Evening star., 1901-10-15
OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
FIRST OF ADMIRAL SCHLEY,s W.T.
NESSES CALLED.
Lieut.. Beale Tells About TransIating
the Commodore's Dispatch-Nunex,
the Cuban Pilot, Called.

Judge Advocate Lemly concluded presen-
tation of testimony for the government
and the first of Admiral Schley's witnesses
was introduced in the Schley court of in
quiry yesterday afternoon. Capt. Francis
A Cook was followed by Lieut.. Commander
William F. Fullam, who was senior watch
officer on the New Orleans during the Span
ish war, and former Lieut.. Joseph Beale
who was an officer on the Harvard, trans
lated the cipher dispatches between Com
modore Schley and the Navy Department
carried by that vessel. Among these dis
patches was that sent by Commodc-e
Schley May 2S, expressing his regret at not
peing able to obey the orders of the de-
partment and expressing the reason why
he could not do so. There are some verbal
discrepancies between the original draft OF
this dispatch and the official print of 1t,
and these Mr.. Beale explained.
Lieut. Beale was the last of the govern
ment witnesses, although Capt. Lemly eX-
piained that he would reserve the right to
call others If occasion should demand that
he do so. He had no sooner retired than
the first witness for Admiral Schley was
called. This was the Cuban pilot, Eduardo
Nunez, who told Schley May g. 1898. that
he did not believe the Spanish fleet under
Cervera was in the harbor at Santiago.
Lieut. Commander w. F. Fuliam. who
was the senior watch officer on the New
Orleans during the Santiago campaign, tes-
titled that the New Orleans had Joined the
flying squadron May 80 at Santiago find
ing the squadron lying about seven miles
out.
The distance of the line outside the har-
Dor under Commodore Schley's command
had been from six to eight miles. and al
forth. He had hoard of no orders except
the order from the commander of the New
Orleans to keep 1t always ready for action
Describing the engagement with the CO.
lon May 81, he said that while the orders
were to go in to within 1900 yards of the
Colon, the American vessels did not 20
nearer than 10000 yards. All the shots
fired, with one exception, had fallen short
The Colon was in sight for only two or
three minutes at time. The Colon and
the shore batteries fired at the American
ships, but no damage was done.
Commander Fullam also testified concern
ing the stadimeter. saying he had found
that it was not reliable beyond 1900 yards.
and that 1t was necessary to verify the
measurements by 1t with the sextant.
The witness also described the bomba rd-
ment of the shore batteries June IA, when.
ne said, the New Orleans went within > O00
yards of the eastern battery. On that oc-
casion both the eastern and the western
batteries were silenced.
The bombardment of May 81 had. he said.
brought about the discovery that the land
batteries were very weak
In reply to question by the court, Mr..
Fullam said he knew of no means beng
used on board the New Orleans to deter
mine the distance of the Colon, excep. not
ing the fall of shots.
Referring again to the distance out OF
the blockading line at Santiago the Wit
ness said 1t was about the same at night
as In the day time, and that at night he
could distinguish the mountains on shore
but that other objects could not be distin-
guished.
Lieut.. Beale's Testimony.
Commander Fullam was then excused and
Mr.. Joseph Beale was called. He said he
had formerly been in the navy, but resigned
in 1895, returning to the service as vol
unteer during the war with Spain. He
had served as an officer on the Harvard.
He detailed the meeting of the Harvard
with the flying squadron, May 81, when
that vessel carried dispatches to Commo-
dore Schley from Mole St. Nicholas. There
were five of these dispatches, which had
come in cipher and which he had translat-
ed. One was from Admiral Sampson and
the other four from Secretary Long. The
last one from the Secretary was received al
Mole St. Nicholas at $50 am, May &c, and
was the dispatch directing the commander
of the Harvard to proceed at once to in
form Schey that all the departments In
formation is that the Spaniards ale at San
tiago," etc. He read this dispatch and also
one from Admiral Sampson, saying that the
Spaniards were at Santiago Both these
dispatches Were, he said, delivered to the
commanding officer of the Harvard by him.
Mr. Beale also detailed the particulars of
his proffer to go ashore and secure In
formation concerning the situation. Il
saw" he said. that ! had the first in
formation from the department, and 1
thought it was my chance, and by making
early application / thought l would get
the opportunity" He had brought his de-
sire to the attention of Captain Cotton,
and had. he thought. done SO before the
arrival at Santiago, May %.
Putting SchIey's Reply Into Cipher.
Mr.. Beale also said he had translated
into cipher Commodore Schley's response
to the dispatch of May g. He explained
the verbal changes in this message, saying:
In the first place, in regard to the YER
bal differences in putting the message In
cipher, it often occurs that certain word
cannot be found in the code book. In that
case it was my practice to get an equiva-
lent word if l could possibly do SO, and
avoid the labor of spelling out word let
ter by letter. For example Bad, bolster
Gus weather. If 1 could not find the word
'boisterous' I would use bad so that 1t
would appear bad weather. In the same
way it Is sometimes possible to send a
number of words as a phrase or to find in
the code book an equivalent phrase of very
nearly the same wording and the same
meaning. In that case / would use the
phrase. AS regards the difference in the
amount of coal ordered to be at Key West
I have a very clear recollection of that.
The number 10000 was much easier and
simpler to send than g, ,500' And so / sent
1t as 10000 believing that excess of
800 tons would do no harm. In the same
way of twenty-five tons appeared in the
translation Of my cipher in place Of twen-
ty-seven 1 would explain it In the same
way. l believe also there is difference
about the Harvard being ordered in the
original to Port Royal instead of Kingston.
Jamaica. Explaining this 1 would say that
Port Royal is the naval station a mile or
two below Kingson, and in all probability
the code book contained only the name of
Kingston and not that of Port Royal Now
as regards the added sentence. l have a.
copy of that message in my daily journal.
That copy does not contain the added SEN
tence. / find farther along in the journal a
note referring to this message, which
reads: Add very difficult to tow collier;
cannot get cables to hold From that 1
infer that after the typewriter sheet was
prepared an addition to this message was
given to me-"
Judge advocate-'What, shown by the
notes in your journal, was the tenor OF this
message with regard to tthe obedience or
disobedience or difficulty in obeying the or
ders of the department"
II have here only the copy of the mes
sage given me to translate into cipher
have not copy of the translation at the
Washington end. My copy reads: 1t is to
be regretted that the departments orders
cannot be obeyed, earnestly, We have all