The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-05
ADMIRAL SAMPSON
 MAY BE A WITNESS
Counsel for Admiral Schley Demands That Commander -in-C Chief of the
 Squadron Be Summoned.

Washington, Oct. 4-In the schley Court of Inquiry today Mir. Raynor. chief of counsel for Admiral schley asked Judge Advocate Lemly to summon Ad- miral Sampson as witness in the case. The request grew out of difference in the construction of sentence in Admiral Sampson's letter to Commodore Schley.
 written from Key West May 20. while Commodore Schley with the flying squad ron lay off Cienfuegos This is known as the Dear schley' letter and in 1t, as printed in the Navy Department docu- ments supplied to the Senate the Ad- miral said, after expressing his opinion that notwithstanding the report that the Spanish squadron was in Santiago. 1t were better to continue to blockade Cien- fuegos and Havana i've shall continue to hold Havana and Santiago until we re- ceive more positive information"
 During the examination of Commander Raymond P. Rodgers. this dispatch was under consideration when Mir. Raynor expressed the opinion that the word Santiago" had been inadvertently used by the commander-in-chief, assuming that he meant to use the word "Cien- fuegos' as better corresponding with the context. As the document was printed there was parenthetical note, to which that evidently the wrong city had been mentioned.
 MT. Raynor asked Judge Advocate Lemly to make this concession, but the latter declined to do so, saying that he would produce the original of Admiral Sampson's dispatch to prove that he had said Santiago.
 Wants Sampson Summoned.
 Then MT. Raynor said: 'I cannot take that word Santiago to mean anything but Cienfuegos. It Is an imputation upon Commodore Schley and I cannot permit 1t to rest without summoning the author of the dispatch" to which Captain Lemly responded: T have told you once before you can summon any one you please.'
 Then" retorted Mir. Raynor, summon Admiral Sampson
 The witnesses for the day were Leu- tenant c. W. Dyson. of the Bureau of Steam Engineering. concerning the coal supply of the flying sduadron; Com. mander Raymond P. Rogers, who. was second in command of the battleship Iowa during the Spanish war and carried Admiral Sampson's dispatches of May SutH tO SOIuluOuOfb 0tNtCJs anu OOhu- mander AIbon c. Hodgson. who was the navigator of the flagship Brooklyn.
 
 The Court of Inquiry began its proceed ings today with the recall of witnesses who were on the stand yesterday, and after they had corrected their previous testimony and made such additions there to as suggested themselves, they were ex- cused and new witnesses were introduced.
 The list of available witnesses for the day included Captain Raymond B. Rodgers. who was executive officer of the Iowa. during the Santiago campaign; En- sign (fiow lieutenant M. L. Bristol, who was watch and division officer of the Texas, and officer of the deck of that vessel when the Spanish ships came out of the Santiago harbor; Lieutenant Com !. Albon Hodgson, who was navtga- tor on the Brooklyn, and whose testimony has been looked forward to with much interest because of his correspondence with Admiral Schley; and Lieutenant c. W. Dyson of the Bureau of Steam Navi- gation.
 Captain Lemly still has quite long list of witnesses before him and when court began business today it was said on his behalf that he would probably not be able to conclude his presentation of the case for the department before the middle of next wek.
 Captain Dawson of the Marine Corps, who was on the stand yesterday. was called to correct the official copy of his He said that while he had not seen the Brooklyn swing with star board helm, he was sure that she did so swing.
 Lieut.. Dyson Recalled.
 Lieutenant Dyson, who was on the wit ness stand yesterday when the court ad- iourned, was then recalled. He had added to his coal history of the fleet information as to how long the supply of coal on hand May 26 would have held out under forced draft. The information was contained in a chart which was read by Judge Ad- yocate Lemly.
 The witness also read the same infor- | nation from a tabular statement. The | chart covered the period from May IS to | June 1. It showed that on May 26 the | 3rooklyn's supply of coal was 952 tons, | he Iowa's 9S4 tons, the Texas 4OS tons md the Marblehead's 122 tons. He said that on May "A the Brooklyn | lad coal enough aboard to have remained | ,n blockade duty off Santiago for twenty | i've days, and then to have returned to | Key West; the Iowa enough for eleven | lays; the Texas for seven days, and the | one day. This was assum- | ng that they would have gone by the | channel. He aols gave an esti- | nate of the length of time they could l lave remained and gone to Gonivas chan | lel, Cape Cruz, Mole St. Nicholas, King | ton, Port Antonio, Jamaica, Guantanamo Bay, the time of remaining on blockade ,eing increased as the distance to the various points diminished. MT. Raynor brought out the informa- ion concerning the time the coal on each vessel would have1asted on forced draft n chasing the enemy's vessels, taking the mount of coal on each on May 18th and eaving sufficient coal to return to Key West. MT. Raynor read the information | rom MT Dyson's tabulated statement | moving that the Iowa would have con- | tuned 243 tons of coal a day, the Texas. | 60 tons a day and the Marblehead v | ons. That estimate would, he said. give | he Brooklyn 2.3 days chase. returning by | way of the Yucatan channel. and 2.35 avs chase, returning by the windward assages, the Iowa a chase of 1.2 days; | he Texas would have a chase of three ave a chase of two-tenths of a day by he Yucatan channel and four-tenths by he windwsrd passages.
 The statements showed that the Mas achusetts could not have steamed more han fifteen knots an hour, and in doing o she would have consumed 1S0 tons of oal per day. At this rate. she could ave chased the enemy for IS days, re- urning via Yucatan channel, or for two avs, returning via the Windward pas age.
 The witness said in reply to questions. hat his statement contemplated average onditions of weather and of the vessels. Mir Raynor: You have taken as a