Evening star., 1901-11-04

the witness has testified to opposite state
ments, is extremely important to our side
Mr. Rayner maintained that the point
made by the judge advocate that because
Admiral Schley was not present when the
conversation took place the testimony was
incompetent was not well taken. He cited
the fact that Mr.. Hare had testified that
Capt. Sigsbee had megaphoned him, and
Schley was not present. Mr. Scovel had tes-
titled to the same fact, and Schley was not
present.
IF that was so,'' he continued. I'VE GER
tainly have a right to bring up witness
to contradict Mr.. Scovel. We never heard
of this testimony till o'clock Sunday
morning, yesterday. felt it my duty when
these witnesses volunteered by telegraph
to bring them over here.
Mr.. Hanna then addressed the court,
maintaining that the testimony desired to
be offered was imma aterial, that it made no
difference what Capt. Sigsbee might have
said to the press boat; 1t had nothing to do
with the case. He said the testimony
clearly fell under the ruling of the court
made the other day when the court decided
it did not care for such testimony. Mr.
Hanna said there was no objection to the
use of the word impeachment as it had
been done by counsel, that it was simply
legal phrase, and he accepted Mr.. Ray
ner's explanation of the word. He called
attention to the fact that counsel were on
opposite sides of the same proposition a
few days ago, when the question of
ward room conversation was up
Testimony Ruled Out.
Admiral Dewey announced that the court
would take a recess, and after being out
five minutes returned and the admiral said:
THE testimony of this witness is not con-
sidered by the court to be material to the
case. The objection is sustained
No attempt was made by Mr. Rayner
to have Mr.. George Lynch, who had come
over from New York with Mr.. Richards, to
testify, and Admiral Schley was called to
tha \ - n
testimony. He went through the printed
testimony which he had given, paragraph
by paragraph making many minor cor
rections. none of which changed the in
tent or meaning in any material way
When Admiral SchleI concluded the cor
rection of his testimony, which took about
one hour, the judge advocate asked If the
court had any additional questions before
the witness, and Admiral Dewey replied
that it had not. Admiral SchIey in correct
ing his testimony at times skipped quite
number of pages without single correc-
ton, in one instance passing over thirty
pages of the printed record without sug-
gesting a single correction.
Capt Parker then called the attention of
Admiral Schley to the statement made by
Capt. Sigsbee when he was on the stand,
in effect that Sigsbee was told, by Sch,ey
when the former went on board the Brook
lyn off Santiago that the commodore was
going to Key West. Capt. Sigsbee said
this was one of the first things that Com
modore Schley told him.
Sigsbee COntradicted.
This statement was contradicted by Ad-
miral Schley.
Il did not say to Capt. Sigsbee," said the
admiral, that we were going to Key West,
as the signal will show Capt. Sigsbee was
aboard my ship about fifteen minutes. The
subject OF coaling was discussed and he
said that as he commanding vessel
one-tenth of a mile long they could not
Of
ccal daily and he said he could not remain
there very long, and he would have TO go
to Key West"
Capt. Parker suggested that Capt. Sigs-
bee had said that the subject of going to
Key West was the very first conversation
they had.
No replied Admiral Schley, there he
is entirely mistaken. The first converse
ton related to the Dons
Q. (by Capt, Parker) Had you at that
time made UP your mind to go to Key
West? A. No, had not.
Q. Was it only after the information he
gave you that you made up your mind to
go to the westward? A. 1t was after 1
had talked with Nunez, some time after
Capt. Sigsbee left the ship.
Q. (by the judge advocate) To what sig
nal did you refer as indicating that Capt.
Sigsbee was wrong? A. The signal made
on that afternoon saying the destination
would be Key West.
Q. What time was that? A. 1 do not re-
tain Sigsbee had left the ship.
Captain Parker called for the signal book
of the Brooklyn, and upon receiving it
handed it to the witness. Admiral Schley
read that the signal to go to the westward
was made at $50 o'clock. He said that
Captain Sigshee left his ship, as nearly as
he could recollect, about half-past q or a
quarter to Z o'clock. He said that Captain
Sigsbee was anxious to get away, as he
said the sea was increasing.
II was going to say" continued Admiral
Schley, land l ought to mention it, in con-
nection with the talk 1 had with Admiral
Sampson with relation to instructions about
not bombarding, 1 recall the fact that he
and L talked about the guns that were
probably mounted, and l asked him in re-
lation to the nature of these guns
He said that the admiral indicated the
character OF the guns he thought were in
the shore batteries, and that recalled the
conversation to his mind.
And again in relation to the conversa-
ton
The Judge Advocate Stops Witness.
The judge advocate interrupted the wit
ness, and said while he did not want to OBJ
ject, yet the witness was called to correct
testimony and not to contradict witnesses
on the stand.
Mr. Rayner replied that they could call
the witness to contradict any witness they
desired.
Mr. Rayner, land it means that your wit
nesses had right to rebut ours and our
witness have no right to rebut yours
/ have not asked the admiral to give this
testimony, but if he wants to contradict
any witness he has a perfect right to do
It"
The judge advocate said the court would
recognize this extraordinary circum-
stance because this witness had been pres
ent throughout all the testimony and had
heard all the evidence.
Mr.. Rayner wanted to know what the diff
ference was between hearing the evidence
and reading the evidence. He said that
when the judge advocate called witnesses
In rebuttal these witnesses must have read
or heard the evidence or they could not
rebut 1t.
The judge advocate said 1t made a great
deal OF difference about the source from
which the testimony was read, and Mr..
Rayner replied that IL the Judge advocate
read 1t 1t would be read all right
Mr.. Rayner went to say that he had
asked when new witnesses had been put on
the stand by the judge advocate whether
his side would be allowed to recall wit
nesSes to contradict testimony, and the
court had said yes.
Admiral Schey being asked what testi-
mony he intended to refer to- said that ii
was that of Lieut.. Roys. who was on board
the Eagle, and who testified to a conyersa-
tion between Commander Switzerland and
Il .l.z-x