The Dickinson press., 1901-11-09
the scnltY CONSPIRACY.

the scnaEY CONSPIRACY.
While Admiral Bunce was alive
he would not tell nor allow his
friends to tell what he knew of
the inception of the navy con-
spiracy against Schley. He as
well as Schley was one of the vic
tins, but he refused to allow any
one to champion his cause. With
his death the seal of secrecy he
had imposed on his friends is re-
moved and the Hartford, Conn.
Times speaks for many men in the
service and out of it, in an article
from which we quote these para
graphs:
On June 81, 1895, Rear Admiral
Francis M. Bunce, then near the
head of the list of rear admirals
of the United States navy. was
given command of the North At
lantic squadron. 1t would have
been a fortunate thing if the fleet,
which gained such a high degree
of proficiency in naval tactics and
gunnery under his command,
could have been so continued dur
ing four years instead of two.
Rear Admiral Bunce's fleet cap
tain was Winfield Scott Schley.
The battleship Maine was COM
manded from September, 1895,
until April, 1897. by Aren't Schuy.
Ter Crowninshield, said by the
books to have been born in New
York, but bearing a Massachusetts,
name.
Among all the 20 captains of
the North Atlantic squadron, I'M
der the command of Rear Ad-
miral Bunce, and subordinate in
rank to Winfield Scott Schley, the
only one to whom it was ever
necessary for the rear admiral to
administer a reprimand with a
threat of court martial, was Capt.
Aren't Schuyler Crownins HELD, of
the battleship Maine.
The arrival in the secretary's
Office of the navy department of
the Hon. John D. Long of Massa-
chusetts. in 1897, and the imme-
date detail to the head of the
bureau of navigation in the navy
department of this same Aren't
Schuyler Crowninshield. with his
hot grudge against Rear Admiral
Francis M. Bunce and Winfield
Scott Schley, is important.
On May I, 1897, three weeks
after the placing of Crowninshield
in charge of the details of officers
at Washington. we find the COM
mander of the North Atlantic
squadron relieved from the duty.
Rear Admiral Sicard succeeded
him in command of the North
Atlantic squadron. and when Sic
ards health made it impossible
for him to continue on that duty
in 1898, Bunce was the man who
should have been restored to that
command, and who would have
been if personal influence had not
prevailed against him.
Now see all the mischief and
failure that followed from this
same source-the foolish attempt
of Aren't Schuyler Crowninshield.
acting as the board of strategy,
with two pliable pedants, Sicard
and Mahan. as his associates, Sc
lected by himself: the foolish at
tempt of this captain of the line.
who had narrowly escaped a court
martial at the hands of Admiral
Bunce, to run" the whole wal
with Spain on its naval side, the
detail of Sampson, (another desk
man like Sicard, Mahan and
Crowninshield) to the command
of the North Atlantic squadron
after the war broke out with Spain;
the persistent attempt to suppress
and discredit Schley, who had
been Bunce's fleet commander
during the fuss with Crownin-
shield the year before; the timid
and old-womanish nature of all
the operations of the fleet against
the Spaniards. as shown in the or
ders from the strategy board to
Schley. mot to expose his ships"
at Santiago before Sampson ar
rived, and by SIMPSONS fear to
go into Santiago harbor after the
Spanish ships had come out.
We show the influence which is
at the bottom of the Sampson
Schley controversy, and which
deprived the gallant and accomp-
lished Francis M. Bunce of the
opportunity that belonged to him
nv senioritv and hv accomol;,h-