Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1898-05-30


port, seeking to avert it, begged Cap
tain Brainbridge to keep his officers
confined to the Essex while the snip
remained in port. But that did not
suit Brainbridge's idea of the situation
at all. He sent word back that the
officers of the American navy were
gentlemen, and that if the Spanlards
did not know how to treat them as
such they would have to suffer the
consequences.
This spirited reply brought the. cap
tain general to terms, and his next ap-
peal was to Madrid, where the re-
port quickly reached the ears OF the
king. He was not crying for any ar
gument with the American navy, so
he quickly sent out the order that
American officers be treated with
courtesy and respect, and added,
More particularly those attached to
the United States frigate, Essex.
The order was faithfully carried out,
and the American navy was not fur
Their pestered by the impertinence OF
Spanish petty officials.
It was but a short time afterward
that this same Stephen Decatur was
the means of teaching the English
sailors in the Mediterranean lesson
in regard to the bravery Of American
sailors. 1t was at Malta that British
officer, following the custom OF the
English at that time, declared to
companion in the presence of some
American sailors, agaist one of whom
he rudely brushed: 'sThose yankees are
towards. They will never stand the
smell of powder"
The young Englishman who made
the remark was the secretary OF Sir
Alexander Ball, governor of the is
land, but the words had no sooner
left his lips than he was knocked
down by Midshipman cambridge,
brother of the commander of the Es-
sex. The Englishman challenged
Immediately, of course, and the chal-
lenge was accepted. Decatur, acting
as second for cambridge, selected
pistols as the weapons and named
the distance as four PAGES.
The Englishman was duelist with
a record, but he objected to the dis
lance. "This looks too much like
murder" he declared, and Decatur
answered: oh, no: it only looks like
death. You are an experienced duel
list and my man is utterly green.
The Englishman was shamed into
the engagement, little as he liked it..
At the first word to fire he missed
again and then fell mortally wounded
altogether, but cambridge with bet
ter aim, sent bullet through his adj
versary'shat. When next they were
brought face to face the Englishman
missed again, and then fell mortally
wounded with Bainbridge's bullet
buried in vital spot.
These two incidents did great
deal toward inspiring respect for the
bravery of American naval officers in
the Mediterranean, and events that
followed did a great deal more. The
daring exploit of Decatur in going in
to the harbor of Tripoli and capturing
and burning the frigate Philadelphia
right under the guns of the Tripoli-
tan fort was characterized by Lord
Nelson, the great English naval hero
then maintaining a blockade before
Toulon, as ''the most bold and daring
act of the age
1t is from such incidents as these
that American naval officers draw
their traditions, and more inspiring
acts of bravery are not recorded in
the history of any navy than are to
be found in the records of the Ameri-
can fleets stay in the Mediterranean
during that brief fight with the Bar
barry pirates Cameron in Chicago
Times-Herald.