The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-10-17

> of their arrival the vessels were Kept IN
! column and about sundown steamed IN
slowly to within two or three thousand
yards of the entrance and then sheereo
out After that the blockade was pe-
tween three and seven miles.
|. Referring to the blockade of Santiago,
the witness stated that the vessels were
in column, steaming slowly perpendlcu-
lar to the north and south line OF the
| harbor at distance of from four to SIX
miles
Mr.. Rayner asked the witness hoy many
times he had seen Commodore Schley un-
| der fire to which he replied, During all
| the engagements"
What was his general conduct, manner
| and bearing on these occasions Mr.. Ray
ner asked.
Excellent, in every particular. He was
| calm. collected and brave"
HE DESCRIBES THE BATTLE.
| Asked to give brief account of the
| battle of July 2 "o~~n'ander Mason after
| giving the preliminaries, said
'.When / saw the leading ship of the
| enemy come out / gave the order. Clear
| ship for action. What was done to the
| engines do now know, although my inn
| preston they were started at once AS
| soon as / reported the battery to Capt.
| Cook in the coming tower, | asked MIN
| if we should commence firing. He re-
| piled, Fire as soon as you are ready.
| Immediately gave the order to Lieuten-
| ant Simpson, the senior officer or the
| forward turret, to fire as soon as he could,
| giving range of $500 yards. | think the
| first gun was fired within five minutes or
1 nff q
| first alarm. The rest Of the battery took
| up the fire at once and continued TO nre
on the port bow until the ranges COM
! menced to get down to 1,800 and 1,600
yards / asked Captain Cook as TO which
| way he was going round, it being neces-
sary for me to know on account OF
| changing the battery below. shifting from
one side to the other. He answered that
/ he was going with port helm. ! gave
the necessary orders on deck and went
| below.
"As I arrived in the after cabin the
after five inch guns was fired for the
last time on the port side and the star
board gun took up the fire Immediately.
The starboard battery then was engaged
for the rest Of the action. The range
| at the time we turned as far as l remem-
ber was about 1,4o0 yards, although l
have a recollection of LOO yards being
sent to me once. After swinging around
! the range went from 2,400 to $500 and
| 5000 yards
/ Commander Mason told of the surren-
| der OF the Colon and the movement OF
| the BROOKLYN to intercept supposed
| Spanish warship, which turned out to be
| the Austrian cruiser Maria Teresa and
then the court asked number of ques-
| tions.
In reply to these questions Command
er Mason said that beyond sending men
aleft and having Captain McCalla so
| ashore no effort had been made by the
/ FLYNN Squadron to determine whether
4 the Spaniards were in the harbor at
Cienfuegos; that he knew of no Ameri-
j can ships being between the Brooklyn
and the Spanish ships when the Brook
lyn was turning to starboard July 3;
that when the Spanish eet came out of
the harbor the Brooklyn was near her
regular blockading position which was
5000 yards from the Moro; that on the
voyage from Cienfuegos to Santiago the
eet had been delayed by the smaller yes
4 sels especially the Eagle, and that but
4 have been made; that he had observed
the bombardment of the Colon from the
foretop of the Brooklyn as she lay coal
} ing several miles away and had not not
ed that some of the shots from the
American ships fel lshort while one at
least of the hosts by the Spaniards fell
outside the American vessels; that he
had concluded from this engagement
that the guns in the Spanish shore bat
teries were of calibre not to exceed six
or eight inches.
SCHLEY'S SIGNAL OFFICER.
The first witness at the afternoon ses-
sion was Lieut.. Edward McCauley, Jr.
who. as an ensign on the Brooklyn dur
ing the Cuban campaign served as Com
rlodore Schleys signal officer.
The witness retained copies of the sig
nails to and from the Brooklyn on July
g. He read the list as follows:
July Sd, 1898, a. m.-Flagship tC
ceet: Disregard motions of the COM
mander- in chief"
9:15 a. m.-Brooklyn to Texas What
} is your theory about burning of block
houses on the hill last night"
9:34 a. m.-Iowa to Brooklyn: Enc
my is escaping
9:35 a. m.-Brooklyn to fleet Enemy
is escaping
9:36 a. m.-Brooklyn to fleet "Clea1
for action"
9:45 a. m.-Brooklyn to fleet: "Close
up
| 1903 a. m.--Brooklyn to the Oregon
We'll DONE
1890 p. m.-Oregon to Brooklyn:
Flag Of strange vessel seen is Ital-
lan'
z: 35 p. m.-Brooklyn to Oregon: "She
was built in Italy,
While chasing the Colon the Oregon
fired number of\shots. We wig-wagg-
ed her when each one struck and num-
Der of unimportant messages were ex-
! changed
Give us these unimportant messages
as we'll as you can recollect'
when the Oregon came up on our
quarter we wig-wagged to her, God
bless the Oregon Later on during the
chase of the Colon we wig-wagged to
the Oregon to try her 13-inch guns OF
| something to that effect
WAS that the signal that has beer
spoken of as try one of your railroad