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Note: Chapter on Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Sr., from TWIGS AND BRANCHES, my online "book" posted to my web page:
A TALE OF ESPIONAGE: CASSIUS BARTLETT BARNES, SR.
My grandfather, Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Sr., was born on January 1, 1872. Family tradition says that he was the first baby born in 1872 for the state of Arkansas, which is where his parents, Cassius McDonald Barnes and Mary Elizabeth Bartlett Barnes, were living at the time. His childhood was spent in Arkansas (except for a period of time when he attended the Racine Prep School, in Racine, Wisconsin), until 1889, when his family (which then included younger brother, Harry, and younger sister, Bess) moved to Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory. His father, Cassius McDonald Barnes, had been appointed Receiver of Public Monies for the Land Office in Guthrie, when the Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory were opened for settlement. Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Sr. (or Bart, as he was called) served as clerk in the Land Office during part of the four years that his father managed it.
When the Barnes family first moved to Guthrie it was a raw, rapidly developing pioneer town, springing up from nothing virtually overnight. Guthrie's early beginnings were as a water stop for the railroad, and the railroad continued to hold major importance for the area, both as a means of transportation in and out, and also as a means of communication with the rest of the world at that time. Mail and supplies for the burgeoning town were often delivered by rail. Family tradition says that the railroad had a more personal impact on young Bart as well. Soon after their arrival in Guthrie, he apparently was down by the station when a train pulled into town. The horse on which my grandfather was riding at the time was startled by the noise and commotion the train created, and unexpectedly reared up, throwing my grandfather off, and causing him to break his arm!
On September 7, 1891, my grandfather was appointed Naval Cadet Large at the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, reportedly the first person to attend the Academy from Oklahoma Territory. Thus began a long and distinguished military career, as is evidenced by his military record, a copy of which my father received after my grandfather's death. He graduated from the Naval Academy on June 3, 1895, in time to see service in the Spanish-American War. He was commissioned an Ensign on July 1, 1897, steadily advancing in rank throughout his career, until his first retirement from active duty in July 1912, at which time he was made a Commander. As well as the Spanish-American War, his military record states that he saw service in the Philippine Insurrection, and the Boxer Rebellion in China, earning the Spanish Campaign medal and the Victory medal.
In 1896, Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Sr., was lucky enough to be transferred off the MAINE on the night before the MAINE exploded in Havana Harbor. Throughout the course of his career in the Navy, my grandfather served on about twenty ships. Being the son of a former Governor of Oklahoma Territory, and thus a prominent local figure, there was a movement that supported him for Commander of the new battleship, OKLAHOMA, as well. Several newspaper articles of the time dealt with the subject. On September 1, 1910, an article in The Leader, Guthrie's newspaper, reported:
"It is expected by Oklahomans that [Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Sr.] will command the battleship OKLAHOMA when it is launched at the end of four or five years. The Oklahoma delegation in congress has been promised that one of the new Dreadnoughts will be christened OKLAHOMA, and already Congressman McGuire of the First Oklahoma district has taken up with the Navy department the matter of Barnes being its commander. By the time the ship is launched, it is explained, he will have advanced to a rank where he can take charge of the ship."
Unfortunately, that position on the OKLAHOMA never came to pass for my grandfather (for reasons unknown to me), although he did serve as Executive Officer on several other ships.
His Navy career was often colorful. The same article quoted above also described an incident wherein my grandfather kissed the hand of the Queen of Portugal, stealing the opportunity from a Spanish Don who was secretary of the Spanish legation, to which the hand had actually been presented:
BARNES KISSED THE QUEEN
Lieutenant Commander Beat Spanish Don to Honor
Was Later Presented to Amelie
Event Occurred During Charitable Celebration in Lisbon
"It was...in Lisbon, several years ago, that the incident occurred," was the reply of Lieutenant-Commander Bart Barnes, U.S.N., the only Oklahoma naval officer of any high degree, when asked recently regarding a rumored story that on one occasion he had kissed the extended hand of Portugal's queen mother, when instead it was extended to the secretary of the Spanish Legation.
"It was a big day in Lisbon. The Portugese were celebrating some historic event, and in connection therewith the kirmess was being held for the purpose of raising funds for some charitable undertaking. It had been arranged that the queen would attend during the afternoon, and for a time occupy one of the booths and sell to eager buyers, of course, the articles in display.
Our fleet had been at Lisbon for some time, and among the friends that I had made was the secretary of the Spanish legation, a young Don of extremely prominent family, who it happened was a close friend to Portugal's queen. I was with him on that afternoon that the queen was expected to occupy one of the kirmess booths, and the entire populace was awaiting eagerly her approach.
Finally her coming was announced and standing beside the Spaniard, I had an opportunity, which I made the best of, to witness everything that happened and to get next to, too, what was the program in saluting the queen. She was a beautiful woman, queenly in every respect. As she walked down the long line of citizens that had assembled she was smiling and recognizing acquaintances, and when a person of special favor was recognized she would approach and extend her hand for that person to kiss. Her glove was turned down from the back of her hand, leaving exposed a very pretty hand, I assure you.
I had watched the proceedings until I became greatly interested and even enthused, and she was getting nearer to us all the time. When she finally reached us, she quickly recognized the Spanish secretary of legation and smilingly approached him and extended her hand. To this day I have no idea what made me do it, but quickly before the Spaniard could take the queen's hand to kiss it, I reached forward and seized it, and bowing as I had seen others do, kissed it.
The queen smiled graciously, of course, recognizing my uniform, but the Spaniard was thunderstruck. He seemed to believe that I had acted discourteously, and suggested my only way out was to be presented to her majesty. I liked the suggestion, and immediately accepted it, asking him to present me. This he did afterward when we entered the booth where the queen was seated. She spoke excellent English and a conversation followed that interested me greatly."
After going on to recount some of the highlights of my grandfather's military career to date, the article closed with the following statement:
"Of many incidents, however, [Barnes] says kissing the hand of Portugal's queen is among those always most pleasantly recalled."
In 1905, my grandfather served as flag secretary to Admiral Sigsbee. It was in that capacity that he traveled to France to bring the body of John Paul Jones, the great Naval hero, back to America. John Paul Jones' body was placed in a crypt at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, where it remains to this day.
Not every aspect of his military career went smoothly, however. A San Diego, California, newspaper article dated July 25, 1910, reported the following:
"NAVY MEN WHITEWASHED
Officers of COLORADO Exonerated for Running Her Aground
The board of inquiry which investigated the grounding of the cruiser, COLORADO, in the harbor last Tuesday night exonerated Captain W.A. Gill and Lieutenant Commander C.B. Barnes, navigator of the vessel. The fault, according to the board, lies in a misleading buoy, near which the cruiser grounded."
Perhaps the most interesting and exciting experience my grandfather had during his long military career, however, is one that does not appear on his official record. His official record states that he retired from active duty on July 2, 1912, with the rank of Commander. It then continues with the notation that he came out of retirement and returned to active duty on March 26, 1917, with the official explanation of the reason for his return being that he was needed to teach modern languages at the Naval Academy.
My father (only child of Commander Barnes) told a much different story about that time period in his father's life, however, one that was corroborated by other family members as well, even though none of us could ever obtain official verification of it from the Bureau of Personnel.
Family tradition relates a tale of espionage for that time period in my grandfather's life. During the period in question of 1917 to 1919, the United States was just becoming involved in World War I. It seems that my grandfather (who was fluent in several languages, German being one of them) was actually brought out of retirement at that time so that he could serve in Naval Intelligence. He was reportedly sent to Rio di Janeiro, Brazil, where he was to impersonate a German (one family story says his role was as a businessman; another says he was to pretend to be a hunter), in an effort to try to gauge German sentiment there regarding World War I.
For a time, everything apparently went along just fine with this impersonation, and my grandfather "spied" on the German community quite easily. Gradually, however, the real Germans with which my grandfather associated in Rio di Janeiro started to become suspicious of him. According to my father, my grandfather thought that what might have blown his cover with the Germans in Rio was the fact that he had inadvertently switched his knife and fork while cutting his meat at a meal one time, and began eating with his fork in his right hand. This is, of course, the American custom, but not the way true Europeans do things! One night, the story goes, my grandfather retired early and pretended to sleep, but instead eavesdropped on his companions, and apparently confirmed the fact that he had been found out, so he immediately fled. There reportedly ensued a chase on horseback through the jungles outside of Rio, and it appeared that his pursuers would indeed catch up with him. At one point, however, my grandfather apparently saw his opportunity, so reached up to grab a suitable tree branch as his horse went underneath, allowing his horse to continue on without him. Fortunately, this move went unnoticed by his pursuers, although they did wonder where he had disappeared to, reportedly stopping for some time just under the tree in which he was hiding to discuss the situation!
When he finally decided that it was safe to do so, my grandfather then had to make his way to the coast, skulking around through the back streets and slums of Rio in the dead of night, keeping under cover until a ship arrived to pick him up. He was apparently not allowed to get in touch with the American embassy, or any members of the American military during this time.
Of course, we have no "official" confirmation of the veracity of this tale of espionage. My father's curiosity about this time period in his father's life (before he was born in 1922) was such that he tried several times to get an explanation of it from the Bureau of Personnel. However, as late as 1980 (some 60 years after the incident in question) the reply that he received regarding that time period on the military record of Cassius Bartlett Barnes, Sr. could neither confirm nor deny the family story. Perhaps, therefore, this story is fact; perhaps it's fiction. We may never know, but it certainly sparks the imagination!
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