The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-06

Washington, Oct. 5.-Only one session
of the Schley court of inquiry was held
today. An adjournment until Monday
was taken at 1 o'clock in order to al
low the court and counsel to recuperate
after an arduOus weeks labor
Practically the only witness of the
day was Lieutenant Commander Hodg-
son, who was navigator of the flagship
Brooklyn during the campaign of 1898,
and almost his entire time was taken
up with the reading of correspondence
between himself and Admiral Schley
concerning an alleged collOquy between
them during the battle of Santiago,
which the witness was reported to have
detailed to a newspaper correspondent.
The correspondence has been pub
lished and this fact rendered the pro-
ceedings of comparatively little popular
interest.
Captain Lemly and Mr.. Hanna con-
tinued the inquiry for the government
at the beginning of the sitting today.
after which Mr.. Raynor began a series
Of questions intended to present the
Schley side of the conduct of the
Brooklyn during not only the battle of
July 3, but of the entire Santiago cam
paign. Mr.. Hannas inquiries were de-
voted partly to developing more of the
the Spanish ship SristObal Colon on
May 81 The entire correspondence be
tween Commander Hodgsen and Com
modore Schley was also put in as evil
dence.
Sampson as a Witness.
There is much interest in yesterdays
episode concerning Admiral Sampson
and there is still doubt as to whether
he viii be a witness. Il will remain
with Admiral Schley and his counsel to
say for what day, if for any, he shall
be called. The controversy as to the
admirals meaning in his Dear Schley''
dispatch of May 20 has in no wise been
abated by the tentative agreement as
to his being summoned Counsel on
both sides this morning had before
them copies of the dispatch, and each
was tryinfi strenuously to bring the
other to their view of the case.
The first of the witnesses of a pre-
vious day were recalled to correct their
testimony was Lieutenant Doyle, who
was on the Brooklyn during the battle
off Santiago. He made a number Of
changes in phraseology. His attention
WAS called to an error in his former
testimony in stating the distance the
Brooklyn stood out from the MORO at
Santiago in reply to a question from
the court. He had formerly placed the
distance at two or three miles, but he
had enormously based his statement on
the log for June Is instead Of May Is.
Looking at the log for May 26 he found
placing it a seven miles.
That ''Dear Schley'' Letter.
When Lieutenant Doyle was ex cusad
Captain Lemly again brought up the
question of the difference Of construc-
ton of the last paragraph of the Dear
Schlay" letter He produced the orig
inal copy, reading a part of the pe,a
graph as follows;
I therefore am Of the opinion that
our best chance of success in capturing
their ships viii be to hold the rwO
ports. Cienfuegos and Havana, with all
the force we can muster. If later it
should develop that these vessels are at
Santiago we could then assemble off
that port the ships best suited for the
purpose and completely blockade it.
Until we. then, receive more positive
information we shall continue to hold
Havana and Santiago"
Captain Lemlv then said: ''If the
court please, 1 was Yesterday requested
by counsel for the applicant to pro-
duce the original of the letter from Ad-
miral Sampson to Commodore Schley,
dated May 20 1888, the question being
as TO the final name at the end of the
first paragraph, whether it should be
'CienfuegoS' or Santiago I have the
original and the name apepars San
tiago' and appears over an erasure- 1 in
vite attention to the fact that in the
press copy book il is Santiago, which
shows that the change was made before
the letter was cop ed and sent. 1 viii
add that the punctuation is as I stated
yesterday in the press copy"
He also, at the request of Admiral
Schley's counsel introduced another