Johnny Poe and the U.S.S. Princeton , 1907

1907, and Johnny Poe* was again becoming restless. The soldier of fortune heard of a war brewing between Honduras and Nicaragua and made his way from Nevada, where he was mining, to board a steamer out of San Francisco for Nicaragua, to join up with their Army. The steamer docked in Honduras first and Johnny decided to join up with their army instead. He was quoted later as saying, “No matter where or on what side, they are both usually wrong, so it doesn’t make much difference which one chooses”.

During the war Johnny was captured by Nicaragua and was held on a charge of spying, and according to one source he was threatened with a firing squad. After two days of “rough” questioning, the Nicaraguans released him stipulating that he had 48 hours to leave the county.

“In one of those impossible twists of fate that seemed to follow him”, he was rescued by the American gunboat, the U.S.S. Princeton.

As the story goes, the commander of the U.S.S. Princeton told Poe, after giving him permission to board, to bring along his luggage. Johnny told him he had fifty four pieces, to which the commander exclaimed that he was not running a freighter. Poe told him not to get too excited as “my fifty four pieces consist of one pair of socks and a pack of playing cards”.

Upon his return to the U.S., Johnny had now become a veteran of five wars. A news article written in 1907 about Poe’s exploits was appropriately titled, “Looking For Trouble”, and subtitled, “Strenuous Life of One of The Famous Poes”.

His next war, WWl would be his sixth and last, as he was killed in action on September 25, 1915 at the Battle of Loos, as a member of the Black Watch, British Expeditionary Force.

We have a passion for sports related silk ribbons from the 19^th century. Although this scarce and attractive ribbon (in Princeton's colors) falls outside of that classification, its association to Johnny Poe and this great story made it of interest to us. 

*Johnny Poe, one of six brothers who played football for Princeton (see related posts on Johnny Poe and his brothers in this blog, including Jan 22, 2023, Dec 25, 2020, Dec 31, 2020, Mar 23, 2014, Feb 13,2014) ).