The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1901-10-21


| he was to narrste the story of the battle
of Santiago as he saw it.
Mr.. Rayner examined the witness.
Q--Now, 1 want YOU 10 give an account
OF the battle OF Santiago. SO far as the
events Of that battle fell under your per
Al was sitting in the fleet office when
h'ard the words passed along Clear
the snip Tor action. 1 went to my diyiS-
ION and looked out of one OF the gun ports
ana saw the Spanish ships two Of them
| at least, coming out of the harb0r and
HeddiuS south and west The guns were
ilu.itdliJely gotten ready and my recol-
i.,ltoA iS JndJ We nrtd one or possibly two
( Shots with the StarhOard guns at that
JIlt. W e then manned the port battery
anu lht ShipS mead apparently moved to
1 the starbOard because ii brought the
. spanish ships on our port bow and we
lttii opened IRE with our port batteries.
ana continued as the Spanish ships drew
az ON our port side 1 have no recOIec-
uou OF the ranges as We moved in but l
let"llcct that we used a range Of eleven
hundred yards as the shortest This was
nTtd with the port battery, and was con-
lnuvu until the ship turned. After that
tue Stdrhoard batteries were brought to
ag,tL ana we continued firing at the
. spanish ships About the time the turn
was completed the range was 1850 10 25.0
yards II varied somewhat immediately
aitef the turn. ] cannot say what vessels
were "htn IN sight and do not recOUect
seems any during the turn After the
turn we sighted The three leading ones
lAr course was TO the westward. approSl-
Indtciy, and shortly after this one OF tha
vessels passed inside OF the leading Span
4 lSh snip and seemed 10 be going with
! considerably greater speed. iThe witness
| referred 10 the Co!0u.I Not long after
JniS we saw two of them head i'm shore
on fire art, one of which bore a little for
ward OF our StaTbJard beam The Colon
htd by this time moved considerably more
10 the westward, and was apparently
Z quite rapidly Increasing distance between
u~ and her Our fire was mainly directed
l' ti-r lNca\ft, as q proved 10 be. With an
occasional shot a. the Colon She soon
got so TAR out OF range that we ceased
uIlHE at her The Nizcdya finally headed
IN shore and that left the Colon as fh,. only
one BY that time she was probably ten
lhpuSIHd yards ahead of Us and irinC
( ceased About this time or during The
chase OF the Colon j received orders To-
gu up extra ammunition for the rapid fi-e
guns, and Was informed in connection
WIN IhS-J orderr as W. were heading for a
point Of land and tho Colon was running
along lHShOre, that she would ba forced
TO turn out. and that The ship would TINS
come 70 close quarters. This ammunition
was gotten up for the purpose Of pouring
q continuous and rapid fire into her.
Saptilh Leinly ulterruutiugD-Who
tln LnIS order cnT-c frOmy
witness COMMUNICATIVE were to close
WIN the Colon and give her rapid nre
Ehen We came uD 10 her The chase con-
. tuued for probably an hour In the
Ilt'tiltilhe the guns were spJugsd and the
machinery oiled The Oregon and the
brooklyn then opened fire. the oregon
with her forward S-inCh guns and the
Ero0l-yn with her S-iuch guns. A nuT1-
Der or shots We're fired and We could see
them faL As the shots came near the
Cnipn Shg ported her nelm and turned in
Sh"rt and hauled down her COl1rs Dur
ing the chase Of the Colon before the
uTng was resumed ] went upon deck and
sa" ADMIRAL Schley: NJ that time he was
I upon th- upper bridge
Q--Btd you see the Texas on tn. 7r1-r9
A--N0, sir
Q---Have you given every thing you wish
10 with reference TO tho o.. g0u2
Shorty after we completed our turn
and as i recollect 10 when we were some
what near Cabanas. the Oregon came
lAf"Geh the smoke. I first saw her bow
wave ana then hSr military mast. She
had an answer penuaue fiying and signal
. quarter Before her arrival We seemed
o De alone and engag rE the three ships
that were of our stc~aoard beam.
The written nesps IA Not Printed
Q--VyHat ku0wlodE, have you Of the
despatch sent by Admiral Schlgy TO the
department on May -. as-to whether this
was The despatch Commodore SchIey
s,ut2 Gfandng the witness the press copy
. book containing the original Of Schley's
alleged "disUbedieuc" Of orders des-
patch.
A-TEat despatch was written on that
day. the 18th, ll answer -1 g. despatch r--
c'iE'o .-oEi the Department. which was
brought on board t- Captain Cotton
Commodore Schley was always very
careful with the uhT- Se0t1gE h- used
VEgr as he had dictated H. This despatch
WIS written Our iE plain English. as Ir
appears here. and HANDED to Captain COT
ton % bs gur i1 Cirh,r "- th" way 90
Jamaica. This is the q G.spaJeh which Ea
sent
The witness identified the COPY OF the
original despatch He then went ou to
state, i1 answer TO ou,si1uz, that the
original letter had leCa sent ig % the
Navy DuartuCrt b- Admiral Sehfev by
mail. afJer its contents had been clbIcd
jo the department Tne inference which
was plainly shown b. this t,.ttmoay was
that in preparing It's Official documents.
especially tho naval aDDendiz. the depart
mont had printed document which had
twice been translated from cipher rather
lnau the original. Cie.aJed i'm plain Eng
IisE 10y Commodore Schlay- II was thus
able 10 make a charge O. disob, dleuce Of
orders
Q-Whgt do YOU know if anything. OF
"a despatch reCeiEed trOm the department
after you finally arrived at Sautiago2
My recollection iS chat there were a
number OF dispatches brought to the com
muJOTe after tho Harvard returned from
Jamaica with The UC-paJCh which COmmo-
Gsr- Schlcy had sent Among them were
SD- cral directed 10 the commodore. or az
least asking about where the other Span
ish vessels were. In the despatch We sent
mention was made Of seeing the Colon
and another vessel of the Eizcayd class
The despatch from the department. asked
Tor further informa10l as 90 where the
other vessels were.
Q.-What date Was that2
A.-May u.
Continuing. tho witness Identified
number of dispatches and told the days
upon which they were received and the
attendant circumstances.
Absence Of OaiciaI Stamping.
Some dispute aros. ass to the day upon
which one despatch was received. and
Captain Parker sad that the trouble
could ba avoided o. all Of the documents
which Admiral Sohl,y mao sent I'm 70 the
department would De produced. as the pa
ners would show the dates upon which
they We're received. To this Captain Lem
Iy replied that IN, obseuc- of the r,ceiv-
INK stamp upon Commodore SchIey.s pa
p,rs was very marked.
Ey Mr.. EaEu,r-
CIV ere there any vessels which pass
sd the blockade either at Citufut-0s or
Santiago without The permission Of Com
mUdOr, Sehl,E-
A.-No. sir; not without his authority.
Tn. Aduia passed IN a CieuteG2us with
his permissic- and Commodore ScaIcg
granted Do, bat She withdrew without en-
tygIug-
The witness WAS then shown the original
plat and maus re-arding the fortircatious
and shore batteries az Santiago which had
been sent out 90 the Q,ot and o. which he
made reference iaet Friday This Iufor-
nation, Er said. ~. g received ON May 3.
Q--Mhe oiI ygu receive the order not
60 snaauser the ships unnecessarily
against the shore Eatteries2
+--Du MAY b.