The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1901-10-12

flagship"
He came on board
Were you present at an interview?
Il was present there the whole time he was
there In the cabin the only persons who
were present permanently, so to speak, were
Admiral Sampson, Commodore Schley and my
self. There We're several different persons
Did Commodore Schley come aboard Admit
raj SIMPSONS flagship on June 1 off Santiago
Yes, sir; he came aboard in the Vixen"
will You please tell the court what occur
red during that interview. Was there anything
Yes. 1 remember Commodore Schley spoke
in my presence. and l think to myself, as he
was leaving the ship, saying, You cannot
blockade those ships in there if they want to
The Judge Ad1oe aRer 5hi' you have any in
FORMATION whatever from any source that Ger
vera's fleet was going to make a sortie from
the harbor of Santiago on July 3?'
None whatever. within my recollection.
Taking the witness for cross-examination,
do you recollect the dispatch which will be
found in the official report Of Admiral Samp-
son. dated May 20, which congratulates Com
modore Schley upon his success? 1 will read
The dispatch Following telegram was sent
Jamaica. and Mole St. Nicholas:
congratulate you on success. Maintain
close blockade at all hazards, especially at
night Very little to fear from torpedo boat
destroyers. Coal in open sea whenever condi-
tons permit sIq Send a ship to examine Guanta-
coaling heavy ships one at a time. Appraise
captured COAL use it if desired, and after
ward send ship in prize -
I remember that very well, because 1 pro-
tested against his congratulations. asked
him why he persisted and he said: I want
to encourage him y
You recollect that because you protested
against putting that in the dspatch?"
II said that under the circumstances 1
Did you meet Admiral Watson at any time
and have conversation with him?'
Admiral DaWaV-T don'f hat hoe
thing to do with it. You know what we want
We want all the facts relating to these speci-
conversations with Admiral Watson commo-
dores or anybody else on other subjects
Mr.. Raynor-This testimony has all gone in
1t ought not to have gone in.
No Opinions Wanted.
Admiral Dewey-Of course it ought not. You
ought to have been watching
I did object to it twice and then when it
w. Soatfd mat ~ was sonietblng IN reference
want to disagree with the court.
Judge advocate-No, objection was made to
conversations after June relating to the block
ade as maintained prior thereto
-, MT. Raynor-Did you at any time approve of
tanned before June 1? What was your opinion :?
Judge advocate object
Admiral Dewey-The court does not want that
Mr.. Hanna-We have not asked opinions of
officers commanding ships regarding that We
have carefully abstained from so doing
to the leaving of these vessels. You have
stated. and it has been in testimony here that
this signal code with the Cuban insurgents was
not made known to Commodore Schley Have
you not fallen into slight error in point of
time? Did not the flying squadron leave Key
West before McCaIla got to- Key West, and have
you not inadvertently fallen into error in point
of time? You could not have given Commo-
dore Schley the information because you did
not have 1t until Captain McCalla got there. Is
that not the reason?
The witness admitted that this was so.
Q.-Captain Evans has testified here that he
knew it. Could you give me the source from
which he derived his information?
Al don't remember speaking of it to Cap
tain Evans, nor that 1 told him to communf-
cate it to Schley-. When McCalla came in it
was expected that his ship would reach Glen
fuegos about the same time as the Iowa and
the Dupont, and McCalla said he would carry
the signal agreement back with him. That
signal was really for the benefit of the Cubans
and the McCalla memorandum was for Com
modore Schley. The memorandum was full and
explicit in that regard. If l may explain it a
little farther, by the afternoon of the next or
the afternoon of the day after McCaIIa came
in, information was received of the arrival of
the Spanish squadron in Santiago. So that any
question OF the insurgent Cubans about Glen
fuegos dropped out of sight.
You say that after the arrival of CAPTAIN
McCalla information received of the ar