Semi-weekly Windham County reformer. (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1897-1901, 1901-10-15
THE DEFENSE
IN THE scHLEY COURT OF INQUIRY
begins Giving Testimony-Capt Cool of
the Brooklyn the FIrst Witne,s

Spain, was the first witness in Il
10 ochIey inquiry yesterday. He ";
"a called by the navy department but ;
e he Is also OH Schley's list of VII
'' nefseS he was considered. like Lier
CONNER HodPson and Lieut. Doylf
II as witness for both sides of To
n con ntroVers'. His appearance on tb
s. stand created coz siderable interest an
bis testimony was listened to attep
d lively.
t Other witnesses summoned for m
= day we're Lieut. C1mmdr Fullan. wh
5 WIS on the New Orleans during IN
Santiago campaign ard 1t JOSEPH
f beaI0, Who was on the scout shi,
= HarVarI and who volunteered to o.
= ashore and ascertain whether III,
r Spanish feet urder Cervera wgs il
the harbor Of Santiago. These are the
last witnesses which Judge Advocate
Lemly expects 10 c+ll for the present
and WREN tney shall have comple,ej
their testimony. be will rest -
a numher Of SchIey'S witnesses wrra
IN atteEdarce about the court roam
Yesterday. It is expected that his first
witness VIII be the Cuban pilot, Ed
ward Nunez, and that be will be J.
Lowell by Commdr Mason, Who was ey.
ecutlre officer oa board the Brooklsr
durlog, the Santiago campaign. Il
Commdr Griffin ard Its McCauIa,
and Webster.
| 1t Commdr Staunton, recalled. made
! this addition to his statement As 10
the first news received from Cant
Allen at Key West on MAY 20 cnrcerr-
ing the presencs Of the Spanish feet
at Santiago:
The Information obtained at that
tire fran Allen and reported TO the
commanCer-in chief some time near
no1p. was net consldered sufficient at
that time to cause a change in tie
plan that had already been adoptei. > |
Capt Cook said be had bee0 in
Key Wes: on May IA.
What information did you have at
that time concerning the whe.abouts
of Cerrera's fieet?" asked Mr. Hanna,
My impressions now are simply
from rumor, that they had left the
Canary Islands and "a part of them
had been sighted at Martinique. a7d
from consular information or perhaps
Information sent by the Harvard, th at
tnev had gone TO Curscoa. =
Gl5lrg the reasons for the depart- {
lre Of the flying squadron had teen :
sent II tnat port Ito intercept ard I
meet the Spanish squadron. it haripp 1
Ieen determined, as We believed at !
nat time, by them TO make Cieuf Ie- .
,os their objective point = He had a
Understood that the Spanish fleet car t
led munitions of war for Havana i
nj 1t was believed that they would n
. to Cienfuegos, because of its ac- n
essihility to Havana. Cook detailed
c1nvsrsstlon between Schlev and II
apt Chester while the squadron was n,
D route TO Cienfuegos He said there II
ad been talk between them about q,
Ealing oa the southern coast OF Cuba n,
the only thing recollect." " be >ai1 u
TBs that Schley questioned Chester ~
rv closely as to the facilities for m
'allng Slips on the south side of Us
uh9 - =,
" DO You know what information was su
ceIveds" -
Il think they consulted the chart at an
e time. Something was said about ra
'pe Cruz. | recollect afterward look ne
2 at the chart. 1t dil not seem 10 Ter
favorable place - GG
Capt Cook recsllected meeting the bo
irhlehead with the flying squadron Of
route 20 ('ienfueeos, but could re- ne
! only very indistiuctly the fact that Fd
Scorpion had delivered II the onr
ooklyn any information from the r.
gle at that time. no,
did not receive any information. - nal
ant Cook said that upon arriving Sn.
Clenfuegos on the morning of Nav ins
a blockade was Immediately estab- Tho
led. as the firing of gurs was bea
rd and 1t was believed that Cervera e
arrived -
We saw signal lights - he saia. e,.' ~.
shore the first night Schley was d;o
they were signals and that the Iool,
nlsh fleet was side. Z" -
apt Cook said they had not under ter.
ID the signals until Capt McCalla aiab
we'd and explained that they were co,r
the insurgents. After McCalla me.
communicated With the Cubaps vis;,
learned definitely that the Spanish ;nrv
'nron was not at Cieu fuegos. noon
modore Schlev started the fiyirn tnrr
oron in the direction of Santiago, II
'pt Cook continued: "At San NOV
, a moving blockade was estab- &,
'd, because it was Commodore wen
ey's idea TO kesp the ships coaled aftsr
M steaming. He thought the sans
" might come out at any TIM IinaS
vas anxious to get them to come m
rather than pen them in.' end /
IT Cook said that on July the of tb
lards left the harhor going south. In
ent over to the pilot house ana ;urr
the helnsman TO go straight for nrass
ue CleaI INST room
Texas. They were about 100 to Dnr
yards distant, when ! saw that. mon.
nted the helm half way over. has so
>panlards were coming at US very direc,i
ly. Then | went ont and saw II wss
we've turning to the west. We stand
soIoe soutI. Inc commodore in Jail
me, is your helm hard TO ne.
IePIleu IL Is nara aport. with b
'e turning sS fast as POSSIBLE.
Hr saw the starboarj side of the s,,,,
ut all. We passed to the south
e turn and shortly 8fterwsrd New
htened out for the vest that Il
llraI Dewey asked, "HoE rear ork,
~ pass 10 the TexsS9" wrecke
I Cook rerlied. "Tbs lido. of :, islapd
Oh never entered NV mind We suppos
perfectly clear of the Texas. and "
banded the Brooklyu uudrr perlshe
crmstances and should say We oHnS
bout 400 yards fTon the Texas. 10 allay
was 10 great danger of collsiou.
.er D'ahlng iae tdrn the Brook Jobar
one was receiving the fire OF fenced ,
iscaya. Colon ard Ouuendo Neyy Y
he Oregon forged up through his nan
oke. | felt perfectly assured sedifiou