The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-09-29

dore Schiey his information concerning the situation at Cienfuegos and had given his message being as fol- we left cienfuegos on the night of the 18th, at which time we learned from in- surGents that only vessels inside the har- bor were two gunboats and several can  Commander southerland also told of his return to Cienfuegos, May M, and of the purpose of communicating with the insurgents. He also related that in re- turning Captain McCalla sent him at full speed in advance of the Marbienead 70 that Ceryera's fleet was not inside the harbor at that point and had not been there. He had, he said delivered this fn- formation about o'clock.
 Mr. Raynor questioned Commander Southerland concerning his magaphone message to the Scorpion of May 18th and displayed the log book of that vessel to toned as having been megaphoned by the Eagle there was no mention that Commander Scutheriand had said any Witness said if his own log made no men, ton of this message, Tt was evidently question of whether the young officer on deck at that time put down my exact words"
 Lieutenant Barnes was again called. Pending his appearance Mir. Hanna made a statement concerning the two versions of the Schley dispatch of May % lie referred to the fact that not only the translation of this dispatch, but also the translation of a Navy Department dis patch of May 27 had been called into question He howsysr' gave ns espeGla. ssS,na
 Hanna Makes Statement.
 .sThere is no more important paper be- fore the court than this telegram and in order to discount It's importance, in oroer to weaken it's terrible effect. there have been introduced on. the recoro ntsd nsre sIS by the government Is not correct. Now we propose to show that that dispatch as printed in the appendix to the report Of 1898 is precisely word for word as that dispatch was received by the Navy De- pertinent from the wires and confirmed by the telegraph company. We propose received by the Navy Department was cipher word for cipher word as 1t left the West Indies. As if was placed upon the wires in Kingston so It is printed Tn the appendix.
 q do not wish to lay any further stress upon this matter except to say that Tn all my experience in Washington In connec- ton with the management of executive departments by high officers of the gov ernment and by subordinates, nave not found that great departments Of the gov ernment garble their official documents 1 v did not accept it as suggestion which was worth any consideration except Tor the fact that it was introduced here: ana upon investigation we have found the facts to be as stated. and we propose to prove them by a witness who we desire to call. We are not trying this case upon the appendix, but upon original docu- ments. We have never relied upon tnese copies. They are subject to informities
 Lieutenant Barnes then identihSd the cipher book of the auxiliary cruiser liar veld, which vessel during the war, was under command of Captain (now Admi- raD Cotton, This was the vessel which carried Admiral Schley's dispatch to Kingston to be there transmitted by ca ble to Washington. Lieutenant Barnes said he was familiar with the department cipher code and that last night and this morning he had made translation or the dispatch as presented. He then resa @ corning it by MT. Hanna who asked; Have you examined the duplicate of the cipher received at the depaRtrne1st and compared It with the cipher as 1t appears in that press copy bookT q have"
 Was this cipher message as received by the department, confirmed by the tel egraph company? ~S
 Tt was"
 "I will ask you whether in cipher those words as they appear in that press copy book are identically the same in cipher as those received by the department. or is there any variation whatever In word or letter2'
 "They are identicalIy the same in word. Three words as l recollect it, have let ters which ahe indistinct in one place or the other and milkht be mistaken, all though there is no chance of mistaking the word
 ing to that press copy book, that dis patch left Kingston as 1t was received at the department in cipher"
 A4 Il AH.z Al A1N..E was sent of which this Is a copy"
 "Now, with respect to certain minor variations in words here in the transla- ton you have given and which appear, will ask you first, Have you compared the translation which you have made from cipher with this dispatch in the ap- pendix.' '"
 'I have not"
 Why did you not do so?'
 q was asked by the Judge Advocates not to consult any other books whatever than the secret code. and the book from which took the cipher"
 "You are familiar with the cipher code and handled it frequently?"
 q am; I do.''
 "Is 1t a part of your duty to do sop
 Tt is.''
 Discrepancies Pointed Out.
 Mir. Hanna, holding in his hands a copy print of the Schley dispatch, pointed out the discrepancies between that print and the translation made by Lieutenant Barnes from the Harvard cipher book which showed that the principal differ ences were as follows:
 The substitution of the word heavy for the word helpless in the appendix translation, and the omission of the word leaving in the new translation, refer ring to the departure from Key West. The comparison also showed changes such as the omission of the word "the, and the witness explained that often in translating cipher messages the name of a country is generally added after that of a town or particular locality, in order to make the information full and specific. He also gave this as the explanation of the addition of the word leaving" say sense of the message. With reference to | the use of the word "heavy" for "help- | less" the witness said:
 Heavy and helpless are very close to each other in the cipher code. A change | of a single number at the end which | would indicate a change of a letter In a | word or a mistaken letter in a word. | would produce that sort of a change" Mir Hanna reminded the witness that at the end of the message as printed in | the appendix, was the following sen | tence: "Very difficult to tow collier to | appear in the copy of the dispatch as preserved by Admiral Schley in his press | copy book. He then asked whether these | words could any translation or any | leeitimate use of the cipher, have been | added, or whether they could be due to a cipher error. or had they been simply s@Thev could not have been simply ad. ded in cipher," replied the witness. | By Mir. Raynor: T do not think there | Is any disagreement between us. There was a dispatch sent by. Commodore