Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1902-02-06
JUMP HARD ON HIM
COMMENT FILED IN REPLY TO
SCHLEYS APPEAL.
BY LEMLY AND HANNA
Judge Advocate and Solicitor Draw
That Credit for Victory at Santi-
ago Should be Given to Sampson
Quotations from Admiral.

Washington. Jan. 31-The com
ment" of Judge Advocate General
Lemley and Solicitor Hanna upon the
appeal of Admiral Schley as submit
ted to the president by Secretary Long
is less than one-third as long as the
appeal itself This fact is accounted
for by the comparatively new quota
lions from the courts testimony in the
case of the comment" The COM
mentators begin with the statement
that Schley and his counsel shifted
their ground. The chief features in
the case were the "retrograde move
ment," "disObedience of orders" in
accurate and misleading official re-
ports" failure to destroy the YES
sells Of the enemy, lying within sight,
and injustice to brother officer"
The commentators reiterate former
statements in support of these cOnten-
tons. Upon all the abo,u named
features, believed by us to be the most
important, if not the only really i'm
portant matters into which the court
made inquiry. the conduct of Schley
is condemned by that most distin-
guished tribunal. Admiral Dewey and
Rear Admirals Benham and Ramsay
united in the findings and opinion
upon these several points"
The commentators charge that
Schley ignores these and bases his
appeal upon unimpOrtant features.
They recognize the fact that Schley
devoted the larger part of his appeal
to the question of command. They
declare this question is between
Sampson and Schley and that such
testimony as came before the court
was on Schley's side only, the doors
being closed to Sampson. They ad- i
nit the precept was broad enough to
permit inquiry, but the court did nOtE
deem it necessary or proper to do so.
The judge advocate they say might
have shown it was SIMPSONS plan of
night blockade that forced Cervera toI
come out in daylight and Captain
Clark is quoted in support Of that
statement To sustain contention
that Sampson was in command, the
commentators quote passages from
Schley's report of July 6, 1898, as fol
lows:
Nobody has ever disputed Grants
title to the victory of AppOmattOx,
say The commentators, though then
lying sick some miles from the place
of the surrender-sO far it was feared
he 7Ould not be reached within the !
period of the armistice. Though How
ard was the senior officer present at
the capture of Savannah and Sher-
man was absent on one of Dahlgren's
gunboats, nobody questioned Sher-
mans famous report to Lincoln. I!
beg to present you, as a Christmas |
gift. the city of Savannah
They quote Schley's dispatch eXI
pressing modification that the victory
was attributed to him. and saying It'll
secured by the force under the conf
mandcr-in-chief of the Atlantic squad
ron and to him the hOnOrs are due.
They also quote Schley's letter justi-
flying the loop on the ground that It'll
was lin execution of a standing Orderl
to close in and asked if he was then
in command why he was executing
the orders Of somebody else in com
mand. They show by the BrOOklyn's
signal book that only two orders were
given to clear for action" and CLOSE
up" They assert that the fleet was
substantially cleared for action over
a month. and what remained to be-
done on shipboard was not done in
pursuance Of this order. The second
order was in accordance with Samp-
sons original plan and so understood
by all the captains. and they paid no
attention to the Brooklyn's signal.
They quote in detail the testimony of
the commanding officers on this point.
The commentators turn attention 10
what they declare were the persistent
efforts of Schley's attorneys to show
that the Oregon at least was under
his orders during the battle and quote
from Captain Clark's testimony to
disprove that claim. They declare the
weight of testimony shows not mega
lively. but affirmativeIy and beyond
question, that Schley did not control
the operations Of the fleet in general
on that day.
All this" they say, lis established,
not theoretical deduction or ex-
pert or inexpert opinion, but by direct,
positive. unimpeached and unim-
peaChable testimony, given under
oath by the admirals' brothers in
arms" The commentators close by
asserting that the inquiry proved that
so far as the Gloucester Iowa. Indi-
ana. Texas and Oregon are concerned.
not a stroke of a propeller blade, not
touch Of a helm, not the firing of a
shot was done under direction or by
the orders of Schley during this mem
orable battle