The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-04-23
'COCHLAN REPEATS
Captain Of Raleigh
Again Tells Of
Dewey's Reply.
READY FOR WAR.
Says Germans Goaded the
Admiral Beyond All
Endurance.

New York, April 22.-The Army and
Navy Club gave a reception to Capt.
Coghlan and the officers of the cruiser
Raleigh at the club house tonight.
Capt. Coghlan made speech in which
he reiterated what he had said be-
fore the Union League Club Friday
night, to the effect that the conduct of
Admiral Seilderichs and the Germans
at Manila bay during the late war was
such as to very nearly precipitate
clash between them and the Ameri-
cans, and called forth an emphatic
message to the German admiral from
Admiral Dewey.
Capt. Coghlan said in part: 81 feel
inclined to say only a few words this
evening because what said last night
was taken umbrage at by some one In
Washington, who protested against
what 1 said. What 1 did say tlast night
was true and what l SAID VIII say
again (great applause). We were
nearly nagged to death at Manila
There is such a thing as being nagged
| too far-and, damn 'em, were ready
for them. 1 thought that the news
papers had not placed that grand OLD
man, Admiral Dewey, in the proper
| light. and l thought ! was Justined IN
placing him in the proper light.
''NIy remarks in the papers were gar
| bled. l will not say they were incor-
| rect in substance or untrue, but they
were distorted and twisted so as to put
a different meaning in them. We We're
all away from home a long time we
! felt that we were being belittled and
1 nagged until our patience could STAND
it no longer.
1.-The admiral was man who could
| stand it long time. But when the
moment came he stopped it, and they
never moved a hair afterwards.
Stopping a few minutes and looking
| about him, Capt. Coghlan raised his
hands and placing the palms OF ms
| hands close together said:
81 did think at one time that we were
that close to killing them. tGrear APP
! plause.) One word, one act would
have done it..
Continuing, Capt. Coghlan said: NO
matter what the difficulty was, there
was no man in the country more able
to meet than our gallant general.
No matter what the occasion was or
what the difficulty might be, ne al
ways rose superior to 1t. In all ms
work there he never made mistake
We at home make mistakes in telling
about it. but he who was on the spot
committed no error"
The portion of Capt. Coghlan's speech
before the Union League Club in which
he alluded to Dewey's rebuke to the
! Germans is as follows
"Our friend, Admiral Won Siedrlchs'
officer, came down one day to make
complaint. 1t was my pleasure to step
out on the quarterback just as he came
aboard 1t was partly by accident and
partly by design. I heard him tell the
| admiral about his complaint, and 1
heard the admiral reply:
Tell your admiral those ships Of
his must stop when / say so. | wish to
make the blockade Of this harbor COM
plete.'
'The German officer replied, But we
| fly the flag The reply of the admiral
was just like Dewey. He said: Those
flags can be bought at half dollar
yard anywhere
There was no fun in that expression
of the admiral. He told the officer that
any one could fly a German flag, and
that a whole SDenish feet might come
upon him with German flags up.
Then he drew back and stroked his
mustaehe. He has a great habit of
/ stroking his mustache when he gets
mad. He said: Tell your admiral I'm
blocking here. Now, note carefully what
[ say and tell your admiral that I say
it. l have been making this blockade
as easy for everybody as l could, but
I'm getting tired Of the puerile work
here. It has been of such a characters
that man wouldn't notice it, although
children might fight over it; but the
time has come when it must stop.
Now, listen closely and tell the ad-
miral as I say it. Tell your admiral
that the slightest infraction Of any rule,
and tell him carefully, now, that the
slightest infraction of any rule will
mean only one thing. That will be war.
1t will be so accepted and resented i'm
mediately. If your people are ready
for war with the United States, they
can have it at any time"
I'm free to admit that that almost
took my breath away. 1t came so
suddenly. We had expected it all along,
but things you have been expecting al
ways come unexpectedly. Even death
comes that way sometimes.
AS he left, with a face about this
long Indicating by holding his hands
far apart, the German said to me L
think your admiral does not exactly IN
derstand." Now. you've all read Victor
Hugo's Les Aiserables, and what the
first soldier said when the English
called on him to surrender. l confess
I 1 said something like that to him. Not
/ only does he understand" I told him,
but he means what he says, and you'd
better look out"
After that they did not breathe more
than four times successfully without
asking permission.