Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1901-10-19
NICHOL SON TELLS OF
BATTLE OF SANTIAGO
He Was the Navigator of the
Warship Oregon.
sCHLEY COURT GRINDs ON

WASHINGTON. Oct 18-The list of
yesterdays witnesses called before the
Schley court of inquiry at the opening
OF today's session, for the purpose of
correcting testimony, was exceptionally
long, comprising eight persons. There
were, however, not many new questions
asked of any of them, and as the testi-
mony was comparatively brief in each
case, the time consumed in hearing
them was not great
The witnesses called today included
Lieutenant Commander Reginald E.
Nicholson, who was navigator Of the
Oregon during the campaign Of 1898:
DIR. Charles NJ. Devalin, past assistant
surgeon; Captain J. /. Hannum, retired,
who was chief engineer on the Brook
Ign during the war with Spain; Lieu
tenant 7. T. Carter, Ensign W. P. Gro.
nan, Carpenter J. H. Hartford, all of
whom were on the Brooklyn; Mr.. Hun
ley, who was chief machinist on the
the Texas, and Lieutenant B. w Wells,
Jr., who was Admiral Schley' flag lieu.
tenant. 1t is expected that Captain
Clarke Of the Oregon will be among the
witnesses to be heard early next week.
Tells of Battle.
Lieutenant Commander Nicholson of
the Oregon was called and began his re-
cital of the story Of the battle of July 8.
which he had observed as navigator Of
the Oregon. He was, he said, on the
Of h 81 II
Ing the position l did during the day of
the engagement, I necessarily saw con.
siderable OF it. The incidents of that
day commenced about $3.50 or five min.
ptes before. When the first ship started
to go around, the Cry went up: There
they gop
81 looked toward the h4rbor and saw
the first ship. Her bow was making
turn into the laSt reach Of the harbor on
ner way out She was followed in sue
cesslOn by the others. I went to my
station, first on the bridge, then down
to the coming tower and saw that the
proper connections were made.
In the meantime the signal had been
sounded to general quarters and by this
time steam was coming up. all the boil.
ers and blowers were going full tilt, and
few minutes afterward Captain Clark
came up. He turned the snip, going
slowly at first; turned the ship with
starboard helm and started in toward
the enemy. They came out at full
sr1eed apparently much faster than we
were at this time. By the time we were
Strengthened they went to the westward
ahead OF US.
1.-THE Iowa started in, she being closer
to the enemy than we were, because we
81 hnT Ctp fax
after that, on our course to the west
ward. we passed under the stern of the
Texas. apparently still in the water. |
called Captain Clark's attention to this.
OF course, firing commenced on both
sides at the time the first ship cleared,
probably 80 to miles off at that point
when we crossed under the Texas stern
we saw the Iowa coming out of the
course nearly parallel to converging
course with ours. I noticed her little
abaft our starboard beam. Captain
Clarke at the same time noticed her and
called nv attention to her and told me
to look out and avoid collision. When
the action commenced we passed the
Texas and the Iowa.
Maria Teresa on Fire.
"The on,y sh. p then ahead Of US was
the Brooklyn. All the Spanish ships
had gotten out by this time and we were
pursuing them, heading for the leading
ships. We noticed the Maria Teresa
drop astern at a less speed than at first;
saw flames leaping up and on, frGm her,
which convinced Us she was on fire. A
few minutes after the Oquendo appeared
to be covered with smoke and we con-
cluded that she also was on fire, which
proved to be a fact. Just about this
time the Vlscaya, which starboarded
her helm, seemed to head off to the
southwark and west toward the Brook
Ign and fell out of line
sit then became evident that the
Colon was pulling out of the battle and
running along the shore, but it was de-
veloped that she was running away and
had more speed than all the other ships.
The VisCaya headed toward the Brook
lyn. She ran that course for some time
and then Strengthened out again; then
turned in shore and q few minutes after
that ran ashore.
''There is no question about the Wis
caya pulling out of the general Spanish
line to the southwark, because a short
time after this Captain Clark turned
around and called my after ton to some
objects in the water that lOOkeI like
floating buoys, apparently ) or + feel
above the water We thought they
were nets with torpedoes between them,
probably thrown out to injure the ship
I ported the helm and before l could dc
anything we passed over the spot and
found that we were in the wake of the
Viscaya."
Commander Nicholson then detailed
the chase Of the Colon, the subsequent
going ashore and the surrender.
Bresci's Accomplice Imprisoned.
LONDON, Oct. ia dispatch from
Rome saws that Salvatore OuintaYalli