The age-herald., 1898-08-14
HISTORY DOES
 REPEAT ITSELF Judge Robson a Veteran of the Late
 War. TELLS A THRILLING STORY Of How He More Than Thirty Years Ago Rushed Into Jaws of Death
TO CAPTURE A FEDERAL FLAG
More Than Thirty Years After His Son Richmond Sunk the Merrimac in Santiago Harbor For Com
 mon Countrys Cause.

u6euS OI nerOlSm as III WdiS, lHe ldll ol governments and other recorded events. It was more than thirty years ago that Judge James M. Hobson ran into the jaws of death for his country's cause.
 It has been but few weeks since his son, Richmond Pearson Hobson, gathered about him seven sailors and embarked in the Merrimac They sailed into an enc my's harbor leaving hope behind. The cause of a common country was the mo- tive
 "I have just returned from trip to Greensboro, where I had the good fortune of seeing a great deal of Judge Hobson, father of the hero of the Merrimac,' said Clyde Shropshire at the Morris last night.
 MT. Shropshire was consul general of the United States to Paris under Cleve- lands second administration and is a gen. tleman who has travelled a gerat deal and is a most entertaining conversationalist.
 When I went in to see Judge Hobson," said MT Shropshire, The did not know WI I was, and with that frankness with which he receives all his friends he extended his hand and said, "Howdy I'm glad to see you
 q talked to him about the success his son, Lieutenant Richmond Pearson Hob son, had made in the sinking of the Merri- mac and he casually remarked History does sometimes repeat Itself
 When I asked him what he meant by that he told me this story:
 History Repeats Itself
 q enlisted" said he "in North Caro- lima regiment in 1861, at the breaking out of the civil war and went to the front as a private.
 '"on the Sth of May, 1863, the first day of the famous Battle of the Wilderness, which was fought by General Grants army on the one side and General Lees army on the other, took this part.
 'I was in that battle on the memorable Sth of May when the Confederates thought they had won the day. It appeared that General Grant with his army came up on the left, and the fighting was so extensive that it was undecided which side had won. But finally the federal forces began to break and seated and the Confederate sol- ders followed in pursuit.
 q saw, perhaps 300 yards in advance, a Yankee color-bearer with his flag flying. It was my desire to capture that flag, and in pursuit of 1t I went. The Yankee, see ing my design, began to retreat and broke into a run for the federal camps.
 q followed him. My ammunition was exhausted, but even if my belt had been full of cartridges I would not have fired upon fleeing adversary. Each second I gained on him, my sole object being to capture his flag, and finally, thoroughly exhausted, I overlook him within fifty yards of his camp, where jumped on him and bore him down.
 'In my flight realized that to capture these colors meant death to me, but death was an insignificant matter compared with the triumph of securing flag of the fed eral forces.
 Hand to Hand Struggle
 "When I reached the flying color bearer with this determination, we both fell to- gether and my next consciousness was two days afterward when I lay upon a cot in the hospital nearby The federal soldiers did not kill me as I expected. but with the butts of their guns beat me into uncon- sciousness as the color-bearer and I strug- gled for the possession of the flag. Shortly afterward with the famous 600 captured soldiers I was removed to Morris Island, near Charleston, S. G., where for fourteen months lay in prison. After my release continued my services in the Con- federate army until the end of the war. 'I have told you this simple incident" said Judge Hobson, merely to show that history does repeat itself. I hardly thought, it is only natural to say, during my race into the very jaws of death after the fed eral flag ,that thirty-five years afterward my son would go as a volunteer on an un- dertaking far more dangerous than any was ever connected with, in the cause of our common country.
 'This simple story may serve to illus trate, though I could enumerate scores of others that after all, history does repeat itself and an act once done, whether it be tomorrow or years afterwards, returns to show itself again in similar deeds.' A Southern Gentleman "I left Greensboro" continued MT. Shropshire, "only an hour or two before | Judge Hobson received his appointment as postmaster of Greensboro, and consequently missed the opportunity of consratulating l him.
 Judge Hobson is genuine southern gen. l tleman of the old school. He is one of the most hospitable of men and his house is | open to everybody. He has the pure south- | ern accent, and his conversation is most pleasant to listen to.
 
 SARATOGA CONVENTION