Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1907-12-16
PACIFIC CRUISE
 BEGINS MONDAY

l sages the certain sailing on ionday of the Atlantic fleet for tho Pacific Pres ihent Roosevelt will go e Hampton Roads on the goVernmc.t .a2n. May flower and will be on hand earH Mol- day morning to review the great ar mada. It is expected that tne vessels will steam out of Hamptan Roads about 10 o'clock. From that time fOr- ward the public will have no knowl- edge of what takes place on the ships of the fleet, other than such informa- l ton as the commander considers it advisable to give out, as no newspa- per men will be allowed on tue cruise.
 The peace cruise" to tue Pacific will be the crowning point of the ca reer of Robley D. Evans. He will be retired August IS of next year, so that he will step down and oa. of ser- 1 vice before the fleet has returned from it's cruise. Admiral Eva;S is Virginian by birth, having first seen the light of day in the Old Dominion on August IS, 1846 He was pre- noted to rear admiral February II. 1901, being now first on the list of rear admirals. He has been in conl- mand of the fleet since Marci: ], 1905, and in continuous sea sery!ce since May, 1904, having had but little shore duty since the Spanish-American war.
 Evans earned his title of Fighting Bob' as boy by whipping all the bullies in the school he atte.
 was appointed to the naval academy from Utah September 20, 1860, and was promoted to ensign October l, 1863, on the sloop Powhatan. He was in both attacks on Fort Fisher, Jan- uary 15, 1865, and in the land at tack on that fort recveied two severe rife shot wounds which left him lame for life. He served on various ships, at navy yards and on boards until 1893, when he was commissioned cap tain and took command of the cruis- CT New York, with which he quieted hostile Chile when it was in a bellig- erent mood and considering making war on the United States.
 + was while he was in Chilean wat CTS that he perpetrated one Of those forceful and profane remarks for
 
 torpedo boats, by way of practice, cruised about Evans cruiser, evident ly intent upon seeing how close they could go without actually touching These maneuvers were wearing on the sensitive nerves of Captain Evans, who sent word to the Chilean officer to keep his d-d torpedo boats at a distance. The naughty Spanish-GAmer" ican admiral replied that the waters of Valparaiso harbor belonged to Chile and that he would use them as he saw ft
 Very well' the irate Evans fired back But I would have you know, sir, that this cruiser belongs to the government of the United States, and if the paint on it is scratched. hell will smell of garlic
 That ended the maneuvers of the Chilean torpedo boats, the admiral l deciding that it might be as we'll not to risk scratching the paint on the cruiser of the angry American pig, who couldn't appreciate bit of harm less fun.
 1 If he had had his way, the Span iards would have been driven from Cuba long before that act was finally accomplished. During the admins tration of President Cleveland he ap piled to the secretary of the navy for permission to make Cuba free. Just turn me loose for little while, with a battleship or two and a few cruisers begged Evans, and I will guarantee | that Spanish will be the only lan- guage spoken in hell for the next six months This offer was refused, but later, when the Spanish-American war broke out, he was afforded opportunity for aiding in the busting of the Span iards He commanded the Iowa dur ing the war and was under fire five different times.
 While there are few more strict dis ciplinarians than Fighting Bob,' few officers are able to inspire greater love and respect in the hearts of the men under them. The fighting ad- miral" drinks intoXcants in modera tion and is not indisposed to a social game of draw poker. He detests hyprocrisy, ad on several occasions, when wel-meaning churchmen at tempted to regulate the morals of himself or his men, he expressed his opinion in language more forcible T