Daily new dominion. [volume] (Morgantown, W. Va.) 1897-1906, 1901-10-08
ANGERED SAMPSON.
He Denounced Maclay's Attack
on Schley---Refused TO Fur
ther Consider Proofs.
SECRETARY FINISHED THEM,
Making Comparisons With Records,
Etc.--Admirai I'll In Bed at Time.
Hodason Maintained schley Said
3D. the Texas

New York. Oct. 8.-Colonel Robert
M Thompson. of this city, president
of the United States Naval Academy
Alumni association, made a statement
to the Associated Press in connection
with the Schley inquiry. The state
ment said in part:
Il am in a position to state the true
s Id you may absolutely rely
upon them as Me truth. The proofs
were sent by Mr.. Maclay to Admiral
| Sampson. with the request that they
should be read and corrected. The
admiral. at the time, was not in good
health and did not wish to undertake
| the labor, but his secretary pointed
out that the Maclay history was a
| standard one, and used at the naval
academy as a text book. This volume
brought the history down through the
period of the Spanish war, and it was
| desirable that there should be no mac
curacies in It, The admiral therefore
consented to read them, and he did
correct certain part OF them, but as
soon as he arrived at the part which
contained the statement that Schley
was a coward and caitiff, he was
Z Z
inent was enc the author had no right
10 make; that it was unjust and un-
fair to speak of any naval officer in
| such terms, and declined to have any
| thing further to do with the proofs.
His secretary, impressed with the
great desirability of having the state
ments of facts accurate, and not be-
lieving that he was in any way re-
/ O. N cfa +z @f
ions. did. ON his own account, com
pare the book with the records and
make on the margins a number of cor
rections As these were in the same
handwriting as those made when Ad-
miral Sampson was giving his per-
sonal attention to the corrections, Mr..
Maclay was perfectly justified in his
statement. The order of the secre-
tarv IT tho navv forhiddirc naval Of
/ ficers to make any statement for pub
LEGATION regarding this controversy,
issued Immediately after this inter
view prevented the above correction
being officially made.
False Attack on Wainwright.
There is one other matter that has
| been brought up in which accusations
of carelessness, to say the least, have
been made against the gallant Vain
wright, in connection with the chart
Of the battle of Santiago, prepared
and printed in the so-called appendix,
yet any one reading the report accom-
panying the chart sees that there was
no misrepresentation as to what 1t
was. It did not claim to be, and in
the nature of things could not be, abb
solutely correct. In the first half
/ hour ol the nsnt, while the smoke Of
battle obscured all landmarks and the
excitement incident to the battle was
affecting every mind, how could men
determine accurately where they were
at each particular moment? At the
best, there could only be, as there
was, general discussion between
the navigators. each one putting down
his ship where he thought it ought to
be, and where there were differences
of opinion the majority had to decide
as to which position was to be accept
ed, and so the board reported The
chart in question, which showed in q
general way the positions of the ships,
is as accurate as in the nature of
things we can make it. and in any
event is an approximation of the
truth. This description stands true
today, and all the criticism of Vain
wright and the others is entirely I'M
just"
| Washington, Oct. 8.-Lieutenant
Commander Hodgson again occupied
| the greater part of the time of the
Schley court of inquiry as witness.
He was followed on the stand by Cap
tain w. M. Tolger, formerly chief of
the bureau Of ordnance of the navy
department, but commander. Of the
New Orleans during the Spanish war.
| Lieutenant Dyson also was recalled
to add some details to his former tes.
timony concerning the coal supply of
the American fleet during the San
tiago blockade.
Maintained Schley Said 1t.
| Commander Hodgson repeated and
extended his story of the battle of
! July 3, giving the opinion that Com
modore Schley's coadact IN that
| casion was such as that of comman-
der-in-chief should have been. He
also explained at some length his cor
| tespondence with Admiral Schley
concerning the alleged colloquy be-
| tween them while the Santiago en-
gagement was in progress. He said
| be had had no controversy with the
commodore, but he repeated that the
commodore had said. D. the
! Texas" when told that that vessel
was in danger.
Captain Folger said that the bonn
bardments of the Cristobal Colon. on
| May 81, had been eminently success
| full in developing the strength of the
Spanish shore batteries, and had
shown them to be very weak. He
also said that If the Spanish vessels
had attempted to escape at night they
| could not have been seen by the
blockading fleet in bad weather.