Arizona republican., 1898-03-26
FIGHTING BOB" EVANS.
Good Stories About One of the Best
 Officers in the Service.

The navy is full of stories about Captain Robley D. Evans, who has just been appointed to command the bat 1 tleship Iowa. It is only fair to him and to 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 a great measure the means of spr~ ding his fame. Capt. Evans was severely wounded while leading a part of the land attack on Fort Fisher. He walks with a limp to this day. Some of the incidents that have made him promi- nent as an alleged seeker for gore are his remark to Secretary Herbert to- ward the close of the last administra- tion that it would please him greatly ito make Spanish the prevailing 1an- guage in hell for the next five years,'' and his announcement to the Chilian torpedo boat which made itself obnox- ious by rushing around the Yorktown, of which Capt. Evans was in com mand, in Valparaiso harbor, if the tor pedo boat SO much as scratched half an inch of paint of the Yorktown's s side that he would blow her out of d crew came aboard the Yorktown and reported to the captain that the na- tives had been throwing stones at them from the shore The captain hurried a rapid-fire gun into the bow Of the launch. filled her up with armed men and made for the shore No more stones were thrown. Leaving a suf- f1cient guard with the boat. he march ed through the streets until he found the highest civil authority in the town, and then and there informed that functionary briefly and with much heat that if any more stones were thrown by anybody at his launch he would make life miserable for every body within range of the Yorktown's guns so long as he could keep the ship afioat That he knew exactly the sort of people he was dealing with is shown by the intense respect with which he and his men were regarded during the remainder of the time the Yorktown was in the harbor. Those who attrib- ute wild recklessness to Capt. Evans are ignorant of his record as a discipli- marian.
 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. It was the custom on such occasions for each bluejacket as soon as he was released on the deck of the vessel, to turn and 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 bluejacket 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 a merciful Lord who turned the edge of the French policeman's tin sword. The seven in- jured men were invited to make charges against Evans, but they said they didn't want to. As they put 1t themselves:
 "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 works When ever he is on leave his services have been eagerly sought hy the great steel companies. Andrew Carnegie has said publicly that he considered Capt Ev- ans one of the most capable engineers in America. Taking him all in all, he is a typical naval officer of the day The accident of his nickname has sim ply brought about public knowledge of qualities which have remained un- remarked in other men above and be- low him in the service.