The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-01-13

Vigorous Arraignment of General
Miles and His Conduct.

| the "embalmed' beef case, and was allowed
| to read it. He referred to the fact that Gen
| Miles had refused to be sworn, and COM
| mented on the fact that he was the only
/ one of five hundred witnesses who had so
refused General Egan said he himself pre-
| ferred to be sworn. General Egan began
by calling attention to General Miles's ap-
/ appointment of Maj. John d. Black, civ
! ilian, as his chief of staff, and said that
| this was largely responsible for the trouble
! that followed He said that Major Black
had been furnished $1,000 before starting for
Porto Rico, and that he had apparently not
| known enough 60 provide himself check
book and had not left his signature with
the secretary of the treasury. nor made any
other preparations for availng himself of
the funds at his command. There were eX-
| rerienced disbursing officers in the island
who had in the aggregate over 100000 in
| their possession, and yet General Miles had
! complained that there were no paymasters
| in the island, so that the soldiers had no
money with which to buy food for them
| selves. General Miles had then called on
the department to put $4,000 more in the
| hands Of Major Black, and this General
| Eagan declined to do, putting $4,000 to Maj.
Blacks credit in New York.
General Eagan referred to the mysterious
manner in which papers disappeared from
| the files of the War Department He said
| that while General Miles was at Tampa he
wired to the commissary general to know
what stores and supplies were on hand at
! Tampa and some other points. General
| Eagan replied i'm the usual way, though at
| that time the railroad tracks at Tampa were
| piled with millions of rations. General
| Eagan said he was astounded the following
morning to see in the reports of certain pa
| pers that General Miles had severely repr
manded the commissary general, the chief of
| ordnance and the quartermaster general for
the unprepared condition of their respective
departments. General Miles had no right
III law to deliver such a reprimand, and wit
ness at once had inclosed a clipping to the
adjutant generals Office, requesting an in
| qury as to the authenticity of the report.
No such reprimand was ever received by
i Kim, and the general commanding had
| taken no notice of his inquiry nor ever
| taken the trouble since then to declare the
| unauthorized character OF the press state
| ments. 1t was such Indifference as this
| that had "given license to the yellow jour
| nalistic knaves who had nisrepresented and
bounded government officials throughout
the war" General Eagan subsequently
had tried to get his letter of inquiry and
press clipping from the adjutant generals
| office. but it had disappeared and was no
where to be found.
EXCEEDED HIS POWER.
Witness charged General Miles directly
with disarrangng and hamperng the adj
| rlnistration of the War Department by call
ing off officers from duty where their pres
ence was absolutely necessary. This was
the case in taking Col. John Weston away
expedition and in putting Maj. A. L. Smith,
a very efficient officer, assigned as depot
commissary in Porto Rico, to work in ''some
| transport duty when his services were de-
manded on shore. General Eagan said the
| commanding general went clearly outside
| his power in doing this, and intimated that
General Miles was moved to do so by the
| ignorance and ineficiency of his own ap-
| pointee. Major Black, who was supposed
| to be the chief commissary officer on Cen
ersl Miles's staff
| General Eagan referred to General MiIes's
testimony that he had 'telegraphed the de-
partment from Porto Rico for complete and
| proper ratons," and said that If the COM
missary generals office had received any
such message he should have considered it
| the request of very ignorant and i'll
! informed person.
Continuing General Eagan, referring to
| General Miless expressed preference fer ma
! tive beef, of which he said there was plenty,
| asserted there were no cattle whatever in
the neighborhood of Santiago. The native
beef General Miles referred to General Ea-
| gan characterized as stays. runts bulls and
| overworked cattle The use of such ami
| mails the department would never allow.
| General Eagan, quoting General Miles's al
legation that in his judgment there was
| some serious defect in the refrigerated and
canned beef. said General Miles would not
say this was anything more than his judg
ment, "Whoever," said General Eagan,
calls it embalmed beef is a liar"
Citing the reports submitted by General
| Miles in corroboration of his charges, Cen
| eral Eagan submitted whether or not his
! course Of securing these reports would not
be construed as seeking adverse purposes
He cited Geenrals Merritt and Shafter as
approving the beef. Newspaper state
ments emanating from General Miles that
10000 pounds Of the beef were condemned
at Porto Rico is an absolute falsehood No
such quantity was condemned there or else
where"
Witness said Surgeon Daly's report that
the beef apparently was infected with chem
| icals to aid in preservation was a false
hood, and he made it out Of whole cloth"
| lie denounced the assertion that chemically
prepared beef had been issued anywhere
and said he did not believe Surgeon DAILY
held that belief then, since nor now "Why,"
he asked, did he shirk his duty? Why not
then make chemical analysis, and why keep
this information to himself and tnen spring
| it suddenly on the commission and the whole
country and imply that packing houses have
been cheating the government and violating
their contracts? At no time did he inform
the commissary general or the secretary of
war of these things. This" continued the
witness, lis scandal calculated to ruin
thousands of people and dlscredit and put
infamy on one of the greatest industries Of
the world" He then gave voice TO the saw
age denuncation quoted elsewhere
A PRODIGIOUS LIAR
General Eagan referred to the published
interviews Of General Miles and correspond
ence between them as TO their authenticity,
General Miles having made noncommittal
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