October 30, 1920
“A sailor’s life, it is a merry life”¦”
”“ Fairport Convention
K.W. Cross (19), C.J. Terry (20), and R.P. Cullison (18), had been sailors for only two months when they came to the conclusion that a sailor”™s life wasn”™t so damned merry after all. In fact, each of the swabbies was positively desperate to get out of uniform and back into civilian life, so they hatched a plan to get themselves discharged from the service.
The young men had heard that if they were arrested for a crime, their naval careers would come to a screeching halt ”“ so they burglarized a small tobacco store at Fourth and Hill Streets. They made no attempt to flee following the crime, and were busted at the scene by Police Detectives Simpson and Jarves.
It”™s possible that Cross, Terry, and Cullison were naive enough to believe that once they”™d committed a crime, they”™d simply be cut loose from the Navy and put back on the streets to pursue merrier lives. If so, they must have been very disappointed. Although they were immediately discharged at San Pedro as expected, all three youths were then taken into custody, and confined in the City Jail for six months each on the burglary rap.
We hope that the former mariners embraced Samuel Johnson”™s philosophy, and enjoyed their stints in the city slammer…
“No man will be a sailor who has contrivance enough to get himself into a jail; for being in a ship is being in a jail, with the chance of being drowned… a man in a jail has more room, better food, and commonly better company.”
”“ Samuel Johnson