The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, November 26, 1899, Page 24

Was a [T\ajor *ald, “T am James Robert pose want to write me ; well written up he looks 45, and nothing mizzenmast. I w felt a breatt ard of the main- yok everything she struck over- dst of the confusion the Chi ok managed to get aft. He rush, e cabin and bawled out at my wife masts all gone; sails all gone; ; evelything » din- e M nd found that told the truth.” Captain Holmes recounted his Thanks- giving reminiscences not as vaguely re- membered dreams by apy means, but he Jived them again with the enthusiasm of long ago. iperstitious? Oh, of course: ail sallors are superstitious.” Then, With an y wife hurried on the Chinaman had getting an honorable discharge. to leave the army with a better record than I did before.” he sergeant alludes to his repentance e past only In speaking of the hum- Jixty-Jhree Jhanl;égiving _Days at *but do y really ¢ tance, € u know, there 'r about one of their whims, and that is the ‘black cat’ bugbear “We were off Montevideo, near the La Platte. We had been becalmed there daye. I had a kitten ibout which the sailors had done lking. One day some gulls d the ship and the ed into the channel | Kit- ir- close iddenly a d darted near 3 gave a little spring and over she No effort was made to save her; 1 t6 see her go and 1 about it until half an hour , when a spanking breeze sprung up and some e sald ‘We have luck now; the cat's overboard.” Sure enough, we had it, too. fter crossing south in the Atlantic we made Ban Franecisco in forty-six duys—a record that since then has never heen equaled—and the sailors claim it was the hoodoo cat which be- calmed us.” Captain Holmes laughed heartily at the popular superstition, then suddenly grew grave. “Can you imagine,” he con- tinued, “hearing your ship down upon & dismested ship—a wreck with her crew I want ble hopes of the future. A=A il ‘;&y a5t Il - The proud and sensitive nature vells whatever of turbu- lent feeling there may be beneath the calm exterfor, and the hesitancy and deli- cacy with which he avolds direct allu- Jea. who shift at the rn them out? That fourteen years ago on deck—a of pumps had w se Yauting six weeks out of New York when we nd the Kurachee adrift with nine feet of water in the hoid. The men had been at the pumps night and day and were giving up hope when the Charmer hove in sight. flag fluttered One lttle white in the breeze and when we got near enough we saw a sight that we | are not ifkely to f were on their knees offering up thanks to God for their dellverance. The men were crying like little children for very Joy. ““When 1 arrived in New York on the next trip I found a very handsome gold goblet awaiting me. It was a present from the English Government bearing the date of the Kurachee crew rescue. But that rescuc was no deed of bravery worthy of a medal, still I am proud of #t because it is the only Thanksgiving present I ever received.” And this s the story that the world's oldest shipmaster tells, the skipper who has spent sixty-three years on the deep. Thirty-five men sions are the only evidence of his Inner #elf. The unmistakable bearing of the West Point graduate and the reticence of Sergeant Wasson nip pointed questions in the bud, though & kindly manner {nvites Interest. The photographer was taking a snap- shot of the color guard, and he was called to join the group. As he stood there. his splendid physique outlined against the rough background of ship masts and ropes, his appearance was strikingly ftary a ldierly. It was not then d ficult to identify Sergeant Wasson of the Forty-sixth with Colonel J. R. Wasson, chief engineer of the Imperial amry of Japan, the incumbent of the chair of eivil engineering in the Imperial University of Toklo and a member of the Imperial Order of Merit. In place of the simple three-stri eeve of his uniform, it was easy to imagine the imperial decoration of the Rising Sun. It was less casy to think of him as tne man who, sixteen years ago, proved faltn- less to & na al trust—as the inventor of the cunning but unavalling trick with which he endeavored to ward off the pun- ishment of his crime. It was this who, sixteen years ago, startled the occu- pants of a Texas train with the news that his satchel, cc 000 in Govern- ment funds, had stolen from under 18 be He and his clerk left the train, telegraphed the officers, organized a posse and retraced t to find the satchel but cut open at the ure gone. The fever of the gambling table had got into the br of Major Wasson, and he had been startling all Galveston with his reckless venture: was doubt- ed. He wi rtialed and dismissed from the army and sentenced to two years In prison, which he serve That, they say, was how a military ca- reer In the armies of two governments, meteoric in its brilllancy, was ended in disgrace and dishonor sixteen years ago. But the end was not yet. An appeal was made to Secretary Root a month ago in ‘Wasson's behalf, and he was so convinced of the sincerity of the man's contrition, and admired his pluck and ambition to such an extent that Wasson has been per- mitted to enlist as a private in the army from which he had been ignominiously dismissed, with the quiet and unostenta- > railroad track, ¢ locked on top des, and the treas- tlous purpose of “serving honorably getting an honorable discharge The Forty-sixth have nized his personality and his e ity. Within the month he h moted to the rank of sergeant, special honor of being a color guard. He on the City of Sydn When questioned with the son of Gen geant grew communi “We were classmates with the member of the eailed with his regiment 8 s to his friendship ser- West Po! friends. at and we have aiways been The papers are wrong In their idea t I helped him through the academy h his examination v are wrong, entirely wrons. It we were classmates and friend all.” Sergeant Wasson is modest ®=qd loyal to his friend. Tt is a matter of tradition at the academy that Fred G dull E 18 at the h school and was intellectual and dright as his friend was it is a matter of tradition .also thet Fred Grant was pa- tiently ajded and pul 1 his four yvears at the academy devoted friend, and tradition also that it was through the nfluer of Sergeant Wasson that the professors of the acade- my were enabled to compromise the mat- ter vith their consciences and grant the son of the President his dfploma.” “Is it not true that you were the pro- tege and particular friend of General Grant himself?” ““The general had the kindness to inter- est himself in me. It was through his influence that T entered the Japaneso army—In fact it was upon his advice and by his kindness that I was endbled to go to Japan at first. It was not done through the gratitude of the general for my sup- posed kindness to Fred—that Is absurd.” Sergeant Wasson has a mother away back In Iowa, he told me. with tears in his eyes, and there was a look of tender- ness on his handsome face. When I told him he had been photographed he asked me to send one of the photos to her. “She is the dearest old lady, with white hatr—" The sergeant suddenly broke off, sighed and gave me the addre “Mrs. Julia A, Wasson, Stanhope, lowa. He comes of a good old German family of Iowa and he 1s pre Se met Bingham, s court from mance ir the ud of the fact. 1t Was rer in was the or he was a man circles to which him open sesame. ve He spe 1 before--while T was still in he sald, g fondling the silken flag the honor of t ng which is accorded him nest n evinced by onors of the preser in comparison with the reckless careless- ness with which he threw away the high lces of the past It s considered a special told me, appointed col Itisap of to be all he added wi moted ser; listed.” active Among the th sengers on the City of Sydney : many who are ambitious of distinction, but there are none to whom their ambition is more precious than that of S Wasson. Besides the friend of his now Brigadier General G outh, who s ant, Sergeant son expects to meet many r friends in the Philippt for k widely knowr 1 iiversally 1If Colonel Walter bitter humiliations n' service. It is a serious offense for an officer of the army to speak with one who has been dismissed from military position and from the army unc the circum- stances which attended the sergeant's dismissal, unless upon matters of an ofi- cial nature. Just what will happen when the- lowly sergeant meets the brigadier general is a matter of Interesting conjec- ture, but it is safe for one to predict that Now Color Sergeant ip the orty-Sixth - Regiment mg A even NAN —_—ee——— An Alaskan jrome. BYX A e in . g2 & F s his 1 how oy * p its of the mour forever and where where t pirit of If-Culture Magazine for N s me exists. ember. Rappy 1dea of a Cage to R. SHELBY MARTIN, the banker, is certainly a man of resources, and as the patter song In “Mikado” runs, he “has devised a plan whereby younsg men may best be steadied,” that s, very young men. The young man who has developed a1l this latent talent in Mr. Martin is his hopeful son and helr, John Westley Martin, aged about 3 years. Mr. Martin's troubles began when he gave up his comfortable home in this city and moved to Oakland for the winter. His family physician sald the baby must have more fresh air and a th.:‘:‘n‘:fi r::t in the dirt, otherwise he coul - swer for his health, and as the baby did pot seem to be abnormally rugged, Mr. Martin, like a devoted husband and a doting father, moved to Oakland. He rented a swell flat on Eighth street and settled down for a few months of peace and quiet, where the chirp of the cricket and the croak of the bullfrog harmonize sweetly with the hum of the trolley car. Mr. Martin found everything just as the obliging real estate man had prom- ised. The climate was all right, and the dirt for the boy to play In was there in abundanci Then there was the con- venience of having a trolley car pass the door every five minutes. The baby's health began to improve rapldl not so with his parents, for they were gradually being worn to shad- During ows from constant watching. business hours Mrs. Martin and the housemald had to stand watch and as they do on board ship, in or- rescue that boy from under the wheels of the trolley car, and when Mr. Martin came home In the afternoon he had to stand his watch. h‘n-u- br&ngg: things to the point Wwhere patien ceases to be a virtue, and the head of the family set his wits on some scheme to overcome this constant worry. He consulted all the neighbors without suc- cess; then he tried the commuters. crusty old bachelor advised him to tle the boy to a tree. Sheriff Martin sald he would lend the banker a pair of le frons, with the further suggestion tha it might be a good idea to place a rlng bolt in the sidewalk, then fasten _the frons to the ring with a chain just long enough to keep the boy clear of tha track. But somehow none of these sug- gestions seemed to please Mr. Martin very much, and Mrs. Martin considered them just brutal. watch, der to One ‘day, in order to give Mrs. Martin a much )nPelX(‘d rest, her husband said he would take the boy to the circus, and while enjoying the wonders of the menagerie they finally nrrh‘!tl_ in front of the monkey cage. Of course the li- tle boy clapped his hands in delight when he behel the playful beasts. “Oh, papa,” he cried, ‘see what a nice little playhouse the monkeys have, and they can't get out on the rallroad track, so ever get whipped for running Lucky star! Surely there was an in- spiration. As soon as the show was over r. Martin hurried home and informed his wife that he had struck the correct solution for their problem at last. ‘‘Never mind what it 1s,”” he exclaimed with sup- Keep the Child ressed excitement; “fust tell me where can find a carpenter. I will show you in the morning what I mean to do.” When the carpenter came he was ordered to build a simple mon cage in the front yard. Mr. Meyers, a neighbor, said he would look into that matter as’ soon as it became known to him, for he, too, had a child who was taking a try at dis- puting the right of way with the trolley company at least ten times a day. He thought he would bufld one himself. “Never mind that,” sald Mr. Martin; “it ren Safe. is to be 10 by 12, and quite la: eny for both children. - i The v da ited Oakland Mr, ter the cirous had vis tection like cha begin at hom was a workin and now e Weasley Martin three and four monkey cage, ir parents think proper them, as the reader may see by the pho- tograph. A Playground That Holds the Youngsters Secure From the Trolley Wheels.