The San Francisco call., 1899-04-23
CAPTAIN COGHLAN PLIES
THE LASH ON GERMANS
IN SPEECH AND SONG

+ that he was of the opinion the matter
was one which should be attended to by
the proper department of the Govern
ment.
The story told by Captain Coghlan is
somewhat different from that which has
reached the Navy Department. An officer
on duty at the department told me he
understood that when the aid to the Ger
man commander in chief brought to the
attention of the admiral the bringing in
of supplies to foreign residents the Ameri-
can commander said he had Winked at
the practice while he did not officially
know of it, because ne did not desire to
impose eXtraordinary hiardships on for
eIgn residents in Manila, but now that
the matter was brought to his attention
officially by the German admiral the praC-
tice must Immediately stop. The depart
ment's reports do not show that the ad-
miral made any reference to the cheap
ness of the German flag, while Captain
Coghlan declared last night the admiral
asserted they could be bought for half a
dollar yard anywhere.
Navy officials sincerely regret the neces-
sity of bringing Captain Coghlan's atten-
tion to the remarks attributed to him
by the press and they earnestly hope he
can inform the department he was incor-
rectly quoted.
At a dinner given him at the Union
tain Coghlan is reported to have told the
story of the incident Of Dewey and the
German admiral as follows:
Nuring those days, after the great fight was
over. he dewey suffered the most outrageous
nagging. on, on it went, day after day. rub
bing clean through the flesh to the bone, but he
always held himself and others up. I tell you
II was magnificent. l must tell you of Incl
dent which, l think, will be of interest. Ad-
miral Won Diederichs sent an officer to complain
Of the restrictions placed upon him by Admiral
Dewey. l happened to be near by at the time,
and 1 overheard the latter part of the Conver-
sation between their officer and chief 1
shall never forget it, and I want the people of
the United States to know what Admiral
Dewey said that day
Tell your admiral he said. that his ships
must stop where I say" But we fly a flag =
said the officer. ''Those flags can be bought at
half dollar a yard anywhere" said the ad-
miral and there wasn't q bit of fun in his face
when he said IT, either ANY one can fly
that" he continued. The whole Spanish fleet
might come on us with those colors If they
wanted to. Therefore. I must and will stop
I am tired Of the character OF his conduct. I've
made it as lenient as possible for him. Now
the time has arrived when he must stop. Listen
TO me. Tell your admiral that the slightest
infraction of these orders by himself his
officers will mean but one thing. Tell him
what I say. 1t Will mean war. Make no mis-
take when I say that 1t will mean war If your
people are ready for war with the United States
you can have II in five minutes
am free to admit that the admirafs speech
to that officer took my breath away. AS the
officer left to 90 back to his ship he said to
an American officer, whose name I can't recall.
IT think your admiral does not exactly under
stand" "Oh yes. he does" said the American
officer. He not only understands, but he
means every word he says