The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-10-03
A POINT FOR SAMPSON.
HIS BLOCKADE NOT TO BE COM-
 PARED WITH SCHLEY'S.

 the Arrival of Com mmander-in- Chief
 Sampson Calls a schley Witness.
 Washington, Oct 1.-The Schley court of inquiry just before adjournment this afternoon rendered. unsolicited, an in- portant decision decidedly favorable to l the interests of Admiral Sampson. It was brought about by a question by MT. Ra.yner, of Admiral Schley's coun- | sel, which was regarded as an attempt | to bring the blockade of Sampson into | the case for the purpose Of comparison. | Without waiting for any argument on | the point the court immediately an nounced a brief recess The members | retired for a minute or two, and when they returned Admiral Dewey said: | "The court decides that all questions relating to the blockade off Santiago must be confined to the time prior to the arrival of the commander-1n- chlel. The court then adjourned for the day An interesting turn was given to the inquiry this afternoon by the 1ntroduc- ton of the first witness on Admiral Schley's behalf. This was Lieutenant James J. Doyle, who was a watch o11l- cer on board the flagship Brooklyn dur ing the war with Spain. The fact that Lieutenant Doyle was put on the stand does not mean that the navy depart ment has concluded the presentation of it's side of the case. MT. Doyle was called by the department, but, since 1t also had been the purpose of Admiral Schley to summon him, advantage was taken of his presence on the stand to question him as an original witness TOT the appellant He was placed under examination by MT. Rayner in the ln- terest of the admiral when court ad- journed.
 Before undergoing examination at MT. Rayners hands Lieutenant Doyle, at Captain Lemly's request, explained ms part in the battle of July and h1s original entry in the ships log concern ing the famous loop and his alteration of that entry because he subsequently discovered that his first entry had been erroneous.
 Lieutenant Commander Sharp, who commanded the Vixen during the span ish war, also gave his testimony dur | ing the day, giving especial attention to notes of the battle of July made by | Lieut. tenant Harlow, of his ship | Admiral Evans, Captain Sigsbee and Correspondent Dieuaide were all recall | ed for the purpose of correcting their testimony as given yesterday, and all
 made additional statements.
 l ,u,a- A.,n toIB
 In response to questions by Captain Lemly Lieutenant Doyle said that dur | ing the battle off Santiago he had had 1 charge of the two west turrets. He
 had, he said, written the log giving the
 account of the battle, as there record
 ed, but afterward an addenda had been
 made by the navigator
 When the Brooklyn steamed vest
 ward witness was first in the port tur- ret and then in the starboard turret.
 Did you have an opportunity of oo-
 serving the way the vessel turned?'
 Captain Lemly asked.
 Witness responded in the affirmative.
 He said, however, that he did not hear
 orders given to the man at the wheel.
 What did you observer
 q observed while in the port turret
 that we had an opportunity of firing
 at the Spanish ships, and the turret
 was trained nearly ahead. The Span
 ish ships we're little bit then on our
 port bow, and we lost sight of them
 by our ship turning with starboard
 helm. Then it was that the order was
 given to man the starboard battery and
 as I crossed from one turret to the
 other, I observed the Spanish ships
 little bit on our starboard bows. AS
 soon as I got in that turret I swung
 the gun sharp on the starboard bow.
 In the meantime some of our own guns
 had fred probably in the forward
 eight-inch turret so I could see noth-
 ing at all from the dense smoke. While i in that position, and while the turret
 was being trained, MT. Mason, the ex-
 ecutive officer, passed down the star
 board gangway calling Sharp on the | starboard quarter and l accordingly trained the turret around and picked the Spanish upon our starboard quar- ter and from then on it was a con-
 stant train of the turret until we had the Spanish ships about abeam.' l "What do you mean, exactly, when you say that the vesesl turned with the | starboard helm?"
 "She was then turning with star | board helm because that Is the reason
 we lost sight of the Spanish ships"
 But you do not mean, If l under stand you, she made the full turn with
 starboard helm?"
 | "Oh, no; at that time l was under the impression that it had, yes"
 How did you come to enter in the ships log that the vessel turned with A starboard helm? Do you recognize that log?" (Handng him the log of the
 Brooklyn,)
 T do.
 | The witness, then, in response to request read to the court that part of the log book which relates to the turn ing of the port helm as follows: "At 9:30 went to quarters for muster and inspection and immediately after wards the Spanish squadron was mo- ticed coming out of the harbor, The leading ship, the Maria Teresa, flag ship opened fire at once. This ship (the Brooklyn) and the other vessels, namely Texas, Oregon, Indiana, Iowa. Vixen, and Gloucester, engaged the enemy at once. The enemy stood to- wards us at first, then put helm aport and stood along the shore close to the r,,.A @~.,A