The record-union., 1899-03-31
Caurt Of Inquiry Continues Its
Hea rings at Washington.
Two Original Witnesses Testify and Two
Former Ones Recalled.
Major Webb, Who Was on General
Lawton's Staff in Cuba, Pro-
nounces Canned Roast Beef
Useless as an Article Of Food
Lieutenant CAMPER Asserts
That a Representative OF Ar
mour's Told Him Chemicals
Were Used to Preserve Beef.

mour's Told Him Chemicals
Were Used to Preserve Beef.
WASHINGTON, March 80. = There
were two original witnesses before the
army beef inquiry court to-day, and
two former witnesses were recalled
Lieutenant Camper, who was Commis-
sary OF Subsistence at Lakeland, Fla,
and Major Creighton, who was on Cen
eral Lawtons staff in Cuba, testified
for the first time. Colonel Woodruff or
the Commissary Department and Mr..
Morehouse the Tampa agent for Ar
meur & Co., who superintended the
supply of fresh beef to the troops at
Lakeland, were recalled.
Major Webb's testimony dealt almost
entirely with the canned roast beef.
which he pronounced as useless as an
article of food Lieutenant CAMPER
said representative of the Armours.
whom he took to be Mr.. Morehouse,
had told him that chemicals were used
!. to- preserve the beef. This Mr. More
house, when recalled. denied.
Tomorrow some of the medical offi-
GERS who served in the Cuban cam
paign will be examined.
TESTIMONY AT YESTERDAYS
HEARING.
WASHINGTON, March 30.-The beef
inquiry courts session began at
o'clock this afternoon with the testi-
mony of George A. Camper, clerk
living at Cincinnati, O., VINO was L1@u-
tenant in the First Ohio Cavalry during
the Spanish war, occupying the posi-
ton of Regimental Commissary While
the troops were camped at Lakeland,
Fla For a time he occupied the posi-
tion Of Brigade Commissary.
He described the manneriof receiving
the fresh beef at the depot and said it
came in an ordinary express car.
wrapped in burlap bagging. Two or
three total assignments of meat were
rejected He stated that much of the
beef had been sour, acrid and bitter,
and emitted a disagreeable cdor when
the burlaps We're. removed There were
sppts Of a light greenish. hue on the
beef when the bags were removed.
showing il to be tainted.
Gampfer said that on one occasion,
While the agent for Armour & Co. was
present, his attention was called to the
spots, and he replied that the beef was
all right; saying. said Camper: The
spots are due TO the chemicals we put
On the meat to preserve it and prevent
its spelling within the sixty hours called
by the contract"
This agent said that it was impossible
to keep the beef in good condition for
; that length Of time. He stated, how
eyer, that thereafter he would have the
beef put up in tin boxes. This he did,
but the meat continued to come with
the spots on it.
Camper then presented a memoran-
DUN kept by Captain Carmichael, his
predecessor as Brigade Commissary.
showing what meat had been rejected
from the 1st to the 1Ith of August.
This showed that the total consignment
was rejected on the 9Th, 9th and 1th of
August; that 2S2 pounds were refused
on the I'd of the month, and that no en-
tries We're made on two other days. On
some occasions chunks were cut out of
the meat and condemned. Camper
thought Morehouse had first spoken of
the use Of the chemicals. The conver-
sation had taken place in the presence
of Captain Carmichael (who afterward
committed suieide) and DR.. Castle.
CAMPER had gotten the impression
that some kind of a liquid had been
used for CLOSING the meat over, but he
had not given the matter much atten-
tion. as he supposed that if chemicals
had been used they were harmless.
Gampfer was then excused, subject
to recall
Major c. Webb, who was General
Lawton's Inspector General, gave testi-
mony concerning the meat issued in the
Santiago campaign, referring especially
TO the canned roast beef.
1T was not food" he said. 1T was
non-nutritive stringy. fibrous. and had
no taste. II looked like the fag-ends Of
beefsteak. 1t was like opening your
mouth and letting the moon shine into
it. It was not satisfying - something
we did not want, and could not give
away, even TO the Cuban troops, who
preferred hard bread
Major Webb said that he had tried
TO eat the beef occasionally when very
hungry but had never received any sat-
isfaction from it, excepting after vege-
tables We're proeurable, when it was
used as hash to some advantage.
You do not, then, regard it as a
suitable ration for the army?"
II do not" Major Webb replied. ct
IS weighty thing to carry, and it is a
waste of time to eat it,.
Major Webb said that he had found
the refrigerator beef generally good,
though some of it became putrid in the
hct climate He had never heard Of
embalmed beef until he returnd north.
Colonel C. A. Woodruff, purchasing g
officer for the Commissary Department
at New York, was recalled. He said
he had rejected some tenders of canned
roast beef, but did not remember the
names of the bidders in any such cass.
Colonel Woodruff stated that in one
instance canned. beef which had been
shipped to Liverpool. England, was
brought back to this country and sold
for the use of the army. This purchase
amounted to $4,000 pounds The beef,
as he understood it, had been stored in
Arrnour,s warehouse in Liverpool, and
had been sent abroad with the view Of
selling it to the British Government.
Colonel Woodruff had letters read
from representatives of various firms
engaged in canning beef all saying that
the beef sold to the army was of first
class quality, and of the same quality
as the beef shipped to foreign countries,
and sold to the Navy Department in
large quantities. The witness said he
heard many complaints concerning this
beef from officers returning from Cuba,
but that one or two Of them spoke fa-
vorably of It. He also said that con-
siderable quantity of the beef sent to
Cuba had been returned to New York,
and that he had tested it and found it