The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-07-06
Century Old Inscrip- tion on Note is
 Memorial of a Hero

In the Royal United Service Insti- tuition in London there is to be seen a bank note, recently presented to that institution by the Bank of Eng land, which serves of interesting memorial to one of the bravest sea warriors who ever fought in the cause of liberty. It is one thousand pound Bank of England note, and it bears upon it an endorsement, written just a. century ago today, which runs as follows:
 My health having suffered by long and close confinement and my op- pressors being resolved to deprive me of property or life, ! submit to rob bery to protect myself from murder, in the hope that I shall live to bring the delinQuents to justice.
 "COCHRANE. Grated Chamber, Kings Bench
 Prison, July 8, 1S15."
 This inscription is a Feminder of the pitiful tragedy which darkened the early career of the valiant admiral freeing the South American conti- nent from monarchica1 despotfsn. Rear Admiral Lord Thomas Cochrane son of the Earl of Dundonald, was in his fortieth year when, in 1914, he was falsely accused of conspiring to circulate 8 false report of Napoleon's death for speculative ends. He pro- tested his innocence, but he had pow erfuI enemies, and he was imprison- ed for a. year in the celebrated Kings Bench prison, fined and expelled from the navy and the House of Commons. For weary months he was confined with the imprisoned debtors in the gao1 1nmorta1ized by Dickens, but eventually he paid the assessed fine and was released. The thousand pound bank note had been subscrib- ed for by the public in two-cent sub, times amount could have been raised if nec- essary, as there was general belief that Lord Cochrane was the victim of a conspiracy.
 Lord Cochrane did not remain long in England after leaving prison. At first he considered offering his ser vices to the United States navy. but the revolution in South America en- listed his sympathies, and he pro ceded to Chile. There he was placed in command of the navy of the Chilean patriots who were fighting to throw off the Spanish yoke and per formed many great exploits, While Gen. Martin, the Argentine patriot leader. and Gen. O'Higgins were win ming victories on land, Lord Cochrane drove the Spanfards from the sea, and Chile became a free nation. Lord Cochrane and Gen. San Martin then went to the assistance of the strug- g1ing Peruvians, and the former, in command of the Chilean fleet, cap tured the Spanish ships and attacked the fort at CalIao-
 In 1S3S Lord Cochrane was cleared of the charges brought against him and, with his innocence fully estab- lished, he was restored to the English navy and to the Order Of the Bath. He succeeded to the title Of Earl of DundonaId. and died in 1860. The Scottish nobIeman who was an earlier Dreyfus is honored as one of the great figures Of the South American revo- Iution, and monuments commemorate his memory in the capitals of Chile and PeEu, the republics he helped to establish.
 This is the seventeenth anniversary Of the destruction of the Spanish fleet of Admiral Cervera by the Amer ican fleet conmanded by Admiral Sampson. off Santiago. Cuba The de- eisive victory of the American war ships came at an opportune time, for the relations between the. United States and Germany were very strained.