid her peopls during the remainder of his life. After his death the brave little woman en- dured many hardships, but lately the Gov- ernment has come to her assistance and granted her a pension of §20 a month. Wi-ne-ma certainly hes a history that any woman might be proud of. She is the only woman in the United States who is drawing a pension for so much heroism and bravery. And the faded calico gowns and the little cotton shawl that she wears about her head are not what we expect a heroine to wear. Perhaps the lodge in which she lives and her manner of living are not just what we might enjoy. But Wi-ne-ma’'s life has been worth the living. JEAN MoRRIS. The Pope’s Dominant Jrait. My friend, Paul Bourget, defines the American as "*a man who invariably uses the newest method.” This is also the dominant trait in the character of Leo XIIL Within the measure permitted bim by a heavy chain of traditions, he does not hesitate to grasp the most modern weapons in defense of his ancient faith; and this deliberate boldness ex- plains his nanelxnl for the American character. But iif those very innovations which most alarm his timid advisers, he is conscious of being far less an innovator than a restorer of forgotten traditions. He relies upon the examples set by the great Popes of the middle ages, who, in their day, came down to the marketplace, stirred the crowds, and led the people on to new horizons.—Vicomte E. Melchior de Vogile, in the Forum., ¥ Doing Big Business Without Money The Go-Operative Labor Exchange Claims to Have Solved the) Money Problem by Dismissing Money Entirely 4 HERE is a large wholesale business bouse down at 322 Davis sireet that 9 has done a business of $28,000 with- in the last eight months, wholly without money. Nor is itin debt for onedollar. It expects to go rizht along doing business in exactly the same way—withour money It has grown from a very small affair, lo- cated out on Tenth street, a year ago, to its present healthy proportions by the same methods, and bases its future expec- tations upon what it bas accomplished. It claims to have solved the ‘“Money ques- tion”” by dismissing money entirely—hay- ing nothing to do with it. Tb1s business concern is the Labor Ex- change. It is nota mere local co-opera- tive affair. Tie Labor Exchange is a National institution that, in spite of the sneers and prophecies of failure tbat it met at its inception and that have fol- lowed it along its course, seems to Lave reached a point where it may demand respectful study and consideration. The idea upon which it is founded is e very simple. Its purpose is to employ every man who has an opportunity to pro- duce anything by finding a market for the product—to find some other man who wants the product and who has some- thing to fexchange for it. It is by this means that the use of money isdispensed with, Itis worked in this way. for instance, wants a barrel of flour. zets to work and makes a whole lot of shoes of the value of the thing he wants, takes them to the exchange and receives the flour. if he wants something that is not in the exchange—for instance, if he wants a new set of teeth—he is given a A shoemaker, check or checks of the value of the product he leaves there, and goes away to some dentist who belongs to the exchange and who therefore will accept the:checks for his work. The dentist is not required to take the shoes in exchange for his work—the checks wiil be accepted at the exchange for anything there in stock. Noris the dentist even limited to this. These checks are ac- cepted by a score or more of other busi- ness houses in almost every line of trade, s0 wideiy has the movement spread. So that Labor Exchange checks are com- ing into seneral circulation and serving not merely as a substitute, but in some respects as an improvement upon money. They are an improvement to the extent that they serve all the purposes in iacili- tating excnange without being subject to taxation. That question has been raised at Wash- ington—the institution has reached such proportions as to have forced attention at Washington—and the Attorney-General declared that inasmuch as the checks were not redeemable in legal tender they could not be taxed. No, toat is just the difference. Every check of the Labor Exchange found in circolation represents some product of labor. They are redeemable in labor or the product of labor and nothing else. That is the whole scheme. The leaders in the Labor Exchanze movement are fond of telling a story that 1llustrates their theory or pian as well as anything can. The people of the island of Guernsey felt the need of a big market- place. They did not have the capital to put up the necessary building, and it was proposed in their Council to issue bonas, send a commission to Paris to sell them and with the capital S0 raised do the thing they desired.. The Governor of Guernsey, however, was along-headed feliow and something of a new-fangied financier him- self. He said: *If vou wish to build a market for the French people that is the very thing to do. If you wish to build a market for your- selves it is a very foolish thing.” “But how are we to build the market?” said the Councilors. *“We have no money.” “You have plenty of men to do the work, have you?" “Qh, yes; there are many laborers who need employment,” they said. “You have the timber necessary and the stone and other materials on the islana ?” *Ob, yes; plenty of it.” “Then why not go to work and build it? You haye'all that is necessary. Why go in debt to the French people for what vou youfselves have? See, if you borrow the money to put up this building you will have to do all the work just the same and when it is finished you will uot own REHOUSE OF . THE BIG He | it. More than that you will have to pay interest on the debt. That will consime a large part of the revenues of the build- ing when finished, so it may never be paid for. Instead of issuing interest-bearing | bonds, which other people will gladly ac- cept, why not issue notes without inierest and accept them yourselves? The notes may be made acceptable by the town for rentin the market when it is ready for business and in this way wili redeem themselves.” The Governor's advice was taken, the market-house was puilded, the notes cir- culated at par during the process and afterward until they all finally found their way into the town treasury. The market- out the employment of money or without the pavment of one cent of interest. This is the plan upon which the Labor Exchange is working. 1t has met with great difficulties, chief of which is doubt as to the possibility of getting its scheme cn a stable footing. As it grows this | doubt dissolves, of course, before the proof | furnished. Branches are heing established | all over the country, and especially in the | West. - There are flourishing branches in this State at Fresno, Ventura, Red Biuff, | Visaiia, Bakersfeld, Tulare, Eanta Maria, Eureka, Platn, Carpenteria,* Santa Paula | San Diego, Stockton, Oakdale and adozen | other places. These exchange all manner of goods | with each other. There are such things as socks and cigars from as distant a | point as Reading, Pa., at the Davis:street | Exchange, broom handles from away &t New Whatecom, Wash,, fruit extracts from Fresno, us well as fruit from as far south as San Diego. A consignment of shirts and overalls is being negotiated for witha branch in Ohio. A lot of dried fruit was yesterday shipped to Idabo Falls, Idabo, in exchange for pork. and groceries were sent to Armona, in Kings County, in ex- change for dried fruit. The branch at Red Bluff is putting up a spicemill, the branch at Los Angeles is putting up a shoe factory and the branch at Olathe, Kans., is building a gristmiil. The branch at Salem, Or., is a step in advance of all the others and indicates the high-water mark of a movement of which the Boston Transcript recently said : Under the sarface of all this storm over silver and gold, there is in progress a remark- able movement which probably not one Bos- tonianin a thousand has ever heard of, and which tnreatens to absorb utterly in & few years all labor and financial and social reform movements. Itisihe Labor Exchange. These organizations bave undertaken to build a raiiroad on exactly the plan upon which the people of Guernsey built their market-house. Subscriptions of $100,000, | not in dollars, but in land, materials and provender, have been subscribed,and these will be pledged for the rails and roiling stock, things that cannot be secured with the exchange checks. All the labor, the ties, etc. will be paid for with these checks, which will be accepted for traffic charges when the road is completed. The road to be built is a strip twenty-five miles long, extending into the prolific farming country of the Willamette Valley. The movement will shortly be amplified by the issuance of Checks against real estate for what imbrovements may be made upon it by labor. In other words, a member of the exchange owring a lot may have a house built upen it by other members, who will accept the real-estate checks. The plan is that of the building and loan association carried on without money—and without interest. The checks would be issued by the exchange and made partly redeemable by it for proven- der. The house, being built, would be owned by the exchange—tbat is, by every member of it. The rent from it (pre- sumably paid by the man having it built) would be paid into the exchange until it amounted to the sum of its cost. Then a deed would be given to the new owner— exactly the Guernsey transaction over again. This featute of the movement will not be developed before spring. The man- ager of the big store or exchange of branch 26 at 822 Davis street is Henry Warfield, who has been attached (0 the movement since its introduction ia this City less tban two years ago. The head of the Labor Exchange movement is G. de Bar- dini of Inaependence, Mo. In a book pub- lished 1n 1889 he explained his theory. It was taken up by some workers at Paff- town, who started a brick works by the honse bad been built and paid for with- | simple issuance of their own checks. The brick works are going yet in a fuil flood of prosperity, the only change 1n their plan being a sabstitution of the checks of the central exchange, which has since or- ganized. The success of this initial un- dertaking has been repeaied in nearly everv State of the Union, and the move- ment keeps growing until, as stated by the Boston Transcript, it bids fair to ab- sorb all other labor reforms. A meeting is tobe held this evening at Fraternity Hall, Pythian Castle, 909 Market street, under the auspices of branch 96, at wi ich L. 8.Clark, the State organ zer, will make a report of the result of his travels for the past year through tie State and explain the present status of the movement in the West. The meeting will be an open one, the public being welcome. Tallest Schoolboxj on Earth. He is the largest boy on earth, that is of his age, of course. CO-OPERATIVE ESTABLISHMENT ON DAVIS STREET. He has lived sixteen years on this man- dane sphere, and in that time he has at- tained the height of 6 feet 6 inches, and weighs 180 pounds. Not oniy that, but he keeps on erowing and gaining in weight, and every day adds something to hisgiganticstature. ‘This wonderful young man is a native of San Bernardino, where he still lives, and where he attends the public schools. His name is Mervyn Newberg, and he resides with his parents, who are well-to- do citizens of this place. Mervyn always was very large, even as a very young boy; but at the age of twelve he began to gain in weight and stature so rapidly that it was said you could almost see him grow. Now when he passes to and from school with his classmates, peoe ple who are strangers in the town turn and stare at him in utter amazement, for his face betrays his youthfulness. But Mervyn is not only large physic. ally, but mentally he is surprising. There is not a better student in the schools. He is not only the wonder and admiration al‘ his schoolmates, but a continual surprise and pleasure to his instructors. Unlike most physical wonders, his bran is of fine quality and extremely sctive, Adtogether the world should hear of this young man before long, and not through advertisements of a freak show- mnbeilher. | . et St e