The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-03-16
POISONED BY
CANNED BEEF
Agonies Iardi|y Relieved by
HypodermiC Injections
ILL FOR SEVERAL DAYS
THE COMMISSARY SAID THEY
HAD 20 EAT TT.
SWIFT & co s RtPULSlvE CANNED BEEF
Cars Of Beef Opened With Msggats Running
Out Of lhem.- Gamers" Described
by an KIP ri. Meat With no
ku'riment ia il,

fu tItHcHb III IT.
Chicago, Ills. March 15.-Dr. John Il.
Shaw of Joliet, Ills. surgeon of the
the army beef inquiry court to-day that
on the voyage from Newport News 10
Porto Rico canned roast beef was issued
and there was a great deal Of complaint
about it. 1t was stringy, pulpy and
nauseating and did not seem to nourish
the men. Much diarrhoea followed the
use of it. The witness attributed the
sickness 10 ptomaine poisoning He be-
lieved ptomaine would develop in the
hot sun in five or six minutes after the
a can was opened. Ii the meat were
properly sterilized ptomaine would not
develop. While in Porto Rico. - miles
| from Ponce the matter of rations was
| taken ont of the regiments hands to
great extent. General Grant seemed
| TO know more about it than anybody
else. The witness took no particular in
| terest in them because of the action of
General Grant.
The law required the surgeon 10 sup
ervise the cooking and that which is is
sued. Did you interest yourself to as
certain what was pelng issued to the
| enlisted mem
We saw what was issued and took il
| because we could not get anything else
| We had canned roast beef nearly all the
while and the men refused TO eat it, 1t
was ordered condemned and we buried
| 4 lot of il. One of the men said if we
| did not bury it it would bury us. A
| board of survey was ordered. but the
witness never heard anything more about
| 1t. As TO the refrigerator beef very little
| of il was used as ar least three quart
erS Of ii would have To he cut off Il
| do not think any chemicals had been
used on the meat. 1t was simply spoil
| cd. The meat had undoubtedly been
acted upon by the heat which had soft
ened it. The fat and grease and geia-
| tine had all intermingled with the fibre.
/ The court held Il short executive ses7
sion this afternoon and determined 20
leave tonight for Omaha. where an in
/ spection Of the stock yards will be madel
| Under cross examination DR. Shaw
told about being called out one night 10
look after the men Of Company A. who
| were reported to have been poisoned BIZ
|
vom'ted fcarf lly. and il seemed that
| hypodermic injections of morphine
| would hardly relieve the pain, They
We're sick for some days afterward,
with a great deal Of diarrhoea and I'M
| festival trouble.
when the men ceased eating the
| canned roast beef was there any inn
provement!' asked Major Lee.
4 ..Xac. Tho .anunI baaf .fo x+c
| them diarrhoea and gastfitis.
| did the commssary come around and
| find out how these things were:"
| He came several times and told rs it
| was all right | think ii was Captain
Piper. He told us it was all right and
| we would have to eat il. Sometimes we
| substituted with what they called ba-
| con. but a great deal of that had mag
| COTS in it and had to be condemned.
| If we had depended upon the army ra-
| tions The troops would have starved 10
| death. They spent all the money they
| got buying things TO eat, either at the
| commissary store or in the cit
| What was the brand on this canned
! beef?''
Il think it was Libby. MeNeal &
| Libby / am not sure. | tried To eat
| some of it. but could not: it was abso-
| lutely revolving
| George Lees. another witness. gave
| his occupation as that Of packing
| house expert, putting up machinery and
| apparatus for large packing houses. He
| said he was familiar with the classes
| of cattle delivered in Chicago.
| What are Gamers asked Major
! Lee.
| What is generally termed Gamers
| are Il very inferior class of cattle: |
| think one-third of them would be con-
| demned III any English market. Chucks,
| and sometimes meat scraped off the
| plates are used for canning.
about what per cent of nutriment
| would be left in the meat that goes in
| the cam
| Little or none
! William III. Replogle testified that he
| served in the hospital corps ut Porto
| Rico and that canned roast beef was
| frequently served TO the corps. lie had
| seen three or four cans opened with
| maggots running out of them. Witness
I! stated that at Guayamo he saw n
! piece Of cooked fresh beef which bad
| maegots in s.
In reply to Major Zee the witness
| told of The sickness Of one Ihompstf
who had nothing whatever to ear ne
| first day after landing. The second
day he was given corned beef AMI nard
tack but had no way of making colfe.
The man became very sick and eicd
| within a week.
Captain ID. H. Boughton. Third ca5al-
| ry, testified that in his command the
officers drew the same ratiohs as The
men while in Cuba. The complains ab1Gt
the canned beef" he said, was hnr
tine men could not eat the meat al
would not eat it unless absolutely com
natlod n do ca IN immense hun1pr When