The Middleburgh post. [volume] (Middleburgh, Snyder Co., Pa.) 1883-1916, 1899-02-23
EMBALMED BEEF PROBE.
General Miles Testifes Before the
Court Of Inquiry.
HE MODIFIES ONE STATEMENT,

Instead of Saving "Pretcnse OF Ex-
tie Theory OF an Experimeut"-No
Intention to Impute Fraud toAny One
Washington, Feb. 21.-The Miles court
or inquiry Yesterday made Il good start
il its work General Nelson A. Miles
appeared as the first witness. He and
three other army officers summoned as
witnesses were examined and disposed of
before the court closed its session. These
Oil crs were Lieutenant Colonel Van
IL ne. of the Thirteenth infantry, Lieu
tcrGnt Colonel Charles w. Minor, of the
Sisth infantry. and Major Henry Jack
son, of the Third cavalry. General
Miles testimony, of course. was the
feature of the days proceedings.
General Miles appeared in fatigue uni.
torm. rather striking in contrast with
the display OF scarfs. bullion and but
tons on the full dress uniforms of the
court. He submitted to the questioning
OF Colonel Davis. recorder OF the court
with eQuanmity. except for Hash OF
m.nglcd Indignation and irony when he
in formed the recorder that he was not
compelled 20 report TO the commiS-
sary general of the army. This was in
reply to "A question aS to whether or not
he had reported 10 the commisSary de-
partmcnt the fact that complaints had
been made to him aS to the quality of
meat being issued to the troops.
As indicated by II letter of the ndju-
tnnt general read by the recorder for
the information of the court, the scope
of the inquiry WAS limited to the ale
cations of General Miles before the war
commission Ns to lAc quality OF the army
beef. "and the matter purporting to
have been furnished to the public press
by the same official" Only two inter.
views were called up by the court, the
frst an interview with New York Jour
nal representative early in the beef con
,, trovcrsy. in which General Miles was
quoted as charging that certain chemi'
Gals were used in the preservation Of the
army meat, and another OF the New
York Herald. under date of Feb. !. Gov
ering about the same ground.
General Miles was very slow and care
ful in his replies to the recorders Ques-
tions on this point He called attention
to the fact that in both instances he was
credited in the interviews with refusing
to answer certain questions. and insisted
that these refusals should be given due
weight in considering the questions to
which he did reply. He said in the case
Of the interview of Feb. | that he had n
letter from the man who wrote the story
offering to swear that General Miles had
refused to be interviewed, and that tn,
whole story was made up In the office
from the writer's general knowledge OF
the facts. Notwithstanding this, wher
| his final answer was asked as to the au
thenticity Of the interview General Miles
did not specifically deny 1t, but merely
said It did not quite fairly represent his
own opinion Of the case. The same quail
fled denial as to The Journalintervicwo OF
Dec. % was made. leaving the witness
on record as not assuming any RESPONSE
bility for the newspaper statements, but
tacitly admitting that there was a goot
deal Of them with which ne agreed.
In answer to II question OF Colonc
| Davis. General Miles said he thought
his use of the words "pretcnsc Of expert
mcnt" was unfortunate. and he disclaim
ed any intention to impntc fraud to an,
one "As far as indicating fraud he
said. ~ wish to state that no such in
ference was intended. 1t was perhaps
IN unfortunate expression, and had my
attention been called to it | might have
amended it to say 'on the theory of ar
experiment. AS n matter Of fact, 1t was
an experiment. and very costly one"
General Miles did not recollect whether
DR.. Days report was volunteered ol
whether he had been ordered to investi
gate and report on the meat. 1t was
general talk among the officers at Ponce
that the refrigerator beef must have beer
subjected to some chemical treatment t.
make it keep for ~ hours. DR.. Days
however. was the first official report
General Miles read n long summary OF
100 letters received by him at army head
quarters. giving the various terms in
which the army meat was characterized
These included "embalmcd," "dccom
posed" injected poisoned" Spoiled
and the like.