The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-16

WASHINGTON, Oct. 15.-Only one new
witness was heard in detail b. the Schley
court of inquiry today. This was Lieu
tenant Commander James H. Sears. who
was Admiral Schleys flag lieutenant dur
ing the Spanish war He gave detailed
account of the entire Cuban campaign,
including the brief siege of Cienfuegos,
the retrograde movement of the~fying
squadron in search of coal, the blockade
of Santiago, the Reconnaissance OF the
Santiago shore batteries and the bonn
bardment of the Cristobal Colon May 81,
and the battle off Santiago July 8, when
CerVera' s feet was destroyed. He placed
the distance out of the .blockading line
at Cienfuegos at from one to four miles
and at Santiago at from three to six
miles He expressed the opinion that in
the battle of July it had been the Viz
cayas $ intention to ram the Brooklyn.
While Commander Sears was on the
stand, Capt. Lemly asked his age, but the
court after quite a prolonged consulta-
ton in retirement, decided that tie ques-
ton was not admissible. 1t held, how
ever, that the time of service could be
inquired into.
Mr.. Rayner sought to secure the intro
duction of a brief report of the battle Of
J'sly 5. which Commodore Schley pre-
pared for transmission to the secretary
of the navy. 1t was stated that Com
mander Sears had taken this dispatch
ashore to be cabled to the secretary, but
that it never had reached that official.
The dispatch was ruled out on the ground
that as it was not received it was not an
official communication. It was not read
in the court room, but the following is
copy of it:
SCHLEY'S REPORT.
The Secretary of the Navy Washing
ton-Spanish squadron came out of San
tiago harbor this morning, July 8, at
$3.50, and were all captured or destroyed
in. running fight to the westward Of
about three and OnC-half hours. Very
few casualties in our fleet Ellis, chief
yeoman, killed, and one man wounded
ships not yet in. The cOmmanGtr-in- chief
row experimenting transfer of prisoners
from the CriStobal Colon, which Surren-
dered to the Brooklyn and Oregon at 1:15
p. m. About LOCO prisoners in all, tnclud-
ing Spanish admiral. Victory completes
Details later. -'Schley.'
Capt Cook was recalled during the day
and in response to question by Capt
Lemly, made an additional statement
concerning the retrograde movement of
the flying squadron May 26 to May 2S
He also said in answer to a question by
the court, that Commodore SchIey dur
ing the battle Of July was "cool, brave
and enthusiastic l cannot imagine any
conduct IN the battle more admirable"
The presentation of the Schley side of
Yesterdays witnesses had been recalled
and had made the verbal corrections nee
esssary in their testimony they were
promptly dismissed, and at the instance
of Mr. Rayner, the judge advocate sum-
moned Lieutenant Commander Sears.
FINISH IS IN SIGHT.
Admiral Schley thinks it quite proba-
BILE that the presentation of the testimony
in his behalf can be completed in this
week and the next He will be the last
OF the witnesses to be heard and when
he goes on will make a review of the en-
tire campaign, covering the points in con-
troversy.
eduardo Nunez, the Cuban pilot was
among those who We're called to cor
rect former testimony He added to his
statement of yesterday that he had seen
the Brooklyn firing on May 81, the day
of the bombardment of the Coion where
as the records show tnat that vessel was
at that time coaling and did not partici
pate in the engagement. He also made a
correction in his former statement con-
corning his conversation with Commo-
dore Schley on first meeting him. His
corrected statement of that incident was
presented by his interpreter in written
form and read as follows:
During the conversation I had with
Commodore Schley 1 said not that the
water was not deep enough, but that in
accordance with the Information l ha3
in Kingston, Jamaica, in regard to the
dimensions of the Spanish ships they
were of such a large size that they could
not get in the harbor in consideration of
the narrownesS of the channel and the
quick turn they had to make at the
diamond shoaT in front of the entrance
and / still believe that vessels of such
size cannot enter Santiago, not being
under the most favorable conditions of
weather I also was asked by Admiral
Schley if I thought his flagship could
enter the harbor. ana I answered him
I did not consider it advisable for the
conditions before mentioned and because
there were no buoys to mark the chan
mel, for the Spaniards had picked them
up to prevent the American fleet from
coming in the port and besides that they
had many torpedo lines across the
entrance"
Lieutenant Commander Sears followed
Nunez Mr.. Rayner questioned him, say
ing at the beginning of the examina ton
that he would ask him concerning the
points of the precept and requesting that
replies should be as concise as possible
Mr. Sears said that when the flying
squadron arrived off Cienfuegos he knew
nothing of the code of signals for com
mHnication with the Cuban insurgents
Questioned concerning the McCalla mem
oranda, he said that it had been brought
to Commodore Schley by the Hawk and
by no other vessel to his knowledge
Commander Sears gave a detailed ac-
count of the encounter with the British
steamer Adula, the examination on this
point as follows:
Now, coming to Cienfuegos give us
the principal incidents that took place
while the fleet lay
OFF CIENFUEGOS,
and especially an Incident with which
you are familiar, the coming of the
Adula''
The 44uula arrived off the port there
and was boarded first under orders from
Commodore Schley by the Castine, and
after Capt. Berry, of the Castine, had
made his report to the commodore, Schley
sent one of the officers of the Brooklyn
aboard her. After he had returned and
made report, the commodore directed me
to go aboard the Adula and see if I could
contrive some manner of inducing the
captain. an Englishman, to put himself
out a little to tell us. something about
what was going on inside of Cienfuegos.
The captain said of course he would be
very glad 70 do it. as he was coming