Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1899-02-23

Washington, Feb. 2l.-Rear Admiral
Schley having been granted permits
sion to answer the charges made
against him in communication re-
Gently sent to the senate, yesterday
handed to the committee on naval ar
fairs his statement in which he dis
claims any purpose of controversy
with the navy department. The ad-
miral says his orders from Sampson
on May 18th were to blockade Glen
megos which he proceeded to do On
his arrival he sent Commander Nc
Gala, of the Marblehead, ashore to es-
tablish relations with the insurgents.
tftt fe5Eft at which was -af;itly, hnG@n to.
him at 3:40, May "a Then, for the
first time he learned definitely that the
Spanish fleet was not at Cienfuegos.
Within two hours he started for San
tiago, What possible ground for
criticism he says. adverse to me
there can be In all of this do not see.
was on the spot acting under or
ders which gave me entire discretion
and yet clothed me with the response
bility of going to Santiago, only after
! was satisfied that the fleet was not at
Cienfuegos' He quotes from dis
patch of Sampson May goth, in which
the latter says Schley should hold his
feet OFF Cienfuegos His slow
progress toward Santiago he attributes
a. no oil Ia
was part OF the force which
Admiral Sampson had seen 1T to send
him and he had no right to abandon
her. He had been ordered to proceed
cautiously" IT, however he had
known the Spanish fleet was in Santi-
ago, no consideration for the Eagle or
anything else would have prevented
him from getting there at the earliest
possible moment, with the larger veS-
sells. but weather and sea made it inn
possible to do better than he did
Speaking of the 'retrograde move
the language OF Admiral Sampson
characterizes as "reprehensible con
duet" Schlcy say that In his 81 years
OF service. never was such language
useu to characterize conduct of mine
and see no reason for It now
Continuing, he declared that when
the enemys vessels came out Of the
harbor of Santiago, the signal was
made from the Brooklyn CHS tagship)
TO the fleet to clear for action Then
followed the signal CLOSE action, and
by the signal the enemy Is escaping to
the ward Following the appear
auce Of The Spanish fleet fhere was a
general Inward movement Of the Amer
lean vessels closing in and engaging
AT the final capture Of the Colon at
;l5 p. M, the Brooklyn was nearest
the oregon next, and then came the
Texas and the Wien The New York
arrived at 1928 p m, and the com
mander- in-chief assumed command OF
the squadron The signals were made
from the Brooklyn to the squadron I'M
IN all the signal halyards were shot
away and then by the Meyers army
code
In conclusion Schley contends that
the turn Of the Brooklyn in the battle
of July 81 was the crucial and decid-
ing feature OF the combat and OF decld-
ed advantage Furthermore, he says
il Is a mistake to say that the vessels
distance from the enemy vas increased
10 the extent Of 500 yards, aud adds
Though this may not be Of record 1t
is fact nevertheless He cites the
fact that charts of the board OF navi-
gators show that the Brooklyn was
the nearest when the Spanish vessels
emerged from the harbor
the nearest at every stage OF
the battle and nearest the Colon when
Il surrendered, and gives many con
hrmatory details OF his lagship'a ac-
tive and effective participation In the
battle. He says that he made no re-
port OF his manueuyer In his report Of
the battle as it's effect upon the battle
was never a question with him
His last paragraph reads. May 31st
/ received a telegram from the com
mander-in- chief eongraiulating me up
on my success in locating and block
aiding the enemys feet at Santiago II
II was worthy Of commentator at that
time / am AT loss 70 understand how
it could have grown into 'reprehensible
conduct, as suggested by Sampson IN
his letter Of July 10, some six weeks
later "