The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-13

The navy is full Of stories about
Capt. Evans. 1t is only fair to him and
70 the rest of the navy to say that his
fame has gone abroad by no fault of
his own and that the nickname
Fighting Bob" for which he is cer-
tainly not responsible, has been in
great measure the means Of spreading
his fame. Capt. Evans was severely
wounded while leading a part of the
land attack on Fort Fisher. He walks
with limp to this day. Some of the
incidents that have made him prom
lnent as an alleged seeker for gore are
his remarks to Secretary Herbert tow
ard the close of the last administration
that it would please him greatly ito
make Spanish the prevailing language
In hell for the next five years." and his
announcement to the CHILEAN torpedo
boat which made itself obnoxious by
rushing around the Yorktown, of
which Capt. Evans was in command
N Valparaiso harbor If the torpedo boat
SO much as scratched half an inch Of
paint off the Yorktowns side that
he would blow her out of the water. At
another time launch crew came
aboard the Yorktown and reported to
the Captain that the natives had been
throwing stones at them from the
shore. The Captain hurried a rapid
fire gun into the bow of the launch,
filed her up with armed men and made
for the shore. No more stones were
thrown. Leaving \ sufficient guard
with the boat, he marched through the
streets until he found the highest civil
authority in the town, and then and
there informed that functionary brief
ly and with much heat that if any more
stones were thrown by anybody at his
launch he would make life miserable
for everybody within range of the
Yorktown's guns so long as he could
keep his ship afoat. That he knew ex-
actly the sort of people he was dealing
with is shown by the intense respect
with which he and his men were re-
garded during the remainder of the
time the Yorktown was in the harbor.
Once on the Mediterranean station he
was temporarily in command of his
ship when French gendarmes brought
aboard a large number Of American
bluejackets who had deserted. 1t was
the custom on such occasions for each
bluejacket as soon as he was released
~ n nf n tn
hammer the cOuntenance of the gen.
darme until he was pulled away. This
sort of thing had tendency to make
the gendarmes afraid to bring in de-
serters and Evans determined to stop
it. In the presence of the gendarmes
and their captives he announced his
decision. The first buejacket was re-
leased, and promptly knocked his gen.
darme fiat. Evans picked up the gen.
darme's sword and struck down the
sailor. Exactly the same performance
was gone through with as each of the
next six bluejackets was unshackled.
The eighth permitted his gendarme to
go in peace. The seven men who had
been cut down all escaped with their
lives. Evans said that they owed their
preservation to merciful Lord who
turned the edge of the French police
mans tin sword. The seven injured
men were invited to make charges
against Evans, but they said they
didn't want to. AS they put it them
selves:
They guessed they had run up
against something they didn't know
anything about"
Capt. Evans is a civil engineer of
wide reputation among builders Of
bridges and steel frame work. When
ever he is on leave his services have
been eagerly sought by the great steel
companies Andrew Carnegie has said
publicly that he considered Capt.
Evans one Of the most capable en-
gineers in America. Taking him all in
all, he is typical naval officer of the
day. The accident of his nickname
has simply brought about public
knowledge of qualities which have re-
manned unremarked in other men
above and below him in the service.