The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 2, 1901, Page 11

THE SUNDAY CALL. 11 ution. On the his mother de- one member which was 2 s v in that e “the old look after n! vy Depart- and without fing 10 Richmond 124 been badly for Robley Fisher. »egan in the vhere for a noon the and naval we were off, i pulling for unopposed abo with the ce of firemen t Prest, ont. and th ¥ marines, who e rebel fire until the cut.ass and revolver, order to charge was ur long run of sand. we approached of the fort and The rebels seemed to and almost before ed manped the para- with 2600 muskets. ssaulted, so the ted its fire on us. illets the ma- £ the rifle pits m, and did not organization In the as- and many of the r the column of safl- COPXRIGHT 1901 BY \ APPLET O 8 co \ V = =5) TH ) ) the whole row of fal n was flat n on the men ass of men went down like calle and they responded i stantly, starting forward as as t could go “At about 300 ey ¢ down, this time ur eftc ter added to t Ag lied them. and once more started he front under a t hail of lead. with men_@ropping eve: We were now the voices of said need not be w ticers were pulling their eyes, for it to look at the of parapet, and minutes more we to work and mak we had sufferea. Up and at ’Em, Though Wounded. uld get our cutlasses p for the fearful los remains of the t one particular shooting at me, and dred vards away I “As we approa stockade 1 was : when we were hit me in th , about three inch below the kne so great that sand. I gota pocket and with my clascmate, H the blood, and again went to the front as fast as I could About this time the me e stum- bling over wires, which the with their knives—they proved to be wires to {he torpedoes over which we had charge: Lut they failed to explode. My left le seemed asleep, but I was able to use = The stockade, or what remained of it, was very near, and I determined to lead my ccinyany by a flank through a break in it, and then charge over the angle of the fort, which now looked very diflicult to climb. 1 managed to get through t stockade, seven others, when my sent a bullet through e, and I realized that my going was but it w ter which had to be 1 reard some one say, are re- r and looking back I saw our men Lreaking from the rear of the columns All the officers, in their to the fort, had to the heads of the columr ving no one to steady the men in be. kird; and it was in this way we were de- feated, by the men breaking from the recr el reating. 1 y to be the fir: happened, but life. As the men retreated down the beach they were gathered up and put into the to oppose Eragg, and there i until after the fort was Of the eight of us who went ins stcckade all were shot down; K] the ane, coler bearer of my company, was halfway the parapet when he received his dceth wound Shot Again, I Got Mad. “When I received the wound in my right knee I began at once to try to stop the flow of blood. 1 used for the purpose one of the half-dozen silk handkerchiefs with which I had provided myself, but I was so ured and weak from loss of blood that I was some time doing the trick. In the meantime my sharpshooter friend, about continued to shoot addressing me in forcible but uncomplimentary lan- guage. At the fifth shot, 1 think it was, he hit me again, taking off the end of one of my toes, tearing off the sole of my shoe, and wrenching my ankle dread- fully. I thought the bullet had gone tbrough my ankle, the pain was so in- tense. “For some reason. I don’'t know why, tigs shot made me unreasonably angry, and, rolling over in the sand so as to face niy antagonist, I addressed a few brief E KAISER'S VISIT TO THE NEW YORK coPYRIGWT 1901 BY D APPLETON & CO to him. and then, just as some d him a freshly loaded musket, ing at his breast. I krew all I should kiil him if T shot not intended to do so untii he s me in the toe. My bullet a littie high, riking the poor chap roat And passing out at the back neck. He staggered around, after ropping his gun, and finally pitched over parapet and roiled down near me, rere he | ol il “I could s pile the time t at him, feet as they projectel . and from thelr pos!- bad fought his last hat he Near me was lying the cockswalin v boat, Campbell by name, who had r ball through his lungs. and was t bleeding’ to death. When he the result c m hot he said, ‘Mr. let me c 1 over and glve that — - another shot’ He was dead al- most before I could tell him that the noor fellow did not require any further atten- tion from us.” It was not until after the victory been wen that 3} had Evans was rescued from the dead thai surrounded him, He w so badly wounded that the doctors charge of the hospital decided on ampt both his legs ivans, however revolve and swore that would shoot the half dozen sawbones who dared to approach him. Threats were where supplication had been young hero was nursed ba both legs Intact. dhece ; in the hospital that Evans heard for the first time an accurate ac- count of his company’s losses in the fight at Fort Fisher. Out of the sixty-two men in that company fifty-four had been efther killed or wounded. -All the officers from his ship had been wounded. The naval brigade as a whole had been frightfully punished, but they had done what was expected of them—drawn the garrison from the point selected by General Terry for his assault, thereby aiding the army to get in. Stopped Threatened War With Chile. Ev was in command of the gunboat Yorktown in Valparaiso, Chile, in 1591, His brusque promptnéss probably pre- vented w between Chile and the United e United States Minister, Pat- r gar been charged with -a breach of neutrality by favoring Balma- ceda’s party during the revolution then raging. The Americans were consequent- ly very unpopular. At Valparaiso some of the populace had assaulted the boats’ crews of the United States ship Balti- more, killing two of them and wounding many more. The United States had de- manded re tion. The Chilean Govern- ment, on its part, had protested against the sheltering of political refugees in the quarters of the American embassy. Thus matters stood when the Yorktown ar- rived, and the Baltimore was ordered home. Captain Evans tock the refugees on board his own ship and declared they would be protected there even if this re- sulted in his craft being sent to the bot. tom with all on board. The Chileans showed their animosity in all sorts of pet- ty ways. One of their favorite tricks was to run their torpedo boats about the ship, using her apparently as a target. At last one of the boats missed his stern by less than six feet. Captain Evans went to quarters at once and gave orders if one of them even scratched the paint on the Yorktown to blow the boat out of the water and kill everv man in her, so that there could be no question of an accidental collision. T then saw the officer in charge of the drills and told him that he certainly had great confidence in the steering gear of his tor- pedo boat; that if anything should jamfso that one of them struck me I would blow her bottom out. He replied that the water in the harbor belonged to his Government and that he proposed to use it for the purpose of drilling his boats. I answered that-1 was fully aware of the ownership he had stated, tut that the Yorktown and the paint on her belonged to the United Staces, and that neither must be defaced by his torpedo boats. After this incident they did not run at us so much, tnough the newspapers encouraged them to do 0. The following entry from his journal is interesting, as showing his feelings at ths time: “Saturday Night. February 6.—A mall Is in, and I have nice letters from friends commending my course at Valparaiso; very satisfactory, but 1 wish the news- papers would let me alone. Why should they call me -Fighting Bob? Some of them say they must take my statements with larze grains of salt.’” But gen- erally they seem to commend me, which, if one must figure in them, is the best way; but as I see my duty I shall do it, hoping for the approval of the Govern- ment. When they send me orders I shall try to follow them. Some of the letters sdy, ‘We are waiting for you to stir up the war,” and ‘he writers will never know how near I came to doing it. Looking back at it now I am glad I did just what I did and in the way I did it. I would not change it if I could. Of course, I could have ‘stirred up the war,” and it may be that people would have justified me, but I could not justify myself. In the discharge of my duty I gave the Chileans a_fine chance to fight if they wanted to, and the odds were enough in their favor—nine ships to one. But they backed water every time, and I maintained a dignified and resolute position. Not Afraid of Great Odds. “Of course, if they had provoked it T should have engaged their nine' ships without hesitation, and the chances would not have favored my getting the York- town out of their harbor.” Evans, in command of the battleship New York, was present at the ceremonies attendant upon the opening of the Kiel canal, Germany, in June, 1835, and as the representative of the United States was selected for special honors by Emperor William. He Lad an interesting experi- énce at a reception given on board one of the German battleships on_the Sunday after the arrival of the Yankee ship. When he went over the side he found a large company dancing. Not being a dancing man himself he stood to one side to be out of the way and entered into con- versation with a clean-cut looking Ger- REAR AD man captain, who spoke English perfectly. It was soon evident that he was bril- liant in his profession, and the pair en- gaged in a rather sharp professional talk. Evens did not agree with the captain, whose name he had not caught, and did t hesitate to speak his mind—mor did the stranger. After a time he sald he would be glad to present Evans to his wife, and the latter found her a very charming and attractive woman. Of course, he had not caught her name, either, and, after talking with her haif an hour, he noticed that a good many people seemed to be waiting to speak to ber, so he took himself off to the smoking apartment to enjoy & cigar. When he en- tered Admiral Knorr greeted him and said: ‘‘Evans, the Prince says you are a good fellow and he wants the Emperor to know you.” Evans replied, “My dear ad- miral, T haven't seen the Prince and don’t know him.” “Well,” he said, ‘you ought to know him; you have been m““nrg shop with him for half an hour, and don’t know what you have been saying to the Princess during your conversation with enirt “I had been talking with two of the most delightful people I ever met, Prince Henry and the Pnincess Irene, without knowing in the least who they were, and T certainly told them both exactly what I thought about the different things we discussed. The Prince was in his uniform as a captain in the navy and commanded the vessel on which the reception was given, I afterward saw much of both of them and was indebted to them for much courtesy. and the better I knew them the more I saw”/in them to admire. It was no doubt owing to the courtesy of Prince Henry that his brother, the Emperor, gave me such marks of his distinguished con- sideration. The Princess Irene came sev- eral times to the New York and seemed always interested and pleased with her visits.” § The evening of June 26 was the crucial test. The Emperor, Prince Henry and ten admirals had acceoted an invitation to dine on the New York. Here is the record Captain Evans made in his diary: Called to Action at 2 a. m. for the Emperor. “When the Emperor came on board L had the men and officers massed aft on MIRAL ROBLEY D. EVANS COPYRIGHT BY D. APPLETON & CQ ano vAnoeR wevos the superstructure and in the gangways, and as soon as Admiral Kirkland had wel- comed him I made a short speech, recit- ing that we had the champion twelve- oared cutter of the American navy, and asked on the part of my crew the honor of naming her after his daughter, Victo- ria Louisa. He was really touched by the compliment and, taking my hand, granted my request most graciously. As soon as I could I turned to the crew and called for three cheers for the Victoria Louisa, and then three cheers and a tiger for the Emperor. 1 don't think he ever heard such, cheers before. It was a very vretty episode and gave our dinner a good start. ‘“‘As soon as we sat down the Emperor said: ‘How »nleased the Empress will be when she hears of tuis. You must have your boat and crew photographed and send the Empress one.” (This I did on my return to New York.) “The dinner was one of the most de- lightful I have ever seen—a perfect suc- cess, and George, my steward, who bossed the ‘entire affair, is as proud as a pea- ceck. “At 1 a. m. the Emperor expressed a desire to visit and inspect the engine room. And so we did. He looked into every hole and corner, and even had us disconnect one of the engines, marking time on us himself. Then we went through the gun deck and out on to the forecastle, where he asked how long it would take to close all water-tight doors. I replied that in the daytime we could do it in thirty seconds, but at night it re- quired about two minutes. Much to my rise, he asked if I would mind doing it for him. Of course 1 had to say ves, but when I tried to blow the siren, the signal to close ‘water-tight doors, there was not steam enough and the blessed thing would not blow. The Emperor thought he had me and said, ‘Now, you see, captain, you can’t close your bulk- heads.’ But he did not know everything. I sald, ‘You will see in a moment, sir,’ and I touched one of the general alarm ‘buttons, which calls all hands to quarters, and- in a few seconds the men wer swarming up like rats. o “The Emperor took the time himself, and in one minute and a half the entire ship was readfr for action, with all water- tight doors closed. It was 2 a. m., the royal standard 4t our main and the searchlight of the Columbia turned on it, L E JORIHIS LIFE S MIRA VA N the ship ready for action, and the Em- peror complimenting the captain on the forecastle. I find myself in some funny positions. “When we went aft, where every one hear him, he said, ‘Captain Evans, ot imagine that a ship could be in condition.” Very nice -for all of He left the ship just at 2 a. m., and all Germany has been reading accounts of it since.” Captain Evans relates how surprised he was when at 5 o'clock the same morning his orderly called him out of a sound sleep to report that the officer of the deck said the Emperor was just then passing the ehip, steering his own cht. His only reply was, “For heaven's sake don’t stop him! He managed to get one eye open, and, looking out of an air port in his cabin, discovered the Emperor, dressed in white flannels, steering the Meteor, bound for an ocean race, and looking as if he had never taken a drink or smoked a cigar in his life. As to the impression made upon him by the German Emperor, Admiral Evans tells us that he found him one of the most magnetic and companionable of men —with one or two exceptions, the most magnetic. “He knows more about more different things than any man I have ever met. When I was in Kiel my band was playing music composed by him, and cn my cabin table was a book of poems written by him. He was the head and front of the finest army in the world and at the same time giving his personal at- tention to what must some day be reck- oned one of the leading navies. Receiving Captain Eulate’s Sword. 1 have left myself a small space to quote from Admiral Evans’ vivid aceount of his share in the battle of Santiago. Perhaos this is just as well. The events of tnat battle are so fresh in public memory that they are less novel than other parts of the book. I shall content myself, therefore, with his story of the surrender of Captain Eulate, commander of the Vizcaya, who came alongside of his ship in a small boat: ““That was a sight,” says Admiral Ev- ans, “which I shall never forget as long as I live. In the stern, supported by one of our naval cadets, sat the captain, cov- ered with blood from three wounds, with stained handkerchief about his him sat or lay a dozen or more wounded men. In the bottom of the boat, which was leaking, was a foot or so of blood stained water and the body of a dead Spanish sailor, which rolled from_ side to side as the water swashed about. “The captain was tenderly placed in a chair and then hoisted to the deck, where he was received with the honors due his rank. As the chair was placed on ihe quarterdeck he slowly raised himself to his feet, unbuckled his sword belt, kissed the hilt of his sword and, bowing low, gracefully presented it to me as -a token of surrender. never felt so sorry for a man in all my life. Of course, 1 declined to receive the sword, or, rather, I instant- 1y handed it back to Captain Eulate, but accepted the surrender of his officers and men in_the name of Admiral Sampson, our commander in chief. My men were all crowded aft about the deck and super- structure and when I declined the sword the brave hearts under the blue shiris appreciated my feelings and they cheered until I felt ashamed of myself. “As I supported the captain toward my cabin he stopped for a moment tust as we reached the hatch and, drawing himseif up to his full height, with his right arm extended above his head, exclaimed, “Adlos, Vizcaya! Just as the words assed his lips the forward magazine of &!s late command, as if arranged for the purpose, exploded with magnificent effect. Captain Eulate, a sensitive, passionate man, conducted himself in a way to elicit the admiration of all who saw him. After he had been attended to by the surgeons he occupied a part of my cabin and did all in his power to aid me in making his of- ficers and men comfortabia’" PENDENNIS.