The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-12

| necessity renewed supply. of coal. It is alleged by the partisans of Sampson that the bunk CTS of the ships of the flying squadron contained a supply sufi,eient TOT ten The friends of Schley, while not admit ting this to be a fact, point to two req sons as a justiication Tor ms % insenuon sen, ,a that while there may have been a supply for ten days of blockade duty, such a supply would not last for one day under forced draught Is a necessity. The second is that the chances were for 1ouler weather instead of better. lnasmuch as hulk. hui and now now that she was disabled. she was worse than useless, they contend that the question of coal was pressing necessity which Schley could not dlsre- whether the supply was adequate.
 Some time during the continuance of this row between the officers of the navy, the charge has been made that Schley did not make every effort possible to capture or destroy the cruiser Colon as Santiago harbor from May 27 to S, in elusive. The detractors of Schley claim that he stood five or six miles off with his bstleshiPs in firing at the Colon ana course there is dispute as to the dis tance of the ranges, but Schley has better defense than that. One of the positive orders of Secretary Long was to the effect that no commander was to risk disablement of any of his fighting ships by sending them to lombard shore bat teries at Havana, Cienfuegos or Santiago until after the Spanish fleet had. been captured or destroyed. The rendering ineffective of that fleet was considered it was captured or destroyed it was thought that there would be sufficient time for the heavy ships of the navy to insinuation Is that Schley was a coward and that he was afraid to get into fight. This does not harmonize with the view,
 Admiral Howison
 in the Boston interview which has been the basis of the Schley Interrogation as to his competency. Howison is reported to have said that Schley was hot headed and not cautious enough. The fact, if 1t Is fact, that he stood nearly six miles off to shoot at the Colon and the Morro Castle would indicate caution am bunting almost to cowardtce.
 Still another charge is that he with drew the flying squadron from the mouth of Santiago harbor to a distance of twen- ty or twenty-five miles. The insituation of the Spanish squadron and gave 1t every opportunity to escape rather than run the risk of an engagement at night.
 Capt James Parker, one of the lawyers for Schfey, has copied extracts from the log of the Iowa, the Massachusetts and was never more than four miles from the mouth of the harbor at night These ex- tracts also show that the ships kept up csaseiess vigil by steaming back and forth past the entrance.
 The ninth article of the precept directs the court to establish the position of the Brooklyn, on the morning of the battle, the circumstances attending. the reasons for and the incidents resulting from the turning of the Brooklyn in the direction in which she turned at or about the be- ginning of the action and the possibility of thereby collidirg with or endangering any other of the vessels of the American feet and the propriety of Commodore Schley's conduct in the premises. This is the article which will result in the in- vestigation of the now more or less cele- brated loop Great surprise was expressed when the precept Was issued that any reference should be made to this incident of the fight. It has been so clearly shown since the discussion of this tactical move was begun that it was absolutely neces- sary for Schley to turn one way or the other if he desired to avoid collision. According even to the maps made by the headed northeast, while the other Ameri- can ships were headed northwest. The Spanish ships were headed south, and they headed west. If Schley had con tinued on the course in which he was steaming when the Spanish vessels were lided either with the Viscaya or with the Texas. The testimony of the Spanish off, ficers is that they tried to ram the Brook lyn, not only because she was the flag ship, but also because she had the greatest speed. Their only hope of es- cape was in the superior steaming quali- was willing to sacrifice one of his vessels by sending her to ram the Brooklyn That was the condition of affairs when it was up to- Schley or the captain of the ship on which he had hoisted his flag to change his course. If he had turned to the left one of the Spanish vessels would Brookyn H1H XthoSg ss Neson s to ad Td doW4 the rul" mt a captain Is never out of place when alongside the enemy, 1t was strategy. and and also , of vaior, % to apparentiy turn tail in order to avoid being ram med. If all the vessels of the Sehley not have made much difference if schiey had continued on his course and had taken the chances of sinking one of
 The Spanish Ships or being himself sunk. But. as the Span irds were intending to make it a race rather than 9sn ght it cN1 was OS to make the utmost effort to preserve from injury his only 'fast-sailing ship. If he had continued on the course he was Brooklyn broadside to the brow of the Spaniards. Even If they had not rammed him. they would have shot his ship full of holes and sunk here without the pos sibility- of him sinking or retarding the fight of one of Cerveras vessels.
 Lieut., H. II. Ward is the man who
  such terrible thing. He has never yet undertaken to explain how Schley was to have continued in the chase westward if he had not made the turn. Neither has he explained how if Schley had turned the other way, he would have avoided presenting the full length of the Brook lyn as a target for the heaviest guns of the whole Spanish squadron. If Schley had made the turn as Ward seems to think he should have he would have been unable to use the S-inch guns of the Brooklyn for more than a small fraction of the time used Tn the execution of the movement The best possible refutation of the charge of turning tail Is found in the fact that the Brooklyn sustained 5S per cent of all the damage inflicted upon the American squadron and accomplished 54 per cent of all the damage that was done to the Spanish vessels.
 The enemies of Schley think they have something against his honor in the alle- gation that he said, Damn the Texas Let her look out for herself" in answer to remonstrance supposed to have been made by Lieutenant Commander Albion C. Hodgson, who apparently thought that a turn to the right by the Brooklyn would result in that vessel ramming the Texas. Hodgson and Commander Heiner have had controversy of their own with re- gard to this alleged colloquy on the bridge of the Brooklyn. This colloquy has been dignilied by the fact that
 Secretary Long
 tire article of the precept to it. He in- tends that not only shall the colloquy, but the controversy between Commander Heilner and Lieutenant Commander Hodgson shall be inquired into. So much for the charges and Schley's