The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-10-16

Inquiry. He did not believe that the crit | icism of a junior officer. If made. snouio | affect the Commodore. The witness con
 tinued by saying he had probably hao as | many as half a dozen conversations with | the Commodore concerning the return, but he could not give the particulars of | those talks.
 He had At Commodore Schley's instance
 made the signal for the move westward.
 No General Orders. | The witness said that so far as he
 knew there were no general circular
 circular orders of battle. | Asked about the range given for the | firing of the American guns on May 3l, MT. Sears said he had given it at IooO wards under direction of Commodore | Schley.
 l Captain Lemly asked: ''I want to know
 if you did not state otherwise with re- | gard to the range in the ward room or the | Massachusetts on the day of the acuon | May 31 than you have stated here; that ls' | YOU have stated here you have said noth- | ing about it.
 | q have no recollection of stating any thing else." replied the witness. Now refersh your memory. I ask If
 vou did not say in the ward room of the | Massachusetts for Gods sake, don't dis | courage him. It is all we have been able | to do to work him up to this" or words | to that effect.
 "No, I never said anything of the kind,
 replied the witness.
 l In reply to further questions the wit
 ness said that while no conclusion could
 be reached for the signal fires on shore | at Santiago on July ?. that the Spanish
 fleet was preparing to escape, yet the | strain was so tense that Commodore l Scbley felt something unusual was going | to occur.
 The court then took recess for luncheon.
 Captain Cook Recalled. | The afternoon session of the Schley
 Court began with the recall of Captain
 Francis A. Cook, for the purpose of cor
 recting the testimony given by him yes | terday While he was on the stand, the l Judee Advocate asked the following ques- | tions:
 l What conversation, if any, did you have with Commodore Schley about the | retrograde movement, either before or after the signals were made, and the or der given on May 26 to run to Key | West?'
 "As near as I recollect the circum-
 stances, there was a conversation aiter | the message had been brought to me that
 signals had been made Bound for Key
 West by Yucatan channel I did not un- derstand the signal and do not recollect | that at that time anything had been said | about that I went into the cabin to see | the Commodore about it. I asked him what the signal meant, and he said that he must coal the ships; that he must seek some place to coal them and that he was | going toward Key West until he could find an opportunity to coal from the col | Her. and if he did not find that, he must | be near a coal base to keep the ships coaled. I made some remark concerning | the weather conditions. and that l | thought they would be more favorable later. He said Until they are and until
 am able to coal from the collier must keep within striking distance of coal II said that I recognized that he felt l the responsibility as no one else could, and that it was serious question: He answered that he recognized that fact, | but that he must act in accordance With his judgment, whether right or wrong: that personal consideration was of no ac- count when the safety of the fleet was to be considered"
 The court asked the witness the fol- lowing questions
 What instructions did you receive from Commodore Schley regarding the move ment of the Brooklyn after it was dis covered that Cerveras squadron was coming out of the harbor of Santiago?"
 Schley at His Post. 'The Commoder was on deck when the discovery was made, and when I went forward, the ship was moving toward the enemy. Everything had been connected in the coming tower, and he was at his post or the place he had elected to stand, which was near the coming tower, to be in easy communication with me. I do not recollect any specific instructions. We were standing for the enemy
 Please repeat any conversation that took place between Commodore Schey and yourself from the time the Spanish squadron came out until the Brooklyn was steadied on her westerly course in the chase"
 He several times spoke of the position of the enemy. At one time he spoke of the turning of one of the shipe from the line. I saw it.. the Viscaya, think, turn out and then turn in again. He spoke of that. He said to me at one time to look out for the torpedoes or torpedo boats torpedo boats, I think I know at that