The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-03-24
some STRONG EVIDENCE
Before the Army Beef
Court of Inquiry.
A CHEMICAL PREPARATION

of Burning Powder Under It Testi.
fed to by One Witness-Experts Tes-
tify 10 the Want Of Nutrition I'm Cam
ned Roast Beef-Their Experiment.
Used by a Gamer
Chicago, March 22.-The members Of
the government court of inquiry fin
ished their labors in Chicago today and
left for New York this. evening. The
testimony Of Governor Theodore
Roosevelt will there be received, after
which the court will proceed to Gov
ernor's island.
The evidence brought forth today
was largely cumulative in it's charac-
ter, consisting mainly in criticisms of
the canned beef and refrigerated beef
from soldiers who ate it and watched
it's effects in Cuba and Porto Rico.
David Fleischman, a bell-boy in the
hotel Morrison, told of a visit to the
stock yards in the company of an un-
known man whose purpose he suppos-
ed to be an experiment in the matter
Of preserving beef by chemical treat
ment. Fleischman testified as follows:
"One day in June he said, "a gen.
tleman in room 131 asked me if 1 would
be at leisure to go to the stock yards
with him. I went out there with him
and had to carry two boxes, tin or gall
vaniZed iron boxes. We took the boxes
and went to car where there were
three or four rows Of meat. In each
OF the boxes there were four smaller
packages, containing as remember
black or rather a light gray colored
substance. He put this into perforated
trays made for that purpose, set fire
to it and placed it under the meat. I
asked him what that was done for, and
he said it was done as an experiment
to preserve the meat. Next day I was
to go back and get the cans. I asked
him whether it was to kill germs or
anything like that, and he said no,
simply to preserve the meat. I put my
finger on the meat and tasted it and
it burned the end Of NY tongue. call
ed attention to the fact that the meat
looked rather larger than when we
were there before. He said that was
simply an enlargement of the meat
from the ice. There was a sulphurous
smell in the car, and another odor
cans back to the hotel. I noticed in
one end of the car there was a card
marked, Tampa, Fla This was at Ar
mour's packing house; there was only
one car; there were only about three
rows of beef. I think it was halves. l
asked him who he was and, if / am not
mistaken, he told me he was a quarter
termaster or a quartermaster gener-
al of something like that
Dv xxvbn tyyn
years president of the auxiliary medi-
cal staff in the Chicago health depart
ment, and is an analytical chemist,
testified that he had made several eX-
aminations of both canned and refrig
Grated beef, dating back several years.
Some time in the latter part of June,
$685. he said, some canned meat was
brought to him to determine it's char
acter. The witness found that the
meat in the can was apparently boiled
beef. There was in the can quite
quantity of common salt and also
nitrate of potash, called saltpetre.
These preservatives, said the witness,
must have been in the can before the
boiling was complete, because It had
saturated the fibre of the meat and
hardened it. The character Of the
meat, in DR.. Murdock's judgment, was
largely poor grade, or rather low
a very small quantity of muscular It's
sue, which is the nutritious portion Of
the beef The examination was con-
tinued by the boiling Of the meat in
retort to see how much beef extract
could be taken from four pounds of it.
The amount produced was so small
that it was not perceptible; it was not
even enough to be used as a culture
medium in experiments in bacteriol-
ogy.
With reference to the examination
Of fresh beef the witness said that at
three different times there were
brought to him pieces of what seemed
to be ordinary meat from the markets
which evidently had been kept for
some time, presumably in refrigera-
tor. 81 found salt in very small Quanti-
tyJ' said DR.. Murdock, land some Of
the meat was coated with boracic acid.
In other specimens I found that they
had been coated with a preparation
Of salicyclic acid for preserving the
meat. understood this to be refriger-
ator beef. found boracic acid in two
specimens and salicyclic acid in one.
These experiments were made about
the middle Of June 1898"
W. Clark Marshall said he had been
specialist in meat provisions since
1S4S, although he had not been in any
Of the establishments in seven or
eight years.
Please explain the nature and char
acter OF your experience with refer
ence to canned meats, more particular
ly canned roast beef, so-called," said
Major Lee.
'T have Investigated and experiment.
ed in the matter since 1848. The process
Of canning meat today robs the meat
OF all its nutrition, leaving nothing but
fibre, fat and gelatin in the can. /
consider 1t entirely unfit for human
food
In reply to Major Lee, the witness
stated that he knew where OfMalrey's
slaughter house used to be located He
also knew OF herd of thirty or forty
condemned cattle being driven there
for slaughter. He saw some OF these
cattle the nexf day in a CITY market