The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-09

I
 sary to stop the ship to couple the un- coupled engines. and the witness replied
 that the ship could have been kept going with one engine while the other was coupled. The engines were designed. he
 said, to be kept coupled during war. Dis
 cussing the speed>of the various vessels
 of the fleet on July 3, the witness said equal to the Brooklyn on that day. not withstanding that on her trial trip the Brooklyn made over H knots to the ore gon's IT knots. He called attention to the | fact that the New York had made 16 or F knots speed on the day of the battle. In response to questions rom CaptaIn | Parker, he said that the New York had not had her engines coupled on the day of the battle and that the Brooklyn had made all the speed necessary. l After Lieutenant Dyson was excused, Lieutenant Commander Hodgson was re- called for the purpose of correcting er- TOTS in his testimony as printed in the official record. He took occasion to change some of the language of his previous tes- timony. One of the changes was made | in response to the question asked yes- | terday as to why he had designated as "A liar and a blackguard" the editor or la newspaper which had originally print ed the alleged colloquy between himself | and Commodore Schley. He said he de- | sired to alter the reply that he had yes- terday given to this interrogatory. He then said:
 Hodgson Regrets Language. sI. of course, am very sorry that ever so far forgot myself as to write letter 1 containing such incorporate language. It was not written exactly for publication, but under great provocation at the time. | In that letter did not accuse this news paper of lying for printing that state- | xuaQ n from lying that I gave the paper authority to use my name for the correctness of the sist of that statement. The lying was in the matter of fact that the Commodore displayed such trepidation and cowardice on the Brooklyn the day of that battle
 that he ran from the Spaniards and took the Brooklyn to the southward and away from the fight, in order to detract from | the credit of the fame of the Commodore l in that battle; that they wished also to l detract from the credit of all the officers | of the Brooklyn on account Of the glori- our part she took in that days fight. It | was the words to that extent character ized as lying. There was no lying in that | colloquy unless a man stuck to the verbal
 correctness of the words. So I did not
 characterize the paper as a liar for print
 ing that colloquy."
 Lieutenant Commander Hodgson being
 excused, Commander Wainwright was
 called. Captain Lemly began his exam ination by drawing from the witness the | facts that he had been a member and lat
 terly senior member of the board which had officially acted in making the chart | showing the positions of the American and Spanish ships at Santiago. The Wit ness told how conclusions were reached by that board. He said:
 "when I reported as senior member of the board, the board of navigators had a l wit a m- Der of positions sketched on it, which had
 been determined by them, starting at diff ferent periods, first when the ships came
 out and afterwards when they went
 ashore. Each navigator, as near as pos
 sible would put the position Of his snip
 at that time. There was great deal or
 discussion as to the relative positions. Of
 course it was impossible to get any posi- ton by bearings and there was nothing known about the relative positions. We
 also knew that the distances in the chart
 were somewhat incorrect and the final
 decisicn of the board was to reconcile
 each one as near as possible, but none Of
 the positions was considered exact posi-
 tions. The impossibility of getting bear
 ings even if we had had correct chart
 was apparent, but it gave general Idea
 of the positions of the vessels during diff
 ferent periods of the battle."
 | Mir. Raynor asked If 1t was true as had
 been officially stated in the report that
 the positions were assigned from known | bearings?"
 The witness replied that that statement
 was incorrect: that they were established | by estimated bearings. Most of the posi- tions were he said, fixed by discussion
 among the navigators constituting the
 board, although Captain Chadwick was | before the board. The navigators had
 done the best they could in placing the | vessels and had made 1t as nearly correct
 as possible, so long after the engagement
 as had been stated by the board
 Wainwright Corrects Chart. | Asked by MT. Raynor about the places l assigned to the Brooklyn and Texas while
 the former vessel was making her loop, l Commander Wainwright said he did not
 consider them correct.
 For myself" he said, T was never
 satisfied with the places assigned. He said further, that while the board | had done the best that they could at the 1 time as a board, 1t had not done the best
 it could to satisfy any member of the board
 | 'It was the best we could do to get all
 the members of the board to sign the re- port" he said.
 "Who in addition to yourself was not satisied?" asked MT. Raynor. T would not like to say" responded the witness. 'I know that the navigator of | the Texas was not. for one. think none was satisfied except the navigator or the | Brooklyn and don't know that he was. But notwithstanding you were all, in- cluding the navigator of the Brooklyn' dissatisfied, you signed the report? That is correct"
 Questions were put by the court and | answered as follows:
 Were the positions of the ships as shown by the chart obtained from testi- mony taken by the board. or taken from
 discussion by the members of the | board?'
 Almost entirely by general discussion | by the members of the board. Captain Chadwick and Captain Cook appeared and l discussed the matter with the board" From the position of the Gloucester at
 the commencement of the battle of July
 srd, could you see both Brooklyn and | Texas?"
 | 'I do not remember seeing the Brook
 1vn and Texas at the commencement of | the battle"
 What orders. if any were signalled by | the Brooklyn to the fleet during the en- gagement of July 3rd."
 | "I saw none."
 MT. Raynor: This does not mean that
 no signals were displayed, does it?' | NO, it does not"
 | Ry the court: Did any one of the ! Spanish vessels change her course to the l southward as If intending to ram some of
 the fieet?''
 l CT saw no signs of it."