The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1901-09-28
Court of Inquiry Declines to Permit Admiral to be
Represented by Attorneys.
Testimony Going Show That Schey Was Informed That Spanish
Fleet Was at Santiago

| scented from Rear Admiral Sampson
| asking to be allowed to be represented
in the court by counsel. but the court
| refused to grant the request on the
ground that the court does not at this
time regard you as a party to the
| case"
! The principal witnesses of the day
were Lieutenant John Hood, who COM
manded the dispatch boat The Hawk
/ during the Spanish war. and Captain
/ y. II. McCallas who was in command
of the Marblehead. The testimony OF
/ both these officers dealt with the de-
| livery of dispatches from Admiral
/ Sampson to Commodore Schley, and
/ both related to conversations with the
/ latter.
/ Captain 0IcCalla gave in detail his
| part in arranging a code of sig lIaL5
with the Cuban insurgents and his con-
/ munications with them near Cienfuegos
on May a, 1898, when il was learned
/ definitely that Cervera's fleet was not IN
| the harbOr there. He said that Captain
Chadwick. who was Admiral Sampson s
chief of staff. was the only person at
| Key West TO whom he had cOmmuni-
! Gated the signal code.
Captain McCalla expressed the Opin-
| ion that cOaling was feasible off San
tiage at the time Schley began his ret
rograde movement.
Captain Lemly estimates that he viii
be able to conclude the presentation OF
the government side OF the case by
the close of next week. He says he
will have about fifteen or twenty more
witnesses to introduce
Wise Alters His Testimony.
Today's session began with the re
call of Captain Wise to make verbal
changes in the official copy OF his teS-
timony He altered his previous state
ment concerning the order of the navy
department of May 20, 1898, in which
he was directed to inform every yes
sci off Santiago that the flying squad
ron is off CienfuegOs,' saying that he
desired to correct his response to the
courts inquiry as TO why this order
was not carried out, by stating that II
had been carried out
THE flying squadron was ordered to
proceed with all possible dispatch" he
said. and added: Il did not desire TO
inform the commodore of the flying
squadron of his own movements The
order was to inform commanders OF
the movements of the flying squadron
The court then asked: Did you di-
rect Captain Sigsbee to give -Commo-
dore Schley the information contained
in the dispatch from the navy depart
ment regarding the whereabouts Of
the Spanish squadron"
4 did not"
Lieutenant Spencer s. Wood, who
commanded the dispatch boat Dupont
/ during the Spanish war, was then
called ana GOnAlIueu MS lESLAAAAuug bC-
gun yesterday. Mr.. Raynor resumed
his crOss-eXaminatiOn. The witness
said that while off CienfuegOS he had
been on picket duty two miles from
shore on the night of May p and had
been instructed to signal the squadron
with two red lights in case the enemy s
torpedo boats came out of the harbor.
Mr.. RaynOr then read from the teSti-
mOny of Captain Harder of the Texas,
saying that there had been no picket
Wifi no of % off
CienfuegOs. The witness said that the
statement was wrong.
Captain Lemly said Captain Harder
had testified that there were no pick
cts so far as he could recall" to
which Mr. RayDOr responded: I'VE are
not impeaching Captain Harber's YER
acity; we are impeaching his recollec-
ton, not his integrity"
Tries to Defend HARDER.
The witness continued: LAS 1 have
seen since, the commander in chief also
reported that the Dupont was not
that I was there. Other people forget
about it. too
you are trying now to justify Cap
tain Harber's want of recollection by
stating that the commander in chief
wrote a letter that there were no pick
ct boats there"
He did not mention their presence,
and L corrected it
DO you recollect any statement
made by the commander in chief when
he had a picket boat within the picket
line that he had arranged a signal from
the picket boat to the fiagship2"
He did not mention any, and have
a letter on file in the department call
ing attention TO the$ -'en- in that
report"
Il call your attention t., Export of
the commander in chief II which he
states the line of blockade
Il wish to bring it out that the Du-
/ pont was inside the line and that is
/ the report I made to the department
I still stand on the point that he is
not bringing out where the torpedo
] boat was
You are perfectly right about that
but you are not asked in reference to
any criticism you may have upon the
/ report Of the commander in chief. The
/ question is this: Captain Harder has
definitely stated that there was no
picket boat inside the line at Cienfue-
/ COS. You say there was and that the
/ Dupont was one of those bOats2
4 was inside the line, inside the
By the court: could you see the
! Texas from the Dupcnt during the
nights of May % and May 2S?
mo, sir
Objects to Raynor's Methods
/ AR Hanna objected to Mr.. Raynor's
methods of questioning and especially
! to his Characterization of Captain Har-
! ber's testimony as wrong when Captain
| HARDER had said distinctly that he only
! spoke from his best recollection.
/ This he said. sis an indirect i'm
] parchment of the witness"
! Mr. Raynor again insisted that he
had only intended to bring out the
/ facts.
Mr. Hanna asked if steps had been
| taken while the flying squadron was
off CienfuegOs TO ascertain if the Span
| ISL fleet was inside the harbor there.
Not that 1 know Of. was the re-
| Spouse.
Was there any effort to destroy the
| shore batteries there?"
The witness replied that he knew Of
/ more. He said, replying to another
/ question by Mr.. Ravnor. that vessels
| in the inside harbor could not have
| been discerned from the outside.
Lieutenant Wood was then dismissed.
! and as he was leaving she court room.
D. - a|eT~