Waterbury Democrat., 1901-10-15
A STRANGE CASE.

A STRANGE CASE.
 On examination Captain Wise of the scout ship Yale testified that he did not inform Schley that the Spaniards were in Santiago harbor, or instruct Captain Sigsbee, i'll accordance with orders from the navy department, to give Schley information as to the where abouts of the Spanish fleet. Cap- tain Sigsbee himself corroborated this evidence. He says that he met Schley's squadron May 27 about 25 miles off Santiago. His instructions were to report to Schley that the Span ish fleet was probably i'll Santiago harbor. Instead of doing this he told Schley that he ''knew nothing positive ly'' about the Spanish fleet This was the day that Schley was stopped on his way back to Key West, and ordered to return to Santiago. Yet Sigsbee knew that his superiors believed that the Spanish fleet was at Santiago. It is not easy to understand the conduct of Wise and Sigsbee. They were in command of ships-the Yale and the St Paul-whose chief function was to acquire information and to carry it to those who needed it to guide them in their actions. They both had reason to believe that the Spanish ships were ill Santiago harbor. Yet neither one of these officers, though they were both under instructions to do so, thought it important that the con- mander of the squadron off that port should have the information. Wise says that he told Captain Philip of the Texas. but that was not telling Schley and there is no evidence that the lat ter got the news from Philip. And Sigsbee, instead of telling Schley that the Spaniards were probably in the harbOr, reported that he he knew noth- ing positively" about it. Yet Schley was the one man most needed to know where the Spaniards were We have. | already seen that at least three cap- tains- -McCalla, Evans and Chadwick had the secret code of signals for communicating with the insurgents. But McCalla, who gave it to Chadwick, did not give it to Schley, because he did not know that Schley's squadron was bound for Cienfuegos while Evans did not give it to Schley because he supposed he had it.
 MUCH udS UGeu lHdue OL Cc0Iey S supposed ineffective attack on the Co., Ion as she lay at the mouth of San tiago harbor. And then Admiral Evans described how he yainly tried to reach her at range of II, ,500 yards and how he injured the Iowa's guns ill firing them at this elevation. One of the most serious charges against Schley is that he failed to destroy the Colon Yet Evans, in speaking of a talk that various officers had on board the Brooklyn, May %, the day that the Colon was discovered, said:
 T do not recollect now that the off, cers were asked to express any opin- ion. I remember having q conversa- tion with Commodore Schley about the effect of fighting batteries on the ships, in which I told him of tue experience we had had at San Juan, and ex- pressed the opinion to him that it was not worth while to risk ships fighting shore batteries alone: that I did not think anything would be gained by it. Tn the case under consideration the Spanish ships were present in the har- bor The conditions were changed and we would have to take the risk of the fire from the batteries in order to get at them
 So here we have one case where Schley's action is sustained by his critics. And with Schley and Evans in harmony as to the folly of attempt ing to destroy the Colon, it would seem as though that feature of the case might well be dropped. Yet Admiral Sampson and Admiral Crowninshield T 4I <.Ix Al.4z IA ume of Maclay's so-called history, in which Schley is savagely denounced for failing to do the very thing which Evans now says he advised against. But the main thing so far revealed seems to have been. almost a conspir- acy of silence against Schley Peo- pie are already beginning to draw un- pleasant conclusions. The Atlanta Constitution gives expression to wide spread suspicion when it says:
 "The design in the failure to deliver dispatches to Schley is too apparent to be overlooked. It could not be mere blundering on the part of excited off, cers It was directed from a source higher up and the inquiry should turn to the tracing of this responsibility. Someone has done worse than blum dered, and there should be punishment suitable to the offense.v
 The most that can fairly be said now is that it is very strange case, and that gentlemen like Wise, McCalla and Sjgsbee, who kept their informa- tion to themselves. and Evans, who Is reported to have criticized Schley for not doing what he told him it would be foolish to do, can not be said to be for.