The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-04
SCHLEY A DARE DEVIL
ALWAYS NOTED FOR HIS FEARLESS
NESS AND PRANKIsHNEss.
Career of a Naval Hero Who Took a
Prominent Part in the Dcstruc-
ton of Cervera's Fleet.

Commodore Winfield Scott Schley is one
of the popular heroes of the navy and it is
probable he will be rendered d great ovation
when he returns to the United States. His
cruiser. the Brooklyn. may be ordered to
New York before long for an overhauling
her bottom having become foul with tropical
barnacles, and already some of the Atlantic
coast cities are proposing a demonstration
in his honor. Schley's brilliant performance
at Santiago de Cuba, when his cruiser as
sisted materially in the destruction of
Admiral Cervera's squadron is still fresh in
the minds of readers of the daily press
His earlier achievements, however, are not
so we'll known.
Commodore Schley is notable type of the
! fearless Teuton-the race that rules the
world. He is as much American as Nelson
or Drake was English, and he is a broad
figure of a man, whose name, even while he
lives, is mentioned in all the American books
of biography that deserve the title. Like
Dewey, Schley was prankish. He was up
to all kinds of deviltry, and even when he
was youthful officer on board ship he had
a way of startling his superiors. But he al
ways escaped punishment. He had way
with him that was winning.
The name Schley is of German origin, but
the commodore has been American for gen.
erations. The correct pronunciation of the
commodore's patronymic is "Schlay, not
"Skay'' or "Skli' or "Shlee'' or "Shi." as
some have called it, He was born at Fred
erick Md, Oct 8, 1899. He entered the Naval
Academy in 1856, and was graduated in 1860.
He distinguished himself by coming out of
the academy as near the bottom of his class
as it was possible for him deliberately to get
He afterward proved that your prankish boy
can make a fine man, and he struck a red
mark for himself high up in the war annals
of his country. 1t was he who commanded
the expedition that saved Lieutenant Greedy
and his six survivors of the terrible expedi-
ton to the pole The boldness of the boy be-
came the bravery OF the man. Commodore
Schley has all the elements that go to make
up the hero that men worship.
Commodore Schley's youth is very inter-
esting, and is recalled with sparkling eyes
by navy men who served with him in 1860
81, wnen the Niagara, the crack ship of the
United States, was sent to Japan to carry
the Japanese embassy home. Schley had
small foot, of which he was overproud. To
emphasize the member he wore trousers that
were wide at the knee and very narrow at
the bottom This earned him the sobriquet of
Peggy from the peg-top cut of his pants
AS a midshipman he won the love of the
foksl, which approved his taste in trousers
and silently took his part when his fellow
officers laughed at him. The midshipman
, was the personifcation of terror for the
grave "Japs" of the embassy, and it is re-
lated of him that he encompassed the death
by drowning of two Japanese monkeys by
greasng their tails and sending them aloft
by whoop.
When the Niagara returned and anchored
off TOT ToI( he
mander drew his men up on the deck and
asked them to take the oath of allegiance.
Three of the middies fatty refused. They
We're E. G. Read. of Virginia, who meant
what he did, and Thomas l.. Swami and
Winfield Scott Schley, both of Maryland,
| who refused just because the others cid 1t
| is related that Mexican gave the boys lee
| ture which brought them to their senses.
| Whatever truth there may be in the tale,
| there is no doubt that young Schley made
a gallant officer and fought for the flag as
| valiantly as any of the men who were with
| him in the academy. That he did not win
| as high return as others in the civil war
was perhaps due to the short participation
he had in the fghting He was not out OF
| the Naval Academy two years when he was
commissioned a lieutenant.
Schleys most signal performance was his
| search for and discovery of Greedy in the
| frozen Businesses of the north. Lieutenant,
| now General, Adolphus w. Greedy went
north with his expedition in 1881. Nothing
late in 1888 talk was made of sending an ex-
petition to relieve him. The then Com
mander Schley volunteered his services as
petition consisted of the Thetis and the
| Bear, the Alert kindly lent by the govern
ment of Great Britain, and the Loeb Larry.
a 1 supply SNIP rms meet set san Apr' o.
On this historic trip Commodore Schley
| was once in as great danger as he may ever
| be from Spanish guns. According to his own
story, the incident happened shortly AFTER
eY be saws From gh faR Of snoM
| We were running at a nine-knot rate: This
was a right stiff gait for the latitude and
| the weather, l must admit. Suddenly we
| came in contact with an iceberg dead ahead
| which nobody had been able to see. had
never had such shock, in my life 1t
seemed for instant that every mast in
! the ship must go by the board, and l felt
sure my teeth and hair had preceded them.
l was in the crows nest, a sort of obServa-
tory made of barrel fastened to the top of
| the foremost, and / was nearly thrown out
and to the deck below. The ship rebound
! ed at least thirty feet, and | naturally ex-
| pected soon to hear the announcement that
| she had sprung leak, but as a matter Of
| fact not a seam was started" The ships
plowed north and found the great explorer
| and the remnant of his expedition. The
name of Schley must ever be associated
| with that of Greedy in the history of arctic
| exploration.
The commander of the flying squadron has
many graces of person He has the suavity
| and the force of the Southerner and the
GOODNESS and daring of the Yankee. He is
a man of books and languages. His French
and Italian and Spanish are quite good as
his English. If he was not overdose in APP
| plication at the academy he has been very
| diligent since he left it, and there is no man
| in the navy with a better education. He is
| tall and fine figure of man. He has an
intelligent head and an intellectual eye. The
man honors the uniform as the uniform
| honorS the man.
His career as it may be obtained from the
records has him serving on the Potomac
after leaving the Niagara. From the Po-
tomac he went to the Winona, then to the
Monongahela, then to the sloop Richmond.
He was often under heavy fire. From 1864
to 1866 he was executive officer of the
Wateree Pacific squadron, and was used to
suppress the instruction of the Chincha ISL
ands in 1864. He then served in the Naval
Academy, in the Bencia and in the Asiatic
station. He saw Lieutenant Mckee shot to
death at his side in the attack on the bat
teries of the Saler river, Corea, in 1871. From
the dust and smoke of battle he was trans
ferred to Annapolis to be head of the aca-
demic department of modern languages. He
was commander of the Essex lighthouse
inspector, recruiting officer and then COM
mander of the Greedy relief expedition. His
work has won him two gold medals, and
Maryland presented him with gold chro-
noneter for his rescue of Greedy. 1t may be
said therefore that Admiral Cervera can feel
highly honored for having such a distin-
guished antagonist this same Winfield
-fIs It-.t-L