The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-01-13
CALLED MILES A LIAR

Continued from Page One.)
al-myself. In denouncing Miles as
liar, when he makes this statement, l
| wish to make it as emphatic and as
| coarse as the statement itself. / Wish
| to force the lie back into his throat,
| covered with the contents of a camp
latrine. / wish to brand it as a false
hood of the whole cloth, without a par
ticle of truth to sustain it, and unless
he can prove his statement, he should
be driven out of clubs, barred from the
| society of decent people and so OStra-
| cised that the bootblack would not
| condescend to speak to him, for he has
| fouled his own nest, he has aspersed
| the honor of brother officer without
a particle of evidence or fact to sustain
| in any degree a scandalous, libelous,
malicious falsehood, viz: that this beef
or anything whatever was furnished
| under 'pretense of experiment.
General Eagan referred to the pub
| lished interviews of General Miles and
| correspondence between them as to
their authenticity, General Miles hav
ing made a non-committal reply and
| the witness then said:
| when man refuses to deny a libel
| or falsehood or statement attributed
| to him, it is well known that he as
sumes the matter. When he avoids the
| question the supposition is that he can
| not deny it. My question is not an
| sWered yet He has not denied the in
| terview published in the New York
| Journal. dated Dec. IS 1898, and hav-
ing refused to deny it distinctly, he
should be held to the strictest account
ability for it. If he made these state
| ments as set forth. then he lied again,
! and if he made the statements that
| 'pretense is the precise term to be
| used Gas he said then referring to the
| 'eXperimentD, then he lied with as
| black a heart as the man who blew up
the Maine. and he deserves to be char
acterized and known to America and
| Europe, where his statements have
| gone, as being the colossal, prodigious
| liar of the nineteenth century. | sub
| NIT to this commission and to the
whole country that this account of an
| interview with him in the New York
| Journal, going uncontradcted, unde-
MED, and, when the opportunity was
| given him, a refusal to deny it in terms,
! places upon him the responsibility for
| the statements in the interview which
| statements I hereby denounce as I'M
mitigated falsehoods, vile and SANDER
Gus; so slanderous that it can only be
called filth. I submit to this commits
| sion and to the country at large wheth-
er it is the characteristic of an honor
! able man to permit such statements as
are made in this alleged interview with
General Miles in the New York Jour
nal, dated Dec 20, 1898, to go uncon-
tradicted, if untrue, and whether or
not it is not the first duty of a gentle
man, an honest man, an honorable
man, to deny such falsehoods as are to
be found in the article I refer to, if
| they were not made by him."
| This interview was headed as fol-
lows: Miles Makes Grave Charges
Against the Administration; Poisons
| Used in Beef Given Soldiers; Tons of
Bad Beef Sent to Troops in Porto
| Rico
Continuing, General Eagan said:
| When I was commissary in May last
General Miles had already selected for
his staff as chief commissary one of the
ablest commissary officers of the regu-
lar army, Major H. B. Osgood. Judge
of my surprise when one day General
Gilmore, the adjutant general for Gen
eral Miles. told me it was General
Miles wish to have Major John D.
Black, recently appointed from civil
life as volunteer commissary, made
his commissary on his staff. | express
| ed my surprise that the senior officer
of the army should select a volunteer
| totally devoid of experience in the sub
sistence department and therefore
wholly incompetent for such an import
ant duty. Shortly after, and about
June Is, General Miles sent a very or
| binary. commonplace telegram to the
| adjutant general at Washington III
curing what subsistence store the sub
sistence department had at Tampa ana
somewhere else, some such similar in
| curry to the quartermaeter general and
to the chief of ordnance. I
made formal written re-
ply to this and to my amaze
ment the next morning ] saw it pub
lished in the press of the country that
| General Miles had sent, or had found
it necessary to send, a serious repri-
mand to the quartermaster general
the commssary general and the chief
of ordnance for conditions that he
found there. No such reprimand was
ever received and General Miles has
no authority in his commission or his
position under the law or regulations
to send reprimands to me. This uncOn.
tradlcted story of reprimand to the
heads of three of the most important
departments of the army aided a.
, much as anything in exciting the vel
low journal press, the knaVes of social
ed Journalism, to haraSS and villfy an
libel the conscientious, able and hard
working officers on duty in Washington
Since asking that an investigation Of
made to learn who gave out this gar
bled and alleged reprimand. I have in
stituted inquiries to find my requests
with the newspaper clipping, inclosed
The adjutant generals department ha
} reported its inability to find it,
General Eagan, referring to newspa
per attacks asserted that the secretar,
, of war had nothing to do with the fur
rishing of refrigerated meats or til,
timed meats; either had he attempted
} to control the contracts, awards or nur
chases and in this connection, in heated
( language, he attacked three New YOri
newspapers and their editors and pro
}rietors, whom he said should be in
I dicted and tried for treason to the Unit
( ed States during this war, as giving aid
comfort and Information TO the public
I enemy, for the sole purpose of gain.
{ ! We're l a man of means" he pro
tested, Il would take up this subjec
J myself: | would put journalistic knaves
{ purl2lners of the secrets Of the govern
ment, behind the bars where they be
) long"
( General Eagan made a vigorous at
{ tack on the inSpertnr generals Ianart