Evening star., 1901-11-04

fed that there were more than two guns
heard, and that It was believed that the
guns were fired upon the arrival of the
Spanish squadron thsre- He said that when
the flying squadron arrived there on the
morning of the I'D, although they believed
the Spanish squadron to be there. nothing
was done on that day to ascertain whether
1t was there or not. He said he would
qualify that by saying that nothing more
was Done than to- send a man aloft TO see
whether the masts of vessels were visible,
and further to run, the vessels of the flying
squadron close tSI tl1e entrance to discover
py inspection whether or not the Spanish
squadron was there
But outside of these things, he said, moth
ing was done on thed22d In this direction.
and on the 2Sd It has been established by
testimony tnat nothing was done except TO
permit the .Adula, a steamer flying the BRIT
Ism nag. to pass into the port with the ex-
pectatfon that when she came out 1nforma-
tfon from refugees on board might be OBJ
tanned She, however, fd6d not come out
while the flying squadron was there. Moth
Ing was done on thes24th, uptt the, time OF
the arrival of Capt. sMcCaIa. However, he
said, Capt. McCalla arrived early in the
morning of that day.
Gun Firing Whiie At Cienfuesos.
Mr. Hanna, then cited an order directed
to- the commander-tn -chief of the flying
squadron sin which The was directed to take
steps to prevent thu enemy from continu-
ing the work on the new fortlfcations. It
does not appear that any steps were taken
he remarked, to prevent the work on these
fortifcat tons. In fact, this order was not
so far as the testimony shows. in any way
regarded He said that Admiral Schley
may have referred to. this matter in his
testimony, but 1t had been clearly shown
tnat the order was not carried out.
No guns were fired by the flying squad
ron at Cienfuegos for any purpose. ex-
cept by Capt. McCalla, who obtained per-
a
The Cuban Signals.
Mr.. Hanna then referred to the signal
fires on the nights of the 21st and 22d, say
ing that three fires in line, which were
made at night, and three horsemen in a
line by day were to indicate that the in
surgents wished to communicate with the
American fleet. He said that diligent search
had been made to establish some trace of
the horsemen, but without success The
night signals, however, had been testified
to by the captains of the various ships;
that almost all the officers of the fleet had
seen them. However there had been some
slight difference in the testimony on this
matter.
Mr.. Hanna quoted the testimony of Capt.
Cook to show that. he had stated he was
sure he had seen signal lights on the 22d,
but was not sure of having seen them on
the 23d. He said he quoted this because
Admiral Schley had stated that he had seen
the 2Sd 1t was admitted, he said, that Ad-
miral Schley received the McCalla men,
orandum on the morning Of the 2Sd by the
Hawk He said these signals were such as
to attract universal attention
Captain Cook said the lights were some
SIX or seven miles to the west of the harbor
and he had said that he heard the commo-
dore express himself that it was pretty
clear that the signals were there for some
purpose of assisting the Spanish fleet, and
for that reason was certain he had the
fleet in the harbor. Is Captain Cook had not
seen the McCalla memorandum on the
morning OF the 23a, b1ff! If he had seen it he
would have discovered that the lights were
at the cove wHsrei M eCalIa had formerly
landed. .sIsid
Notwithstanding these facts nothing was
done on the 23d 4o Investigate these signals.
If a boat or small vessel had been sent to
the -neighborhood swhefe these signals were
seen, said Mr.. Han}aai. she would undoubt-
edIy have been guided to landing place.
A launch sent on shore would have un-
doubtedly accomplished that result. But no
such step was taken. lin his letter to the
Senate he said he had no knowledge that
there were any insurgents who were. about
Cienfuegos who were friendly to us until
the Marblehead- arrived on the oath. But,
Mr.. Hanna. continued. the. MeGafla mem
orandum distinctly Informed him that there
were such insurgents, and that was received
on the 23d - ss''it-
Before leaving the subject of the Nc
Gala memorandum said Mr.. Hanna cit
IS proper to state thatzour theory has been
that that important paper was received on
the I'd, but we have not been able to es-
tablish in a sufficiently satisfactory man
nera that thatowas he case! That is to saw,
it is not established beyend question:
Counsel stated that IT. was his. intention
ether side, and that whenever he had a
statement to make that was In dispute he
would clearly show that that was the case.
Obligation of the Commanders.
Before leaving this subject he said, "it
would seem proper to say that in this
whole matter there must have rested upon
the commander-in-chief of the naval forces
some obligation to find out whether or not
the Spanish feet was in the harbor, ire
spective of any signal or communication,
to have taken some active step in that inn
upon his own motion and without waiting
for such advice or for the return of the
steamer Adula. go
Character of the Blockade.
Mr. Hanna spoke of the character of the
that had been maintained at
Cienfuegos and said that, while the admiral
had stated that maintaining the fleet in
front of the harbor during the daytime
without formation was a ruse that he had
not told his captains that he so intended it,
Mr.. Hanna went on: THE admiral has
explained this by referring to the open
current setting inShore l shall not intro
duce any question of ocean currents before
this court, but 1t would seem that this cur
rent had peculiar characteristics, in that
the vessels steamed ,off-shore at night and
in-shore in the morning. the distance vary
ing from four to six and seven and eight
miles, sy
Mr.. Hanna then referred to the arrival
Of vessels at Cienfnegos while the flying
was there. saying the Dupont
and Iowa arrived on the 22d, the Merrimac
on the 23d, the Marblehead on the 9th
With the Merrimae's arrival came 5000
tons of good Pocahontas coal. The captain
of the Merrirnac gave testimony regarding
coaling conditions, which Mr.. Hanna read
CoaIine the Ships.
He then stated that the matter of coaling
was a broad one, and that he should take
it up at this time to some extent.
He said that the testimony showed that
the Merrimac had coaled vessels on every
day but the 25th and 26th On the 25th the
fleet was under way. This testimony had
established the fact that coaling was prac-
ticabie and continuously going on at the
time reports regarding it's impracticability
were made. He said, d,the testimony regard
ing the coaling on the 26th was at yari-
ance and he would not touch on that. He
said that it had been suggested that there
was trouble in coalng the Texas, and said
that testimony showed on the 9th there
was slight accident to her, but this was