Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1898-07-13
EARNED HIS SOBRIQUET.
FIGHTING BOB" EVANS STOOD BY
HIS MOTHERS TEXT.

HIS MOTHERS TEXT.
The Commander of the Iowa Showed
Hi, Belligerency the First Day He En-
tered the Naval Academy and Then and
There They Gave Him His Nickname.
Many reasons have been given for
tho Fighting Bob" sobriquet of Rob
ley D. Evans, commander of the bat
tleship Iowa. 1t is generally sup
posed that this title dates back to the
days of the civil war. Persons, how
ever, who knew Fighting Bob'in his
bcyhood days, say he gained his title
when, as o cadet at Annapolis, he de-
fed the entire staff of Academy Off
cials, rs well as the war department.,
on the subject of Bible text.
In the old days at Annapolis a rule
was promulgated that no cadet should
hang pictures or ornaments on the
walls of his room.
The rule worked beautifully until
one day there arrived at the Academy
youth from Virginia with square
jaw and the name of Robley D. Evans.
After passing through the usual for
malities room was. assigned to him,
and one of the porters carried his
trunk upstairs. About the first two
things which. Robley D. Evans ex-
tracted from that trunk were a brass
headed nail and large neatly framed
Bible text. Taking the nail, and a
convenient shoe, Cadet Evans stood
on his bed and proceeded to carefully
drive the brass-headed nail into the
sacred walls of the Annapolis Naval
Academy. He then hung the framed
text on the nail and stood back, with
his head on one side, to see if the text
was hung up straight.
At this moment one of the officers,
who had heard the pounding on the
wall, entered the room, and, on seeing
the text suffered shock that almost
rendered him speechless. Finally he
managed to gasp an indignant order
to Inc new cadet to "Take that thing
down."
"What thing?" demanded Evans,
with his hands in his pockets, and his
chin advanced.
"That--that picture thing" splut-
tered the officer.
"Tisn't q picture. }" said Evans,
,onvincingly.
"Take it down." roared the officer.
$50 to thunder!" retorted Evans.
The young official looked at the
8. ,vkily built figure of the champion
of the text and decided that dignity
might be compromised if he tried to
personally enforce his command. So
he reported the matter to the officer
of the day. The officer OF the day
called Evans before him, explained
that orders at Annapolis must be
obeyed, and directed the new cadet
to return to his room and at once
take down the text. Evans politely,
but firmly, said that his mother had
given him the text and asked him to
hang itup. He said that he had hung
the text up, and heintended to have it
remain there as long as he was pupil
at the Academy.
The officer of the day referred it
to the commandant. The COM
mandant referred it to the navy
department., aud an assistant to
the assistant secretary of the navy
wrote to Evans, commanding him to
at once obey the rules of the institu-
ton and remove the text. In due
course of time back came aletter from
the commandant, saying that the text
still hung high, and that Cadet Evans
ssstood pat. Other officials issued
orders with no better success, and:
finally the secretary Of the navy him
self ordered that the text be removed.
While all these things were going on,
Evans had written to his father and
acquainted him with the circumstances
surrounding the hanging-up of the
text. Evans's father, astaunch church,
man, told his son to stand by his guns
or, rather, his text-and added the
advice that, if his son was compelled
to take down the text, he should inn
mediately pack his trunk and come
home. In the midst of his indigna-
tions Mr.. Evans, ST., told the church
people about it.
That settled it. The leaders of the
church communicated with congress-
men. The congressman asked ques-
tions in the House of Representatives,
and indignant letters by the bushel
drifted down upon the secretary of, the
navy. Finally the whole church took
up the matter of Bob Eyans's text,
and Virginia rang with the argument.
Then it was that the secretary of the
navy, who was nm astute man, decided
that the best thing for them to do
would be to give an official wink.
Accordingly he winked, and that
wink passed clear down the line of
officialdom, until it reached Evans
himself, who cheerfully looked at his
text and also winked. Robley d.
Evans has been graduated these many
years, but it is said that as long ms he
remained at Annapolis the text hung
over the head of his bed, and that, be-
cause of his bulldog determination to
stand by his principles, his fellow ca
diets gave him the nickname of eight
ing Bob. F"
II;