The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-25

misstate anything for his commission. do not believe that he Is capable oi stating what is not true. think m this instance, his recollection IS at fault and not his veracity. I said to him: Captain, have you got the dons in here! He said, No. They are not in here. have been in very close. They are not here: they are only reported here.' said to him Have any Of the other vessels seen them. the Yale or the Minneapolis? He said, No; they have not; they have assured me so; aud upon that was the assurance to which I refer red when I spoke of the assurance of such men as Wise and Jewell and Sigs- bee. Now, do not believe that any of these men would misstate the facts. They did not communicate verbally with me, but I assumed from the conversation with Sigsbee that he was bearing to me the assurance of all of them. At the same time Nunez was aboard and he and had a conversation in Spanish. Among other things I said: Nunez. what do you think of the report that these people are not here.'
 Conversation with Nunez.
 "'weli, he said. I do not believe that they are here at all because the-channel way is very narrow, the buoys have also beea removed. We have to make the turns very quickly, and the channel is vry crooked. If they had a tug or a most favorable day. perfectly smooth weather, I do not say that they might not get in. but do not believe they are there now.' He said he had been piloting sixteen or eighteen years. We subse- quently found he was very expert pilot and rendered us valuable service.
 "My habit of life, not only in principal command of squadron. but also in com mand of a ship, was to assume the res- possibility and the danger of censure of any man, but was never willing under any circumstances to be a participant in glories that would not divide. That was the general principle upon which I acted in his matter. I did not call any council of war. The information which these people gave me led to infer that the telegraphic information was a ruse similar to that which was telegraph ed from Cadiz that the squadron had re- turned to Cape verde.''
 Continuing the Admiral said. "If any of us at any time made any mistakes during the campaign of Santiago or else where. 1t was In supposing that the Spaniards would ever do right at the right time.'
 At this point Admiral Schley described the movements of his squadron about Santiago. saying that he had concluded that the move eastward to be unwise. It would not have been wise to uncover Santiago. He said that their movements every minute of the day were known in Havana.
 Just as we approached Santiago on the 26th, the collier Merrimac. which had been giving us a good deal of trouble, broke down. I determined that an un- manageable collier was not a very pre- ferable thing to have with the squadron if we met the enemy, so first deter mined to send her to Key West.
 The Merrimac Disabled.
 "It then occurred to me that if sent her to Key West and she was taken we would be out a collier and the Spanish. If they were outside. would be in so much coal So I determined therefore on this movement to the westward. in the mean time inquiring as to the coal supply of each of these ships"
 Continuing his discussion of the coal ing situation Admiral Schley said that liberal supply was necessary. The enemy would not come toward the Americans, but would go in the other direction. Speaking of the collier Merri- mac breaking down he said this accident rendered coaling out of the question.
 "I do not believe any prudent com mander would have attempted 10 send a ship alongside an unmovable collier to take coal" he said. '"The risk would be too great. The responsibility was mine and it was too great to take the chances. I coaled at the earliest possible moment"
 With reference to the arrival Of the Harvard on the 27th and his conference with Captain (now admiraD Cotton, Ad- niral Schley said that he had never re- ceived the dispatch reporting In positive terms the presence of the enemy at Sam tiago q never saw it." he said with intense earnestness. "I never saw it, and am sure that Cotton never delivered it to me. If he had done so 1t would be among my papers, and it would have burnt itself into my memory so that could not have forgotten it."
 Admiral Schley also referred again to his conversation with Captain McCalla. saying that McCalla did not testify to the whole conversation and then discuss ed his dispatch to the Navy Department regarding the disobeyance of orders. He said that as translated the message was essentially different from the dispatch as he had framed 1t. He contended that there had been no disobedience: that he had compiled with the orders in returning to Santiago and held that the proper of his dispatch would relieve him of this charge. At this point the court adjourned.