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Show ADMIRAL CLARK. An inexorable law retired Admiral Charles E. Clark from the navy on Thursday last. An age limit is necessary probably to give younger men a chance; the regret is that men like Admiral Clark ever grow old. He sprang into fame as quickly as did Admiral Dewey; to him and to his chief engineer is due more of the glory of the annihilation of Cervera's fleet than to all the other captains and engineers who made high names in that battle. His was the only ship that was perfectly prepared for battle except the Texas, and she was but an inferior vessel. Then the way the Oregon was handled was clear proof that she was there for no purpose except to win, and the chances are good that had the Oregon been alone in the fight, the result re-sult would have been the same. Indeed, all the way up the Atlantic from Bahai, Brazil, Clark was hoping to meet that Spanish squadron. He had his plans all made as to what he would do in that event, and when at Bahai he began to receive re-ceive cable instructions from Washington, he answered an-swered back: "Don't hamper me with instructions; instruc-tions; the Oregon can take care of herself." Admiral Ad-miral Schley's ship, the Brooklyn, was rated as six knots per hour faster than the Oregon, but the latter raced through that fight side by side with the cruiser, and it was her shots that caused the Colon and Viscaya to turn inshore and be beached. When the roll of the great naval commanders com-manders and fighters of the world is made out the name of Clark should be close to the top of the shining list. - There are not a dozen in all history that should precede his. |