Page:McClure's Magazine volume 10.djvu/574

SCHLEY IN THE ATTACK ON THE KOREANS.

In 1871, while a lieutenant-commander on the United States ship "Benicia," on the Asiatic station, he took part in an attack on the forces defending the fort on the Salee River in Korea, wherein the Koreans were taught a lesson in regard to the power of the United States that they have not forgotten. Schley's services in rescuing the survivors of Greely's Arctic expedition in 1884 are a matter of history. He was chosen for the work because his fearlessness, self-possession, and determination were recognized as just the qualities required for the emergency. He left his desk in the Department at Washington on a day's notice, set out with the expedition, sailed straight to the Polar regions, and arrived at Cape Sabine in the nick of time. Had he tarried twenty-four hours on the way, he would have been too late; for Lieutenant Greely and his six companions were at the point of death from starvation and cold. He was in command of the "Baltimore" in the harbor of Valparaiso in October, 1891, when the sailors of his ship were set on by a Chilean mob ashore; one Yankee blue-jacket was killed, and five others were badly hurt. Throughout the trying times which followed, Schley carried himself with a dignity and courage that commanded the admiration of the country.

CAPTAIN ROBLEY D. EVANS, COMMANDER OF THE IOWA.

There is another officer of the navy who showed at Valparaiso the stuff of which American seamen are made. "Fighting Bob" Evans, or Captain Robley D. Evans, as he is described in the official record, was in command of the "Yorktown," which relieved the "Baltimore" two months after the assault upon the "Baltimore's" men. On January 8, 1892, while Evans was ashore, his gig, which was waiting for him off the landing-place, was stoned by a Chilean crowd. Evans called immediately upon the senior Chilean officer of the port, requested him to notify the police authorities of Valparaiso that he demanded their efficient protection, and that if the offense was repeated he would take the matter in his own hands and protect his men with arms. This is the phrasing of the official report. The language which Evans actually used is said to have been far more picturesque and emphatic. Within a few hours assurances were received that the guilty would be punished and that protection would be given.

Evans was a boy at the Naval Academy when the Civil War broke out, but he saw service of which he still bears the scars. In the assault on Fort Fisher, he landed with a force of seamen and marines, and in a desperate charge he was wounded twice by rifle shots. His leg was shattered. Before it was fairly healed, he was eager to get back into the service. His commanding officer advised him to take sick leave and go home. But Evans spurned the suggestion; he said he could get along in some way and he intended to. He went back into the service, learned to hobble along with his broken leg, and has been limping ever since upon a twisted limb.

When Sigsbee, calm and intrepid, viewing