The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1899-01-21
A SENSATIONAL ATTACK.
ON GENERAL MILES IS MADE BY COMMlS.
SARY GENERAL EAGAN,
in Overstepptrg the Bounds ofPrudence.
President Mckinley Orders a Court Mar.
ITALIA Scandal in Army Circles.

washington. -COmmlSSary Uen-
eral Eagan, in the course of his tes-
timony before the war investigation
ng committee Thursday, called Ma
jor-General Miles, commanding the
army, a "liar who lied in his throat,
lied in his heart, lied in every part
Of his body" who pe1petrated a
gross scandal, and who should be
drummed out Of the service, and
imprisoned land should be avoided
by every honest man and barred
from every club"
He characterized his interviews
as "flth."
The gist of General Eagan's tes-
timony on this point is as follows:
"Gen. Miles was asked by your
committee how timed fresh beef
became a part Of the army ration.
His answer is you had better ask
the secretary of war or the commits
sary general. think they can tell
you. | know it was sent to the army
as food, and the pretense is that it
was sent as an experiment. This
is a serious charge, should not be
made by any man lightly, nor with
out ample evidence to support it.
Taking the statement in the sense it
was probably intended, the sense
that will be accepted by the country
at large, the sense that already the
press, almost wholly Of the United
States, has accepted it-indeed, some
Of that press, because Of it, called
for my dismissal from the army and
my court martial answer that it
was not furnished under the pre-
tense of experiment, nor even as an
experiment, and if when General
Miles charges that it was furnished
as a 'pretense of experiment, he lies
in his throat, he lies in his heart,
lies in every hair Of his head and
every pore Of his body, he lies will
fully, deliberately, Intentionally and
malicously.
eff his statement is true that this
was furnished under 'pretense of an
experiment. then I should be drum
med out of the army and incarcer-
atel in prison with other libelers.
This statement is a scandalous libel,
rejecting upon the honor Of every
officer in the department who has
contracted for or purchased this
meat, and especially and particular
ly on the commissary general-my-
self. In denouncing General Miles
as a liar when he makes this state
ment I wish to make it as emphatic
and as coarse as the statement itself.
I wish to force the lie back into his
throat, covered with the contents
of camp latrine. wish to brand
it as a falsehood of whole cloth,
without an article Of truth to sus-
tain it, and unless he can prove his
statement, he should be driven out
of the clubs, barred from the society
of decent peolpe, and SO ostracised
that the street bootblack wouldnot
condescend to speak to him, for he
has foulel his own nest, he has as
persel the honor of a brother Off
Ger without a particle Of evidence or
fact to sustain in any degree his
scandalous, ibelous, malicious false
hoods, viz: That this beef or any
thing whatever was furnished the
army under 'pretense of expert
ment.'n
To Be Court Martialed.
Washington. - Brigadier-G General
Charles P. Eagan, commissary gen
eral of subsistence Of the army, will
be courtmartialed by order of the
president for the vituperative Ian
ugage employed by him in his COM
ments upon Major General Miles and
the testimony Of that officer respect
ing the quality of beef furnished to
the army during the war with
Spain. President Mckinley is Sc
riously considering a plan to relieve
Major General Miles from the COM
mand of the army as result of the
beef scandal.
Before the courtmartial is ordered
General Eagan will be relieved from
duty as commissary- general and
placed under arrest. This decision
is the result Of careful consideration
given to the matter by the president
in the light of public sentiment.
Mr.. Mckinley "has heard from the
country" and there is no other
course open to him than to direct
the court martial of the officer who
so fagrantly violated the principles
of a gentleman and officer of the
United States army.
Two interesting features are to Do
| noted-fha music is of a high order.