The San Francisco call., 1901-10-08

l.
oregon was signaling to us the fall of
our shot and we signaled to her the fall
OF her shot. We continued occasionally to
hre, the oregon her Inirteen-lnch and we
our eight-inch guns. l remember seeing
one OF the 1S-inch shells on the Oregon
fall well ahead of the Colon and. one of
shore of the Colon. AT that time the
l Colon ported helm hard aport. Previously
10 this she had ported her helm once or
twice, apparently seeking a soft spot on
! shore. She fired her lee gun and nauled
/ down her flag. pulled out my watch.
1t was exactly Ills. We then ceased fir
given to get out a boat. The captain was
ordered to go on board to make terms
with or tell the terms to the commanding
officer of the Colon.
How far was the Oregon from the
Brooklyn
From 1000 to 1900 yards on the star
| board quarter"
The witness in reply to questions, con-
tinued his report of the battle. He said
that at the beginning of the fight he had
given the range at 400 yards, but that
afterward it was about 24C0 or 2500 yards.
kaynor-What was the bearing of Ad-
miral Schley during this engagement or
His bearing and manner with respect
10 an off1cer of his rank and station in
the naval service were naturally those of
a cOnmander-in-chief of q naval force
on that occasion"
Schley in Dangerous Position.
The witness said that the commodore
mad occupied place a platform
around the coming tower during the en-
gagement. This, he said, was a position
or danger, as the commodore was there
| always IN full view of the enemy's ships.
1t has been stated here" said Ray
nor, that the Brooklyn ran 200 yards
away from the eneny's ships in max
ing her loop
The witness replied: "Any witness who
made that statement. although he may
/ ahSOlIlfp1W mis- "a lxaTo
How far did she go from the enemy s
''she must have gone about 600 yards
| to the southwark, as that is about the
tactical diameter of the Brooklyn at that
| speed
Did this turn interfere with the Brook
! lyn's ability to keep up her fre?''
| her aft turret."
Did you see the Indiana during the
Il did not. The smoke was very dense
in the direction of the Indiana"
Al this point Raynor questioned the wit
ness at length concerning his reported COL
| loQuy with Admiral Schley during the
battle off Santiago, in which the commO-
dore was reported to have said, Damn
Rayner asked the witness If it was not
Captain Cook who had given the order
have given the order to the man at the
wheel.
Raynor then asked: Did Commodore
Schley give the order to port the helm?''
He did. was the reply.
Was the helm already aport?"
i guess so; Captain Cook says So"
Objection was made by Captain Lemly
to the use of the word guess by the
witness, but Admiral Dewey said the
form of expression was immaterial, and
asked that counsel should not interrupt
CONTINUING his statement in response to
Raynor's question the witness said when
his conversation with Commodore Schley
had occurred on the Brooklyn the COM
| modOre was standing on the platform
three feet from himself (the witness) and
that Captain Cook, a part of the time,
four or five feet distant He said that
Captain Cook had taken part in the con-
versatiOn.
Said Damn the Texas"
Raynor then questioned the witness
very closely in regard to the language in
which this colloquy was reported by the
newspapers, and the language used by
Hodgson in his correspondence with Ad-
miral Schley. He read the newspaper
version of Commander Hodgson's state
ment Of the colloquy as follows:
''Schley-'Hard aport.'
''Hodgson-'You mean starboard'
"Schley-No, l didn't We are near
enough TO them (the Spaniards) already
''Hodgson-'But We will cut down the
Texas
''Schley-Damn the Texas; let her look
OUT 1OT u6IS6l.
Raynor then had the witness scrutinize
the letter which he had written to Ad-
! 1niral Schley on July s, and drew from
him the statement that he had not then
! informed the admiral that he had used
! the expression Damn the Texas,
/ When the witness was asked If he
/ thought there was any suggestion of any
such expression he replied: when I sug-
| gested to Commodore Schley that there
was danger of colliding with the Texas
he said, Damn the Texas He used the
| expression not in any way condemuine,
/ the Texas for being there, but as if he
/ was irritated as one might be about any-
| thing"
Raynor then asked about the expression
! attributed to the witness-"She will cut
down the Texas"
Commander Hodgson replied that there
| was no such expression in the letter and
that ne mad never said that the Brooklyn
would cut down the Texas
There is a good deal in that reported
/ THE statement was never made he
| went on, but the commodore did saw,
| Damn the Texas"