El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-12
THE COBBLER
By Pleter Van Orden

= won fame and fortune, was Jan
Barendse. or. Jan the Cobbler," as
he was always called. he served un-
der the famous naval hero Tromp and
had distinguished himself in so many
fights that he was raised from the
ranks to the position of boatswain.
Unfortunately he was assigned to a
vessel the commander Of which was
coward, who always, when it came 10
a fight, managed to keep his seSSel
out Of danger, but during the last
battle TrOmp fought with the Eng
Gshmen, the vessel, very much against
the will Of its commander, was driven
into the midst OF the enemy. Pale
with fear the captain threw himself
down on deck and cried to his men 10
haul down the flag. They were about
to obey the order when Jan Barendse,
cutlass in hand and holding in his
left burning fuse, jumped into their
midst and roared in a voice Of thur
der.
Don't dare touch the flag Death
to all white livered towards, I viii
be your captain, boys. VIII you fight
under my commando We viii knock
the teeth down the threats Of those
redheaded Englishmen- If you refuse,
as sure as I am alive, I viii throw
this fuse into the powder magazine
and blow up the vessel! Take your
ChOiceI
"Hooray." shouted the sailors. You
are our captain. We want to fight!
And the brave boys fought like lions.
Jan ran the vessel in between two Eng
lsh frigates, rammed the one and
drove the other one off.
When the battle was over and they
had followed the fleeing enemy until
dark, the admiral sent word to all the
commanders to come on board me
flagship the next day for orders.
Among the captains who came was
Jan BaTendse.
What the deuce do you want here.
JAM" cried the admiral, who knew Jan
Jan scratched his ear and said,
rather embarrassed
Il had TO lock our old man up in his
cabin, admiral He wanted TO surren-
der our vessel to the Englishmen-
Then I said to myself: This will never
do. So I took the command and did
my best to beat the enemy. Luck was
with me and now I thought [ had
earned the right to come to you as a
captain
Tromp shook his hand and said:
You have done well Jan, and the
country win reward you for It. VIII
take care of that"
The next day Jan took his vessel to
Texel and Tromp was as good as his
word. He sent in report ABOUT Jan
and his heroic deed to the Hague ana
the government awarded Jan mccall
cash besides.
The war was over. Jan was hon
orablv discharged from the service
and returned to his native city or
Harlem Here his faithful "Griet" was
waiting for him. He had not Deen
able to marry her before, for he had
only been q poor cObbler and she was
a servant. Now they were In clover,
Jan rented a shop, bought tools ana
leather and fine suit Of clothes.
Wearing this and with his golden
chain Of honor around his neck ne
appeared before the parson with MS
blushing bride and was married
Jan, the Cobbler as was now
known again, sat in his shop every
day mending old shoes, ana every 3ouy
passing had a friendly nod Tor nlrn-
In the evening ne SAY IN Ol -. vi -
comfortable brown wooden arrncnalIs
in the inn of THE Black Dog, Win
a tankard of strong beer in front on
him and a long clay pipe In MS mouth
telling his listeners ABOUT ms nay
strange adventures he was no" one
of the celebrities of Harlem
The war broke out anew ana the
fleet was to be made ready IN a hurry,
To supervise this admiral 1IoIHP 1S.
to travel from Amsterdam 70 the
FTag and passed through Harlem
Passing through this city he was De
laved because the draWbrlcse across
the river was up to let some 5nlPs
mass. He stopped right outside Jan
ehoD ana Ian came out to greet his
5-4DP e---t
former chief 100, Tenn
cried Here you are sitting IN TINS
r7fserable hole mending shoes as II IL
v-as none of your business that the
enemy IS after US again nave ~
not heard the drumsE You must come
with me again. -
Il should like to admiral, 5a-u JAM
but it is impossible. ,r5,
"Oh. I understand! Wife and child;
Won ought to be ashamed Of yourself
Jan to let yourself be tied py "o-
mans apron strings A. -fs.
ct is not that admiral 1ly VIE
could not hold me back ana WouLu
never want to, but --
.sVhat the devil do you mean with
your ~ have ave stood on the quarterback
once and do not want to 90 before
the mast again sir Y
Il beg your pardon admiral Lven
first on a man Of war and cannot now
be the second --
now the drawbridge is down ana 1
must hurry on 70 the s aas u --S. 80 .
bye. Jan. YOU will hear from me sooIi-
Happy Journey, admiral-
A few days later letter came from
the Hague to Jan Barenose- an L-s'
knew enough to read priaJ SO wy FuL
yvritiner was Greek to him, so he ran
to a schoolmaster close by an1 asked
him to read the letter. Tt contained
a command for him to appear at the
Hague without delay. Jan under
stoOd. He ran homo, nut ON hts sun
dav clothes and asked Griet TO give
him his golden chain
They have sent for me to come TO
the Hague" he said to her.
When Jan had come to the Hague
thew first offered him a Heutenants
commission, but he refused il. Then
one of the council handed Jan sword
of honor with a hilt Of silver, and
said;
Jan Barendse. you are now In com
mand of the frigate De Seven Of a
guns. We know you will always do
Thus Jan the Cobbler" again en-
tered the service Of his country.
Shortly afterwards he died the death
of a hero in a battle. With his Gus
tomary contempt Of death he was
fighting near the flagship when his
right hand was shot away. Having
had IL bandaged he let himself be tied
TO the mast and kept on In command
until he was hit by another bullet.
His body was not lowered into the
sea but carried ashore and buried in
a crypt in the great church Of Har-
lem.