The times., 1899-04-13
LIKE EMBA1MEp BODIES.
Further Evidence Tint Army Beef
Was Chemicalized and NoxiouS,

""s Shem1caifzed and NOxiOus.
Major General Chaffee, Brigadier Gen
erai Arnold, Col. Rush Huidekoper. and
capt. w. T. Williams, were the witnesses
VINO appeared before the Beef Court yes
terday.
General Chaffee said the refrigerated
peer issued during the Cuban campaign
was good; General Arnold said that the
refrigerated beef issued to the Seventh
Army Corps at Jacksonville was bad: Col
! cnel Huidekoper said that the canned roast
beef issued in Porto Rico was without nu-
| triment, and Captain Williams said that
the beef on the Panama .'smelied Ike thu
dead human bodies on which his grand
father who was a physician, used to ho d
post-mortem examinations
| General Chaffee, after making rep-y to
the routine questions as TO his name rank
! present and previous stations. testified
/ that he went from Tampa to Cuba in the
transport lroquois. Canned roast beef was
used by the men on that ship during the
! voyage. and complaint reached him.
1 though he had instructed his company OH
GERS to lock closely after the provisions
After landing in Cuba and before the ia
OF the city of Santiago, his brigade. con-
sisttng of the Seventh. Twelfth. and Sew
| enteenth regiments of infantry, subsistei
mainly on bacon and hardtack though in
! the first forward movement his men car
ried three days rations of camel roast
| beef. He knew that his troops were tired
CT the field ration, but it was field ration
or nothing. He did not hear a single COM
paint against the soundness Of the canned
beef He ate it once himself He did not
relish 1t, considering 1t too fresh. To him
IL was unpalatabie, but he believed his
men considered il reasonable substitute
fer fresh slaughtered beef and relief
from a steady diet of bacon. He did rot
think that the canned roast beef was real
| ly roast beef. His opinion of IL was that
IL was steamed meat"
In the matter of refrigerated beef he
said that although most of il was rejected
by his medical officers. he was of the opjp-
ION that it was good and wholesome. and
that II was condemned simply on its ap-
pearance. His camps were favorably sit
ua;ed for receiving the meat from the COM
riissary depot at Santiago 1t was dis
charged from the transports in the bay
early in the morning and reached his
camps at about o'clock. 1t usually had a
green mold on it. This. he thought. was
one OF the usual results of cold storage
III was simply film and could be either
washed or pared away He ate the meat
and found it good, though that issued To
some OF his regiments at the same time
was condemned and buried He had never
icaily treated and he indicated that he
did not believe it now.
lie attributed the sickness in the army
10 climatic causes. Fever was prevalent
and the stomachs of the soldiers were
disordered
Although 1t would have been possible TO.
,dhu d herd OF cattle with the army, yet
he thought that this course would not have
Deeh )ustihable. 1t would have been a
serious impeachment to the armv All the
ground which was available for herding
the cattle was needed for the troops. He
believed that 80 per cent of the cattle
would have been lost
Geheral Arnold testified that many COM
pants reached him at Jacksonville that
the refrigerated beef was tainted Though
euere was great deal of sickness in the
seventh Corps he attributed it in the main
10 the unhappy methods employed in the
disposal OF camp refuse. Lieutenant Col
onei Currie, of the Second New Jersey
Volunteers, did not speak to him on the
subject OF the Standardization of beef.
capt. w T. Williams. of the Quarter
masters Department, who was the mar
lsrmaster In charge of the hospital trans
port Panama, during her voyage from
fonce, Porto Rico, to Newport News witb
conVaiescents, was called to the stand
lie testified that the QUILTING of the
fanama Tor use as a hospital transnorfI
began at Ponce on August 2S Two thousand
POUNDS OF Porto Rican beef was taken on
BOARD ana 4'uoo pounds of refrigerated beef
IRON the refrigeratorshp Manitoba which
was at that time in the barhor of Ponce
The meat from the Manitoba was not trans
ierred directly to the Panama by a lighter
out was nrst taken TO the comrnissary do
pot on shore and later brought out 10 the
Panama During the delay the meat was
conslaerabiy exposed The Panama had
no refrigerator plant on board. but simply
a large ice box on the lower deck on tbs
port DOW There was but one and one
half tons Of ice in this box. and this anount
was not enough to keep down the tempera
ture Ihus the meat, after having baeu
exposed several hours to the hoi and bu-
mia atmosphere, was stored in a warm
chamber. No more ice was obtained nm
I'll the next day when the Panama took
on on board SIX or eight tons at Mayaguez.
Inc meat was not in dry cold storage but
IN contact with the ice On the second
DAY out the odor from the ice box became
oHersive and Major DAILY ordered a hoard
oi survey winch condemned the meat and
directed that it be thrown overheard The
witness said that the odor was peculiar"
IL reminded him of the dead bodies on
whlch MS grandfather used to perform
au'oPsies. Ii was not brought out in evil
dence whether this strange odor emanated
from the Porto Rican or the Manitoba
meat w"
When the fresh beef was abandoned
the canned roast beef was offered to he
convalescents, but they refused TO eat il
ihey had enough soups. jellies, and other
iisht articles of food TO sustain them dur
lag the trip.
Colonel Huidekoper testified that he !
was chief surgeon of the First ARMY |
Corps. and saw service at the Southern |
camps and in Porto Rico Some Of the |
canned roast beef was worse than the other
He considered that a fair percentage If |
the nutriment in the meat had been ey
tracted by boiling. Ii was his opinion
that no beef preserved only by cold stor
age could endure exposure in Porto Rico /
for twenty-four hours He doubted
whether even with the aid of chemicals !
1t wcald last for seventy two hoars. VIII le
IN Porto Rico he did not consider the
question OF the Decentralization OF beef |
He had known for the last fifteen years
that fresh meats were. to a very large
extent, preserved by the use of chemicals.
principal among which was boric acid.
When be was asked as 10 what effect
formaldehyde would have on beef he said
he was of the opinion that it would pre-
serve II for considerable time He had
employed this chemical in the presarva- J.
ton OF anatomical specimens 1t caused
he exposed surfaces to turn brown, but
parts of the meat.
Major Lee, counsel fer General Miles.
announced that he would ask the court
TO call as witnesses Colonel Reed. Major
| al