The evening times., 1901-07-23


swineherd and chief arfstocrat of the
United States Navy always to succeed
in presenting himself in an Increasingly
unfavorabIe light before the American
people every time speech or action Of
his reaches the public ear When the
country learned the truth concerning
his famous Fourth of July present"
and found that it vas not his bu. Ad-
miral Schley's. Sampson simply made it
impossible that ne ever should be pop
ular or regarded in any other light
than as a person capable of attempting
to grasp honors to which ne had not
the remotest claim. and to do all in his
power to cast opprobrium upon q gal
liant comrade who had earned them
gIorioUsly. From the beginning of his
campaign against the Victor Of San
tiago, Sampson has been the object Of
q great peoples dislike, and this has
been shown so actively through the
press and in the halls of Congress that
the whole force of the Administration,
strenuousIy exerted in his behalf, has
been insufficient to override it. and to
secure for him the reward which
Justice and the truth Of history have
always demanded should be bestowed
upon Admiral Schley, who spIendidly
commanded in and won the great sea
fight. while Sampson was absent after
temporarily reIirquishing the command
to which he never was legally entitled.
and was hull down behind the hori-
zon-' until after the Spanish Admiral
had surrendered
The Gunner Morgan incident in which
Sampson figured so strangely for one
OF his antecedents. did not tend to rec
oncile him TO the public nostriIs, and
now we are given fresh opportunity
to read q character the like of which,
let Us hope, is unique in the annals of
the American Navy.
If we are able to read English IN
derstaRdingIy, in an interview yester-
day with the representative Of one Of
the press associations, Sampson made
/ admissions which would break the
hearts of most men in his profession
with shame but which he seems to re
gard as not at all to his discredIt He
is quoted as saying that he did net re-
member whether he had scanned the
proofs Of the Maclay history" but as
his aide said he did, it must be so. Tn
less there is something wrong with his
grey matter. which should assure ms
immediate assignment to a sanatorun.
such a lapse Of memory as to matter
in which he has been and is 50 deeply
interested viii be regarded doubtfully
by most intelligent people. At best 1t
viii Br considered as official rather
than personal or real Having refresh
ed his recollection from the brain Of
his aide, Sampson admits that he was
advised of the contents of MacIay's
book, including the scurriIous third vol
ume. before its publication The print
ed interview with the press correspon-
dent represents him as saying: In
one way was responsible for the
statements made in the history was
commander-in-chief of the squadron
and was responsible, so far as reading
the proofs goes"
Then, without avincing any Of the
embarrassment natural in view Of such
an admission. Sampson goes on practi-
caiIy to brand Admiral Schley as a liar
He asserts that while ''Schley's first
statements regarding the battle Of San
tiago were moderately correct, his
later ones were incorrect People ia
Tniliar with the facts Of the engage
ment and the conspiracy to rob Ad-
rniraI SchIey of his Iaurels. know that
a great deal Of lying has been done in
the connection. and not any Of it by
Admiral SchIey. Mendacity. open,
fragrant and impudent. has been per
sistentIy at work IN Sampson's inter
est to obscure or falsify what actually
occurred during and after the battle.
Coast distances have been shortened,
time uisstated, and geography and the
eyes of active witnesses belied 10 make
the country believe that Sampson was
in the thick of the fight. when he was
miles away from it when Cervera
struck his flag to SchIey- Remember
ing what his friends and admirers in
the Navy Department have done and
still are doiag for him in the art, the
less he has to say about lying and liars
the better
Simpsons MacIay admissions per
haps now may be supplemented by 9TH
ers concerning Admiral Evans asser-
ton that the code of shore signals ar
ranged by Captain McCana with
friendly Cubans at Cienfuuegos was
withheld from Admiral schley and his
flag captain. although communicated
BY the scommsrder-in-ch -chief' to every
other commanding officer of the squad
ron. The result, as the country now
learns. was schIey's delay at Cienfue-
gos for three days-a delay for which
he was in no sense responsible. Posi-