Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1901-10-17

the acknowledgment Of Judge Advocate
Lemly is to demolish the theory that
Admiral Sohley knew OF the existence
OF the insurRent camp nsar OienfuegoE
and could have communicated with it
even without the secret code of signals
Lieut.. Commander W. II. Schuetze
who was the navigator of the Iowa, tas-
titled today in effect that the celebrated
chart compiled by the Board of Navi.
gators as representing the correct"
position Of the United States and Span
ish ships on the day of the battle Of
Santiago was a fiction perretrated by
the navigators at the expense of the
long suffering public.
He said that mona of the navigators
was satisfied with the positions Of the
ships which they represented, and few
of them were satisfied with the positions
allotted the other ships. Still, he
thought that worthless chart, such as
he characterized this, was better than
no chart at all. He'had private chart
which he thought much better than the
official chart and which was put in
evidence. From Commander Schuetze' q
statements on the stand it was evident
that the nRvigators were interested in
placing their ships as near the Spanish
vessels as possible.
Lieutenant Commander A. W. Grant,
who was senior watch officer ON board
the Massachusetts, and who is now as
signed to duty ut the Naval Academy,
seemed very anxious to introduce some
testimony he thought would damage
Admiral Schley. Ho was most precise
in his statements. When he admitted
that several conversations, which it ap.
pearsd no desired to relate, had not
occurred in the presence OF Admiral
Schley, his regret at the necessity Of
making the admission was very marked.
1t seemed he had some ''wardroom
gossip on the tip Of his tongue
He testified that during the cruise oil
the Flying Squadron from CienfueRos
to Santiago ne had also seen the
phantom ship" on which CAPT. b. II.
McCalla of the Marblehead, had turned
his searchiRht. lie said the Brooklyn
had suddenly stepped or sheered off,
that his own ship had stopped and the
whole line was thrown into confusion,
with the result that there was danger oil
a general melee. - but that the squad
ron had proceeded without stopping the
stranger. The Marblehead had sent ur
night signal two red stars announcing
the sighting of a strange ship. He was
sure the entry must have been made Ia
the log OF the Massachusetts,, certainly
about the Marblehead's signal.
On examining the log he failed tc
find anything about the signal, al
though in 1.-THE found the ship ha6
cleared for action, aud from the steam
log he verified his statement that the
ship had stopped for about minute.
The absence of the mention of thu
signal in the log in no wise changed his
recollection that it had been made.
This is the first appearance of thii
signal.
Few of the witnesses have hesitatet
so far to question the correctness of tn,
log of their vessels, even though writer
or approved by themselves, whenever
their recollection differed from thu
written statements in the logs. Iheil
recolleotions have invariably been mo-,
unfavorable to Admiral Schley than 1 h,
written testimony.
Commander Grant remembers tina
the dark nights'' about Santiago
testified to yesterday, we're moonligh
to quite a degree, the moon shinini
through the clouds. He also remembered
the weather oil Cienfuegos was saually
In this respect he differed from severa
witnesses for the Navy Department whi
have testified that it was bad weathe
when Schley said it >wns goud and goot
weather when he said it was bad.
Q Washington, Oct. II. "A fter the wit
nesses of yesterday had been recalled
today 10 the Schley Court OF Inquiry
for the purpose of correcting thei
testimony, Lieut. j. H. Holden wa
reintroduoed to continue his examina
tion. Other witnesses called for the da,
were Capt. Chadwick, who was Ad
miral Sampson's chief of staff durinI
the war with Spain; Lieut.. Commando
q. q. Marsh and Lieut. Il. L. Bennett
both Of whom served on the flagship
New York; Lieut.. Adelhert Althous
of the Massachusetts; Lieut.. Franc
Boughter Of the Marblehead, and Lieut.
William ii. Reynolds, who was sigma
officer on the Texas.
When the court was called to crde
Capt. Lemly made a brief explanatio,
Of one OF his statements of yesterday
concerning the statement received iron
Commander Mark. He had said tina
the statement was "unswurn. :"
would like it to appear, he said
THAT although these are sworn to, the
are not, being In the shape OF denosi
lions and ex.parte statements, 6ucl
sworn evidence as is usually admitte
before the court, hut came in with thei
value merely because there was no oh
lection on either side. .
Among the witnesses called early i
the day for the purpose OF correctin
early testimony was Admiral Ii. &
, Taylor. While he was on the stand b
was questioned as TO whether he ha
received information that the Spaniard
were coming out of the hsrbor at Santi
ago before they made their appearance
, on the morning of July I'd. The quet
ton was asked by Capt Lemly and th
answer was: None whatsVer -
Mr. Rayner: ''You did not get
message from the Vixen in reference |
smoke coming out of the harbor?"
"None. -
Capt Parker: ''Yorr attention We
not called 10 smoker"
Not of all, sir.
'Do YOU remember anybody on yor
, vessel who did observe smoke and rt
ported it to you?''
! 81 do not REMAINDER
Capt Lemly introduced as evIuent
, the reports made by Commodore Schle
to the Secretary OF the Navy of the 81
gagement of May 3lst. in one of thes
a dated June Sd, Commodore Schley sale
! Reconnaissance WAS intended priI
cirally to iniuie and destroy Color
, The fire was returned without delay
!, the heavy batteries to the east aud
the west entrance, large caliber. lor
range; reconnaissance developing sat
factorily the presence of the Spani.
! squadron lying behind Island near inn
fort as they fired over hill at random
= Quite satisfied the Spanish fleet