The age-herald., 1898-06-08
The Hero of Santiago

From the New York Tribune.
 An assistant naval constructor, hitherto engaged in the routine duties of school teaching, and dilapidated tramp steamer lately used as @ coal bunk-these are not on the face of the case promising material for the building of an heroic saga There is not in them much that Is reminiscent of Nelson with the glass at his blind eye, or Farragut dashed to the rigging. One would instinctively look elsewhere for stirring deeds. These are only the fittings of an age of commonplace, in which veins are filled with water instead of blood, and passions are regulated by measure and weight But in that instinct would be forever wrong. For in an hour in Santiago bay that man and that ship gained immortality of fame for the sheer Splendor of deliberate daring such as King Olaf and his Berserks might have loved to see.
 Inside the bay was the Spanish fleet half dozen superb fighting ships, and the shores were lined with batteries and the bottom dotted with mines and torpedoes like that which destroyed the Maine. Out side lay the American fleet. And the prob lem was to block the narrow gateway so that the Spanards could not get away. It was to this task that this man addressed himself, with his seven comrades and the old coal-hulk. There was none of the dash and excitement of battle in the job, no blazing and laundering of big guns and darting of torpedoes. At least there was none on Hobson's side He and his men and their defenseless ship sailed slowly in- to the awful trap without a stroke in their own defense. literal hail of shot and shell swept down upon them. The chances were that they would be riddled, or blown to atoms. But calmly and steadily the ship moved forward until the narrowest part of the channel was an Uoc a the bow. Tn instant peril of death they waited patiently. as inch by inch the tide swung the great hulk around At last sine lay right across the channel, her length reaching almost from shore to shore Then they dropped another anchor at the stern, to hold her fast in that position Then, as Grenville said after his immortal fight tho word was given, Sink the ship, Mi ;ter Gunner! Sink her Split nor in twaini' And by the hands of her own crew the ship was sunk, effectually barring the harbor against Cervera's exit or Cameras en- trance. The work was dope Then, sec ing there was no escape of shot and shen that fell about them, Hobs m and his seven calmly rowed straight to the nearest Span sh ship, whose guns were belching ont death against them, an1 gave themselves up as prisoners of war.
 That is the simple story, and you will not surpass it in all the tales of chivalry. For that discretion which is the better part of valor, and that unf1nching valor which is the highest of all discretion, the deed commands recognition among the most heroic deeds of all time No wonder the Spaniards, brave men themselves, ap- plauded it and treated the prisoners as distinguished guests. The human race ap- plauds an act that gilds more clay with glory, and the navies of the world dip flags in salutation to the sunken coal-hulk. The name of Hobson Is added to the list that already bears the names of Dewey and of Farragut, of Perry and Decatur It was a small proceeding, compared with their great battles. But its results are not in- significant in themselves. while the Spanner of its doings showed its doers to be possessed of the highest herosm known in mortal confiict-the heroism that goes to the performarcs/ of supreme duty without a single stimulus save the fact that is duty, and that in the face of all but cer- tain death. That in this case death did not prove a certainty, but every one of the gall lant eight came out from the fearful or deal unscathed, is cause for exultation sec- ond to none in the whole resplendent drama.