The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-05-30
GREAT DEEDS OF
THE SPANISH WAR.
They Make More Heroic Reading
Than Those of Leander, of
the HellespOnt and the
Hero of Their
mOpylae.

of the late war. Poor poet! He little
knew that to his blinded eyes a scene
was presented which, if the vista were
secured, would stretch out broader, no.
bier and fairer than any of the marvel
Gus works of history. Nineteenth cen
fury deeds were those of marvellous gall
lantry in the field. All the wars of his
tory seem leading up to the time when
the United States should buckle on its
armor and go to fight Spain and utterly
defeat it-not by overwhelming forces.
but by strategy, cleverness, bravery and
right.
The greatest deed of the Spanish war
is, in the opinion of many the deed of
Hobson in the sinking of the Merrimac.
The young man, without knowing what
lay in Santiago Bay. went boldly forth
with half dozen comrades and blew
up the ship upon which he stood trusting
to the waters to carry him home. The
cutting of the bridge by the Roman of
old was not more heroic than this.
20, Tiber, Father Tiber, to whom the
Romans pray,
A Romans life, a Romans arms take
thou in charge this day"
So sang Horatius at the bridge when
the last beam had been severed; and so
saying he threw himself into the Tiber
to swim across to his army Hobson
| did as great thing and greater for, in
the dead of night, he blew up his ship
and undertook the impossible task of
swimming out of the intricate waters of
! the Atlantic. OF course, he was cap
| tured, but his captors treated him with
| the Difference of a prisoner of state
Was not the deed of Hamilton Fish
worthy a war poem? Should not one
| wreath Memorial Day be laid upon
| his headstone? On June "A of last year,
before our soldiers had tasted shot and
| she'll, he rode ahead of the famous
| Rough Riders right into the heart of
/ tha al
most certain of ambush. That morning
| Fish said to one of his comrades: IN
| go on ahead; I'm big, and they can see
| me coming"
And they did see him coming. On
foot, cutting his way through the bushes,
| pushing ahead of all the rest went the
| brave young soldier. his six feet three
| inches of height towering over the heads
| of them all. Suddenly. they were in am
| bush, and the first shot moved him
| down. He died where he fell; his last
| Instructions were: Go on; never mind
| meP'
Colonel Roosevelt Governor of New
| York State, went up San Juan Hill. wav-
ing his sword. while the shot fell
thick around him that it felt like hail
| stones. His hat and his hand were shot;
but he threw away the one and tied up
| the other and went on, rejoicing that it
| was his left hand. He said afterward
that he could not help going into the
| fight; if he hadn't gone as fast he did
| his men would have run over him. But
the men tell a different story.
Colonel Funston the hero of nine lives
swan a river in Cuba, as he has just
| swan one in the Philippines. The Col
oHel took a perilous ride once through the
enemys country, on the way to find
Gomez HeFwas chased by Spanish cav
airy. and did the clever trick of doubling
on his own course. Striking into the
woods, he turned back and passed his
pursuers. who were squirting on their
horses after him.
What about Schley's race when he
stood upon the bridge of the ship. and.
looking at the retFea ting form of the
Christobal Colon, said: Il want that
ship" Schley never quit his exposed
position through the engagement, and
had the satisfaction of getting the ship
which he wanted.
Wainwright's little Gloucester will be
famous in history. Why not write a
poem to the little yacht which put on its
| war paint and went out as baby war
ship? Captain Wainwright saw two tor
pedo-boat destroyers, the Terror and the
Pluton. close together. and he said to
himself: why not kill two birds with
one stoneE' And kill them he did. The
Gloucester, with her little guns pointed
on the fierce -destroyers, shot them
through and through, and sank them out
at sea.
Captain Clark's run around the cape
| with Engineer Millican will be told in
verse some day when our poets wake up
TO the fact that this war has been one of
great deeds. Captain Clark was told to
sail around Cape Horn and up the coast
| of South America, and to join our feet
| in the Gulf of Mexico. He was warned
that there might be danger on the high
seas, for the Cape Verde feet was lost
sight of.
When he put in at Brazil, he found
this message waiting for him: The
Cape Verde feet probably lying in your
course. If you meet them, you do the
best you can"
After reading that telegram, Captain
Clark sent for Engineer Millican. and
said to him: What can we doT' and
Millican replied: Il can give them a
pretty good run for their money"
For twenty-eight days and nights the
Oregon was kept under full steam,
ready at every moment for a surprise
One day they got a terrible fright
aboard. for a little boat doomed up in
the distance But, as it came nearer, it
proved to be under the English flag
Captain Clark had his course mapped
out, and this is the way he describes it
now: Il intended, if L met Cervera's
feet, to run away as fast as | could.
| This would string out the seven war
/ ships until they were one behind the
other. a mile or two apart and then
intended to turn suddenly around and
meet them one by one, and l knew that
/ could sink the whole fleet that way"
Engineer Millican, who kept the boil
ers going as high as possible, is generous
in his thanks to the chemist aboard ship
He said: IF it had not been for our
chemist I could not have kept the steam
up. He kindly allowed me to give the
crew water from which the salt had been
extracted only until it was pleasant to
the taste He did not insist upon a per-
fectly pure water. Thus l was able to
keep the engine and boilers supplied with
enough water to keep the steam up to its
fullest capacity