The Washington times., 1901-10-05


long lane from the witness room to the
bar of the Court, his crepe bound sword
dangling at his side, and nervousiy pulled
of the white glove from his right hand as
he stood before Admiral Dewey. who held
ont to him the Bible on which witnesses
are sworn. When Mr.. Hodgson sat down,
the court room became very quiet. so
quiet in fact that il was evident that
everybody there felt under a strain. The
rustic that had been caused by the ap-
peardnce Of the witness died away as sud-
denly il had begun.
Captain Lemly eXamiu ed Mr.. HodgSon.
To the preliminary questions. Mr.. Hodg-
son said he was the executive officer of
the battleship Indiana, was now station
ed at the Neg York Navy Yard. and
throughout the recent war had served IS
navigator Of the flagship Brooklyn. With
oui any waste of time, Captain Lemly
brought the attention of the witness to
the battle with Cervera's fleet. In giving
his testimony, Mr.. Rodgson was percepti-
bly, nervous
Six feet away sat Admiral Schley He
was nervous. too. During that part of
Mr.. HOdgsOn's testimony relating to the
coiloquy on the Brooklyns bridge, the
admiral leaned back in his chair. TWISTING
Eis mustachc and imperial Afterward he
leaned forward. but he Gid not watch the
witness. Throughout the recital the spec
tators listened intently. A photographer,
who was getting ready to take a picture
of the court room. knocked over the cam
era tripod. and this sound broke with
such startling diStinCtnCSS on the Court
ard audience. that many people jumped
from their seats. Mr.. HCdgsOn spoke rap
idly in giving his testimony, sometimes at
the rate of nearly 300 words a minute
The Brooklyn in Action.
In reply to a question to tell what hap
pened when the Brooklyn went iEto aC-
ton Mr. Hodgson said he had just turned
over the deck to Lieutenant Doyle when
the Spanish ships were seen coming out
and then continued:
y then sang out and at the same time
rang the general alarm. In the meantime
the crew had assembled at after-quarters,
it being Sunday, the first one of the month,
for muster and inspection. l heard the ex-
ecutiVe officer. Lieutenant Commander
Mason sing out, Clear ship for action,
and the cIaw Immediately dispersed TO
their quarters, / having sounded the gem
eral alarm previously i made some
preparations OF the bridge myself, as to
removing doors from the searchilSht, not
waiting for the electrician TO ccme up TO
do il. The commodore tSchleyl shortly
appeared on the bridge. We were at that
time heading, ! suppose, ABOUT west
northwest or to the westward of north
west ! told him that there was nothing
that was doing and he said to go ahead,
Il asked him if we hadn't better hold
her steady to see what course the Span
iards Dropcsed TO pursue. | do not re-
member his reply exactly to that, because
Immediately afterward / told MN eva
IDENTIFY they We're making Tor US, anu foi,t. ne
said We will go for them. rang TOUR
bells and put the helm aport captain
Cook appeared upon the bridge at TINS
time and ! told him everything was con-
nected up in the coming tower. that we
were all ready for going ahead, IN Iact
.;rhe commodore took his position on
platform that he had had built around the
coming tower where he could be within
easy communication with the command
ing officer inside the coming tower and
remained on the bridge until the executive
officer coming forward, he having pre-
viously given an order to man the star
beard battery, / sang out to him that we
were going into action with port helm,
and he shifted over and manned the pert
battery. We were then standing for the
enemy, and as soon as the guns were
brought to bear Lieutenant Simpson fired
slightly off the port bow, the first gun
from the forward S-inch turret. That is
my recollection.
Toward the Enemy.
From that we went straight in toward
them. l then went down on to the bridge
where the commodore was standing. to
go into the coming tower, when 1 heard
him sing out, Look out. Cook, they are
going to ram you or propose to ram
you, or words to that effect, and Captain
Cook said he would look out for that,
and starboarded the helm a little to par
alel the course of the leading vessel, the
Teresa, which had made a sheer to port
toward our broadside He had hardly
made that sheer however. to port, be
fore he fell of again, having apparently
received a heavy shot the port bow,
which afterward turned out to be from
the Brooklyns 5-1ncE gun. The Tere sa
falling OF apparently, she got abaft our
port beam and the helm was ported on
the Brooklyn Immediately after that. and
We were swinging then with a port helm.
Il heard the commodore sing out, 'Hard
aport, Cook or words to that effect, and
Captain Cook sang out to him, The helm
is aDort.' / saw at that time that the
crucial moment had arrived in making
the turn, and ! suggested to the commo-
dore or the captain. to the commodore at
any rate, that the turn would run us
into the Texas, or bring US very close to
the Texas"
Captain Lemly interrupted: What did
ne say in terms and what was the reply
as nearly as you can give the words used
by each?'' he asked.
well" continued the witness, ''as
lIearly as / remember, / said 'Commo-
dore, If you go to starboard you will run
into the Texas, and he said, Damn the
Texas; can't help that. She must look
out for herself or words to that effect;
we. viii take care of that And ne said:
l don't propose to go in any closer and
subject myself TO torpedo attack ] sug-
gested, then, that We back the starboard
engine, and he wanted to know why and
i said because II would give the Texas
wider berth, and 1t would shorten our
turning circle. Captain Cook objected 10
backing the, starboard- engine, and so did
the commodore, when he found that ii
would shorten the time-at least less
the time of turning.
There was a moments discuss I..
the fact whether IL would be 1rL-r
turn with shorter circle with a
speed. or to take a larger tacticf' -iaHl.
eter at a faster speed. and 1t wa i"..
that it was very essential that W ra'
get around quickly as possible
leading Spanish ship was then .-..
well to the westward and II the .-s.
lyn did not stop her she had a yer goo.
chance to escape So the helm 'Eas g
hard aport / said l would run up
top of the bridge and look out for tl
Texas. As | was going up / asked rl.
chief quartermaster if he had seen co..
pedo boat and he said yes, that Es
irl tia raar i saId had not seen aHr
had told the commodore previously b
had not seen any torpedo beat
u naturally supposed. however.
commodore did, that they were in -..
81 the Spanish vessels. The helm H..
however. kept hard aport. The Br,
swung well clear of the Texas ...
brought around with helm hard ..r
until he brought the leading SpaDis .
heI 10 bear. which was then the VIZ.
the Teresa having fallen off and ..-
farther inshorc. seeking a berth AS
as We were around at the proper pos ..E.l.
ahe helm was put 80 that we para ID
she cc'lrse OF the Nizcaya, which at thai
time. as ! estimated was about 900
yards or $50 yards on the starboard
bow. The Colon was probably on the
beam. or little forward OF the beam
the OquendO abaft the starboard beam
The Oquendo very soon fell out and ran
ashore on fire, and then We devoted our
attention solely to the Colon and the
Nizcaya-'
That is all l want to ask you at pres
ent,' said Captain Lemly and deep sigh
came from the spectators, who had evi-
IDENTIFY been holding their breath during
the recital.
Mr. Rayner-T object may n nIeaec the