The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-11-13


meut OF the Revolutionary var. S:A.ue
have been scI up 10 heroes of that ,ia,
whose csreeIs were less uaitoimly fIi-
umpbant. anG monuments h.ve perp. (
uated the ms mory Of deeds less valcI
Gus.
Indeed, the verv ulster of this cnu.
bat has thrown into partial eclipse the
full record of the services rendered lay
John Paul Jones to the Americsu
ciuse. Many persons, letsely well
versed in the b. [ ~ of the struggle,
We wont TO lock upon J Iaes a heI
Is the hero of single g:eat schiyt
meut than as the commander in More
than a score of successful naval expen-
dItions and engagements. Bonn IN q
| maritime village of Sc, t!aud in 1747,
his name being originally John Z, vi,
and the surnam. Jones afterHaTd ad ded
the outbreak of the revolution iouud
HIM in Virginia, whittier he came in
boy hood. Having almost constantly
engaged, from the age OF twelve, in
sesfsrirg life, he promptly gave his
services Is tie COLONIES, his CONN g.
sion ss Ii, utenant dstI. z d cembsi %,
177j, near IGuE years before his Combat
with II Straps. Assigned as ia. / lieu
tenaI to Capt Saltonstal.'s thirty-gun
ship, the Alfred, flagship of Connie
doIe Hopkins Dslsware river squadron,
he soon after received the command
of the sloop Providence, twelve guos,
with which he made no fewer than six
teen prizes 10 short cruise off the
North Atlantic coast. He was reward
ed with captains commission August
8, 1776, and soon after, in command of
the Alfred, rsvaged the Cape Breton
coal-carrying and fishery trade, taking
four prizes into Boston. The following
summer he received command of the
Ranger, q new eighteen-Eun ship, (his
preceding vessel had been altered from
q merchant vesseD, built at Portsmouth,
N. H. Ia this ship he descended upon
the coast of ScotlsnT, his most memoir
able exploit being bold swoop upon
Whitebaven, and during the cruise he
captured the s,oop-of-war Drake, with
a crew OF two hundred men, largely
exceeding the number of his own, TAX
ing his prize and prisoners into Brest,
where he was received with great hon.
or.
The Ranger having been sent TO
America by the American commits on
ers in Frsnce-FraDklin, Desne and
Lee Jones, in February 1919, received
the command Of the Duras, an old
merchant vessel converted into a war
ship, and rechristened by him Bon
Homme r chsrd, in compliment to DIR.
FrankiID's Poor Richard, already ia
nous IN France as in America. In this
ship, after some alterations to increase
armament, be saiied from L'Orient the
following August in command OF fleet.
Although not few of the officers. and
men in this fleet. made up as they are,
of various natiOnalities, mostly Euro
pean, showed signs of nut ny, his en-
ergy so IA controlled and il s, ired the m
that in SIX weeks time twenty SIX
prz had been mn he off the e,st coast
of England, whose maritime towns aud
villages were thoroughly alarmed. The
boldness of this venture upon British
coasts In two successive years is sppar-
ent. lis GROWING success was at
Marlborough II FAD, on the memorable
day already mentioned, when Jones, in
the Bon Homme Richard, forty-two
guns, accompanied by two French a.
lies, the Hsllas, Capt. Cottiheau, and
the Alliance, Cap.. Landais, deserted
the Scraps, carrying fifty guns, and
the Countess of Scarborough, twenty,
conveying a large baltic fl sct, and gave
chase. Action was joined on bright
moonlight night, near Scarborough,
whose people witnessed the combat.
We need not rehearse its famous de-
tails, nor do more than recall Jones'
rally, when two of mis- old eighteen
FOUNDERS being burst, causing great
loss of life, and having been thereupon
hailed by the S,rapis - know if he sur
rendered, Le answered: 81 haven't
yet begun to Eight" When the Ssrapis,
after combat at close quarters nearly
three hours, struck soon after ten
o'clock at night, the. Bon Homme Rich
ard was on fire 10 two places, had seven
feet of water in her hold, had nearly all
her guns dIsmounted. and was little
better than a wreck. FIRST lieutenant,
afterwards commodore, Richard D ile,
took charge of the surrendered Scraps,
to which the remnant of the crew of
the Bon Romme Richard was trans
ferred next day, and after the conquer
ing ship sank to the bottom.
The honors showered on John Paul
Jones when he arrived in France with
his two prizes Qor the gallstn Cottineau
had also captured the Countess of Scar
borough, whereas the Alliance, under
Landais, had rendered little If any help,
some authorities even claiming that she
had fired Intentionally INTO the Bon
Homme Richard), the sword and deco
rations gwen him by the king, the vote
OF thanks, the command of new
seventy-four, and the gold medal con-
ferred on HIM by Congress, and the let
ter of praise from Washington, show in
what honor this sailor was in that day.
1t would be strange of the hundredth
anniversary of his chief, but by no
means his only, service, should fail to
find his name held in grateful reme-n-
Observation-Disclosures none the less de-
served from the fact that the subse-
quent naval service be sought in Rassia
ended in disappointment, and he died
IN Paris poor and apparently forgotten.