The San Francisco call., 1898-08-27
ENTHUSIASM AT WASHINGTON
uPoN ARRIVAL THE OFFICER
 CONFERS WITH MCKINLEY.
Describes the Great Battle of July 5, and Discusses the Work of the Porto Rican Peace Com
 mission.
Special Dispatch to The Call.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 26.-Rear Ad- miral Winfield s. Schley reached Wash ington this afternoon over the Pennsyl- vania railroad. He was quickly noticed at almost all of the stations along the line, and throughout the trip was greeted with cheering crowds. When the train pulled into the depot here he found compact mass of spectators, which filled the depot and overfiowed out into the train shed The admiral and Mrs. Schley, when they appeared, were greeted with cheers and shouts of "Hurrah for Schley."
 Everybody joined in the shouting, and the depot attaches crowded about the admiral and insisted on hand shake. At the gates the crowd fn- creased and, amid deafening cheers, the admiral and his wife, the former with his hat off, passed through two solid lines of people. A lieutenant and squad of police with difficulty cleared a passage way to the carriage which was in waiting. Through a mass of vehicles that had been drawn up by curious drivers the hanson pulled into Pennsylvania avenue and proceeded di- rectly to the Shoreham Hotel. There were groups of cheerers all the way, and cavalcade of enthusiasts formed a voluntary escort.
 The admiral stayed only few min utes at the hotel and then drove over to the Navy Department. where, with out any preliminaries, he reported di- rectly to Acting Secretary Allen. The latter accompanied him over to the White House, reaching there at 4:50 o'clock.
 The President gave him a most cor dial reception. The President thanked the admiral, as he had Admiral Samp- son, for the success of that memorable engagement of July 3, and took occa- sion to say that it was that battle which brought about the surrender of Santiago. The President thanked him on behalf of himself and the nation for his brilliant services on that day, and asked him to describe the battle, which the admiral did at length.
 The President entered into discussion of the work of the Porto Rican commission, to which the ad- miral had been appointed. He went over with him the general instructions which will guide that body in arrang- ing for the evacuation by the Spanish of the island and other work. Dur ing most of the conference. which oc- cupied about an hour, Assistant Secre- tary of State Moore was present.
 On leaving the President Admiral Schley drove to the hotel.
 Many of the friends of Admiral and Mrs. Schley learned of their presence at the hotel and called during the even ing. Although considerably better, he Is not well, and said tonight he ex- pected to leave here tomorrow to visit relatives in Maryland, which probably will consume several days, after which he will go to Connecticut to remain until about to start for Porto Rico.
 The admiral during the evening talked briefly of some of the incidents of the fight which jed to the destruc- tion of Cervera's squadron. He said:
 Tt is my opinion that the Spanish admiral might have escaped with pos sibly one or two of his ships had he adopted different tactics in coming out of the harbor. Had he diverted the course of his ships, sending some of them east and others to the west, 1t is my belief that he might have escaped with one, or possibly two of the ves- sels Such a course naturally would have compelled us to separate our fleet, and some of Cervera's ships might have been able to have reached