The Savannah morning news., 1901-09-29
SAMPSON WILL WAIT
HIS APPLICATION RENEWED, BUT
ALLOWED TO REST.
CAPT. M'CALLA CONCLUDES.
HIS TESTIMONY YESTERDAY FA-
VORABLE TO sCHLEY.

ferring to Admiral SchIey-Capt.
McCaIIa Explains why His Code of
Signals Was Not Furnished Schley.
Capt. Parker Gets Too Gay and Is
Called DOwn-Lieut. Barnes Ex-
plains the Discrepancies in Cipher
Dispatches Errors Evidently
Made in TransIating for Dispatch
Aboard the Harvard.
Washington, Sept. 2S.-In the Schley
court of inquiry to-day Capt. McCalla
of the Marblehead concluded his tes-
timony. which was begun yesterday,
and the court heard the testimony of
Lieut.. Commander w. H. H. Souther-
land who commanded the Eagle dur
ing the Spanish war, and also that of
Lieut.. c. B. Barnes.
Mr.. Stayton did not press his re-
quest to be allowed to appear as coun-
sci for Admiral Sampson, as he had
announced that he would do. He wrote
a second letter to the court renewing
his application and recounting the
times that Admiral SIMPSONS name
had been brought into the case, but
he left the city later in the day, re-
questing the court to hold up the mat
ter for the present.
On the opening of the court Mr..
Hanna expressed his regret that he
should have used the term accused"
in referring to Admiral Schley.
When Capt. McCalla took the wit
ness stand Mr.. Hanna asked aim:
Were any ships assigned to the duty
ing of May 81 1898, or during that day
or to the duty of enfilading the bat
teries?"
The reply was:
".tEone that know Of"
Mr.. Hanna then asked:
Were there any shoals or other OBJ
Stacles of any kind to prevent the bat
tleships from approaching the mouth
of the harbor of Santiago sufficiently
close to have been within easy range
of the Colon?"
Capt. Parker objected to the ques-
tion, but the court did not sustain the
objection, and the question was re-
peated.
Capt. McCalla replied:
None that / know of. The only
shoal I knew of was the shoal on the
west side of the channel opposite the
Morro.'
Did the battleships go within range
of the Colon?"
mot from my observation"
All Shots Fell Short.
"Were you so situated as to observe
the fall of shots from the fieet?"
II was"
where did they fall?'
II think saw every shot fired. They
all fell short that 1 saw. One very
nearly reached the Colon"
The witness described a conference
of commanding officers on the Brook
lyn on May 20.
"The commanding officers were or
dered on board the Brooklyn on May
29. 1t was with regard to the work of
blockade. l can only remember one
specific thing which took place at the
close and then was that Capt. Evans
asked Commodore Schley if the Span
ish ships came out if he was going in
for them. He said: Certainly and
then arranged for a subdivision of fire
from the ships under his command on
the Spanish ships should they come
out"
BY Mr.. Hanna: prior to that con-
ference on May 20 had you at any time
received definite instructions respect
ing the order of battle or the mode of
procedure which the fleet should follow
in case the Spanish vessels should sud
denly appear"
II do not remember"
"Did YOU have any further conver-
sation with Commodore Schley?"
McCaIIa Foresaw Controversy.
"I had a conversation with him in
his cabin after the battle of Santiago,
about July 5, in Guantanamo bay. l
went on board. making an official call,
to pay my respects, and during the
visit Commodore Schley read me what
/ understood to be part OF his ofn-
cial report of the battle. After he had
finished, 1 said: Commodore, you re-
member that after the battle OF Lake
Erie there was an unfortunate contro-
versy. and l hope that there will be
none after the battle of Santiago be-
cause there was glory enough Tor
everybody"
Relating the particulars of the block
ade OF, Santiago before June 1, Capt.
McCalla said the Marblehead and the
Vixen had at night occupied positions
inside the large ships about two miles
from the shore line. and that that line
was easily discernible.
signal Code Not Given schley.
Referring to the fact that he had in
formed Capt Chadwick, Admiral
SIMPSONS chief of staff, of the code OF
signals arranged for communicating
with the Cubans, he said that he did
not in any way communicate with tne
commander in chief.
Mr.. Rayner then asked:
"According to the regular custom
and regulations observed in cases or
that sort. was it not your purpose that
this communication should go to the
commandments chief through his chief
of staff?"
Certainly"
The witness said further that he
thought Il had been common knowledge
al Kew West after his arrival there on
Nav 10 that the Cuban insurgents were
ON the coast near Cienfuegos, but that
no information was given concerning
the secret code. He had, he said, failed
70 give the code to Commodore Schley
when he passed him, when the commo-
dore was on his way to Cienfuegos be-
cause he did not know that the COM
modore was bound for that port.
"If I had known that he was going
70 Cienfuegos," he said,' l would have
gone alongside and given him my in
formation"
replying TO a question: Capt Nc
Gala raid that Commodore Schley's
feet while off Santiago had never, to
his knowledge. been Withdrawn to any
distance from the harbor of Santiago.
Capt. Parker Called Down.
Then" said Capt. Parker. that