New-York tribune., 1901-09-21

!
! Newport, called.
CAPTAIN Chester related interview he had
had with Admiral Schley on board the brooklyn
| of the south coast Of Cuba on May 70 1898
| He mad told the admiral that from ms exam
! ina ton OF the charts he believed coahns feas-
| Ible, but he thought it would be Done unoer
! great disadvantages. He had expressed the
| on,n,on that boats might be used or that more
| secure poiut might be gained under the lee
! thirty miles eastward.
Major Thomas N. Wood, Of the Marine Corps
who commanded the marine force on the Mas
sachusetts during the Spanish war testheo 70
the circumstances connected with that vessefs
operations during the siege OF Santiago ne
said that the second day after Santiago Bay
was reached by the flying squadron he mad
seen the Cristobal Colon lying inside the har-
Dor; that there at that time another span
ish vessel of the Viscaya class partly visible
He thought both In view for three or 1our
days.
The witness also said that when Admiral
SchIey had come aboard the Massachusetts pre-
vious to the bombardment Of the Colon on May
81 he had heard that officer say TO captain
H;gginson: 1--WE are going In. but we VIII not
90 in sufficiently near to endanger the vessels
He had been told that the distance was 10 Dc
10000 feet.
After the bombardment ceased MAJOR "oou
said the Spanish shore batteries con'iiueu -
gone forward where he had again seen |'n''''o
dore Schley.
AN ORDER TO GET OUT.
.1,is Won hear orders or instructions given oy
Commodore Schley after the pohoaio io"e
asked the Judge Advocate. Ihe witnesS ief
.I went upon the superstructure to ASK IT we
,vere going in again. or going any closer, SO iS
to know whether would nave chah'e ~
,ss tina 6inch batteries, of which l was III
command and heard. as believe Coi'ii"'ooie
schley say to Captain Higginson: s'ai ioo"iu
YOUR helm and let's get out OF thls'
How clear is your recollection? were 'he'e
his exact Words? s
"As remember these were the exact Wis
and at the time 1 considered the" as ne
bean made by Commodore Schey theIe "e''
,,;+a . number of people up here on the t'r-
,,.ord mart Of the deck at that time, ana Iron"
tho recoenition OF the voice and the gefer'u III
rection from which II came, tooh II 10 oe
remark made by the flag officer suppose l
was probably eight feet away from the spe"Ae
when I heard this remark made
Did you hear it distinctly?
"I heard il fairly distinctly. There was Dit
of confusion going on at u'e 'ii'e ~
walking around"
,r,,. hod occurred on the port side OF the con-
ming tower. he saio.
CAPTAIN HARBER ON THE STAND
Cantain Giles p Harber, now naval attache
az Paris and St Petersburg. who was e1ecu''e
omcer on hoard the Texas during the SPANS"
nor was asked to give detailed account or the
onerations of that vessel during the Wal an
he did So The Texas had been part Vi ''
Flv,ng SQUADRON and the witness saio 'n'A'
r,han tbav steamed for Cienfuegos the hagship
had signaIled I'VE go 10 Cientueeos 10 '"s
the Standards; wish you good luck
In reply TO questions. he said that "heh
Cienfuegos was reached earthworks were dls-
o,ared tbere but no effort was made to de-
stroy them.
Captain Harber was then asked aoou' "a
concerning plans of battle.
Now captain" the judge-advocate sala'
want to ask you as executive oIncer Vi VI.
| Texas. in case of the sudden death or disaoihy
| Of CAPTAIN Philip who would have taken com
! nand OF that vesselY
II would naturally have" was the reply.
| What instructions did you have. written or
| verbal respecting the order Of battle which the
| Flying Squadron 20 follow in case the
enemy should suddenly appear?
| ..T'he matter was never broached The com
| rnanding officer never gave me any nor did
| know that he had any
You had no knowledge. then, Of the exist
| ence of any order of battle written or YER
| bal instructions covering such contingency
NO, sir"
| SIGNALS FROM THE SHORE
| The witness said that while lying off Glen
| fuegos he with Others had seen lights from the
| shore which from their nature. they took to
| be signals but that no attention had been paid
| Ia them until May "a. when the Marblehead
| had arrived and he understood had responded
| to the signals. and communicated with those
| on shore.
He also said that the Texas had heen in no
| great need OF coal while lying off Cienfuegos,
| but that the ship could have taken more. and
would have been glad to get it. The Iowa had
| coaIed there he said. Describing the sail to
Santiago the witness said there had been rough
| weather but that the Texas could have made
| better time than 1t did He said that when
| the squadron arrived in sight Of the Yale and
| other American vessels off Santiago on the
evening of May 20. all the vessels cleared for
action thinking they were vessels of the enemy.
| When they discovered their mistake Captain
| Philip had signalled to Captain Wise, OF the
| Yale, saying, Have you got them in there?"
| To which the reply was, ''i think we have
| Mr. Hanna who conducted the examination OF
| this witness asked him particularly concerning
the trip from Santiago toward Key West when
the SQUADRON started for the latter place in order
| to coal
| COALING OF THE TEXAS.
The questions and replies this point were
as follows
Have you had any experience in coaling YES
| sells in the waters of the West Indies, or in that
| part of the world?"
Il had some experience shortly before while
| lying at Tortugas."
"If as executive officer of the Texas you had
| received instructions at that time on the 26th
/ to coal ship. what would you have done?"