The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-09-26
sAMPs0S,s INSTRUCTIONS
ro ADMIRAL COTTON.

dispatch from Admiral Sampson, which had
been received by the Harvard. and which
had not been made public heretofore IL
was stated that this message had been writ
ten on May e. A notation on 1t showed
that it had been received on May q. Ine
dispatch was in cipher and was directed
to the Harvard at Mole st. Nicholas II
was translated by Lieutenant Beall. and as
presented read:
''The Spanish squadron at Santiago; IL
previous to May 10 scout of Santiago. Com
municate with schiey II he dhey) moves
ago from Cienfuegos. Telegraph me from
Nicholas Mole to Key West IL he theD
move east. and leave letter for Schley.
Then go to Santiago to meet him: / snail
be at Cay Francis with squadron. II two
scouts are available. one should keep track
of the Spanish squadron"
Admiral Cotton said that the copy which
he had read had been retained by him. He
added that II he had ever given that dis
patch to Admiral Schley it had been on the
9Th and not on the 31st Of May.
Mr.. Rayner here raised the point that the
document read was q copy and not the
original He also called attention to the
fact that the document had not been print
ed in the Official reports Of the Navy De-
partment.
An animated controversy followed In
which Mr. Rayner commented upon the dn
his opihion) inaccuracy OF the department
report. He demanded the original dispatch
and added:
This is an inquiry and not a prosecution.
and you are here to protect and vindicate
Admiral Schley as much as We are" He
said that Admiral Schley had turned in all
his papers and that Admiral Sampson's
napers should also be available for the pur-
noses Of the court. Captain Lemly then
produced the original cipher copy Of the
dispatch. He asked the witness how ne
had received the message and the latter re-
piled:
the Harvard at ST. Nicholas Mole the dis
patch of which this is translation. Lieu
tenant Reall made the translation"
.Is it a correct translation OF the
cipher?''
II believe it to be-"
"Did Beall so state to you or did he hand
II TO YOU as correct translation"
"He handed that to me as a correct trans
lation of the original dispatch in cipher and
I believe 1t correct.
..Now, 1 will ask you whether. according
n: the best of your knowledge and belfef
ana your best recollection Of the subject
vou delivered on the 9th OF May to COM
modore schley this dispatch?"
'"To the best Of my knoledge and be-
lief I delivered a copy OF that dispatch to
schley on May q of Santiago. Cuba, and
that Is one Of the dispatches to which
referred as having delivered. To the best
of my knowledge delivered copy OF that
dispatch because 1t was important informa-
tion for him. and he was mentioned by
name in the dispatch"
Ultimately Mr.. Rayner consented to ac-
cent the story as correct.
This point being settled. counsel for the
passed to the point concerning
the proposition Of Lieutenant Beall to COM
municate with the Cuban insurgents on
shore and. in doing so. caused another OBJ
lection to be raised by Mr.. Rayner. The
question was put by Mr. Hanna. who said:
II viii ask you whether you would have
considered that yoi had discharged your
whole duty, having knowledge OF this. II
you had not communicated with Commo-
dore Schley?" y.
NJ. Rayner Indicated an objection. say