Evening star., 1901-10-10
REQUEST Is DENIED
MIR. Stayton Again Addresses the
Schley Court.
REPLY RETURNED BY ADMIRAL DEWEY
Commander Schuetze Testifies
Today.
LYRETURNED BY ADMIRAL DEWEY
THE VIEW FROM THE IOWA

I.eiper who was the watch and 1iviSion
officer on board the New Orleans, which
Joined the flying squadron off Santiago
about noon May 80. Lieut.. Leiper began his
testimony yesterday afternoon Upon go
ing on the stand this morning he was ask
ed by Judge Advocate Lemly to describe
the character of the blockade maintained
off Santiago. When the New Orleans join
ed the blockade off Santiago he testified,
she took her position lying approximately
in the column of vessels six or eight miles
off shore. a little to the eastward and to
the north of the entrance of the harbor.
During that first day the vessels drifted
without attempting to make distance in
any direction, but remained approximately
In column for motion. The New Orleans
was assigned a position between the Mass
achuSetts and the Iowa, and toward even
ing the flagship Brooklyn made signal to
form columns and the New Orleans took
her position easterly off the Massachusetts.
A general signal was made to follow the
movements of the flagship. The distance
between the vessels was 800 yards.
The witness said the speed of the squad
ron before the harbor at night was not
more than four knots. On that evening
GOTH there were light breezes. At night
he could not see the entrance to Santiago
ndEDOTr anu ne was not
with other parts of the coast to recog
niZe any points on the coast in the dark
ness. They steamed on the night of the
Both about two hours in an easterly and
two hours in a westerly direction. Some
times 1t a little more than two hours
and sometimes little less than two hours.
On the first night lying inside the column
two or two and a half miles were the
Marblehead and Vixen. On May 81 he was
on watch from to II at night.
1T much lighter during that night
he said although cloudy during the en-
tire watch. At times there were breaks
in the clouds more often over the sea than
over the land. There were frequent show
ers passing over the land, obscuring the
hills back of the shore line, sometimes OBJ
scuring the shore line 1t was lighter
looking eastward than over the shore line
That night we could see the collier out
side, but could not see the Vixen and Mar
blehead that were inside
The blockade Mt Night.
Q. By the judge ADVOCATED Were ves-
sells further off or nearer shore at night
during the day? A. At night, as nearly
as 1 could tell, they were practically the
same distance as during the day. 1 have
already stated that during the evening the
flagship would take up her course about
east and the other vessels would fall in
behind her. Other vessels fell in their posi-
tions. 1 do not recollect that we ever
steamed in or out more than necessary to
change the course. How far the distance
east or west of the harbor was L could not
tell / could not see the entrance of the
harbor The only Indication of the harbor
entrance was the lights shown on shore,
which I took to be signal lights, which 1
supposed were made from the batteries at
MORO and Socapa.
The witness did not know how much coal
the New Orleans had on arriving off San
tiago. but he said 'she was pretty well
laden with coal"
O. (By Mr.. Rayner). 1 understood you
observation ha
sells were the same distance off shore at
Santiago at night as they were during the
day A When the New Orleans got in
line on the evening of May 80 she went in
a quarter or an eighth Of mile
He said six miles was the nearest and
eight miles was the farthest distance from
shore of the blockading squadron.
Mr.. Rayner handed witness the log of
the New Orleans and asked him to read
what 1t said about the latitude and long-
tude of the New Orleans on May 81 at 4
O'Clock pm. and then to calculate the dis
tance of the vessel according to that rec
ord from Morro.
The witness did so, and said the caIcu-
lation showed the distance of the vessel
from the MORO to be four and one-half
miles.
The witness was cross-examined by Mr.
Rayrer In regard to the distance the block
ade was off shore at Santiago.
Q. (By Mr.. Rayner) What was the length
OF the line of blOckading ships off Santa
go. A There were five ships and four
spaces The spaces were 800 yards. which
gives 800 yards: but, of course that can
not be considered as exact. for these dis
taEces were not always maintained exactly.
Length of the ElIfpse.
Q. What was the distance the squadron
went to eastward and westward In front
Of the harbor? A. The total distance was
eight miles. / think. and possibly little
less than eight miles. The minimum dis
tance was six and one-half miles, and the
est was tba ;yl,t
miles We were going at a speed of four
knots at night. with the engine turning
over very slowly and ] remember during
one Of my watches. from to u, the
night of the 31st, the vessel made two turns
while ! had the deck, and we were COM
mencing to make the third turn at the end
of my watch when l was relieved. So
there were two complete trips before the
entrance of the harbor in the period of
four hours. Steaming at the rate of four
knots an hour, we could not have been
going more than eight knots during the
passage before the harbor from one end of
the line to the other.
The witness could not give the extreme
distance on each side of the entrance which
the blOckading squadron passed as he
could not distinguish the shore, except
that he could lights. and he did not
know where those lights were.
The witness was shown the log of the
New Orleans for May 30, from 9 to 8 and
from till midnight, the log mentioning
that the vessels were steaming ''in order"
mean that they were 400 yards apart. He
replied that 'in order meant that the
commander-in-chiefw would be in the first
vessel. that the second officer in seniority
would be at the other end of the line, and
that other officers. according to their Sc
niority. would have vessels located from
that of the commander-in-chief. He was
satisfied that they were going 500 yards
apart.
Strength of the Batteries.
Before the reconnaissance of the 31st of
May, when an attack was made the
Colon, he only knew that there were earth
works thrown up near the crest of the hill
west of the entrance to Santiago harbor,
and on the other side eastward of Morro
Castle As a result of this reconnaissance
he had gained further knowledge of the
strength of these batteries
Mr.. Rayner said he wanted the witness
TO state facts IN regard to the knowledge
ne had obtained of the strength of these
batteries, 20 which the judge advocate
promptly replied that counsel could not
change an opinion to a fact BY calling an