The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1901-09-26
The AFTERNOON SESSION.

| s1oule be correct He would admit the
| delivery OF one dispatch on the 27th. but
the contents we're that the other dis
patches were delivered en- the s1st. He
! called the admiraTs attention TO The fact
that one OF the dispatches which he had
said was delivered on May e and had
been dated az Washington as OF that
| date. This is the dispatch n which Sec
retary Long had instructed the coomman-
der as TO the Importance. OF determining
| explicitly whether Cervera's feet was in
! Santiago harbOT The admiral said that
/ II he had said that this dispatch was
! delivered on the 27th he had made a mis-
take; that It was delivered on the SIst.
/ after his returr TO Kingston. The adni-
/ raj said that he was certain that he de
/ livered more than one dispatch 10 Commo-
dore Schley on the the 9th. He said: 7
delivered TO Commodore Schley two dis
patches on the morning OF the 27th. ]
/ think il probable thar among those dis
I patches which spoke OF having handed
10 him on that date. there may have been
some which were addressed 10 me and
not 10 him which contained inforna ion
such as I thought he should have o.
the two dispatches addressed 10 him one
was from Admiral Sampson, the other
from the navy department"
Recurring TO his conversation with Ad-
miral SchIey concerning the coal supply
OF the feet on the 27th, Admiral Cotton
said that Admiral Schley had expressed
great anxiety on that point, such as any
commander would have telt, he said, un-
| der tie circumstances. At this point Nr
Rayner referred TO the previous remark
concerning coaling in the open sea on the
9th. He said: understand you 70
have said that after reading the dis
patches the commodore made signals in
curing the amount Of coal
DID you see the answering signal2"
4 did not" responded the witness.
You stated that YOU could have coaled
from the 8Ierrimac on that day. Why
did you not do so?"
In the first place, I had no authority to
coal; in the second place, I was going for
coal which could receive within p hours
and IN the third place coal was more
needed by the fleet than by the Harvard"
Did you ask the commodore for per-
mission to coal?"
II did not
Mr.. Rayner attempted to have Admiral
Cotton say that his conversation with Ad-
miral Schley concerning Lieutenant
Dean's proposition to so ashore and com
municate with the Insurgents had oc-
CURED on the s1st instead Of the 27th of
MAY. The witness said that this might
possibly be the case. but that to the best
Of his recollection the conversation oc- ,
CURED on the 9th. Mr.. Rayner ex-
planned tnat Admiral Schley had on the
31st sent another man achore to communi- /
cate with the insurgents. which would ex-
plain Admiral Schley's deciination of
Lieutenant Bealrs proposition.
The witness said that up 10 May 81
he did not know Of the presence Of the I
Spanish feet within the hadrbcr at san /
tiago, nor did he know Of any other officer {
who had that information at tEat time.
on redirect examination Admiral Cot
tor said that he told Admiral Schley OF /
Lieutenant Bealls proposition on the 9th I
because he considered that he was renliss 4
in his duty if he had not given the in
formation at the first opportunity. He .
had then behind the order of the DEPART
ment to Commodore Schley 10 ascertain
the facts concerning the presence Of the [
Spanish feet in the barbor
Mr.. Hanna here introduced a copy of
a dispatch received from Admiral Samp-
son which had been received by the Har-
ward and which had not been made pub
lie before. 1t was stated that this mes
sage had been written on May %. A no
tation on it showed that it had been re-
ceived on May %. The dispatch was in
cipher and was directed to the Harvard at
Mole, St. Nicholas. lit was translated
by Lieutenant BeaH and as presented
read:
'.The Spanish squadron at Santiago; If
previous 10 May 10 scout OF Santiago.
Communicate with Schley If he 0hey)
moves west. Schley is expected May "a
at Santiago from Cienfuegos. Telegraph
me from Nicholas Mcle to Key West il
he (they) move east. leaving letter for
schley. Then 20 TO Santiago to meet him.
I shall 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
ne had read had been retained by him.
He added that II he had ever given that
dispatch 10 Admiral schley it had been
on tie 9th. and not on the Slst Of May
RAYNER GETS HOT.
Mr. Rayner here raised the point that
the document read was a copy and not
the original. He also called attention 70
the fact that the document had not been
printed in the Official reports of the navy
sorertment. An animated controversy
followed in which Mr. Raymer comment
"a upon the Qn his opinion) inaccuracy
n the department reports. He demand
"a the original dispatch and added; This
l. an inquiry and not a prosecution. and
you are here 70 protect and vindicate Ad-
-rifaI Schley IS much as We are.
He said that Admiral Schley had turn
FL IN all his papers and that Admiral
papers should also be avail
.hIe for the purposes of the court
Captain Lemley then produced the orig
nal cipher COPY Of the dispatch. lie ask
"a the witness 20 show be had received
he message and the latter replied: II =
received. from cable Office on board the :
Harvard az St Nicholas Mole. the dis 2
11tch Of which this IS translation.
lieutenant Beau made the TRANSLATION"
.Is it a correct translation q ths 3
iph-re"
- believe 81 20 be-
did Beau SO state 20 you or did he
l2ud il O. YOU as correct translation e.
.Iie handed that 20 me as correct z
translation a. the original dispatch 81
iuher and believe e correct
Vow ( xii ask yo1 Nhethe-. accor5- z
NJ % the best 20 your knovledge AID
-our bsst recollection ~ tae sr55ecf you Z
delivered on the 9TH of May 70 CoHnulo- z
.ore scfley fhis dispatth
..To the best of rs knoUlefse a-d be-
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Rnn Dom,