The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-02

the fight began The Texas was lying
 with her head to the east when the en-
 gagement began, and she turned with
 starboard helm and headed off In the
 same direction as tina rest of us. She
 fired first with her port battery and
 then put her helm to starboard and
 headed in the same direction with the
 rest of the ships. I think that ques-
 ton I discussed with Commodore
 s,chley, I cannot be sure of it. but that
 ever intimated that Captain Philip
 attempted to run away with the Texas
 is preposterous on the face of it."
 Did you have a conversation with
 him on the same day, at the same place
 and at the same hour or at any other
 place, in which you used substantially
 the following language?"
 T shot the bow off the Fulton, the
 stern off the Furor, put by helm to
 starboard, and raked the Teresa, and
 knocked out the Viscaya?'"
 ''To the best of my knowledge and be-
 lief I never used such language"
 Were not the commanding officers called on board the flagship Brooklyn by signal on the morning of May 29 af- ter the Colon was discovered?"
 "They were"
 Gan you tell me, or do you recall,
 what took place at the conference of the commanding officers at that time?"
 Commodore Schley was in the cabin of the Brooklyn when we assembled, and there was q general talk about tho Spanish fleet having been located at last at Santiago,
 T do not recolIect any special con- ference. I do not think it was in the nature of conference. I do not recol- lect now that the officers were asked to express any opinion. I remember hay ing a conversation with Commodore 1 Schley about the effect of the fighting batteries on the ships, in which l told him of the experience we had had at | San Juan. and expressed the opinion l to him that it was not worth while to risk ships fighting shore batteries alone; that I did not think anything would be gained by it. In the case un- der consideration the Spanish ships were present in the harbor. The con- ditions were changed, and we would have to takethe risk of the fire from ! the batteries in order to get at them. I remember Commodore Schley re- marking before we left that he felt that the country held him responsible; that the shi0s should not be risked un der the fire of the shore batteries until the Spanish fleet was destroyed"
 q want to call your attention to the report of Captain McCalla Of the Mar blehead. on page 426 of the appendix, which says: Commodore Schley ex- plained to the commanding officers that in case the Spanish ships came out, he wished to concentrate the batteries of all our ships on a portion of those of the enemy. This was not explained as a tactical concentration of our whole force on the part of an enemy, but as a division of our whole fire on several of the enemy's ships. During the time the commanding officers were on board the flagship, Captain Evans asked Commodore Schley If 1t were his inten- tion to steam at the enemy's ships in case they should start to come out. Commodore Schley answered.: Ger tainly," and added words indicative of his intention to attack them as they came out of the narrow defle.'
 T recollect it perfectly"
 ''Is that correct statement?"
 That is correct"
 50 there was a plan of battle ar ranged by Commodore Schley, was l there not?"
 There is nothing there to indicate it 1 from what you have read'
 Was not that the same order that 1 was afterward given by the command erin chief. substantially: Close in to- wards harbor entrance and attack them'?"
 You have not read anything about indicating any plan of battle"
 MT. Rayner-"And added the words (reading), Indicative of his intention to attack them as they came out
 q want to read you two reports" con- tinued MT. Rayner, land I would like you to tell me whether there is any con- flict between them, and If there Is, which one of these statements In your judgment now Is correct (reading: 'Af- ter having passed at 10:30 the Oquendo and the Maria Teresa, on fire and ashore, this vessel continued to chase and fire upon the Viscaya until 10:30, when signal to cease firing was sounded on board, it having been discovered that the Viscaya had struck her colors.' That was at 10:36 in your report. Now I want to read from the report of the commander-in chief (reading: 'The was still under the fire of the eading vessels the Cristobal Colon had drawn ahead, leading the chase and soon passed beyond the range of the guns of the leading American ships The Viscaya was soon set on fire and 1t 11:15 she turned in shore, and was oeached at Aserraros, fifteen miles from Santiago, burning fiercely, etc." { q have no doubt you read it correct y" (Which of these is correct? If there ( S a conflict between the commander n chief at the time that the Viscaya vent ashore and your report, yours at O36 and his at 11:15, it becomes ma | erial point to us which one of these I specifications is correct | "The times given in that report of nine were furnished by the navigator q md executive officer of the ship. I, of ,ourse, did not take the time,' Mir Rayner then questioned the wit | less as to the speed the Iowa was mak- f ng when the Oquendo and the Maria q Teresa went ashore. The latter replied T hat he could only say the ship was go- T ng as fast as they could make her go. Ie thought she must have been going n line and a half knots an hour. In this n