Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1899-03-23
TIE BEEF BOARD OF INQUIRY
Hears More Evidence Showing the Bad
Quality Of the Meat

SUPPLIED TO THE AMERICAN SOL
DIERS-CANNED BEEF AS AT
PRESENT PUT UP IS UNFIT FOR
HUMAN FOOD = Yesterdays
TESTIMONY WAS MAINLY Gu
MULATIVE AND TENDED TO
STRENGTHEN THAT GIVEN
HERETOFORE-BOARD GONE
TO NEW YORK TO HEAR ROOS-
EVELT.
Chicago, March 22-The members of
the government court of inquiry fin
ished their labors in Chicago to-day
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
errors Island.
The evidence brought forth to-day
was largely cumulative in its charac-
ter, consisting mainly of criticisms OF
the canned beef and refrigerated beef
from soldiers who ate it and watched
its effects in Cuba and Porto Rico.
David Fleischmann, bell boy in the
Hotel Morrison, told of a visit to the
stock yards in the company OF an I'M
known man whose purpose he supposed
to be an experiment in the matter OF
preserving beef by chemical treatment.
Clark Marshall, the provision special
list, whose testimony was expected to
be sensational, threw no additional
light on the question, his evidence be-
ing principally the expression OF the
opinion that canned beef as now put
on the market is totally unfit for HUI
man food.
The court first examined Lieut. j. d..
T., Hartman. of the First cavalry, who
was acting regimental quartermastel
while the regiment was stationed at
Lakeland, Fla. He testified that refrlg-
orator beef was received from Armour
& Co. 1t was brought to Lakeland IN
cars. At first it was very good ana
there was no objection to 1t, out III
three or four days it began TO get
poorer in quality. In two instances d
board of survey rejected the peel. In
one case the witness rejected Wnole
carload. The stencil was observable
before the car was opened. The beer
was not received because decompo-
sition had set in. The rejected beer
was not accounted for in the vouchers
He had no recollection of any CONVEX
sation between Sergeant Mason MS
clerk. and the representative OF Ar
mour e. Co. Mason had charge OF the
delivery OF the meat to the troops: Inc
witness had no recollection OF saying
ANYTHING to him with reference 10
meat preservatives. Ii he had salu
ANYTHING witness thought he Woulu
recollect it. He had no recollection VI
any conversation with Armour repre-
sentative on that subject. lie nao no
reason to believe or suspect that the
beef had been treated with preserVa-
tives or chemicals. The spelling was
due he thought, to the fact that the
reat had been chilled and would not
hold ND after exposure to the excessive
heat AT Lakeland. After the re1ectloh
Of a carload the agent or armour Saiu
That would not do, referring 10 ths
way in which the meat had been TURN
ished. The agent tried TO get meat
shipped in ice. In some cases ice Was
put in with the beef, but this gave the
meat a Shiny repulsive appearance anu
II was rejected. Witness then got au-
thority to buy beef in the open market.
David A. Fleischman testlned that
he was employed as bell boy at tue
Hotel Morrison, Chicago, during tie
month of June, 1898. "One day in
June he said, "a gentleman in room
ISL asked me if l would be at leisure
to go with him. | went out with him,
and had to carry two tin or galvanized
iron boxes. He went out to see some
man about some meat, he told me. 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 L re-
call it a black or, rather, a light gray
eolored substance. He put this INTO
perforated trays made for that purpose,
set fire to it and placed it under the
meat | asked him what that was done
for, and he said it was done as an eX-
pertinent to preserve the meat. Next
day | was to go back and get the cans;
/ .sked him whether it was TO Kill
germs or anything like that, but he said
no, simply to preserve the meat. l put
my 1nger on the meat and tasted it.
and it burned the end of my tongue. |
called 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 sulphurous
smell in the car and another odor which
I cannot describe. l took the cans back
to the hotel. | noticed in one end
of the car there was card marked,
Tampa, Fla. This was at Armours
packing house. There was only one
car; there were only about three rows
of beef l think it was halves.
asked him who he was, and if l am
not mistaken he told me he was quar-
lermaster or Quartermaster general, or
something like that. He was about 5
feet 10 inches tall, wore eye glasses,
and | should judge was about 10 years
of age. He wore no uniform, but
dressed in plain clothes. l understood
from what he said that he had some
connection with the military service.
DR.. E. Z. Murdoch, who was for two
years president of the auxiliary medi-
cal staff in the Chicago health depart
ment, and is an analytical chemist,
was the next witness. He stated that