The times., 1899-02-08
on the evening of December 30 the follow
ing order. issued by direction of the Presi-
dent, was given out:
0i tlt NFtIIE'
Adiutant Generals Office.

Adjutant Generals Office.
Washington d. C., Dee. %, ls''S-
Ry dire, ton of the Secretary Of War, Il hoard OF
survey Is hereby ordered to convene at the war
Departmcnt Washington, - G., at 10 o'clock Il
m January >, lS,r1, examine INTO ana report
upon the responsibility for the loss OF about
$4,000 pounds Of refrigerated beef the properly
OF Swift & Co, cf Chicago; TO ascertain anu ~
mort if due and proper effort made t" ieeh
this hecf 10 the troops in Porto Rico, AMI To nv
tI, rc.pousilility il due and proper effort was
not made: to ascertain and report lhe Ciih'"'',l
af and quality ui the refrigerated beer h'F"in
referred to: to ascertain and report II 1t Was Eoo,
and fit meat for issue If il had been suoJec'cu
TO any chemical process Whatsoever, ana 10 iePu,t
whether or not the United States - reHl'oha''lt
for the loss OF the beef, or VINO, II aiis"''' -
responsible for its loss. and whether IN rs oi..
ion. swift Il Co should or should not he rcin-
burScd for the beef
The cargo of beef referred to was sent
TO General Miles after he had requested
that no more be sent. and as it was unlt
for use it was thrown into the sea
These several incidents had greatly IN
tensiiied the feeling of bitterness Which
General Eagan entertained toward the
Commanding General of the Army. whom
he regarded, apparently, as the prime cause
of all the trouble
II was thought that when the cppor-
tunity came he would make a sharp denial
of all that General Miles and other officers.
among them Col. Theodore Roosevelt ana
Major DAILY, had charged. but no one was
prepared for the outburst which maze
everybody stand aghast when 1t DID come.
General Engnn's Statement.
General Eagan appeared before the Alger
Relief Commission on Thursday morning.
January IL. 1t was the understanding OF
the Commissioners that he would give
testimony that the refrigerated beef issued
to the army was not "embaimed Dy the
use of boric or salicylic acids and that
the timed roast beef was not tasteless
and unwholesome. as had been charged py
General Miles, Major Daily, chief surgeon
on the staff of General Miles, and by many
others, officers and men.
On being admitted to the session cham
Der of the Commission General Eagan
shook hands and chatted with the mem
bers for a few minutes. After being
sworn by General Wilson, General Eagan
asked leave to read his statement Ihis
was granted and the witness revealed
mass of typewriter manuscript, from
which he proceeded to read.
Before the witness had concluded the in
PRODUCTION to his statement" several of
the Commissioners shifted their position
and exchanged glances- As the witness
rushed on in his TRADE. the faces OF the
Commissioners took on expressions OF
wonder and amazement.
Colonel DENLY. whose seat was at the
head of the council table, moved away
and took seat in another part of the
room. He appeared several times to be
on the point of calling the witness to
order, but General Eagan continued to
read with great yehemence and was not
interrupted.
His statement was q long one and con-
tanned throughout references to General
Miles and his testimony. General Eagan
became particularly abusive, however,
when he referred TO the testimony of the
Commanding General concerning the timed
roast beef He said:
ViIifics General Miles.
General Miles was asked by your COM
mittee how timed fresh beef became part
of the army ration. His answer is You
had better ask the Secretary OF War or
the Commissary General. i think they
can tell you. | know it was sent to the
army as food and the pretence is that it
was sent as an experiment. General Miles
in saving that this food was sent to the
army as a 'pretence for experiment says
that which implies corruption, which
ninety-nine of every one hundred people
will understand to mean corruption. be-
cause it was a pretence of experiment,
he says. not even giving credit 10 me for
furnishing it as an experiment, but that
| furnished it under the pretence of an ex-
pertinent. This is a serious charge, and
should not be made by any man lightly nor
without ample evidence to support it. TAX
ing the statement in the sense that 1t was
probably intended, the sense that Will be
accepted by the country at large. the sense
that already the press, almost wholly oil
the United States. has accepted it, indeed,
hot nj
my dismissal from the army and my court
martial | answer that il was not fur
nished under the pretence of an expert
ment nor even as an experiment, and II
General Miles charges that it was fur
nished as 4 pretence of experiment, he lies
| in his throat: he lies in his heart; he lies
| in every hair of his head. in every pore
of his body; he lies willfully, deliberately
! intentionally, and maliciously. If his state
| ment is true that this was furnished un-
| der .pretence of an experiment, then
should be drummed out OF the army ant
| incarcerated in States prison. II his state
| ment is false, as ! assert it to be, then h
! should be drummed out of the service an(
| incarcerated in prison with other libelers
| His statement is n scandalous libel, re
! fecting upon the honor OF every officer II
! the department who has contracted for o
purchased this meat. and especially ant
particularly on the Commissary General
myself.
| The Lie Given Emphasis.
'In denouncing General Miles as a liza
when he makes this statement, wish tt
| make it as emphatic and as coarse as tn
statement itself / wish to force the Ii
hack into his throat covered with the con
tents of a camp latrine- / wish to brand !.
as a falsehood of the whole cloth, withou
I ,,arii,Ia of truth IN and miles
he can prove his statement he should b
denounced by every honest man, barred tn
club. barred from the society Of decen
people. and so ostracised that the stree
bootblacks would not condescend TO speal
! to him, for he has fouled his own nest
he has aspersed the honor Of brother Of
iicer without particle of evidence or fac
to sustain in any degree his scandHlouS
libeious, malicious falsehood, viz, that thi
beef or anything whatever was Furnishes
the army under pretence of experiment"
General Eagan reviewed the alleged in
teryiew with General Miles in the Ney
York Journal" and his request for dis
! avowal of admission from General Mile
as to its correctness. He said:
He has not denied the interview i
terms. and. having been given the oppor
tunity, and having refused to distinctl
deny it, he should be held to the strictes
| accountability lOF IL. ana IL he indu
these statements, then he lied again, an
If he made the statements that pretenc
is the precise term TO be used then h
lied with as black a heart as the ma
who blew up the Maine possessed, an
he deserves 20 be characterized and know
to America and Europe, where his ssate
ments have gone, as being the colossal
/, prodigious liar Of the nineteenth centur!
The statements in that interview ! al
here to and now do denounce as unmiti