The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-10-19

more closely and ne had seen two of
the Spanish ships.
Referring to the engagement of Nay
81. Lieutenant Wells said he had gone
aboard the Massachusetts with Com
| modCre Schley. He had heard orders
| given to the New Orleans to fire on the
shore batteries Continuing, he said:
Schley Joked Under Fire.
II saw during this action a number
! of discharges of smokeless powder
/ from the slope TO the westward of the
| entrance. Several shells passed over
US and dropped near us. Commodore
| Schley at that time made a number of
/ joking remarks about some of us dOdg-
! ing. 1 don't think he lodged He
seemed to me at that time to be wholly
self-possessed and without any pertur-
baton"
Was he laboring under any mental
excitement at that timer"
| None at all that L could see. He
was in a very natural frame of mind
/ With reference to the McCdlla men,
| orandum, saying that a good landing
| place could be found on the coast of
/ Cuba. thirteen miles to the westward
of Cienfuegos, it was shown that it had
been received at Sis p. m, on May Is.
! ard the witness said that when the
! Hawk arrived at that time he thought
/ the memorandum had not been received
until then No. s, a dispatch from Adj
/ miral Sampson, saying that the Span
ISL StudufO0 DIODaDtN WAS at santiago.
and directing Admiral Schley to pro-
! coed there with all dispatch, if found
that the Spaniards were not at Glen
/ fuegOs, also was referred to and it was
! shown that according to the receiving
/ stamp imprint it had been received at
SIS p. m. May %. and that another
copy had been received on the follow
Visit of Cotton.
Mr.. Raynor also questioned the wit
| ness concerning the visits of Admiral
| (then captain) Cotton to the Brooklyn
| on May % and 80. Admiral Cotton was
| then in command of the Harvard. and
| the dispatch which he had taken
! aboard the flagship was presented and
read. This dispatch was from Admiral
| Sampson and was directed to CAPTAIN
| Cotton. Another dispatch which was
! presented while Admiral Cotton was
| on the stand also was read by Mr..
| Raynor. 1t likewise was from Samp-
son to Cotton and was as follows:
The Spanish squadron at Santiago.
If previous TO May IS scout off Santa
go. Communicate with Schley if he
| (they) moved west. Schley is expected
May II at Santiago from Cienfuegos.
! Cuba. Telegraph me from Nicholas
Mole to Key West if he lthey) move
east, and leave letter for Schley; then
go off Santa go to meet him." etc.
The witness said, in response to
questions by Mr.. Raynor, that he did
not remember the receipt of this last
dispatch on board the Brooklyn and
Mr.. RaynOr said that while the dis
patch had not been introduced when
Admiral Cotton was on the stand, he
] had asked for the original of it. but
had failed to receive it. He remarked
at the same time that he had doubts
/ that the original would be supplied
and that the request had merely been
overlooked by the representatives of
the navy department Captain Lemly
assured him that the original would be
produced.
Report on Spanish Fleet.
Going back to the stay at Cienfuegos,
Mr.. Raynor questioned witness with a
view of eliciting explicit information
as to the time of the Eagles definite
! report TO Admiral Schley that the
Spanish fleet was not in CienfuegOs. In
| reply Lieutenant Wells said.
1T was during the afternoon some
time, should say about 4:30 or 4
o'clock"
What was the time between the re-
ceipt of this message and the time you
set sail for Santiago?"
I'VE prepared several letters or dis
patches to Admiral Sampson 1 believe.
and to the department if I am not
mistaken. and when they were finished
the Dupont left some time along about
Z O'Clock. Tt was shortly after that the
squadron stood out to southwark
DO you remember any Ardois signals
made by the squadron after the depart
ure from CienfuegOs2"
There were some, remember their
being made, but l cannot exactly say
what they were"
Have you any recollection how far
off shore the squadron was when these
signals were made. from your own OBJ
servation2"
''Wen, the squadron's general dis
I fqnpp off
miles and we stood to the southwark
about eight miles. I should say We
were twelve or fifteen miles off shore -
Locate the Spaniards.
when did you first distinctly find
out where the Spanish squadron was?''
When We saw the Colon at the en-
trance to the harbor of Santiago on
the morning of the 18th of May"
DO you know from your own knowl-
edge about the difficulty of coaling the
Texas on May p and 2S?"
! I recOllect that there was a signal.
which was the subject of some CONVEX
satiOn relative to the fact that the col
lier and the Texas had both suffered
from injury at that time and later a
day or so 1 remember seeing on the
ships side evidences of some repairs
being made in the nature of red lead
and touching up"
DO you know whether any report
was made to Commodore Schley at the
time of the reconnaissance of the fact
that the ship was not on the range that
had been determined on? What was
the range determined on?"
Seven thousand yards or 800 yards
When first we closed in, my recollec
ton is that Mr.. Potts reported to Cap
tain Higginson that the ship was about
that range
Was any report made to yourself
about that, that She was not on that
| ranger
mo. sir
cor afterward?"
mo. sir
Did you hear Commodore Schley
say at any time anything in reference
| to the cOnsp icuousness of his uniform
at the time of his reconnaissance
mo, sir. I do not recall any such
remark"
Schley Did Not Hide.
What have you to say in reference
to a statement that he took refuge be-
hind or on the lee side of the coming
tower during the time Of the reconnois-
sance? Did you see him sufficiently to
enable you to speak on that?"
7 was in his immediate vicinity dur
ing the entire reconnaissance and 1 rec
ollect that he certainly did not take
refuge, as you express it, behind the
coming tower. He was at different
points about the coming tower in the
! turref one side or the ot baY- f.,,f+o