The times., 1898-11-18

yohu questlon IL miles or more from Rio
Tarquino at lis p. m. In his first report
he said the Colon surrendered GO miles
west of Santiago. Having been caught
reconstructing the time, he inferentially
admits he was mistaken as to the time
TO the extent of As minutes. but to even
matters up in his second report he takes
off II miles In the distance. In his first
miles west Of Santiago; in his second he
says: 'It hauled down its coiors As miles
from Santiago"
1nasmuch as Rio Tarquino is SIXTY
miles west by the nearest water route,
1t is not unfair to ask why Sampson
changed his statement of distance from
sixty to forty-eight miles This is not a
case of rectifying a mistake. The first
statement of sixty miles is correct; the
second statement is untrue. The reason
is self-eyident-to make 1t appear that
he was much nearer the Colon than he
actually was. If Sampson could reduce
the distance between Santiago and the
Colon by the space of twelve miles it
would bring him up to the Colon As min
utes sooner than if the true distance were
given.
In the report of the Wainwright board,
appointed by Sampson himself. That
board finds that when the vizcaya sur
rendered, SIMPSONS ship, the New York,
was nine and one-half miles away, and
that when the Colon surrendered it was
the same distance to the rear.
The mysterious friends of Admiral
Sampson in the Navy Department, who
have notoriously and necessarily wrought
to give him credit for victory of which he
was as innocent as that other victory in
Manila Bay, have depended, for the pur-
poses of their propaganda, upon garbled
statements and upon an assumption that
It mattered not whether Sampson was on
earth at the time of the battle. Never
theless. according to the Sampsonltes, the
battle was fought in accordance with
program prepared by Sampson weeks in
advance, that program being religiously
adhered to both by the Spanish squadron
under Admiral Cervera and the American
sea force under Admiral Schley.
Perhaps it would have been better for
the man with the mystic pull to have ad-
hered altogether to the inspirational con-
tention. But it is evident that he has not
done so. What has been above recited
goes to show that he has always been de-
termined to compel whatever revision in
chronology, geography or fact might be
necessary to prove that he not only
planned but fought the battle of Schley's
conquest of Cervera.
Even within the sacred circle of the ma
val service there are officers and gentle
men who say that Simpsons professional
recollections are susceptible of being
taken cum grano sails, when uncorrob-
GRATED by the testimony of disinterested
witnesses. One of this class OF critics
who, by the way, is an officer of long
experience and distinguished service, has
suggested the following questions, the
same being pertinent to The Times in
quiry:
Why did Sampson reduce the true dis
tance from Santiago to Rio Tarquino, of
sixty miles, to the falsely alleged distance
of forty-eight miles?
Why did Sampson reduce the true dis
tance from Santiago to Asseradero, Of
twenty miles, to the falsely alleged dis
tance of fifteen miles?
Why did Sampson claim. in his first
dispatch, that the Colon surrendered at
p. m?
These and other questions hereinbefore
presented are questions that will have to
be answered at the bar of American pub
lie opinion, If not before another and
more inquisitorial tribunal.