Evening star., 1901-11-06

No. s. Now. what is dispatch No. y? 1t
has been read so often that 1t Is with some
degree of hesitation that refer to it again
1t SAYS the Spanish squadron is probably at
Santiago consisting of four ships and three
torpedo boats, and that if the admiral was
satisfied that they were not In C1enfuegos
to proceed with all dispatch to Santiago.
Mr.. Rayner said that he had thought
that counsel for the other side had lost
sight of one very important occurrence on
the 2;d. and that was the sending of the
Adula. the British steamer, into the port
at CienfucgOS. He said he should touch
on this later. He then called the attention
of the court to the fact that the Hawk
brought dispatch No. and the McCalla
memorandum The McCalia memorandum,
he said was clearly not intended for Com
modore SchIey, but for the chief of the
north Atlantic squadron. He then read
this memorandum commenting on it at the
same time to show that it related to mill
tary operations, and was for the ln1orma-
ton of the commander-in-chef. Comment
ing further on the memorandum, he said
there not one word in explanation of
the signal lights, which would have en-
abled Schley to communicate with the in
surgentS. He said that the statement on
the memorandum that further instructions
would reach Schley at a. m. also showed
this. These instructions did not arrive UNI
til o'clock in the morning. These, he
said, would have enabled Schley to leave
before daylight, but they did not.
Mr.. Rayner asked for more air at this
point IN MS argument. as ne was taking
very rapidly and the court room was close
on account of being crowded
He said instruction No s. ordering
Schey to Santiago, had been construed as
an independent order, but that this con-
struction was wrong. The order did not
permit him 10 leave until he had satisfied
himself that the enemy was not there He
said there was something little peculiar
about the orders in this connection. He
then referred to the information in No. 6.
which was based a rumOr that the
Spanish fleet was at Santiago. This rumor
had been received on the 10Th of May. and
on the Goth No. had been written, which,
Notwithstanding the rumor. told him to
satisfy himself that the fleet was not at
Cienfuegos. He said that this showed that
very little credit was given to the rumor
that the Spanish fleet was at Santiago at
that time.
The Various Dispatches.
Mr. Rayner called attention to the fact
that the Hawk. with dispatch No. 8, had
been sent to Commodore Schley by the
commander-in-chief of the North Atlantic
squadron on the 21st of May. and that be-
ing the case. he could not believe, in view
of the wording of that dispatch. that the
commander-in-chief himself was certain
that the Spanish fleet was in the harbOr
of Santiago. The commander-in-chie
waited. he said. until dusk of the evening
of the 21St to send the Hawk away. If he
had had that information at the time it
was claimed he did have it there would
have been no such delay on his part. He
would at once. upon receiving the in-
formation himself, have dispatched his
fastest vessel to Admiral Schley and had
communicated that important fact to him.
So far as Mr.. RaVner was concerned, he
had no doubt that the Hawk also brought
dispatch No. I to Commodore Schley. 1t
immaterial whether it did or not. but
the circumstances pointed to that eXplana-
ton. The Hawk. arriving at Cienfuegos on
the 23d delivered this dispatch to Commo-
dore Schey There was difficulty. he said
in telling what dispatches the Iowa
brought but It was known that the Du-
pont brought No. and the Hawk brought
No. S. and, in his opinion, also No. l. as
there were two copies of that dispatch.
That was the best explanation as to how
Commodore Schley could have gotten
second copy of No. T.
Now we are in front of Cienfuegos on
the 2}d of May" said Mr.. Rayner. 1T was
On the I'D of May Commodore Schley sent
in the steamer Adula, and that is one of
the most important features of this issue.
Mr.. Rayner insisted that in sending in the
Adula at Cienfnesos Commodore Schley
adopted the very best method within his
reach for finding out whether the Spaniards
We're there.
THAT was better he said. than send
ing a rowboat a hostile coast to be
tossed by an angry surf on hostile shore.
He determined to let that steamer go into
the port of Cienfuegos and when it came
out on the following day he was satisfied
that he could learn from some of the ref
uges on board of her. if not from the cap
tain. whether or not the Spanish fleet was
there"
He said that the fact that the Adula did
not come out convinced Commodore Schley
that the Spanish feet was there. and con-
sequently ne himself remained. He spoke
of the commodore receiving from the Adula
the war bulletin which came from Jamaica
showing that the Spanish fleet had gone
into Santiago on the 18th and had come
out again on the 21st On the day while he
was waiting for the Adula to come out he
said, everything was done that could have
been done under the situation that existed
There was absolutely no doubt about that.
The Signal Lights.
While Capt. Evans said he knew all about
those signal lights that were seen upon
the shore at Cienfuegos, and said he got
that information from Capt Chadwick yet
Capt. Chadwick had failed to remember,
when on the stand that he had given that
information to Evans. But McCalla had
given that information to Capt. Chadwick.
Mr.. Rayner read from the evidence of
Capt. Evans in relation to having received
these signals and their significance from
Capt Chadwick, and also the evidence of
Capt. Chadwick on the same subject.
But somebody must have had that in
formation before the Iowa. the Dupont
and the Hawk left to go to Cienfuegos, and
yet not a single word of explanation as to
the meaning of the signals was given to
Commodore Schley until McCalla, going
aboard the Brooklyn at Cienfuegos, himself
told him that those lights were signals,
not between the Spanish forces, but were
made on the part of the insurgents to the
flying squadron. That was the first in
formation that had reached Commodore
Schley in regard to these signals being
from friendly natives, and as soon as he
learned that fact he sent the Marblehead
to communicate with these natives to find
out whether the Spanish fleet was within
the harbor When he had discovered it was
not there he was ready to proceed to San
tiago.
Meeting the Marblehead.
Regarding the meeting with the Marble
head on the trip from Key West he said:
There is one peculiar thing about this. 1t
is this meeting of the Marblehead with the
Brooklyn. do not condemn Capt McCalla.
Capt. McCala sent the Eagle out to COM
municate with the flying squadron. Com
modore Schley knew that they had been at
Cienfuegos, and 1 want to say right here
that as brave a man as was Capt McCalla
and as daring man as he was he never
landed any boats on the Cuban coast. and
he was there eight days. This is to show
how one man Is criticised for not doing
what other man has done. Capt. Nc.
Gala picked up some struggling Cubans he
found without anything to eat, and it was
t,r~ fNIn