River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1901-10-24
The Dear scaIey Letter.

Nr. Hanna cross-examired the witness.
He exhibited TO the witness letter, dated
! May 30 1898, and written by Commodore
Schley, which contained reference 10 the
dispatches that had been brought by the
Du, mt. and giving a general account or
fhl operations Of the flying squadron. he
sought by this letter, as stated by him,
TO show that the Number dispatch, known
as the Dear Schley letter was received
on the I'D Of May, and not on the I'D Inc
witness said: The conjunction Of his let
ter and the changed Endorsement in lead
pencil on the back of one OF the spatches
would seem TO indicate that the dispatch
might have been received or The I'D.
After the examination had proceeded
along this line for some time MIR Rayner
addressed the court as follows:
MAY I please the court, we admit that
we got Number by the Dupont (Which
Joined the flying squadron off Cienfuegos
on May % 1889, and we admit that we got
Number by the Hawk and the Marble
head Now the trouble is about the other
Number Z. Where did the duplicate of
Number go? We cannot admit we got it
by the Iowa. but we agree upon three
propositions: The Dupont carried Number
I, the Hawk Number and the Marble
head Number s. We admit the receipt OF
this memorandum from Capt, McCalla by
the Hawk, but what we have not been able
to find out and cannot admit is that the
Iowa carried Number T.
Mr.. Rayner turned TO Admiral Sehley and
asked: You admit that. don't you ad-
miral?" to which the admiral replied:
Certainly we admit that" Lieut. Wells
was still under cross-eXamination when
the court took its usual recess for lunch
con.
Afternoon Session.
When the court met at two o'clock. Mr..
Hanna continued his examination of Lieut..
Wells.
How do you account specifically for
the absence of the receiving stamp imprint
on the duplicate Dear Schley' dispatches?'
he asked
1T is possible that I jotted down that
note on them when they were handed to
me. OF course it was the custom o put the
receiving stamp on letters generally
Can it be possible that the commodore
retained them for some timer
1T is possible. but not probable. He
sometimes held dispatches in the cabin
for time, but he generally sent them
down as soon as received"
schIey Dispatches Introduced.
Mr.. Hanna put in as testimony dispatches
Numbers 5 and 6, both from Admiral
Schley, directing a strict blockade at Glen
fuegos and the latter inclosing the Nc
Gala memorandum. The witness was
of more than one copy of the McCalla
memoranda, but he maintained that he re-
membered only one copy, at the same time
admitting the possibility of the receipt of
another copy.
Asked when he had first seen the dis
patch introduced by Capt Cotton. the wit
ness said he did not remember to have ever
seen it. This is the dispatch sent to the
Harvard, saying that the SpaniarGs we're
probably at Santiago, and the one which
Admiral Cotton said he had delivered TO
Commodore Schley May q. In this connec-
ton, Mr.. Hanna said that he had not been
able to find the original of this dispatch
among Admiral Schleys papers. He also
remarked Incidentally that there were 9TH
ers of Admiral Schley's papers missing.
Going back to the arrival of the Dupont
and the Iowa on May %, the witness said it
was possible that they brought dispatches
and also possible that they brought the
McCalla memorandum. Still, he thought
that II there had been duplicate copies,
they would have been found among Az
miTal Schley's papers
The court adjourned at four o'clock, with
Lieut. Wells still on the stand