The age-herald., 1901-11-02
Other Ships of the Squadron Were Practically "NOt
 In |"
EVIDENCE THROWS NEW LIGHT
Only the Fleet Brooklyn and the Won derfuI Oregon Could Keep Up With me Flying Span-
 ish Ships.

Washington, November l. = (Special) - The evidence at the Schley court of in- quiry during the last fortnight and prac- tically during the last week. has given an entirely new view of the battle of Santiago. If it is accepted as true 1t will utterly change the account which history would otherwise have given of 1t and will prove that for three years the public has remained In ignorance of how the battle was won.
 Heretofore it has been believed that the battle was fought and won by the North Atlantic squadron and the flying squad ron. If the testimony of the last fort night is true 1t was practically fought and won by the Brooklyn and Oregon alone, except for such slight assistance as the Texas was able to offer.
 According to this version of the battle, when the Spanish ships came out the Americans moved forward to meet them in accordance with the pre-arranged plan with the design of sinking them at the mouth of the harbor as they attempted to escape. This plan proved failure, &C., cording to this recent testimony. The whole fire of the squadron was concen-
 
 destroyed.
 The other Spanish ships got safely away, though some of them had been struck by American shells, and Cervera's fleet, minus the Maria Teresa, started on it's run for life. The Spaniards were feeter than the American vessels. They had fleet mostly made up of swift crusera while that of the United States was mostly made up of slow battleships. Once they got away from the American fire therefore, 1t was to be assumed they could escape altogether. tt
 spanlards Near to Escape.
 As a matter of fact. according to the testimony, this is almost what did occur. The Spaniards got away from all the American ships except the Brooklyn and the Oregon, which for some unaccounta- bIe reason was able to beat all the other American battleships and almost keep up with the Brooklyn. One of the officers Of the Oregon in describing on the witness Stand the mighty rush of his ship, said that it went by the other American bat tleships as if they were anchored.
 The part which the American squadron played in this battle, therefore, ended In
 
 harbor, in which the Teresa was destroy ed. After that the battle proper began, and 1t was conducted by the Brooklyn and the Oregon alone. The other ships could only lumber along in the wake of these two. passing the burning Spanish ships which had headed in shore taking their surrenders, and rescuing the Spanish
 Texas Alone Stays in Sight.
 The Texas alone managed to hang on just in sight of the Brooklyn and tho Oregon a part of the time, and doing what it could to help, but that, accord ing to this testimony, was little. One of the officers of the Oregon testified that even the New York, coming up an hour after 1t was all over, passed all the ships except the Texas before 1t reached the Oregon.
 If this testimony is accepted as true. 1t is said that It will work a great change in the popular and the historical con- ception of the battle of Santiago. It is regarded significant, in connection with 1t that the popular and official un- derstanding of the battle has been built up almost entirely by the officers of the other ships.
 The officers of the Brooklyn and Ore gon have heretofore been extremely re- served about the battle, and most of the talking has been done by others. The testimony of the last two weeks gives the first glimpse of the Brooklyn-Orcgon version of the battle.
 Vixen Officer Sees Battle.
 One of the witnesses in this line was Lieutenant Commander Charles H. Har- low, the executive officer of the Vixen. That little ship had no business in the fight and properly stayed out of it, but 1t kept along the flank ' the fight all the time, observing 1t. Icee Vixen was the only ship which had leisure to look on and note everything.
 The officer who act ed as official looker- on, so to speak, was Harlow, who, under instructions from his commander, went on deck and witnessed the fight, watch in hand, dictating notes as the battle went on. His ship though out of the battle. Kept up with the Brooklyn and Oregon,
 Harlow testified that after the Maria Teresa was destroyed not an American ship was in the battle but the Brooklyn and Oregon except for small part which the Texas played. He also testified that when the Indiana stopped and went ont of the fight 1t had only reached the point where the Brooklyn lay at the time the Spaniards came out. The Indiana's log say that that vessel was ''soon left hone lessly behind''
 A suggestion of this testimony wa. foreshadowed some weeks ago. when Commander Schuetze, the nayieator of the Iowa. was on the stand. Asked what was tho greatest error in the official chart, Schuetze bluntly replied that 1t gave his ship a speed of eighteen knots when in reality it was only making nine or ten. The speed of eighteen knots was necessary to keep the Iowa in the fight, but Shuetze was quite willing to admit that the Iowa only made half that. The full significance of this was not seen un- til the testimony of last week.
 Real victors Keep Silent.
 If this late testimony Is true, the ques- tion will naturally arise. how the pub lie could so long have been misled. Aside from the silence of the Brooklyn and Oregon officers only now broken, there is suggestion about this in the testi- mony of Wainwright Heilner and Schuetze about the way in which the official chart was compiled.
 It was in brief that when the Board of Navigators met to get up that chart everybody insisted on having his ship