Daily Kennebec journal., 1901-10-09

Mr. Rayner called attention 20 the fact
that the witness had said that At the be
ginning OF the battle the BROOKLYN va
headed north and east while Lieut. Com
mandcr Hodsson. who had been abotr ?
the Brooklyn. had said the vessel was
headed north and west Which H.
right he asked.
II believe am right
You canno; both be- !ight
That is right. too
In response to further questions. Lieut.
Bristol sand his char, bad been stu:cI
away Tor some time. but previously h."
had several blue prints made "f 1t.
AT. Mr.. kINncr'a request The witness
made measurements showing that. ac-
cording L. his chart. at The beginning ot
the fight off Santiago IN" nearest Span
ish ship To the BROOKLYN WAS %p' wards
Mr.. Rayner askcd-"Iiow can yoI rcr-
rUcilc that with the statement 90 Lieut.
Commander lo1gs"n that the range a.
the t;me OF the turn "i the bro"k!y
was lin Yards?
Il cannot reconcile ny statement with
that OF Lieut. Commander Hoigson.
Then these two statements are PEI
itCtiN irr"COuCiiable9
"A range uf 400 tartis at the time o;
the turn Of the BROOKLYN j. ahsnlltels
irrcconcilahl-. Ny idea is that with "a
stadimct.r It f-r yards IL D. not An A
CErate instrument and mat i- what th,t
state they took III" m"aSur"M entS WITH
Also III smoke rf battle u u almost int-
possible 10 take ranges accurately. IN
was good deal of an CSt.mIt" AlSu.
have heard u 10 not know how true ID
isI the ranges on board rhc brooklyn
were taken by an enlisted man. ! ~ nri
question Tho enlisted mans accuracy ~
c.pt that ! would think thai Hu officer
accuracy would ~ greater than that NJ
m enlisted man
Mr Rayncr-"And thos, arc Ia. reasons
YOU give now for accounting for thi~
wide divergence You do not think TIL
stadimctcr Is as accurate as IL ought tp
to 4"
Those are the reasons | have always
had in my mind FOR rrconciling those two
statements. Another reason for thinking
myself right was the speed u the shio.
which was given to me half speed
Take 1t at full specd--takc her initial
position-and she could not arrive at j
certain point which would give her that
range, li1 yards
Mr.. Rayner-"Then the stadimeter is
not to be relied upon at all in CnmpaIi-
son with your observations, as | under
stand II. in this Instance"
The Statimeter at th1 yards and ONe-
Is well known to be inaccurate for meas.
airing distances among officers in the ma
w. because the Craduations are so Clos,.
together small error in observation
makes large error in the result"
is II inaccurate under f.1 yards?
1t is more accurate under $500 yards
but If the instrument has not been cor
rected recently ii is likely To err"
Mr.. Rayner-'ls 1t possible for the stai-
imeier to have made mistake Of ~
yards? Don't YOU think If that is tn.
vase YOU b'tIST aDoiiSh tn3t instrument
Il do not believe iiodgsnn took an ac-
curate observation. don't want Il
make any positive statement. but I do
want to make the statement of what |
Know i'll regard To the instrument Til,
instrument as ! use 1t is accurate AT
lower ranges and inaccurate at higher
ranges"
Mr.: Rayner questioned the witness a,
70 the stay OF the flying squadron q
cteniuegos. The latter said he had NOT
considered that they maintained block
ade there. We were merely laying OF
the port he said. "and at night any
th,ng could nave passed in 50 far as We
were concerned without being seen.
re admitted that the Dupont ana the
castine had been kept inside the line al
night, but that he had not been able to
see them.
Mr.. Rayner then undertook to comrarc
the estimate of the distance which Com
rnodore Schleys fleet went to the east
and west OF Santiago harbor. with that
Of Capt. Folger.
Mr.. Hanna suggested that the practice
OF quoting from the testimony of formet
Witnesses was calculated to produce de-
lay and therefore was not desirable
Mr. Rayner replied. referring to Mr.
llama as his learned and solemn
friend. This characterization brought
Capt. l-emly to his feet.
ms ne said is eminently i'm
proper All these left-handed comp'i-
ments thrown around are entirely unu-
sual.''
Mr.. Rayner-"I withdraw it"
MI Hanna-"it did not make me feel
solemn
Mr. Rayner-"I would not object To
your calling me solemn"
capt. Lemly-"You are not solemn. |
can HoI funny Oaughter).
Mr.. Rayner-'I don't call YOU at all |
funny 0aughter)
Admiral Dewey then said that as there !
We're no legal obstacles in the wav ofG
puttihS the question it could be asked d
Lieut. Bristol said in response Il do |
not agree with Capt. Folger as regards.
the iact that the ships were not nearS
AT night than they were in the daytinlc =
because 1t is my firm recollection now
NAT they were farther out at night than
they We're in the daytime; also, | real |
from the log when / testified that the. |
average revolutions of the Texas by the
Watch We're a certain number. The rev
o!utiohs according 10 that give the shia :.
a certain speed which would be greater |
nan the distance given by Capt Fogler
because We also stated in that log we !
steamed for two hours and turned first
20 the east and then to the west
Inc witness had not concluded his t.s-
limony when the court at T. NJ. ad-
i"urned for the day