The Washington times., 1901-11-07

the entire harbors of Cienfuegos and
Santiago with the unerrinS precision Oh
the morning sunbeam.
DiVerting his attention to the turn Oh
, the Brooklyn, Mr.. Rayner said:
Il do not want to say hardly any thns
upon it, he said Il want TO stand IL
rectly on the testimony of Captain Cook
in this matter. There was no one on the
field of action who had better opportu-
nifty than Captain Cook had to know
/ about the turn of the Brooklyn on that
| day. | suppose if the Court was called
upon to select some one who could tel
| about this movement that they would Sc
| lect Captain Cook and Admiral Sch!Jy
and perhaps the navigator OF the Brook
| lyn No one on the Brooklyn and no one
upon any other ship in that fight had a
| better opportunity than Captain Cook to
give the Court information in regard to
the turn of that vessel
The Success of the ''Loop."
whether or not a turn the other way
would have resulted successfully is only
a matter of conjecture. We know what
the result was from the way she did turn,
And we are here dealing with results
We know that through that turn the bat
tie was won; that the Brooklyn inflicted
| more than 80 per cent of the dam
| age upon the Spanish ships. L do not
think that will be denied. A board
! was appointed to determine what shots
/ inflicted the damage to the enemy
! ships, and il found that over 70 per
cent of the damage that WIS zone was
done by the guns of the Brookly:!,
/ and fair estimate places II even above
! that. The Brooklyn received 10 per cent
OF the shells of the spanish SQUADRON,
! There were forty-two hits, of which the
Bruukiy.i received thirty. That Is fact
that illuminates the tield OF Santiago
/ Here is a vessel and its officers charged
| with making a turn To the southwark
to get away from the enemy. But instead
OF getting away from them she must have
gotten close. than any other vessel, De
cause she received tins large amount or
| damage and inflicted this large amount
4 OF damage upon the ships of the Spanish
! fleet.
Captain Cook tells us q thrilling story.
/ He was an orator. He was an orator be-
cause he spoke the truth, and his words
will always illurnine the pages of Amerl-
can history. He was speaking from ms
heart, because, however eloquent a man
may be. if he tells an untruth he is not
an orator: he is declaimer
Il see nothing upon the pages OF this
record which impugnS a single word of
. what he said. When we get to the ques-
tion of the danger of the Texas there is
/ q preponderous radiance that shows that
J there was no danger of colliding with the
Texas, The only two witnesses who have
testified here that they thought there was
any danger were MIR. HodgsOn and Mr..
| Heilner. Of all the other witnesses or
/ both sides not one has stated that there
was any danger.
The NavnI Chart Ridicu1ed.
81 do not think there was any danger
on that occasion. Captsin Cook says there
was none. Lieutenant Commander He'll
ner says there was. Now Lieutenant Com
mander Heilner is in an unfortunate posi-
ton. He has made a great mistake; the
greatest mistake that haS-been made up
on this record. He has spoken of the
! navigalors chart and declared that it was
{ worthless. 1t was worthless for the pur-
pose OF locating the position of some of
u
wee tor Lhe purpose OF cOntrGdtctinS some
I of the with 1t is a thing of JOY for
ever.
The navigaior's chart is a thing of
. joy forever. 1t is Ike the obliterated epi-
! taph upon a tombstone. Six navigatOrS
Z met, and after three months of unremit-
F. ting labor they resolved To give the world
Z chart of the battle of Santiago, which.
Tor all purposes of historical accuracy,
might as well be n chart of the battle
I OF Thermopylae or of Waterloo. 1t ap-
I pears that every one of the navigators
wanted to place his snip in a different po-
, sition from where she really was. They
! were all trying to compose a chart that
did not represent the situation at all, and
| they triumphantly succeeded.
Successful 8s Failure.
AS a disastrous failure the chart is a
magnificent success. The navigator, how
ever, who seetns TO have gotten the worst
of 1t was the navigator Of the Texas,
because his object was to place his ship
s either right underneath or right on top
of the Brooklyn. Whereas. according to
the chart, il is given as at least 200 feet
away
How does Mr.. Heilner reconcile the
facts as given by this chart and the facts
as contained il the testimony. He was
I cross-examined minutely just for the pur-
{ pose of getting this reconciled. He did
I not extricate himself in the matter of the
differences. Which evidence are We to
/ take?
I'm the e-ideuce on the stand it was
| stated that there was distance of only
about 150 yards between the Brooklyn and
| the Texas And on this chart II is shown
/ that there was n distance OF about 1900
! feet between the two vessels at the time
of the turn. Do you suppose Heilner, one
/ of the navigatorS, would have let this
/ chart go out as a Government publica-
! ton had it not correctly represented the
stuation?'
| Compliments for Potts.
| Speaking of Lieutenant Potts, Mr..
| Rayner said:
| Lieutenant Potts has covered himself
with renown. His name Will echo through
/ the ages Of undying fame When Manila
| shall be forgotten and Santiago Will be
| buried in oblivion the name of Potts shall
| live. Upon the Plains of Boswurth Field
Richard proclaimed that the shadows Of
night had struck more terror to the soul
OF Richard than the substance Of lv.DJ
soldiers armed In proof and led by shall
| low Richmond. The shadow of Potts has
struck more terror TO lnt Souls OF duIIll-
rails and commodorcs and captains than
could lO,OJj sailors whenever an admiral
or a commodore or a captain engaged in
the carnage of mortal combat.
Beware OF Potts. Beware of your
looks. BE careful how you walk. Model
your entire course and conduct of action
according to Potts. that precUcious child
of the kindergarten, who coufesses that
he was always scared when in battle.
but who. unfortunately. was never en-
gagged in any battle sufficient enough to
arouse his timidity."
Captain Lemly protested against these
remarks and this resulted in a spirited
colloquy between the two men.
Speaking of Harher, the Partisan Court
attache, Mr.. Rayner said:
Had | reflected for a moment that
Captain Harber had just arrived from
the gay festivities of a continental cap
ital. | would have treated him with far
greater Difference. / would have modelled
my style according to the best manners
of the Partisan Court. and would have
greeted him with the foreign accent AID
graceful gestures that due to any one
who has been suddenly transferred from
the deck of an American ship to the ele-
CANT and fashionable circles of European
diplomacy"
The HodEsOn Controversy.
Upon the subject of the Hodgson con
troversy. Mr.. Rayner said:
THE trouble about all this Is that the
New York Sun was taken too seriously.
Never quarrel with a newspaper unless
ypti nu,r IN. xynur.aIf Na,-ar ip+arfara