The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1901-11-01
The Examination of But One
More Witness Remains.
CHADWICK ON AGAIN
Testimony From Scovil, Who
Slapped Gen. Skaters Face.
ARGUMENTS OF COUNSEL NEXT
cussfOn Practically Agreed
Upon.

Washington. Nov. 1.-The Schley court
agan its proceedings to-day with the
Understanding that with the exception of
some witnesses who will be recalled to
correct their testimony on Monday next.
the last testimony would be taken before
adjournment There were only two wit
nesses on the list for to-day, and the un-
derstanding when the court opened was
that after they should have been heard
the court would adjourn over until Mon
day.
The witnesses called for to-day were
both summoned by the department and
were Lieutenant John Food. who COM
manded the dispatch boat Hawk during
the Cuban campaign, and Sylvester Scovel,
who was a newspaper correspondent in
Cuba during the Spanish war. Lieutenant
Hood was summoned for the purpose Of
relating his version of his interview with
Admiral Schley off Cienfuegos, and Mr.
Scovel was called to answer questions
concerning the messages which Captain
Sigsbee of the st. Paul is said to have
megaphoned to the press boat Somers n.
Smith OF May 2S. Photographer Hare tes-
titled that at that time Captain Sigsbee
stated that the Spanish fleet was not in
the harbOr of Santiago and gave the name
of Mr.. Scovel as one of the correspondents
on board the press boat with himself at
that time
Admiral Schley announced that he would
not be able to undertake the correction of
his testimony before next Monday.
There yere five whole days of it, he
said, and to go over it and make the
necessary corrections is no light task
1t is probable that he will have some
thing more TO say concerning his inter
view on May IS with Admiral Sampson
relative to which Captain Chadwick spoke
yesterday.
The Coming Arguments.
1t is now intended to call any witnesses
In surrebuttal and it is expected the argu-
ment Will begin soon after Admiral Schley
concludes the correction of his testimony.
How long the court may take to consider
the, evidence is entirely problematical.
Ihe members of the tribunal are evidently
preparing to devote considerable time to
this, for they have taken rooms in the city
for this purpose. The testimony covers
], 900 printed pages and the court sat
thirty-si days in listening to it, With
the additions yet to be made in the way of
argument and documents the record prob
ably will run over ], 700 pages
Judge Advocate Lemly announced that
counsel had agreed on the order of the
speeches in closing the case, subject to
the sanction Of the court. Mr. Hanna is
to open for the department. He will be
followed by Captain Parker and Mr.. Ray
ner for Admiral Schley and Judge Advo-
cate Lemly will close for the department.
Admiral Dewey announced that this ar
70 h.
Captain Lemly then brought up the
question OF the character of the argument
TO be made, saying:
! would like for my own information to ask
the instructions OF the court as to whether
or not We are expected in the closing arg1I-
meut, to cOnfne ourselves to the evidence and
TO the scope of the precept defined by the
court. / mean the arguments made both by
counsel for the applicant and by my asssoci-
ate and myself.
Mr.. Rayner-We have to confne ourselves
to the evidence, but do not want to be en-
tirely restricted. We cannot allude to any
facts that are not in the evidence but we will
in making our illusions do It very respect
fully and within proper bounds.
Captain Lemly-I think that that should be
the general scope of the argument The court
has defined the scope of the precept but OF
course we could not undertake and the court
viii not undertake to restrict ourselves en-
tirely. 1 assume, in stating just exactly the
words and the manner and so on. That would
be question which at the time they woulS
have to say whether it was proper or not
Mr.. Rayner-Of course, in making an argu-
ment We won't pretend to refer to anything
not IN the record We are bound by that but
] do not want to have any more restrictions
placed upon my argument than I would on
any other court. I want the constitutional
right to argue this case within proper bounds
and with great respect to everybody con-
cerned, but to make criticisms as they appear
proper to me or to make comment If 1
should find, for instance, that I believed
witless has not told the truth 1 should not
hesitate to say so.
Captain Lemly-That is right.
Admiral Dewey-There won't be any trou-
BILE about that. When we come to that bridge
we will cross it.
Sylvester Scovil was then called as the
first witness Of the day. He said that
while on the press boat SOmers N. Smith
as a newspaper correspondent of May q
or 2S ii came up with the st. Paul, of
which Captain Sigsbee was in command,
off the shore at Santiago There was
conversation with Captain Sigsbee
through the megaphone and he himself
had used the megaphone in conducting the
interview The Somers n. Smith was
= about seventy-flve or a hundred feet from
the St. Paul during the conversation.
Give us as nearly as you can the words
Of that conversation" said Captain
Lemly
Witness-We had been sent to find Commo-
dore Schley and the first question, of course,
was, Where is Schley?" and the answer
from Captain Sgsbee was, You will find him
in the Yucatan passage" And then, mas
much as our boat was very slow, l asked
him to advise me whether he thought we
could catch Commodore Schey if we fol-
lowed him. and he stated Yes" The second
question was, Where is Cervera?" and in
answer to that Captain Sigsbee did not
speak for a moment. He consulted with some
body on the bridge of the ship and then
answered: Il am not sure but we caught
an English collier trying to sneak into the
harbor this morning" That was all the
conversation l remember to have had with
Captain Sigsbee personally. Other men on the |
boat had some conversation with him.
Captain Lemly-Did Captain Sigsbee during
any time of the conversation inform YOU
that the Spanish squadron was not in San
tiago?
Witness-He did not tell US that the Span |
iards were not in there.
Not So Sure.
On cross examination Mr. SeoviI said
that he had heen at the megaphone a part |
Of the time. He could not say whether /
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