The White Pine news. [volume] (Ely, Nev.) 1906-1910, 1907-08-21
FIGHTING BOB"
IS IN COMMAND
ADMIRAL EVANS HAS CHARGE
OF FLEET COMING TO THE
PACIFIC.

They say that the most prOfane
man in the United States navy is Ad-
miral Bob Evans, and that no man is
his superior in the use of invective in
public life, unless It is Uncle Joe"
Cannon, speaker of the house of rep
resentatives. Yet Admiral Evans is
credited with having cautioned his
men to refrain from cheering after
the battle of Santiago because the
men who manned the enemy's ships
were lying bleeding and dying.
People will learn great deal
about Admiral Evans in these next
few months to come, because he has
been chosen to command the battle
ship fleet, which is to make record
cruise this fall The pictures which
you see reproduced in the daily press
hardly give the right conception of
the man. 1t is true that he has a
wonderful Websterian head and
broad, strong shoulders, but he is not
tall, nor does he walk erect, nor is
his carriage one which attracts atten-
tion as one of physical prowess usu-
ally do.
The admiral was shot through both
legs near the knees during the civil
war, and since that time he has suf-
fered the agony of the damned from
the pains in the limbs. Successive
operations have removed from his
legs portions of diseased bones until,
as an admiring shipmate expressed
it, "the admiral's two legs wouldn't t
make one good prop for grown man
if the two were run together" He
limps painfully on shore and uses
stout canes, which are almost as
helpful to him as would be pair OF
crutches. Strange as it may seem,
the admiral gets about on shipboard
much better than on land, and his
condition is much less noticeable
than ashore. His usual gait is one
in which he drags one leg after the
other and. as he advances it, the
one behind seems to give way at the
knee and knock violently against the
one in front
Despite this seeming handicap. ii
Is admitted that Admiral Evans has
| few, if any, superiors as command
| ing officer of great fleet in the Unit
ed States navy, and perhaps in the
world. Recently he brought the great
fleet to this country from the Phil
! ippines without hitch. It was as
serted, with evident authority, that
the admiral would then be permitted
to retire to his country home, up
New ENGLAND way, and would spend
the balance of his days ashore.
Admiral Evans Logical Choice.
| - But when the naval authorities
canvassed the navy personnel to Sc
| lect an officer who could command
the great fleet, they turned instinct
lively to Admiral Evans.
Then they decided that, as the gen.
eral movement was in the direction
of placing the younger men In COM
mand of ships and in positions of re-
sponsibility, younger admiral to
command the fleet could and should
| be found. But in the end they turn
ed back to Admiral Evans.
There were suggestions that Admi.
raj Evans, the hero of two wars, had
we'll earned rest and the right not to
again return to the sea. But in the
end the naval authorities turned tc
Admiral Evans.
| Then it was decided to sound the
admiral with suggestion Of return
ing to the sea and command of the
| fleet of perhaps the most effective
and largest the world has ever seer
together. The keen gray eyes of Ad
miral Evans sparkled when the sug
gestion came to him, and he answer
cd in characteristic and vigorous
style:
ely my flag again, and at thu
head of that fleet of great battle
shipsa Why, it will hardly stay II
my flag locker at the very though
of such thing"