The Washington times., 1901-10-24

from a collier and said that he also had
| personal knowledge of the condition OF
the Texas and AIarblhead with refer
enCe to their projecting Sponsors. He had
seen them coal The Texas. because OF
her sprnscns. was a hard ship to coal
and on mere than one occasion OF SahIi-
ago she had asked permission to go 70
Guantanamo to coal, simply because she
could not coal in the open sea without IN
| Jury to herself. The Marblchead was
! Gitlcult to coal, but not so bad as the
Texas He said the sporsons of the Texas
projected SO far out beyond th" sides OF
| the vessel as to prevent a ship coming
alongside her without touching her:
cotton bale was not big enough to keep
the collier clear of her sponsors.
| Describing the blockade at Santiago.
the witness said that the Flying Squad
ron stea med in trent of the mouth OF the
harbor in the form Of an elltpse or circle
! There was always one ship directly in
front of the mouth OF the harbor. They
did not go to one end and then swing
around the entire fleet. leaving the har-
bor mouth unprotected Just at the time
Of the beginning Of the battle. the witness
said. he had no r. gular station. and the
executive officer asked him to look after
one of the decks. as he tthe officer) had
to look after the gun deck.
Q-Give a description of the battle-of
the events which you saw.
A-There was signal gun fired from
| the Iowa that the Spanish ships We're
coming out. The alarm was al once sound
ed FOR quarters and the men went to
their stations. Then we started in to-
ward the entrance of the harhor.
GLOW was the ship headed at that
time?
Ave lay to the south of the Moro.
II was probably north by east of US. be
cause we were ~. the westward of the
boCkadinE line. The Brooklyn was head
ed slightly to the west, l believe, as we
started in with port helm. About fifteen
minutes, after We started the Spanish
Z gotten /
near enough TO Commodore Schley al that
time to touch hinl-within five feet. l saw
that We were going into a pocket. The
Spanish ships had gotten out and the VIZ
caya had turned toward us and we were
about to cross the line of fire of our own
ships said at the time-not to Commo-
dore Schley or anyone in particular-that
if we did not change the position of our
ships
Captain Lemly dnterrupting)-Never
mind that.
Swinging Clear of the Texas.
The Witness (continulng)-At that time
the order was given to port the helm l
heard the commodore say: Port" and
the ship started to swing to starboard.
and the helm was put hard a-port. She
swung around on her heel and the
ceased from the time We started
to turn until the end of the battle:
The Texas was on our starboard
bow. She-was third of a mile from
! us There was never any question in
! my mind about collision with her.
| never thought of that for moment
! There never was any danger We
turned entirely clear of her. After
! swinging around d., we lined up par
/ allel with the Spanish feet, and
/ in a few minutes the Maria Teresa went
| ashore on fire. Soon after the Oquendo
! followed her, and then we sided up with
| the Vizcaya and kept with her for ten or
, twelve miles. At that nme there was no
| ship-looking astern of us-eXcept the Or
ernr / Csaa
! Q.-HOw close was the Oregon2
A-Probably half mile. In that run
with the Vizcaya Ellis WIS killed. There
was group of fourteen or fifteen of us
| standing together and Commodore Schley
/ asked in u matteT-of-fact tone of voice:
What is the range?' Ellis, who had a
| stadimeter in his hand. held ii up and
looked. as he did SO a shell took his head
! off. and he fell to the deck dead. McCau
ley said: Lets throw him overheard"
/ Commodore Schley said: No; don't
throw the body overheard. He died a
/ brave man and we will give his body
decent burial" ! helDed to wrap it up
and took it below and it was fixed and
gotten ready for burial
| schIey Amidst Bursting Shells.
| The Vizcaya was putting up the best
fight of any of the ships then; she fought
well, and big shells were going over us.
| A good many people ducked-they sound
ed like a railroad train passing over us.
| The heads of many of the men dropped
| but Commodore Schley's head never bent.
! The witness spoke very dramatically,
and as he declared that Schley's head
I never bent the entire audience burst forth
! in loud applause which seemed to con-
tinue for half a minute. 1t was spontan-
eous all over the room. and Admiral Dew
I cy pounded vigorously on the table with
! his gavel
/ Witness resuming after the applause
had subsided)-Re was as calm, cool, and
/ collected as he is at this moment (the
! witness turning around and facing Schley
( at the same time making a slight gesture
] toward him). His only thought was for his
| men. He called me to him time and again
during the battle and said: DO the bull
, lies below know this? Do they know that
| this ship has gone ashore or that ship
| is on firc?' His whole idea seemed to ne
| that he wanted the men below to know
I as much about what was going as
! those who were on deck. After time
the Vizcaya made turn to ram us. 1
/ said: The ship is coming this way"
! Someone said: NO, 1t is going the other
way" She turned out for a short time
! swinging toward US, and then turned In
| toward the shore.
Q-Could you see the Oregon?
A.-Yes, you could always see the Ore
gon. She was further in shore than we.
but she followed us up closely.
Q.-Who fired at the Colon-what yes-
sells?
A-The Oregon and the Brooklyn were
the only ones. There were no other ships
in sight at that time.
o-When did the Colon go ashore.
A.-When the NiZcays went on the
! beach the Colon was about 5000 yards
/ ahead of US. The Commodore and Cap
| tain Cook talked about stopping to couple
/ up. They decided that 1t would take an
( hour. and that they would not do 1t. Dur
/ ing the run after the Colon Captain Cook
/ put his head out Of the coming tower
( and said to the Commodore: Don't you
/ think you had better close in a lIttle.'
/ and thought so myself. but the commo-
| dore said: mo, Cook; you see that point
[ ahead. Just as soon as that fellow starts
/ to come out / am going to head him OF" "
/ IL was just as clear to me as day and to
| everybody else.
Mr.. Rayner-Is there anything else that
you wish to say?
! Ain addition ! want 70 recite another
/ incident Just as the commodore said he
was going 10 head that fellow off " when
said: D him, I'll follow him TO SPAIN
! If ! have to. TO get him"
Another outburst Of applause followed
this statement Admiral Dewey again
! hammered vigorously with his gaYel and
! looked very stern.
When the outburst had subsided Ad-
miral Dewey turned to the witness and
said: State the facts. nothing else
The witness replied That's what I'm
doing. I've stated nothing but the facts.
| That Is what Commodore SChicy did"
The witness was Cross-eNa mined by
! Captain Lemly. but was handled very
! delicately. ard nothing material was
! brought out by the Judge advocate.
! No Back Water From the Texas.
| By the Court:
| Q.-How did you know the Texas asked
| permission to go to Guantanamo to coal?
| Because she could not coal in the open
| sea2
| A.-From general talk. knew that she
went 10 Guantanamo
I OFF fl,- Texas Distinctly