Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1901-10-26


standing beside Yeoman Ellis when the
latter was killed, and that Admiral Schley
was cool throughout the engagement.
Pressed further on this point, he said the
admiral was on the fighting side of the
coming tower all the time, and he con-
sidered his bearing admirable.
Twenty eighth Day.
Admiral Schley admitted before the
court of inquiry through his attorney,
Mr.. Rayncr that he had received the
Dear Schley' letter from Admiral
Sampson Il day earlier than he had said
in his report to the United States Sen
ate. In that report he put the time of
receiving the letter as May %, 1898.
When confronted with references to it
in letters he himself had written, he adj
mitted that he had received it May -.
This happened while Lieut.. B. w. Wells,
Jr., who was Admiral Schley's flag lieu
tenant on the Brooklyn, was on the
stand.
Lieut. Wells occupied the stand most
of the day, and his testimony was not
finished when the court adjourned. Be
fore he was heard, several witnesses were
recalled for the correction Of their testl-
mony. Among them were Capt. Francis
A. Cook Capt. John l.. Hannum, Lieut..
Thomas f. Carter Ensign w. L. Cronan
and Chief Machinist J. l.. Hunley
Lieut. Wells testimony began with
questions concerning the battle of July .,
on the lines commenced last Friday. Re-
gardinS the voyage of the flying squadron
from Key West to Cienfuegos the wit
ness stated that he knew of no delay III
it's progress. When the question of dis
patches was taken up number or let
ters and dispatches received by Admiral
Schley were shown the witness. they
were from Admiral Sampson and from
the Navy Department, dated late in May,
and urging Admiral Schley to stick to
the Santiago blockade. A chart with no.
tations concerning the strength of the
shore batteries at Santiago was also eX-
hibited Respecting the correspondence
while the flying squadron was at Clenfue-
Cos, the witness stated that no special
book of letters was kept. lie sad the
letters. as received, were briefed, stamp
ed and filed. He never had any trouble
under this system in finding any letter
the commodore wanted. The witness also
stated that never to his knowledge was
single paper lost.
Mr.. Hanna exhibited to the witness Il
letter dated May 80, 1893, and written
by Commodore Schley, which contained a
reference to the dispatches that had been
brought by the Dupont, and giving Il
general account of the operations of the
flying squadron. He sought by this let
ter, as stated by him, to show that the
No dispatch, known as the Dear
Schley letter. was receive on the I'D oil
May and not the Odd.
The witness said: The conjunction OF
this letter and the changed Endorsement
in lead pencil on the back of one OF the
dispatches would seem to indicate tha1
the dispatch might have been received on
the ODD"
After the examination had proceeded
along this line for some time Mr.. Raynel
addressed the court as follows:
MAY it please the court, we admit that
we got No. Z by the Dupont (Which joined
the flying squadron off Cienfuegos on May
%. 1899, and we admit that we got No
s by the Hawk and the Marblehead. Now
the trouble is about the other NO. 4
Where did the duplicate of NO. go! we
cannot admit we got it by the Iowa, bu'
we agree upon three propositions: Inc
Dupont carried No. Z, the Hawk NO.
and the Marblehead No. 8. 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 al
nit is that the Iowa carried No. 4"
| Mr.. Rayner turned to Admiral Schle1
and asked; You admit that, don you
| Admirably" To which the Admiral re
piled: Certainly, we admit it,
In reply to questions by MI. Hanh'
Lieut.. Wells said that while he could no
repeat actual conversations with Commo
dore Schley concerning the retrograd'
movement. he was sure that the move
ment was made because of the Commo
dore's anxiety about the coal supply O.
the vessels of the fleet. He knew, sane
the witness, that the Spanish fleet wa
in the vicinity, and felt that it was no
| desirable to meet it without an adequate
fuel supply.
Twenty-ninth Day.