Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1901-10-31
THE NAVAL INQUIRY.
The Characterization Of Admiral
Scnley Continued Yesterday.
PROGRESS MADE EXCEEDINGLY SLOW
The Blockade at Santiago, the Reconnais.
ssnce on May 81 and the Battle Of
Santiago stiil Remain to
Be Covered.

animation of Admiral Schley was
continued throughout the session OF
the court of inquiry yesterday. The
progress made was exceedingly slow.
Practically the whole day was con.
sumed in questioning the admiral
about the cruise from Cienfuegos to
Santiago and the motives and infu-
ence that governed him in turning
back after his squadron had arrived
in the vicinity of the latter port. This
latter branch of the cross-examina-
ton had not been concluded when the
court adjourned. The blockade at
Santiago, the reconnaissance on May
81 and the battle of July still re.
main to be covered. 1t is hardly
probable that the Judge advocate can
conclude before adjournment to-day
After he finishes quite a number Of
questions prepared by the members
OF the court will be submitted. The
Judge advocate in conducting the
cross-examination used carefully.
prepared typewriter list of ques-
tons. They called for comparison Of
statements Admiral Schley has made
either in his direct testimony, in his
communication to the senate, or in
his dispatches to Admiral Sampson
or the navy department, with the
testimony of witnesses who have pre-.
eeded him and the logs and signal
books of the other vessels of the
fleet. The questions were not asked
in chronological order, but jumped
from one subject to another and from
one stage of the campaign to an.
other. Throughout the strain to
which the witness naturally was sub.
iected while under examination the
admiral retained his customary COM
posure. Only once or twice did he
display impatience or weakness. At
one point when asked a question he
replied that he had been asked the
same question Monday, at the same
time telling what his reply had been
then. On another occasion when he
was being searchingly Intercepted
as to his distances from shore at Glen.
fuegos and as to whether the dis.
tances were a matter of record he
responded rather tartly: "Oh, no. l
did not know they ever would become
a matter Of such great Importance,
or I should have plotted them and
made a memorandum, as l should of
many other things"
The main points to which the cross
examination was directed yesterday
were the ability of the ships to coal
off Cienfuegos and the reasons for
what is known as the "retrograde
movement" The latter point was
dwelt upon with much emphasis and
detail and had not been disposed of
fully when the court adjourned. The
admiral gave three reasons for turn
ing back: First, the statement of
Capt. Sigsbee, who commanded the
scout ship st. Paul, that the enemy
was not in Santiago; second, the
opinion Of Nunez, the pilot, that the
entrance was too narrow and shallow
for the Spanish feet to enter, and
third, the ambiguity of the depart
ment's telegram. In the course of
the cross-examination the admiral
said he regarded the departments
dispatch rather as suggestion than
as an explicit order, a suggestion
which he carried out after the sea
had abated and the coal supply Of
the ships had been replenished.