The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-09-13

cSO SdNlng-
THE explanation is that there had beel
a lack of cooperation between the lam
and naval forces and Sampson was tryin
| to harmoniZe them. The day on which tn
| battle occurred was the last day on eartl
when the Spanish fleet should have beel
expected to come OUT
! There was some question as to the methot
! of further procedure. and Admiral Howiso,
| solved IT by asking leave to present his re
ply to the challenge at once. The court tool
| a recess for this purpose. The court seemet
! absent from the room for about fifteen min
| utes. and when it reconvened Admiral Howl
= son presented his reply to the charges mad,
| against him.
| ADMIRAL HOWISON
REPLIES TO CHARGES.
| Following is Howison's statement to the
| court
Mr.. President and Gentlemen: In reply tc
| the objection to me member Of this
1 court, / submit copy of my personal let.
| ter to the Honorable Frank w. Hackett
which has been made public by the Navy
| Department.
''Mr. Frost. I think. Is answered in this
| letter above referred to. Mr.. Spons state
| ment is one L cannot father. 1 positively
do not remember his face. at all Mr..
| Frosts face is familiar. although I have
not seen him for two years or more. and
| Mr.. Spon by his statement, only last Octo-
ber.
"Mr. Nichols did call a. my house at
fonk'srs. on u very hot day. on his own
business. He would not take no admit
tance for an answer. and, during his stay,
he did discuss With me several naval mat
tiers. among which was the SampsOn-Schley
; much-talked-of affair. Our talk was short.
| as desired him to leave me in peace.
Il desire to say that am, as you know.
here to obey the orders of the department
to report TO you for duty a member of
this court: it is not optional with me to
obey not obey these orders. My COM
! mission requires obedience. These orders
were not sought by me. nor are they agree
| able ones. but have been taught obedience
to all lawful orders by my long service in
the navy.
II do not propose to enter into the SUBJ
ject of my private discussions. l do not
wish to recall, for the information of the
public, what has been said to me by
| acquaintances: in fact. 1t would be a diff
ticult task to perform. Private utterances
are not long retained, particularly when
there is no personal interest in the matters
under discussion.
Il sincerely hope that during the exam
ination of my eligibility for membership
should there be any doubtful points In the
minds of the unobjected-tO members Of this
court, that all such points be decided in
most particularly concerned in the investf-
cation to follow. l will accept my detach-
ment as l have my orders for this duty, as
an officer should.
IT have no personal feelings and no per-
sonal interests In the matters to come be-
fore the court. except the interests have
for the good of the service. I have faith in
the impartiality and justice of naval
officers serving on courts. and sincerely
hope that the results finally obtained may
be satisfactory to our navy and to our
country. Respectfully.
(SlgneO III. L. HoWISON.
Rear Admiral. U. s. N"
Assistant Judge Advocate Hanna. as
further part of the Admiral's reply, read his
letter of explanation to Assistant Secretary
Hackett. made public some days ago.
ADMIRAL. HOWIsON MAKES
ADMISSIONS AND BEyIALS,
Mr.. Raynor asked permission to interro-
gate Admiral Howison The court granted
permission, and the examination proved to
be one of the most interesting of the day',
proceedings. Mr. Raynor pressed his ques-
tfons persistentiy. but the Admiral did not
at any time compromise in his contention
that he was competent to sit as a Judge in
this inquiry. Before the questioning began
Admiral Howison remarked that he did not
desire to go into any private discussion. to
which Mr.. Raynor replied:
II will not go into any private matters at
all. but the matter of these conversations
Is one will have to 70 into I will not
encroach on anything that is improper 1
will he very careful This is no ir1peach-
ment Of your character or integrity It is
whether your mind is made up on certain
subjects in connection with this matter
He then asked the Admiral concerning Mr..
Frost's statement that he (Howison) had
said that Admiral Sampson deserved the
credit for winning the battle of Santiago.
II want to know he said, whether or
not you ever said that to Mr.. Frost"
Maybe / did the Admiral replied. re-
f1ectively. and continued: "If he was com
man1er-in- chief. probably did saw so-not
only to Mr.. Frost. but to others. I am
merely talking now of the navy orders and
regulations, and the customs and COM
mander of the service"
Being questioned TO his statement con-
cerning Mr.. Spons testimony, the Admiral
replied that he not only did not remember
Mr.. Spon's face, but said that he had no
recollection whatever Of the incident
cerning which that witness had testified
II tried. while he was sitting here" the
Admiral said. ito remember If I had ever
seen the man before; and 1 positively can
not remember ever seeing him. nor do re-
member the occurrence of any circun1-
stances as he said did occur at certain
place, on board the Minneapolis 1 did come
home ON the Minneapolis. hut It Is not my
custom TO interfere with peoples talk when
they are talking outside. have heard them
abuse me aboard ship many times. when I
was executive officer; I have heard them
and recognized the mems voices, but I
never went to the men about It. knew
that they never intended that I should
hear. never would interfere with q con-