Evening star., 1899-03-03
MADE SICK BY ARMY BEEF.
Testimony of Soldiers Before the
Court of Inquiry.

At the afternoon session of the beef
court yesterday, Lieutenant John S. Seweli
of the regular army. who served as major
OF the 1st Volunteer Engineers and was
aboard the transport that carried Clarence
Walters to Porto Rico testified tina. there
was no canned beef aboard this transport
to his knowledge. There was canned
corned beef in cans such as were described
by Walters containing canned roast
beef. He recOllected Walters. but the lat
ter never had complained to him of the
ration or of his treatment while in the
service. On the contrary. Walters said he
had been very well treated
Private Stubblebine of the list New
York said he had been made sick three
times by eating canned roast beef and
thereafter avoided il as much as he could.
He was shown some of the freshly opened
cans of beef on the table and said it was
in q general way like what he had seen in
Cuba, but was somewhat better meat.
OF the refrigerator beef nearly all that
he saw was tainted.
Guy 2. NiStinski of the LIST Volunteer
Engineers had been three months in Porto
Rico and ate canned roast beef only once.
1t made him sick. There was one brand of
canned corn beef that also made the men
i'll but another brand they could eat. They
only got a little of this sort. On the voy-
age home the command was we'll cared
Cacies.
r c. Miller of Rochester a machinist
by trade. and a private of the sth Ohio,
had had large experience with canned
roast beef while camped in Cuba His
testimony was clearer and more assured
than that of most of the enlisted men,
About one-third of the canned beef was
fit for use and the rest condemned. One
half the refrigerated beef had to be buried
and of the rest very little could be said
TO be good The men were hungry and
ate 1t.
Fluid Injected Into Meat.
DR.. Maxwell Christine of Philadelphia,
the witness who was supposed to have seen
the chemical preparation of meat in the
packing house of Swift & Co. in Omaha,
testified that while in Omaha last year he
had been through the slaughter house of
the Swift firm and had seen a man with
a canUla on the end of a flexible tube
showing it into sections of meat and in
jecting them with fluid He did not know
at the time what the fluid was whether
the meat being treated was corned beef,
pork or refrigerated beef. The meat was
cut in fifteen or twenty-pOund pieces and
was not in sides or quarters. He paid lit
tie attention to the matter at the time.
but when the discussion over ''embalmed
beef arose he deemed it his duty to write
to General Miles, telling him what he had
seen He did not say in his letter that it
vas beef which was being injected, but
said merely that ii was meat" He had
regarded this communication as confiden-
Jial, but it had gotten out and brought him
a great many letters. Among others
was letter from a man in New York sign
ing himself Wentz and asking if DIR.
Christine knew that the injection process
he had witnessed was the regular way of
corning beef and hams as the injection
with picking fluid reduced the period of
picking the meat by several weeks
He received another letter from one
James Farnan, whom he had never seen.
Farnan said he had been stationed in
Omaha and knew all about the embalming
Of beef, and could give information very
damaging to the packers. On the strength
OF this letter Farnan was summoned TO
appear before the war investigating COM
mission. but never responded.