The Washington times., 1901-11-06

| delay and that it should be maintained as
| close as possible.
Schiey asked Sampson if he had any in
| formation as to how to communicate with
! the insurgents at CienfueEos and Sampson
! told Schley he had not, Captain Parker
| said. while there was evidence that Samp-
sen did have such information. Tho {.
was no delay between Key West anu
! Cienfuegos the speaker maintained. de-
! spite the efforts made TO show that the
| Flying Squadron stopped while Schley
| talked with Captain Chester, of the Gin
cinnati, and that the squadron had slowed
down 1T seems to me, he asserted,
must be pretty hard up for an issue, and
l don't believe tilarithis Court will give
itself any trouble on that. score
Captain McCnIIa's Conduct.
Captain Parker maintained that Captain
McCalla was very careful not to let any
of his men go ashore at -Cienfuegos, and
that the information he obtained from the
insurgents was given to him by some
Cubans who came off in a boat, at great
risk to themselves, to McCallas ships
Schley did inaugurate a blockade at
Cienfuegos that was efficient, said Cap
tain Parker. 1t didn't matter whether
Schley's ships were six or eight miles, or
ten miles off, so long as, in Schley's judg-
ment. the blockade was sufficient to pre-
vent any vessel from getting in or out,
and none did get in or out except the
Adula, which went in by Schley's permis-
sion. 1t would have been foolhardy for
Schley to send boat ashore in an
enemy's country to find out if the enemy
was there. That would have been the
supreme height of folly. You, sirs,' he
said to the Court, know that he would
have been court-martialed if he had done
that and had lost any men,"
1t was asserted by Captain Parker that
no signal lights were seen at ClentuegOS
on May % He would take the evidence
of the log books on that point. he said,
and they We're silent on the subject. And
if these lights We're shown, that fact
would have been shown in the log OF the
Iowa for her commander, Captain Evans,
was the only officer of the fleet that knew
what those lights meant, but the lOwas
log was silent as to both the I'd and the
I'D
There was no evidence, Captain Par
ker held that the fortifications which
Schley mad bezn ordered to lombard at
Cienfuegcs were there at ali, and he
thought that it would be waste of am
munItion TO have fired at them, anyhow.
The McCalla memora ndum, he asserted,
contained absolutely no information that
would be Of use to Schley, except that
there was a good landing place for troops
near CienfuCgoS, and he didn't think 1t
was worth while to read IT.
Then Captain Parker took up the Dear
quote Admiral Schley He read this, en-
phasizing that part where Sampson told
schiey To stay at Cienfuegos, until fur
ther orders. The original of this letter
and :ts duplicate were curious, he said
Part of one had been copied in Sampson
letter book. The first page of that had
been so copied. but the second page had
not. The cipher telegram accompanying
it had been copied in one book, but not
in another. These things were accidents,
perhaps" said Captain Parker; but they
show to my mind that these dispatches
We're not sent on the vessels that arrived
al Cienfuegos on May - They were de-
livered later than has been contended-
Instructions From Sampson.
Taking up despatch No. S, in which
Sampson told Schley 10 go to Santiago, If
satisfied that the Spanish fleet was not
at Cienfuegos, Captain Parker said that,
while this was delivered in the morning
Of May %, and the squadron did not leave
until the next night, he was not justi-
fed in leaving sooner. in view of the in
structions not TO go unless satisfied the
Spanish feet was not there. If he had
gone without so satisfying himself, said
the speaker, he might have been court
martlalod, and if a oourt-martial had
been ordered. our friend 1.-THE judge advo-
catel would have worked against him, and
been abundantly justified in doing So If
he had scudded away iS broad daylight,
those DagOes were there on shore-those
Spaniards-and they would have seen
where he'd gone
CAPTAIN Parker then paid his compn-
ments to those officers who testified
against Schley regarding the delay at
CienfueGos- In the light Of the facts,
ne sald, the testimony OF these young
ofiicers-not young in years, but young In
experience-fades into nothing
Ii was held by Captain Parker that on
the run to Santiago Commodore Schley
best judgment in not sending away the
Eagle and in going faster. He thought,
he said, that after all Schleys experience
in the Arctic region and other places his
Judgment was better than that Of the
young gentlemen Of the Eagle and Vixen,
who, for the first time in their lives, COM
mauded vessels.
Schley. maintained the speaker, didn't
know where the Spanish feet was when
he went to Santiago. Sampson didn't
know either. He couldn't have believed
Cienfuegos because then the order would
have been positive. We all know now
where It was" said Captain Parker, but
We didn't know then"
Fault has been found with Schley, Cap
tain Parker said, because he didn't send
for Captain Wise when he met the ships
OF Wise, Jewell, and Sigsbee on Santa
go 10 ask him what Ne knew about the
Spanish feet 1t was Wise's clear duty
the duty Of any subordinate-to tell his
superior officer what he knew. How was
Schley to divine that wise knew anything
more than Sigsbee, who came on board
his vessel2' asked Captain Parker. AS
for Captain Sigsbee." said the speaker, he
was curiously blind in not seeing the
Colon in the harbor Of Santiago.
THE log of the Colon shows that she
anchored near the mouth OF the harbor
on the morning Of May 3, Captain Par
ker said. My learned friend Captain
Lemly) says she was 1900 yards inside.
It's 209 yards"
Admiral Schley asked Captain Parker
in a low voice II he meant that the Colon
anchored in the harbor mouth on the
18th.
Yes; it is the 25th," said Captain Par
. '.Twenty-seventh." suggested Admiral
Now you hold on" Captain Parker ex-
claimed, I'm speaking"
Continuing, Captain Parker read from
the log Of the Colon an extract stating
that at 7 a. m. May % the vessel had
anchored at the mouth of Caspar Bay
inside the harbor entrance and at that
time she was cleared for action as the
vessels of the encrIy were seen approach
ing, but seeing an English steamer trying
to get into the harbor the guns were not
fired And that British steamer" said
Captain Parker. was the collier captured
by Sigsbee on May p.
Didn't See the Colon.
Captain Parker quoted from report
Of Captain Sigsbee that or the morning
OF May 25, in very clear weather, he had
gone with the st. Paul close in to the
mouth Of the harbo' to do some sketch
ing. He found out nothing about the
Colon's presence there" declared Captain
Parker, but she was there, and he didn't
see her / know he intended to do his
whole duty, but it's one OF the mysteries
of the case 10 me how he came there on
that clear morning and saw nothing Of
her.
Captain Parker said he didn't intend
to impeach Captain Slgsbee's testimony
that he had not told Admiral Schley he
..I--l-