Hobson
Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)
RICHMOND PEARSON, an American naval officer; born in Greensboro, Ala., Aug. 17, 1870; was graduated at the United States Naval Academy in 1889, and received further training in the Ecole d'Application du Génie Maritime, Paris. In 1894-1895 he served in the Bureau of Construction and Repairs of the Navy Department. Subsequently he originated a post-graduate course for such officers as intended to study naval construction, on, and conducted the course in 1897-1898. At the outbreak of the American-Spanish War he was promoted lieutenant, and assigned to duty on the flagship "New York," with which he participated in the blockade of Santiago Harbor, the bombardment of Matanzas, and in the naval demonstration against San Juan, Porto Rico. The event, however, with which his name is most intimately connected was the sinking of the collier "Merrimac" on June 3, 1898, in the narrow entrance of Santiago Harbor, with the intention of preventing the Spanish fleet from leaving the inner bay. As the "Merrimac" was sinking he and seven volunteers who had accompanied him leaped overboard and were picked up by the Spaniards and imprisoned for a few weeks, but were treated with kindness by the order of Admiral Cervera. Later he went to Manila, where he directed the raising and repairing of the Spanish ships sunk in the engagement with Admiral Dewey on May 1, 1898. He was elected to Congress from the 6th Alabama District (1907-15). He published "American War Policy" (1910); "Our Country's Destiny" (1913); "America and the World War" (1917); "The Great Reform" (1918).
What Has Changed in the Last Century
When Collier's wrote this in 1921 Hobson was 50, a former congressman known chiefly for the Merrimac exploit — an attempt that in fact failed, since the collier sank clear of the channel and Cervera's fleet steamed out a month later. Congress voted him the Medal of Honor in 1933, thirty-five years after the event, and in 1934 he was advanced to rear admiral on the retired list; he died in 1937 and is buried at Arlington. The books Collier's lists understate his real second career: he drafted the 1914 House resolution that led to the Eighteenth Amendment and then became America's loudest anti-narcotics campaigner, whose lurid claims about addicts as "the living dead" are now cited as a case study in drug-scare propaganda.
Written for this edition, 2026.