The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-15
Capt. Francis Cooks Opinion of His
Chief, Rear Admiral
Schley.
Order to Port Helm on the BROOKLYN
Was Given by Capt.
Cook.

| Clentuegos on the morning of May a.
blockade was Immediately established as
| the firing of guns was heard and IT was
| believed that Cervera had arrived and
| d lete IN honor of his appearance was on.
EarthWorths on the shore also were
| seen, but they were not fired on because
1t was considered desirable not to unnec-
essarily expend ammunition
| think between that time and the
arrival of the Adula, it was presumed
tnat the whole beach was occupied he
| sald we saw cavalry and others on the
beach. The probability of a boat landing
| was talked of. The idea was that we
would have to go in pretty well to the
! westward and at night 1 had some con-
versation with the commodore about it.
! put do not recollect. On the arrival of
| the Adula, we fully expected to get some
! information"
Did you see any signal lights on shore
| While you were there?"
Yes, the first thing after we arrived,
| on May 22."
! Where were those signal lights and
what were they?"
| 81 judged them to have been about sly
| or seven miles to the westward three
| Hghts one ahead of the other very dis
tlnctly and the discussion that took place
on the ship. in which 1 think the com
modore took part, was pretty clear evil
| dence that it was a signal of some kind
|
mad them in there. I know he felt doubly
sure at that time that he had them there.
| Ihere was some discussion whether these
| we're signals, whether they We're going
! there or whether they already were there.
But of one thing I am certain, that is
the~commodore was satisfied he had them
IN there at that time
SIGNAL LIGHTS.
There could have been no doubt.
| from f1,a
lights that they were intended as sig
nals?'
! oh, no, they appearing at the time
they did and remaining so long. But We
| could not determine from whom they
| were sent"
Mr. Hanna questioned witness concern
ing arrival of the Iowa and the Dupont
| off Cienfuegos.. Capt. Clark said thew
mad brought dispatches and he had gath
| cred from -eonversationawit Commodore
Schley after they were received that it
was the idea both of Sampson and Schlev
that they should continue to hold Glen
1uegos He did not he said recall the
receipt of the McCana memorandum con-
Yeylng information of landing place
near Cienfuegos. After reading the dis
patch he said:
I never saw or heard of it. 1t may
have been received, but if I had seen it
l certainly would remember it
In this connection he said that while he
was not formally appointed as chief of
staff to Commodore Schley, he had often
acted in that capacity, and the commo-
dore had, he said, always communicated
very freely with him.
Mr., Hanna-Were you present at any
interview between Capt. McCalla and the
COMMODORE?
I was in consultation
MCALLA AND SCHLEY.
''Rriefx-s nd ox-oo+1,- ,e. -.
! it, what oecurred?'
I'VE talked on various subjects at first
l think Capt McCalla informed him he
had mining materials for the insurgents
and that he was going to communicate
with the insurgent camp.
1--WE brought up the question about the
camp and where it was, and then the
commodore said to him:
We have seen three peculiar lights
one ahead of the other. there, but we can
not make out what they are and l be-
! lieve it is something in connection with
| the Spanish fleet Capt McCaHa gave a
STRAIT threw up his hands, and said: That
is the signal from the insurgent camp
They want to communicate with you He
added Well can go there and find out
at once
The commodore told him to go. to get
off as soon possible, and added: You
can send boat across and let me know
as soon as possible Then the subject
of coaling came up again, concerning the
great difficulty we were going to have in
coaling from the GOLFERS and Capt Nc
Gala said: You need not be at all con-
cerned about me. will get coal if theirs
is any to be obtained He was always
cheerful about everything. He started
from the ship almost Immediately ami said
I must get Off In the meantime close
ly connected with that was the arrival of
the Adula. This steamer came in from
Ton T11erino
fleet had gone into Santiago and had
left on the 10th. I reconect that partic-
ularly- because that seemed to confirm
the cCmmodoreS idea that they ha reach
ed Cienfuegos. 1t was a suspicious craft
They did not give any clear reason for
going in. except to communicate with
their subjects, and in my conversation
with the commodore my impressions were
that he looked upon that as entirely slls-
picious. Not understanding the matters
and not knowing exactly his object 1
said something to him about letting that
steamer go in. don't care anything
about that steamer, but 1 am bound to
get information from her If the captain
does not give it, will certainly get ii out
of some of the passengers 1t was ar
ranged when she came out the officers
should go aboard and question the PAS
sengers and get Information from them
She did not come out. That confirmed
him still more that they were there Then
the Eagle came down in the evening and
reported that they had communicated
with the insurgent camp, and that the
Spanish squadron was not at Cienfuegos
DEFINITE NEWS.
'1'hat information was given in positive
form, was it?
Positive"
Speaking of the coal supply of the vcs-
sells of the flying squadron while at Glen
fuegos, Capt. Cook said that his only
anxiety was concerning the Texas whose =
supply was light. 1t had been found diff
ficult to coal that ship on account of
its sponsons He said in this connection
that Commodore Schley always had been
persistent in keeping the ships as full os
coal as possible. availing himself of every
opportunity to take on fresh supplies In
reply to questions. he said he had not
been especially anxious about the coal
supply of the Brooklyn, and never had
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