The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-27
CHEERS FOR sCHLEY.
Ovation to the Idol of the Navy-His
Visit to the White House.

Visit 10 the white House.
WASHINGTON, Aug. 26.-Rear Admiral
Winfield S. Schley reached Washington at
4:l0 o'clock this afternoon over the Penn
sylvania Railroad. He was quickly noticed
at most of the stations along the line, and
throughout the trip he was greeted with
cheering crowds. When the train pulled
into the depot here he found compact
mass of spectators which filled the depot
and overflowed out into the train shed. The
admiral and Mrs. Schley, when they ap-
peared, 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
a handshake. AT the gates the crowd in
| creased. and. amid deafenirg cheers, the
admiral and his wife, the former with hat
off. passed through two solid lines of peo-
pie. A lieutenant and squad of police with
difficulty cleared a passageway to the car
riage 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 cav
alcade of cyclists formed voluntary es-
cort.
| The admiral stayed only few minutes at
| the hotel and then drove over to the Navy
| Department, where, without any prelimi-
| naries, he reported directly to acting Sec
retary Allen. The latter accompanied him
| over to the White House. reaching there at
| 4:50. The President gave him most COR
| dial reception The President spoke of the
| success of the memorable engagement of
| July 3. and took occasion to say that it was
| that battle which brought about the sur
render of Santiago. Mr.. Mckinley thanked
the admiral in 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 next discussed the work of
| the Porto Rico commission, to which the
admiral has been appointed. He went over
with him the general instructions which
| will guide the body in arranging for the
evacuation of the Spanish from the island
and other work. During most of the con-
| ference, which occupied about an hour, AS
sistant Secretary of State Moore was pres
ent. On leaving the President the admiral
drove to his hotel. He said his health had
improved greatly. He will have another
conference with acting Secretary of the
Navy Allen tomorrow morning.
Many of the friends of Admiral and Mrs.
Schley learned of their presence at the ho-
| tel and called during the evening. Although
| considerably better, he is not WELL and said
| tonight he expected to leave here to-mor-
| row to visit relatives in Maryland which
| probably will consume several days, after
which he will go to Connecticut to remain
until about time to start for Porto Rico.
| Some other ship than the Brooklyn. he said,
would be selected for this purpose, as the
| Brooklyn was about to undergo needed re-
| pairs The admiral during the evening
| talked briefly of some of the principal in
| cidents of the fight which led to the de-
struction of Cervera's squadron and of some
| other pertinent matters of interest at this
| time, new features of which he said were
recurring to him as time passed by. He
| said 1T is my opinion that the Spanish
| admiral might have escaped with possibly
| one or two of his ships had he adopted diff
| ferent 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, it is my belief that he might have
escaped with one or possibly two of the
| vessels. 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 Havana"