The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-11-05
THE scH1EY COURT OF INQUIRY.

testimony in the Sonl0y COurb Oh AZ
curry, nor would many readers find
patience to read it, if it we're pub
lished. The best summary OF the
testimony to date appears in Public
Opinion of Dot. 31st, and is as fol-
lows:
The actual and implied if not ex-
plicitly made charges against Rear
Admiral Sohley are: a. That dur
ing his search for the Spanish fleet
he delayed unnecessarily at Cienfue
'gos, and that his progress was slow
when he started for Santiago. (2)
That the ''retrograde movement"
after Santiago had been reached was
without sufficient excuse. g } That
Schley's bonn 7ardments prior 80 the
battle of July 8 we're Ineffective, and
that his blockade of the harbor was
weak, and would have been of no
effect had the Spanish ships at
tempted to come out. a. That the
BroOklyn's loop during the battle en-
dangered the Texas, and was an
effort to evade the Vizcaya, and that
Schley gave no orders during the
battle. o. General accusations of
Incompetence and vacillation, reach
ing a climax in Maolay's charge Of
cowardioe in his history Of she navy,
Practically every one except Ad
miral Sampson who could throw any
light upon these points has been
heard before the court of inquiry,
presided ver by Admiral Dewey
and sitting at Washington for the
past six weeks. The sessions of the
court have been about equally
divided between witnesses called by
the judge advocate and by counsel
for Schlev.
(1) As to this charge, it has been
shown that Schley went to Cienfue-
COS after an agreement with Samp-
son that that was she most likely
destination of the Spanish feet that
three days we're spent at Cienfdegos
without discovering that the Span
iards were not in she harbor-a fail
r largely due to the fact that until
the arrival of McCalla the signals
arranged for with the Cubans had
not been communicated to Sohley
when McCalla arrived with an ex-
PLANTATION of these signals the lights
on the shore were understood, and
the squadron proceeded to Santiago,
having learned from the signals,
heretofore unintelligible, that the
Spaniards were not at Cienfuegos
As to the charge that Sohley's prog
ress to Santiago was unnecessarily
slow, it has been shown that he ao-
commodated the speed of the squad
to his slowest vessels whether
or not he should have abandoned
them md proceeded with the faster
ships Is a matter for the court TO de-
eide.
(2) The ''retrograde movement
as ex planned by schley and others
was due to the fact that seven of his
ten ships were short of coal and that
they could not be coa1ed at sea,
partly because the Merrimao was un~
manageable, party because of the
roughness of the sea. AS to this,
the witnesses varied greatly in their
statements, some saying that ooaling
was practicable, others that it was
not, Schley testified that at this
time he had not received the dispatch
from Sampson, sent by Captain Cot.
ton, saying that the Spaniards we're
as Santiago S3hley testified that he
had eve heard of the dispatch un-
til it vas introduced at the court of
inquiry. Captain Sigsbee had in.
formed him that the Spaniards were
not at Santiago.
(3) It was testified that the bonn
bardments prior to July 3 were de-
signed solely TO test the strength of
the shore batteries some Witnesses
testified that these Reconnaissance
accomplished something others said
nothing was learned by their means.
It was eonolusively shown shat
Sohley's blockade was far closer than
has been stated by his aoousers /; that
picket vessels were kept close in
shore, and that the squadron when
under Sohley properly blockaded ex
cept when the ships were purposeIy
arranged in confusion far from shore
with she intention of tempting Ger
vera tn .0Omo ont Sch1ouSz hlooL