The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-08-25
SCHLEY HEARD FROM
HE ANSWERS RESPECTING HOWL
SONS COMPETENCY.
SEEKS TO AVOID A CHALLENGE
AND THEREFORE, ASKS THAT MAT
TER BE ACTED UPON.

Would Prefer That the Competency
the Court COnvenes, Rather Than
to Question 1t After the Beginning
of the Inquiry-Acting Secretary
Hackett Responds With Curt Ac-
acknowledgement of Receipt of Conn
munication.
Washington, Aug. 24.-Acting Secre-
tary of the Navy Hackett to-day re-
ceived the reply of Admiral Schley to
the letter recently submitted to him by
the department, declining to question
Rear Admiral Howison as to the au-
thenticity of the alleged interview with
him rejecting upon Admiral Schley.
The reply was sent to Capt. Lemly,
judge advocate of the court of inquiry.
This means that so far as the depart
ment is concerned further action on the
Howison incident will not be taken,
that being left to the court of inquiry.
The correspondence is as follows:
Washington, Aug. 21, 1901.-Sir:
First. 1 have to acknowledge the
receipt of the departments letter of
this date in reply to my communica-
ton of the 18th instant.
Second. While it is true that one
of my counsel, Capt. Parker, in reply
to an inquiry made to him, did give
his personal opinion of the several rear
admiral on the active and retired
lists, amongst whom was Rear Admiral
Howison, am assured by him that he
believes the secretary misunderstood
him, that any one of the officers named
would be perfectly satisfactory to me.
Capt. Parker's conversation was had
at a time when nothing was known of
the alleged interview as published in
the Record.
Third. In my letter of the 10Th in
stant, 1 expressly stated my opinion of
the high character of Rear Admiral
Howison, and / avoided any expression
of opinion as to the truth of the state
ments made in the newspaper clipping
which 1 enclosed.
Fourth. 1t was with the desire to
avoid the necessity of making for
NAL challenge that 1 requested the de-
partment to lay before Admiral How
ison the statements that he is alleged
to have made, and thus give him the
opportunity to take such action as his
sense of the propriety of the occasion
might suggest.
Fifth. l therefore respectfully state
that the department has not placed the
proper construction upon my letter
when it treated it in the nature of a
preliminary challenge for cause. l
could not challenge for cause until I
discovered there was a. cause, and the
object of my communication, as is evil
dent upon it's face, was to ascertain If
Rear Admiral Howison had made this
20 will N
connection that in his original state
ment he says, L have made no public
utterance relating to this subject
submit that his private utterances
would affect his qualifications as much
as his public utterances, and my re-
quest was only to have this alleged in
terview submitted for his considera-
ton. Very respectfully,
"Rear Admiral, U. S. NJ
1.-The Secretary of the Navy, Navy
Department, Washington, D. c.
Navy Department, Washington,
Aug. "a, 1901. Sir: The receipt of your
letter of the 21st inst, explanatory of
what was designed by your former
letter of the 10Th, upon the subject of
the competency of Rear Admiral How
ison to sit as a member of the court
of inquiry convened at your instance,
is acknowledged. Very respectfully,
''F. w. Hackett,
"Acting Secretary"
Rear Admiral Winfield S. Schley,
u. S. N"
Under the direction of Judge Advo-
cate Lemly the list of witnesses to be
summoned before the Schley court of
inquiry is being prepared. An incom-
plete list will be sent to Admiral Schley
not later than next Wednesday, 1t is
probable that other witnesses will be
added to the list before the court con-
venes.