The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1912-01-12
FIGHTING BOB" EVANS
DIES IN WASHINGTON
Hero of New Navy Victim of
Acute Indigestion.
One of History Makers of Our Time,
He Won Renown at Valparaiso, San
tiago Bay and in Cruise
"Around the Horn"

Following a very short illness, Rear
Admiral Robley D. Evans, Familiarity
known TO the American people as
Fighting Bob,'' died at his home in
Washington.
An attack Of acute indigestion,
which came on after he had eaten his
luncheon, was the cause Of death.
With Admiral Evans at the time Of
his death we're his wife and his daugh-
ter, Mrs. Harold Sewall Another
daughter, the wife of Captain c. c.
Marsh Of the United States navy, was
on her way to Washington from Nor
folk. His son, Frank Taylor Evans, is
a lieutenant in the navy attached to
the United States ship Monican, now
stationed at Olongapo in the Philip
pines.
Arrangements for the funeral have
been placed in the hands of the navy
department. Though the details have
not yet been decided, it has been set
tied that Admiral Evans body shall
be accorded all military honors and
the burial will take place Friday after
noon in Arlington national cemetery
According to members of the family
Admiral Evans was to all appearances
in the best of health up to the time of
his fatal illness.
Robley Dunglison Evans was born
in Floyd county, Virginia, Aug. 49,,
1916. He entered the naval academy
in 1860 and reported on board the
training ship Constitution. When the
civil war began his mother asked him
to resign and join the confederacy.
This he refused to do. A younger bro
Their at fourteen went to the front un-
der Pelham. Thus the family was rep
resented in both the blue and the gray,
"a fair division" as Evans put it.
1t was in one of two attacks made
by the northern army upon the pow
erful defenses at Fort Fisher North
Carolina, that Evans received the
wound through the thigh that made
him a cripple for life. He suffered
three other wounds, but as soon as he
was discharged from the hospital he
again plunged into the fighting.
To the country generally Fighting
Bob" Evans was the hero Of the new
navy. It was his fortune to be on the
spot in several seas when decisive ac-
ton was necessary to uphold his coun-
trys dignity and his method Of stand
ing up for the rights of Americans and
the glory of the flag sent responsive
thrills from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Evans was commanding figure in big
things, history maker, and although
he was denied at the close of his long
service, the honor he wanted most, a
vice admiralty, there was no doubt
that he found some compensation in
the enthusiastic regard of the people
His last great service was plotting
the battle fleet around the horn and
into the harbor of San Francisco, but
ten years previously the ability and
courage he displayed in the battle of
Santiago bay when his ship, the Iowa,
played so splendid a part in the de-
struction of the Spanish fleet placed
Robley Dunglison Evans in the fore
front of American sea fighters. A
third dramatic chapter in his career
was his conduct in Valparaiso harbor,
Chile, in 1891, when, with only the lit
tie gunboat Yorktown to back his
words, he bristled up to the Chilean
government, brought about an apology
for an assault on American sailors and
did as much to enhance the reputation
of his country as could have been
gained by battle. 1t was off Val
paraiso that he got his name Fighting
Bob.