Evening star., 1901-10-23
Lieut. Ackerman Describes the Chass
of the Colon.
STORY OF TIE BATTLE
Meeting of Correspondents and
Sigsbee Off Santiago.
COUNSEL LRAYNER'S PROGRAM

evident by many circumstances today. One
of these was found in the fact that the
court has had removed from it's immediate
vicinity most OF the tables which were
placed there for the press at the beginning
of the hearings in September. Compare
lively few OF these tables were ever used
and they have been taken away to make
room for the increased attendance which
is expected during the last days of the in
quiry and which is now made manifest.
SchIey's witnesses.
At the beginning Of todsys proceedings
Attorney Rayner, chief counsel for Admiral
Schley, said that he would not have more
than twelve fifteen more witnesses to
examine and that the examination OF some
of these would require comparatively little
time. The principal witnesses yet to come
are Admiral Schley and Captain Clarke. 1t
is expected that Admiral Sch heys testimony
will cover at least a day OF two OF time.
the length depending largely upon the en-
tent Of the cross-eXamination TO which he
will be subjected. Captain Clarke probably
will be the last witness before the admiral
is heard, but his statement, it is expected,
will be comparatively brief.
There was an unusually long list Of witt
nesses OF former days present in the court
at the beginning of today's session for the
purpose of correcting their testimony, and
after they had been disposed of another
long list for today was presented. The
first new witness for the day was James
H. Hare. who as a photographer for an IL
lustrated weekly newspaper witnessed and
made photographs of the battle of July 8.
Then came Mr.. William L. Hill, who was
chief boatswain on the flag ship Brooklyn
during the Cuban campaign. and who had
especial charge Of the work Of coaling.
Other witnesses called for the day were
Franklin I. Applegate, a gunner on the
Brooklyn; Major Paul St. G. Murphy. who
was in command of the marines of the fly
iyty adrnp and uhn han dnpa arfa war
on the Brooklyn; Lieutenant Commander
G. II. Harlow, who was executive officer Of
the Vixen and who wrote an account OF the
battle of July 3, in which IL is claimed al
terations were made before II was officially
published Lieut.. E. W. Eberle, who had
charge of the forward thirteen-inch turret
on the Oregon; Lieut. A. A. Ackermanr
who was in charge OF the aft thirteen-inch
turret of the Oregon, and Lieut.. Rufus z.
Johnston who was signal officer Oh the
Oregon and aid to Captain Clarke.
Correction of Testimony.
While Lieut. Simpson was on the stand
for the purpose of correcting his testimony
Of yesterday he stated In reply TO a ques-
tion by Mr.. Hanna that he had first seen
the Oregon coming up during the chase Of
the Spanish ships July 8. when the oquendo
was discovered to be on fire. Mr.. Hanna
stated that his object in bringing out this
information was to fix the time when the
Oregon came I'D.
Mr.. G. E. Graham made an addition to
his testimony Of yesterday concerning the
Capt Sigsbee on May Is. He said that be-
yond what he had already reported Capt,
Sigsbee as saying he further said: He had
two pilots aboard and that those pilots said
that fleet of vessels of the size of the
Spanish squadron could not enter the har-
Dor at Santiago"
Mr.. Graham also changed his reply to the
question OF the court as to whether he had
nd fsN., k<.x- -
Schley and Lieut.. Commander Hodgson
during the battel of July 3. Referring to
this Mr.. Graham said: "In answer to the
question Of the court i said No, sir but
1t seems to me that 1 should say in that
relation that there was a great deal Of
conversation going on between three or
four officers forward, and / answered No
because could not pick out from that con.
versation between Lieut.. Command Uodg.
son and Commodore Schley."
Lieut. Wells was among the former wit.
nesses called for correction Of testimony,
While he was on the stand his attention
was called to press copy OF q cipher diss
patch dated May "a prepared by him for
Admiral Schley. The copy was found Ia
the commodore's press copy book, and
Lieut. Wells said he thought he had pre-.
pared it. He said, however, that there was
pencil note indicating that the dispatch
had never been sent. He was asked to
translate the copy and present il to the
court later. Capt. Lemly explaining that
tween the witness and Commodore Schley,
Photographer Hare's Testimony.
Mr.. James H. Hare was the first new
witness today. He was a press photo.
grapher during the Santiago campaign. He
stated that he was on the press boat SOM
ers n. Smith May % or %, and that they
had met the ST. Paul
Did you have any megaphone communi.
cation between the Somers n. Smith and
Megaphone and by mouth also"
State what II was"
I'VE asked the St. Paul IL there was any
tidings of Cerveras feet. Capt Sigsbss
told us there was not that Cervera's feet
was not inside Santiago and that Schlsy
had gone west"
rs there any particular incident that in.
presses that upon your memory"
Yes. sir. On Sigsbee's assurance that
the fleet was not in the harbor we went
back to Key West to coal Instead OF TO
Jamaica. and the first news We got there
was that Cervera's fleet was bottled up in
the harbor."
On cross-examination Mr. Hare said that
the Smith was within 100 yards of the st.
Paul. and that part of the conversation
was by megaphone and part without 1t. He
gave list Of newspaper correspondents
present on the Smith at the time, but said
that he did not recognize any of the on
GERS on board the St. Paul except Capt.
Sigsbee. Among the newspaper men men,
toned az present were Sylvester Scovel,
stephen Crane, Charles M Pepper, Mr..
Shehan. George Lynch and w. o. Wilson.
In reply to Mr.. Rayner, the witness said
that Shehan and Crane are dead and that
Scovel is in Havana He told the court in
response to a question by 1t, that Can't
Sigsbee had himself used the megaphone
Chief Boatswain Hill Called.
Mr.. Hare was succeeded by Chief Boats
vain VIM. L.SIiill, who was a boatswain on
the Brooklyn during the summer of 1895
He testified to hearing guns on approach
ing Cienfuegos, and said that while there q
blockading line was maintained three or
four miles out. He said that he had writ.
ten letters to his wife during the campaign
and had from these made q journal cover
Ing the period. He said In reply to a quee-
ton by Mr.. Rayner concerning the weather
on the cruise between Cienfuegos and San
tago: The weather was rough IL was
worse than that. / should say II was blow.
ing a reef topsail breeze, and at one tiu1e-
the seas were breaking completely over the
Massachusetts. 1 made an entry to that
effect"
Mr.. Hill also stated that he had had dix
rect charge. under the executive officer o1
the Brooklyn Of the coaiing Of that vessel