The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-09-21

| l ish cruiser Colon as she lay at anchor
 in the entrance to Santiago harbor,
 May 27 to 31 inclusive. We have asked
 that question, and we have his (Admir-
 al Higginsons) opinion This court by
 the precept, is obliged to give an opin- | ion upon the conclusion of the investl- gation Now in the opinion of the court
 and in order to form our opinion, we
 want Admiral Higginson's opinion on
 that subject
 Judge Wilson-"I understand that
 precept, reading it through from end
 to end, to be simply this: That there
 shall be an investigation to get at the
 facts. And when you have got at the | facts then you express your opinion'
 but you are not called upon, and l must
 respectfully submit, are not permitted, l to take somebody else's opinion You 1 have right to get all the facts you | can and that is what we want, but otherwise you will see at once that you might have a great variety of opinions and all the opinions of subordinates. In 1 other words the precept does not call | for anybody's opinion except the opin- 1 ion of this honorable court"
 I AQnlIdI ISWGy- III lllt ppliioh ol one member of the court, and perhaps | of the others, we do not ask his opinion, | but for a statement of a matter of fact. | We ask, Was everything done" We don't say in your opinion
 Judge Raynor made an extended ar l gument, quoting many legal authori- l ties against the admissibility of opin- ions on the part of witnesses, and he | was speaking when at 1 o'clock the court took recess of an hour for luncheon.
 THE QUESTION WITHDRAWN AF- TER RECESS.
 The court reconvened promptly at | o'clock, and MT. Raynor continued hls arguments against the ruling of the court He contended that If testimony l giving opinions should be admitted the inquiry would be interminable. If, for instance. opinions were to be taken as 1 to the propriety of the loop made by the Brooklyn, practically the entire navy could be summoned, as well It's members were experts and each would have his opinion Witnesses were ex- pected to relate facts; tn court to give 1 opinions.
 At 2:1O MT. Raynor concluded his ar gument and Judge Advocate Lemly be- gan his reply, He quoted the record | in the trial of Admiral Keppel, argu- 1 ing that it was entirely within the dis erection of the court to decide whether | the opinion of witness who had been on the ground, should be called for by the court. He thought, however, that the weight of authority was against I the opinion of witness
 At the conclusion of Capt. Lemly' s arguments, Admiral Dewey said that the court withdrew the question. Another question put by the court was as to the distance the squadron | lay out from Santiago, and the reply | was that it was three or four miles out during the day and two or three miles out at night. In reply to question the witness said that after the lombard | ment of May S1, TO further effort had been made to destroy the Colon because | the vessel had gone inside the harbor. Admiral Higglnson was excused at 2:25 D. m, and Capt Chester was call ed to the stand,
 Commodore Schley asked me-" said | the witness, with reference to the facilities for coaling on the south side of Cuba. I told him the results of my 1 examination of the charts referring to two shoal places each about thirty
 miles distant. He seemed to think the distance too far from the operations. I was with him on the Brooklyn about an hour"
 Capt. Chester's testimony related to
 coaling off the coast of Cuba and occu-
 pied but few minutes. He was fol-
 lowed by Major Thomas N. Wood of the Marine Corps, who was in com
 mand of the marine guard on the Mas
 sachusetts during the Spanish war Captain Giles F. Harber, now naval attache at Paris and St. Petersburg, who was executive officer on board the
 Texas during the Spanish war, was ask
 ed to give detailed account of the op- erations of that vessel during the war
 and he did so. The Texas had been a part of the Flying Squadron" and the witness said when they steamed for Ci- enfuegos the flagship had signalled i've go to Cienfuegos to bag the Spaniards; wish you good luck"
 In reply to questions he said that when C1enIueBOS WAS TedCHeu edTtH- works were discovered there, but no effort was made to destroy them. Captain Harber was questioned as to orders concerning plans of battle, but
 he said that, notwithstanding he would have taken command in case of the in- 1 capacity of Captain Philip, he received
 no directions from the commander-in-
 chief He had heard of no plans in case he enemy should be engaged.
 The witness said that while lying off Cienfuegos he, with others, had seen lights from the shore which, from their nature they took to be signals, but that no attention had been paid to them un- til the 24th, when the Marblehead had arrived and he understood had respond- ed to the signals and communicated with those on shore.
 He also said that the Texas had been in no great need of coal while Tying off Cienfuegos, but that it could have talk en more and would have been glad to get it. The Iowa had coaled there, he said
 Describing the sail to Santiago, the witness said there had been rough