Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1901-10-08
FROM WASHINGTON.
[Corrsspondence Of the Alexandria Gssette.
Washington. October 8.


New Orleans during the war, took the
stand at the opening Of todsy's session
OF the Scnley Court OF Inquiry, 10
resume his testimony OF yesterday. DE
said "Towsrd the evening OF the
30th there was q severe rain6torm, so
ssyere that feared Cervers had got
ont. Invent on board the fl ~ ship the
q ext day thinking it my duty to tell
the Commodore my observation OF the
blockade at Wei. Hai-Wei, 10 the
Chinese war. / told him that the cir
cuIar blockade. which was maintained
there by the Japanese, was more pref
cradle to our plan of steaming back
and forth 10 front OF the harbor and
that such blockade would be more
effective 10 preventing escape. He did
not appear to agree with me-" Lieut..
d yson, was called, He was asked by
Lemly: "Whst does the steam log OF
the Brooklyn show as to July Sd Z.
"5be had seven boilers, five main and
two auxiliary. The two forward we're
| not 10 use, the fires under three were
| banked, and three others we're dead.
Judge from the fact that it took from
9:35 to 10 to get up steam that the hres
| were not even primed. The ship was
designed to have the engines coupled
| up 10 time OF war. IL was, however,
necessary to have the ship at a dead
standstiil ard 1t would consume 10 or
| 20 minutes to couple them up. During
the fight she had only FIVE out OF the
seven boilers 10 use. She made all the
necessary speed, however, on July 81"
Commander Hodgson was the next
to correct his testimony. 10 regard to
his letter denouociDg the New YORK
Sun he said: Il am very sorry that
ever 30 lost nay temper as to use sucn
Incorporate language. did not mean
to stigmatizs the Sun as liar 10 thst
| letter, so much as to exonerste it IRON
living % to the substance OF the COL
louuy. That was the reason l author
ICED them to use my name as authority
for the substance of their statement. /
was angry that they should have tuisted
the words ofthe celloquy to signify that
Admiral Schley WAS a coward" Com
mander Richard Wainwright, head OF
the Annapolis Academy and during the
war commander of the Gloucester, was
the next witness. He was the senior
member of the board designated to plot
the relative positions of the vessels on
the feet 10 the battle on July 8 Dur
ing his testimony he acknowledged that
seven or eight OF the members signed
the report when they were not satisfied
with its correctness. The position OF
the vessels, be said, were estimated,
and that plot was about as accurate rs
could have been expected under the
circumstance considering the time that
had elapsed between tue battle aud the
making of it. Lieut.. Mark l.. Bristol
then took the stand. He served on the
| Tex az as wa ca officer durins the Span
ish war. "Tae Texas arrived at Glen
fuegos on the morning OF May o." he
said. ave ssN . small boat open, with
an awning 40 OF 90 hset long, without
any guns. sne came down TO the Gu.
trance but went back after we signaled
the flagship. No shots were fired at
her," "Wss anything done to destroy
the rthworks THEREOF mo SIR" The
court adjourned at this point for the
noon recess.
In the afternoon session Lieutenant
Bristol described the operations at
Cienfuegos and the bonn 1srdment by
Sampson June 6, of the shore batteries
at Santiago. He said: "They were
silenced after q short time and when
we came out we saw them digging
their guns out of the sand In which
they bad been buried by our shots and
at night we saw them working with
lanterns" Lieutenant Bristol later pro-
duced chart made by him and showing
the positions of the Texas, Brooklyn,
Iowa, and others at the beginning OF
the battle OF Santiago. | am positive
the position of the Texas is accurate
That of the others is fairly so. Later
positions OF the ships are only estimat.
ed. A lapse OF less than five minutes
occurred between the coming out OF
the Spanish ships and the first gun
fred by the Brooklyn.
Although the Hawley committee,
which ia investigating the Hawks
Heistsnd hemp charges, has not yet
concluded its work. the report which is
to be made to the q. 8. Senate can be
foreshadowed. 1t is quite clear that
the committee will lay stress on the
fact thst so far as the honor and integ-
rity OF Col. Heistsnd are concerned,
nothing brought out 10 the investiga
ton can be considered to have thrown
the slightest shadow upon them. But
bis prudence is drawn into question,
since he undertook to promote an en-.
terprise in the Philippines, territory
under military control. notwithstanding |
the fact that he himself belonged to the |
army. Ia its report the committee will
attack the principle of army officers
having any share 10 business con-
Quoted in territory under military con-
troll, or in which the government is
directly concerned. Major Hawks has
not made 9 good impression on the
committee and 1t will not hesitate to |
say so. Former Assistant Secretary of
War Allen and the Others mentioned
in the charges as having part 10 the |
hemp concern will be INDICATED by the |
report OF the committee.
Gen. Chsffee has cabled the War de- |
partment for a decision In an interest |
ing case which has arisen at Manila, in |
volving the question of superior au.
thority as between the military and |
civil authorities Ia the Philippines. An |
ex-soldier, employed IS a military mes.
sepger, refused TO perform his duties |
and was ordered to be deported. His
lawyer went to the civil courts, and Sc
curing writ Of habess corpus, took the
man of transport. Gen Chaffee holds
that as both be and the civil govern.
meat derive their powers from the
President under the war power, he has
equal authority with the Supreme Court