The age-herald., 1898-07-16
BOB EVANS
 IN CIVIL LIFE

1 American people who love him for the l record he has made, the gallant captain of 1 the Iowa is known only as Fighting Bob 1 Evans-hero of two wars, and typical pa l triet of the blood-stained sea.
 Much. has been said of this man of the l hour. His deeds of the past and glories of | the present have placed him in the public 1 eye the idol of the republic for which | he lights without fear. The people know | his achievements in the navy by heart, but l of Evans the boy and Evans the private l citizen they are not so familiar. He is i democrat who never votes. In religious l faith he is a devout Roman Catholic. Off
 cially in the navy he is credited to Utah,
 and he became a carpet-bagger in his youth to get into this branch of Uncle Sans | service.
 This hero of today, to whom the nation
 now takes off its hat with reverence, is so ugly that when he was young Cupid had
 a dlspairing task in introducing him to girl that, would take him for life But Evans fell badly wounded in battle one | day, and during his convalescence he met l the sitser of a naval officer, whom he woeed with the story of his devotion to his l euontry. She became his wife, and of all | happy women today she reigns as queen. Evans is a native of Virginia. He comes from good old colonial stock. His father was a physician, with limited practice 1 in Christiansburg. a small town in the. | Shenandoah valley, and died in 1855. Bob" | later went to Washington to live with his uncle. He was educated at Gonzaga col l lege, a Catholic school of excellent reputa-
  1 that young Evans attracted the attention | of William Hooper,who was delegate to congress from the wild and wooly'' ter | ritory of Utah. Hooper had an appointment to the naval academy at his disposal. Ev- ans had an ambition He wanted to go to sea and live among the drowning guns of an American man%of-war. In 1859 Hooper
 told him that if he would go to Utah to live long enough to be eligible to the ap- pointment his dream of future marine glory could possibly be realized. With the promptitude of excited youth Evans bor- rowed $200 from his relatives and started to the land of the Mormons With visions of peril from Indians, he bought a revolver of liberal dimensions, and made the trip over the plains by stage. Before his ar rival at Salt Lake City he fired his first volley in warfare from the business end of that big revolver and shot Indian, who was one of a savage band that made an unsuccessful attempt to waylay the stage This was first blood for Evans. It saved his scalp.
 Later in 1860 the young Virginian entered the naval academy at Annapolis. It 5was here that he originally earned his nickname of Fighting Rob-" and he won it in a war of sentiment. With tender solicitude for her absent son, his dear old mother in Dixie had sent him small decoration for his room-a motto which she had em- broidered with her own hands, and which the son appreciated wit characteristic de- votion to his surviving parent Bob's love
 and loyalty to his estimable mother had long been a subject of favorable comment
 among those who knew him at home. The hand that rocked his cradle had never been gemmed with diamonds. Mrs. Evans, on the contrary, was one of the plain people. The gift was an ordinary homemade piece of decorative art, an un- pretentious bit of work, but to the recipi- ent it was sacred a souvenir. Around it were clustered the memories of child hood, sweetened by the thoughts of the old homestead down among the green hills of Virginia. It recalled mothers sacrifice to educate a struggling son. It brought up | recollections of her heroic battle with pov-
 erty. With great pride he gave the souvenir
 a conspicuous position on the walls of his room at the naval academy.
 
 There was a rule at the academy that no decorations would be permitted in the quarters of the cadets. His comrades ridi- culed the gift. One of them tore it down vii and iO1iScrptiOn resulted in prompt resentment from Evans. Others sided against Evans and tried to overpower him, but the memory of his mother gave him marvellous strength, and with his southern blood fairly boiling with the fury of righteous cause, he proceeded to fight. He used his fists with an energy that amazed the combined opposition. He soon knocked out all three of his antagonists, including the bully of the school, who had never been conquered before. Replacing the motto on the wall. Evans defied students and faculty to remove it. With blackened eyes and blood-stained faces his tormentors beat nasty retreat, and 1t was upon this occasion that he was first named Fighting Bob.' When the faculty ordered the motto removed from the wall Evans quietly wrote to his old friend Hooper at Washington, and the Utah congressman's personal sym- pathies were swayed to such an extent that he secured a special permit from the presl- dent to allow Evans to replace the treas
 ured token on the wall. While Evans added fresh laurels to the title in Valparaiso bay in 1891, when he
 commanded the Yorktown and defied the whole Chilean navy, it was at Annapolis that "Fighting Bob' first punched his way to fame with fists that never faltered and
 heart inspired by the memory of home ties. Tn time of peace Bob Evans Is a great
 sportsman. He has often gqone duck hunt
 ing with Grover Cleveland. He is "dead
 shot'' with a breech-loader and a member
 of the Alibi club of Washington, an organi-
 zation of proficient marksmen. He is equal
 ly famous as an angler and is fond of horse
 races. He seldom misses an opportunity to
 back his judgment of speed whenever he
 fingers at the track and watches the flyers
 dash around the circle of chance. Captain Evans is fond of his family. He
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