THE Lieutenan x x The Meda \ ef Morro Castle By ELMO SCOTT WATSON HE other day congress authorized the presentation of a medal of honor to a man who, as a lieuten- ant In the United States navy during tHe Spanish. American war, had won fame overnight. He was the Col. Lindbergh of his day. He was the leader of an expedition, the story of which thrilled the whole nation and put his name on the lips of every American. Of him the author of an article In a magazine In September, 1808, said: “The Spartans who held the pass at Ther- mopylae may be forgotten, the 600 Englishmen who made the charge at Balaklava may go un- sung, but in this land under the Stars and Stripes forever will linger the memory of the gritty Christian gentleman, Richmond Pearson Hob. son of Alabama” “Sic transit gloria mundi . . ” Indeed! For Richmond Pearson Hobson had to walt nearly 35 years for the official recognition of his deed and when it finally came, the newspapers, which had once emblazoned his name in streaming headlines, recorded the award of the medal of honor in a news story of only a few brief para- graphs. Hobson was born at Greensboro, Ala., August 17, 1870. Educated in the Greensboro publie schools and In the Southern university, he be. came interested In the navy during a visit to New Orleans and won an appointment to the United States Naval academy at Annapolis, from which he was gradnated In 1880, In the academy he had devoted himself to naval con struction and In 1801 he was mafle an assist- ant naval constructor with the rank of lienten- ant, which he held at the outbreak of the Span- ish-American war, Just before Dewey's memorable victory at Manila bay In the Philippines a Spanish fleet consisting of four armored cruisers and three torpedo-boat destroyers, led by Admiral Cervera, left the Cape Verde islands for Cuban waters, Cervera succeeded In eluding the “Flying Squad- ron” of the United States navy, commanded by Commodore Schley, which had set out to find the enemy, and entered the harbor of Santiago in safety. Schley followed him to Samtingo and established a blockade of the enemy fleet while awaiting the arrival of Captain Sampson, acting rear admiral and commander In chief of our na- val forces, who was hurrying to Santiago with a fleet led by his flagship, the New York. The story of how Hobson got his chance for fame Is told by John R. Spears In his “History of Our Navy” as follows: . “After reaching Santiago and taking one look at the narrow entrance to the harbor the pos- sibility of sinking a ship there to effectually close it, and so prevent Cervera's exit, was ap- parent to many of the officers of the squadron. Sampson, knowing the width of the channel, had considered the plan of sinking a ship In it...and in a dispatch dated May 27 had ordered Schley to sink the colller Sterling there, but Schley ignored the order. On the very day he reached Santiago, Sampson began to carry ont the plan, “There was the Merrimac. She had been sold to the government at a price twice her value. fhe was a bad ship—she could serve the na- tion much better in blocking the channel than fn any other way, and preparations to sink her into the channel were immediately begun. At the earnest request of Mr. Richmond Pearson Hobson, assistant naval coustructor, he was put in charge. He had been placed on the New York - worldwide loston Fe United tates to watch her workings in actus) war, and write a report thereon for the chief of his bureau. His knowledge of ships fitted him for the task and he had already showed his courage when he worked the rangefinder on the New York dur ing the bombardment of San Juan de Porto Rico. “About two hundred men were employed In stripping the Merrimae, for it was intended to send her In just before daylight next morning. However, after stripping her, it was necessary to fit her with torpedoes that would sink her in- stantly when the time came, and this took so long that day had arrived on June 2 before she wns ready. Hobson was anxious to go then, but the admiral ordered him to wait. “Meantime a crew of six men had been se. lected from among the hundreds that erowded aft to volunteer. They were Daniel Montague, chief master-at-arms of the New York: George Charette, gunner's mate, first class, of the New York; J. E. Murphy, roxswain on the Towa: John P. Phillips, a mu: hinist; Oscar Deignan, coxswain, and Francis Kelly, a watertender, all of the Merrimac. To this erew of six men Coxs wain Rudolphy Clausem of the New York added himself by eloding the vigilance of the of- ficers . . “At 3 o'clock on the morning of June 3 these men headed away for the harbor. A steam launch from the New York under Naval Cadet Joseph W. Powell followed to pick up the crew of the Merrimac, should they succeed In getting away from her after performing their work, in either the rowboat or the liferaft that had been pro vided for them. “It was a cloudy night, but because the chan- nel was so narrow it was absolutely certain that the Merrimac would be discovered before she reached her destination, and that a heavy fire from the batteries of all kinds wonl!d en- filade her, while the sentinels and the troops en- camped along the shore were likely to spatter her deck with Meuser bullets as a tropleal rain. storm would pelt her with drops of water. In short, there was not one chance in a thousand, apparently, for any of these men to live through that adventure and yet they had eagerly volun. teered for It, and one had stowed himself away on board without permission! Nor was the chance of Cadet Powell and his men much bet. ter, for it was his duty to follow the Merrimae to the mouth of the harbor where he, too, would be as easy a target as the men on the ship, and there to wait until after daylight. “Getting his bearings by the outlines of the Morro against the sky, Hobson drove the old ship into the center of the narrow channel. A hell of flame leaped out on both sides as she passed the Morro, while the Vizeaya, that was on guard just around the bend, began firing with her broadside battery. The Spaniards thought we were coming with our squadron to force the harbor, and all the guns, big and little, that would bear and many that would not, were fired with feverish rapidity. Immediately the shots began to reach the ship but no vital damage was done, “Then the time to sink her had come, and Hobson pressed the electric button. Three of the torpedoes that were placed at her water. line exploded tearing open her sides. The man at the anchor cut it loose, bringing up her head Just opposite the point, while her stern swung slowly around with the tide, It seemed for a moment that she must sink as they wished, right ficross the channel, but she filled so slowly, that she lay lengthwise of the channel and well at one side before she finally struck bottom.” Spears then quotes Hobson's narrative of the rest of the action as follows: “We were all aft, lying on the deck. Shells and bullets whistled around. 8ix in¢h shells from the Vigeaya came Froma Contemporary Drawing tearing into the Merrimac, erashing clear through, while the plunging shots from the fort broke through her decks. “Not a man must move! | suid: and It was only owing to the splendid Siaeipline of the men that we were not all killed. We must lie there till daylight, I told them Now and again one or the other of the men lying with his face glued to the deck and wondering whether the next shell would not come our way, would say ‘Hadn't we better drop off now, sir? but I said "Wait till daylight. wou have been impos gible to get the anywhere but on to the shore, I hoped that by daylight we might be recog nized and saved where the soldiers stood shooting “It was splendid the way those men behaved The fire of the soldiers, the batteries and the Vizcaya was awful. When the water came up on the Merrimac's decks the floated amid the wreckage, but she was still made fast to the boom, and we caught hold of the edges and clung on, our heads only being above water entamaran “At daylight the fire ceased and a Spanish launch came toward the wreck. We agreed to try capturing her and running for the open sea, but as she drew near a dozen Spanish marines aimed their Mausers at us and | saw that in western parlance, they had the drop on us ‘Is | there any officer in that boat to receive a sur. | render of prisoners of war? I shouted An old man leaned out under the awning and waved | his hand, It was Admiral Cervera. The marines | lowered thelr rifles and we were helped into the launch “Then we were put in cells in Morro castle. It was a grand sight a few days later to see the bombardment, the shells striking and burst ing around El Morro, Then we were taken into Rantiago. I had the court martial room In the barracks. My men were kept prisoners In the | hospital” In his prison Hobson was visited by Spanish officers who asked permission to shake his hand and congratnlate him for his courage. At his request a message was sent to Admiral Samp son, telling the commander that he and his men were safe and, except for minor wounds | of two, Kelly and Murphy, that they had come through their terrible experience unscathed. At first the Spanish authorities refused to ex- change the prisoners. But at last on July 8 | Hobson and his men were marched blindfolded | through the Spanish lines to a place halfway | beeween the Spanish trenches and the Amer. ican lines and the formalities of exchange were completed by Spanish and American officers un- der a big ceiba tree, Even before Hobson's release from prison the | news of his deed had made him the man of the i hour In America. So when he was sent up to New York with instructions to report to the sec. retary of the navy at Washington on the con- dition of the Spanish ships wrecked in the bat. tle of Santiago which followed soon after his exploit, he was given such an ovation as no man, since his time, except Colonel Lindbergh, has known, Next followed the “kissing bee” which made him almost as famous as his deed in Santiago harbor. At Long Beach in August, 1808 a St Louis girl asked permission to kiss the Merrimac hero and he, blushingly, gave permission. After that-the deluge! Wherever he went, hundreds | of women mobbed him for the privilege of pay- ing their osculatory respects, Other honors came to him rapidly. Alabama, his native state, was the first to propose giving him a jeweled sword, He was raised ten num- bers in the ranks of naval constructors and was made a captain, For more than a year he en- Joyed the hero worship of the nation. Then the fickle public began to forget him when the news papers ceased to chronicle his every movement, He was put in charge of raising the wrecks of Spanish ships and in the course of this duty he went to China to superintend the repairing of the Spanish ships sunk by Dewey at Mania, While there he began having trouble with his eyesight and he asked to be retired from active service. By this time the newspapers and the public had definitely turned against him. His heroism at Santiago was either forgotten or min. imized. His request to be retired was denied and In 19083 he resigned his commission, After his retirement he began making speeches thgpughout the country advocating a large navy and as early as 1002 he predicted the World war which came 12 years later, In 1008 he was elected to congress from his home district In Alabama and during his eight years In congress he served on the committee on naval affairs, Since his retirement from congress he has de. voted his time to the cause of prohibition and to fighting the d of the use of narcotics (© by Western Newspaper Union ) Rest Not Always Welcome to Aged “You have seen this news item on the seventy-fourth birthday of Mrs, Carrle Chapman Catt, a woman whom 1 have alwuys admired. 1 think It is inspiring to learn that at seventy-four she is as alert and healthy as twenty years ugo. jut when It comes to not having time to think about herself, don't you think that's overdoing it a bit? When one has led a useful life to the age of seventy-four, doesn’t one deserve to enjoy the fruits of it? Shouldn't a | woman like that now git back on her | laurels a bit and take it easy?” The news item referred to de scribes the dally life of the great suffrage leader and humanitarian as quite the same as it was 20 vears ago. “Instead of reminiscing.” we fire told, “she forward and she Is interested now in eam- paigning for peace, As president of the committee on the ecnuse and cure of war, she went to Wash ington for a conference, Birthday celebrations? About that Mrs. Catt Enid “There are too many other things to think When I reach | eighty, it will be time for a celebra tion," Do we think that is “overdoing it?" No, Speuking think an like that deserve looks nbhout, in the vernacular, we | it's swell! What does a wom- | at seventy-fonr? | And that's | what she is doing—not by “sitting | She deserves to have fun! back and resting,” but by heading another march forward | That Is what she has always done, and doubtless what she hopes always to do, And more power to her! One thing for the young to learn is to let older people have their fun in thelr own way, Those who have looked forward to resting as fun should be allowed their well-earned rest, Those who still want to mareh or gallop—providing their bodies are in accord, should not be inter- fered with. To my mind these are the incky one. There is nothing that palls so quickly as rest, and try- ing to rest can be the hardest job on earth. Whereas to those who like it, work ean always be fun, ©, 1933, Bell Byndicate . INDIGESTION, GAS. . Hagerstown, Md ~“1 had indigestion badly — everything I ate seemed to sour and ferment in my stomach and | belched gas frequent- ly. 1 felt tired and weary all the while : and housework be- came 2a burden to me,” said Mrs. Lo Mullemix of 35 Fairground Ave. *I used two bottles of Dr. Pierce's Golden Medical Discovery and it cer- tainly relieved me of the heartburn and helg ped to rid me of that bloated con- ditic I felt stronger and had more win also.” Sold by all druggists. Write to Dr. Pleree's Clinke, Bufisle, N. Y.. for free medical sdvies WN Bervice Aspirin. medicine that works quite like Bayer Aspirin for the Bayer Aspirin! York! tovronts Squere . «A Reliance Motel™ 44th 10 45th STREET ~ 8 th AVENUE, NEW YORK fearn the Charm of Quilting, beautiful | pattern, complete cutting chart, free with arder quilt pleces, prints reales, trial phe. 250 postpaid, Sartan dns, Fort Johnson, N. ¥ . 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers