Show SAYS SHIPS COULD COUtO COALED OFF SANTIAGO Admiral Colton Who Commanded the Harvard Tes Testifies Before Schley Court C urt of Inquiry Brought Dispatchers to the Commander Informing Him as asto asto asto to Whereabouts of Spanish Fleet Washington Sept 36 Two new wit witnesses nesses nesse introduced In the Schley court today They were YOre Admiral Cot Cotton Cotton Cotton ton who as a captain commanded d the auxiliary cruiser Harvard and Captain Wise who commanded the auxiliary cruiser Yale during the Spanish war Both theae vessels vee els were used u d as a scouts and both came come up with the flying squadron off Santiago on the of May Before the retrograde movement to Key West was begun Admiral Cotton testified that he had gone aboard Admiral flagship the Brooklyn on that date to take teke to him and he said at first that he gave him four or five dispatches dispatch addressed addre ed to the commander c of he the squadron He afterward at modified this statement that probably all but two of these thelle dispatches were addressed to himself Admiral Cotton ottoO otto but that the they contained Information which he ha I thought should be In Admiral possession potI One of these was waB a copy of a die dis dispatch I Ipat patch pat h from Admiral Sampson which had not been printed in the official rec records records I stating that the Spanish fleet was wasat wasat wasat at t said that tile lito coal rould have been tak n from the Mar Mer Merrimac on the of May lt y the day dar on which the th retrograde movement to Key We Vet t was WM begun for the purpose e of ot Coaling Captain Wise testified that on the tho of May he had signaled Captain Philip of the Texas his opinion the Cervera enera w was s Inside the harbor it at San Santiago Santiago tiago but the testimony was ruled out During the day da Admiral Schley an announced announced flounced that he be had selected Mr Ray mr of his hilt hi chief counsel to succeed Judge Wilson antI and an 3 that he ho would be bea a by James Jame Parker Parler of eX Jersey and y Dr M 11 A Teague of Baltimore as an expert assistant a Mr Raynor will continue to conduct the of witnesses ses ashe a as he be has bas been doing and the other oiher o her gentle mon will continue In the th same ame capac capacity capacIty ity they occupied O up to the th time Ume of ot otI 4 judge judg I death Mr stated tatt d that f it became n in the or ab of th voluminous documents in th the case cas to employ assistant counsel 0 nr if it he should be unavoidably absent at any time that proper arrangements ment would BOUW be H reed me for tor that pu Chart of Santiago Battle i TO business of e the was 1 promptly pr resumed at the usual hour The rhe back of the court was waslo I lo jn neil 11 today with a clart on a large larre scale i e ground s site Bite te of the th battle f on Jut Jul Juts 2 a The Out nast of Cuba in th the vicinity of Santiago was as plainly marked and the th points at h the Spanish panl h ships shApe R Went to the b or to o the shore WC CI all sit indicated in plain lettering letteri 1 There w re also a number r of transparent rot ent charts which had ad 4 been prepared ov over er night light setting about in the rear of oft the t th ht room and which were intended to te various phases of the San Santiago tiago campaign All these had been en prepared with a lew ie of expediting the work of the court and all were on a aIn large laige In scalp scale 8 1 Th The firt Iness I ne called today was A AB AB B R laxton n the machinist on board th the theT I T who ho had begun his hla testimony when the e pitting of the court was so tr I terminated t t morn mornIng log Ing by the h t death a of Judge dr Wilson I Before c Mr Claxton a t took the stand Commander Heilner Hellner was recalled to tomake tomake make verbal corrections in the official ropy copy 01 of his bin hl testimony In one case b he was recorded as giving the bearing null the distance f the Brooklyn He HeBald said Bald he had given the bearing and not aoL DOLth th the distance Other changes were not nt i material rna i M 11 Claxton said on July 3 0 1808 HOS he h had bad been on duty in the engine room of the th Texas The engine indicator had bad c called ailed for full fun speed peed ahead early earl In the had bad within an hour f the banning b be of the action been hit red to full tull speed at set t To his 1 there had be jo to signal t f the reversal of the gln gines s He aid that he iad ad been front from ice f In the engine room but sun still he I th thet t the engines Ine were wore reversed f fOl cr i about two minutes The witness had said Mild Id that t ha t the engine was stepped I Charge in the Indicator What vas as the next DeJ t change made maae In Inthe th the of or the port engine of or the theft Texas ft 1 h ii was wall as asked Full Fun pi e ed d ahead What was ai a the next after r that There was a al no other oth order ordEal giver given for forsom forBom or orSome Some som Urn time w 1 W hen en Va a further signal received by lIy y th t the Indicator and what was the sig signal nal flat i hin the hour df Of rtha the emage ens em pe aFe I ment the lire was changed w Lt tull speed astern altern Can you vou not give an estimate e of the time when tie te signal was given for Cor full tull s speed ee d l astern and how long alter after the Of It the actIon cIon 1 I Ih na Ia y the first hour Was Wa ther any other signal given during that watch vatch within your knowl knol I for tor the port ec enes ines to reverse e Th r r was none to n ny noY y know lodge ge You Wt were fter on duty in the port en eng engine g gine room luring during luriD that flay fly r were you yo f Oft rr and on sir 11 h r te e ere rere re you rou on duty duUr at L that I T w wa a for a time on account of or th the heat An As lit s matter o 0 fact were ere the en ginn gln n td Th They were pre for or about two minutes Mr i ton was wall not questioned by b Mr n n Rear Rf ar A Admiral j nural Cotton Cot on now no n corn com t f the hp f h Norfolk navy nay yard ard who ho tn pd the auxiliary I cruiser lining the Spanish war wn ws w the next pt He tM 1 of meeting I Ih ih h flying HUH ll idron t r Commodore off n f Santiago on c n May 27 7 and said I h I on n date te he had de delivered d der r livered i pith hs s to 0 the commodore from Admira tamp on and the navy nR d p Hf lIe U had h he said geld boarded the n a out 10 1030 30 ci c ock jock The w wee s R th then n m and he had bad no dim In r g aboard the Brooklyn Brook from hie hi boa bae He had worn wom his sword Yord V h ht t om n took place lace be tween tw n yr yo and nd Imal Schley Sebley asked f t mJ Dispatches For SchLey ey Iv It 1 will lf to fm IMP for me to state t V ent hf r n i r t n the th witness d I s va a on n generally Iruni bout half halt past ten un tenT r T bout noon The conversation nat mat natural I ural covered a von v r v range the tie theBO BO IV tP o which was of ot I IA A l r course relative to the dispatches I X had delivered What was said about the dis die dispatches dispatches patches 1 I delivered deli ered to Commodore Schley the original cipher in which the die dis dispatches patches had been received by me at St Nicholas mole together with the translation of It those dispatches made by b Lieutenant Beall BeaU of the Harvard I handed them therm personally to him in his In the order of their date He Here received re el 00 them read them and com corn commented men Led In itt a general way upon their purport spoke of the difficulty he had hadin hadIn hadIn in getting gellins coal on board his ships while at Cienfuegos and subsequently to the date of which I am speaking May 27 and said it had been an on almost Impossibility to get coal on board b ard on ac account count of ot the weather He Hf questioned me relative to the practicability of coaling ships at St Nicholas mole and mole mote As Asto Asto to St Nicholas mole I said There Is no question the small ships can coal As to channel I know of ot no I reason why we e should not be able to coal there The commodore made some remarks I upon u on my statements the language of which I do not recall but he asked me Row How about coaling big ships at St Nicholas mole I said You cannot coel coal your big ships there I had ref reference reference reference in i ly y reply to the battleships and protected cruisers of the Brooklyn and New Now York class I said thinking of ot th fact that my own ship had been thore there and was if f some 1000 tons dis displacement displacement displacement placement end and 11 e l arly ariy feet teet in length Possibly under favorable conditions you OU might be able to coal the large ships there one at a time But the area of oC deep water for the anchorage of larga large ships is so little there it was Vas not practicable to oal at the very cry utmost more than one large ship at a time there th re and in case the weather be tame fame bad she would immediately have to go to sea seaF tofO F 1 was ss anxious while I was there therewith therewith with the Harvard Hanard On account of her herelse else Blue and t I would have left at once nce in incase Incase Incase case lU 1 Q ad weather had come on As I 1 I recollect no qualification an u to channel Vessels Could Have Coaled Cooled Ad Admiral mini I Cotton said in response response to a question from Captain Lemy Lem that yes ves vessels S salt sels of the fleet could coul nave lave coaled when they were wore there on the at some sometime sometime time during that day h he said As nt Indicative I of the condition O of the seas h hatt used e cockle kle sheL sheli boot boat in ge go log leg from Irom rom the Harvard to the Brooklyn n nand and had worn a u w Was Vas anything saId aid about coing to toKey toK toKey Key K West for coal Returning to what I said with ref reference reference erenee to the difficulty h Com Corn Commodore Commodore Schley stated to m he had had in getting g coal on board of ot any of the ships at he said he was very anxious The coal supply was retting getting short the weather was bad and it hid had been bad d almost con continuously to tp b bem 1 It I Vas waa a very serious s problem problem lem em as to how or whether hether he could possibly get coal on ol board ships off on Santiago He said he found the weather did not improve and he be found it impracticable to coal thare he could only see aee one resort re ort and that he would be compelled to return to Key W st stin in order to supply his ships with coal Having that question in view he lie was apprehensive especially Ily as to one ship the Texas He ltd aid ii not even know at that moment t whether e e she had bad on onboard onboard I board a sufficient coal to enable u her to return to tl Key West Vest ny visit he gave ga vc an order to make signal a I general signal as I remember it not to the flying squadron alone to report whether the ships had sufficient sufficient dent coal to each Key West Vest The signal was made or at least I assume it was made it all an events during ny J m presence with Commodore Schley he received a report to the effect that all the ships Including the Texas had hal sufficient coal to return to toKey toKey toKey Key West Vest I think the commodore was very much relieved when he received this information Shortly after I should say within a few minutes he directed ed a signal to be made preparatory preparatory tory tOr for or the ships to return to Key Vest est The order was given In a gen general general eral way wa I cannot give the words of the order but what I have stated was the purport Ordered to Key West While I was wag wa still there he lie received signals to the effect that the signals were received Before I left the ship shi he ordered signals to be made for the ships to io form preparatory for steaming to Key West To go back a bit I had informed Commodore Schley that it was utterly Impossible for the Harvard to get any anywhere where here except to Kingston I had not sufficient coat coal co l to go to Key Ke West and he verbally authorized me m to proceed at once to Kingston to receive recel Ve such an amount of f coal as i 1 could get there to enable me to return to the nearest United States port 1 left eft tt the Brooklyn about noon possibly a afew afew afew few minutes before Immediately after atter my departure the Brooklyn commenced ahead and I noticed that many man of the ships at the moment un under under under der Commodore command were in motion presumably preparatory to taking their stations In steaming order to return to Key West As soon as I returned to my ship after my boat was wa hoisted I steered to the tor Kingston ton Did you state in specific terms that you agreed with Commodore Schley as asto asto asto to the difficulty in coaling The question was not discussed and andI I expressed no opinion Did this conversation occur before or alter after the dispatches which you took aboard had ben been be n read by b the commo commodore commodore dore dorer After Alter AlterI In response to questions Ad Admiral miral mical Cotton Cot on said that he had the original origInal inal translations of ot the cipher die dis dispatches patches patch ed to the Harvard Tile The dispatch of May 36 26 was then read to him as all follows follow Washington May 25 22 1898 Harvard Si St Nicholas z holas Mole Iole Haiti Proceed at once and inform I and also the senior officer present off of Santiago as u follows of All departments Information Indi fudi Indicates ates cates Spanish division is 15 still at San Santiago Santiago tiago The department looks to you to ascertain the facts and the enemy if therein does not leave lesve without de tie decisive decisive action Cubans familiar r with Santiago say that there thore ar are landing places five or six Mix nautical miles west from the th mouth of harbor und Lud nd there insurgents probably will wUI be found and not the Spanish From Prom the surrounding Continued on Page Pace 2 SAYS AYS SHIPS S COULD HAVE VE fj 1 COALED OFF SANTIAGO Continued from page pace 1 heights can see every evet vessel vesel In port port As soon as ascertained s rt ln notify the de d whether the enemy is there Could not squadron and also the Har Harvard vard yard coal from from Merrimac leeward leewar of Cape Cruz Crux channel or Mole ole Haiti Hait The department will wi send coal immediately to Mole ole Report without delay day situation at Santiago Santago Cuba Cuba U LONG o Mr 11 Raynor called caled attention to the fact that there ther were some material changes In the dispatches as a printed in inthe ment mOnt the te official reports report by the navy nav depart department department Dispatches Are Ae Changed Admiral s reply to lo these dis dispatches patches dated May y 26 20 In Ia which he said sId he could pot ot obey obe the orders order of the te department was s then read and Mr Raynor pointed but Various changes in the language of or the dispatch as printed in the official report He addressed the court briefly concerning these changes He said that Admiral Schley had spoken of or the te weather as boisterous and that that tat word had lad been omitted from the printed copy of or the dispatch He also stated that tha whereas the ad admiral admiral miral had said that tons of coal would be necessary nece sr the printed copy made it I tons It I was also stated in the te original orInal that the Harvard was going to Port Royal Royn whereas Kingston had been Inserted In the printed copy There also alo were other oter changes Following is the he text of or the he original dispatch sent to re the navy department Received Receive of or May 26 by Har Harvard Harvard vard yard off of Santiago Santago de Cuba Cuba Merri macs engine Is disabled and she is helpless am obliged to have hare her towed towe to Key K y West Vest Have Have been absolutely unable to coal the Texas Teas Marblehead Vixen and Brooklyn from collier coler owing to very ver rough seas and boisterous weather weater since |