The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-11-02
SCHLEY INQUIRY
 NEARING AN END
Evidence Will Soon Be Concluded, But Decision May Be Delayed
 Some Weeks.


 he had no more witnesses to call. and MT. Raynor said that no witnesses would be summoned on behalf of Admiral Schley in sur-rebuttal. For a moment it appear. ed as if the now famous case was about to reach sudden conclusion. But thii delusion was soon dissipated by the an nouncement on the part of Captain Lemi, who asked that he might be allowed tt bring in more witnesses Monday and also a statement from Mir. Raynor that Admiral schley himself would desire te return to the stand Monday to correct errors in evidence as officially reported
 There is probability that the Admiral will consume considerable time in going over the printed record of what he said and there also is an understanding that he will make some additions to his for. ner statements. But it is not believed that beyond what he may have to say there will be much more testimony. The only witness that the Judge Advocate still has in mind is Lieutenant Strauss and Captain Lemly said today that if the lieutenant's attendance could be secured he would detain the court for short time only. Captain Sigsbee also will re- turn to the stand Monday to make cor rections in his testimony. Then argu- ment of counsel will begin and after that counsel and the public will withdraw and leave the court to its deliberations.
 The task before the court Is not a light one, and 1t may be weeks before the final verdict will be reached.
 Today's witnesses were Sylvester Sco- vel, a former newspaper correspondent. who saw service in the Cuban campaign, Lieutenant Hood, wno commanded the Hawk during the Spanish war. and also a number of officers who were heard yes terday and who returned to the stand to correct testimony. The court held only one session and adjourned over until Monday.
 Beginning of Sessicn.
 The Schley Court of Inquiry began its proceedings today with the understand ing that with the exception of some wit nesses who will be recalled to correc their testimony on Monday next. the las testimony would be taken before adjourn ment. There were only two witnesses ol the stand for today and the understand ing of the court was that after the! should be heard the court would adjouri over until Monday next.
 The witnesses tcalled for today were both summoned by the Department anC were Lieutenant John Hood. who com manded the dispatch boat Hawk during the Cuban campaign, and Mir. Sylvester Scovil, who was a newspaper correspond ent in Cuba during the Spanish war. Lieutenant Hood was summoned for the pu; pose of relating his version of his interview with Admiral Schley off Cien- fuegos and MT. Scovil was called to an- swer questions concerning the morning when Captain Sigsbee of the St. Paul is said to have megaphoned to the press boat Somers N. Smith on May 18th. Photographer Hare testified that at that time Captain Sigsbee stated that the Spanish fleet was not in the harbor of Santiago and gave the name of MT. Scovil as one of the correspondents on board the press boat with himself at that time.
 Big Task Before Schley.
 Admiral Schley was in the court room half an hour before proceedings began, but he announced that he would not be able to undertake the correction of his testimony before next Monday.
 There were five whole days of 1t, he said, and to go over it and make the corrections is no light task"
 It is probable that he will have some thing more to say concerning his inter view on May IS with Admiral Sampson relative to which Captain Chadwick spoke yesterday.
 It Is not now intended to call any wit ness In sur-rebuttal. and 1t Is expected that the argument will begin soon aftel Admiral Schley concludes the correction of his testimony. How long the cour may take to consider the evidence Is en tirely problematical. The members O. the tribunal are evidently preparing tt devote considerable time to the consider ation of testimony for they have taker testimony covers 1.6OO printed pages. and the court sat thirty-six days in listen ing to It. With the additions yet to be made in the way of argument and docu- ments, the record probably will run over 1. TOO pages.
 The Order of Argument.
 The court was six minutes late in en- tering the hall today, this being the first time that absolute promptness has not been observed Judge, Advocate Lemly that the counsel had agreed to the order of speeches in closing the case subject to the sanction of the court. Mr. Hanna Is to open for the Depart ment. He will be followed by Captain Parker and MT. Raynor for Admiral Schley and Judge Advocate Lemly will
  ey announced that thIs arrangement was to the court.
 Captain Lemly thep brought up the question of the character of the argument to be made, saying:
 "I would like for my own information to ask the instructions of the court as to whether We are expected to confine our selves to the evidence and the scope of the precept as defined by the court. mean the arguments made both by coun- sel for the applicant and by my asso- ciate and myself"
 MT. Hanna-We have to confine our selves to the evidence and the scope of the precept as defined by the court. l mean the arguments made both by by counsel for the applicant and by my associate and myself.
 Mir Raynor-We have to confine our selves to the evidence. but don't want to be entirely restricted. We can allude to any fact that Is not in the evidence. but we will make our allusion to 1t very and within proper bounds.
 Captain Lemly-I think that should be the general scope of the argument. The court has defined the scope of the pre- cept, but of course we could not under take, and the court won't undertake, to restrict ourselves entirely 1 assume, in stating just exactly the words and the manner and so on. That would be a question which at the time they would have to say whether it was proper or not.
 MT Raynor-Of course. in making an argument, we won't pretend to refer to anything not In the record. We are