The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-21

Court of Inquiry to-day made good
start in its work. The court was COM
fortably quartered i'll the old meeting
room of the war investigation commits
sion in the Lemon building with accom-
modations for representatives of the
press associations and the local papers.
Calls Of ceremony on the President and
the General commanding the Army oc-
cupied large part of the forenoon, and
Immediately thereafter General Nelson
A Miles appeared as the first witness.
He and three other army officers
summoned as witnesses We're examined
and disposed of before the court closed
its session at o'clock.
General Miles testimony of course was
the feature of the days proceedings.
Colonel Frank Michler, his chief of
staff, and gentleman in citizens clothes
who took seat by the fire place and
gravely watched the course of proceed
ings, retiring with the General as silent
ly as he had come, accompanied the
General to the court room.
General Miles appeared in fatigue uni
form. rather striking in its contrast with
the display of scarfs, bullion and but
tons of the full dress uniforms of the
court He submitted to the questioning
of Colonel Davis, recorder of the Court,
with equanimity except for flash of
mingled Indignation and irony when he
informed the recorder that he was not
compelled to ''report" to the Commissary
General o the Army. This was in reply
to question as to whether or not he
had reported to the Commissary Depart
ment the fact that complaints had been
made to him as to the quality of meat
being issued to the troops. An instant
later General Miles resumed his cool
and carefully considered replies to the
inquiries Of the court
As indicated by letter of the Ad-
jutant General, read by the recorder
for the information of the court, the
scope of the inquiry was limited to the
allegations of General Miles before the
war commission as to the quality of the
army beef 'and the matter purporting
to have been furnished to the press by
the same official" Only two inter-
views were called up by the court. the
first an interview with New York
journal representative early in the beef
controversy in which General Miles was
quoted as charging that certain chem
icals were used in the preservation of
the army meat. and another of the New
York Herald under date of February list
covering about the same ground.
General Miles was very slow and
careful in his replies to the recorders
question on this point. He called atten-
tion to the fact that in both instances
he was credited in the interviews with
refusing to answer certain question and
insisted that these refusals should be
given due weight in considering the
questions to which he did reply. He said
in the case of the interview of February
1st that he had letter from the man
who wrote the story offering to swear
that General Miles had refused to be
interviewed and that the whole story
was made up in the office from the
writer's general knowledge of the facts.
Notwithstanding this, when his final an
swer was asked as to the authenticity
of the interview General Miles did not
specifically deny it but merely said that
it did not quite fairly represent his own
opinion in the case. The same qualified
denial as TO the Journal interview of
December 23rd was made. leaving the
witness on record as not assuming any
responsibility for the newspaper state
ments but tactitiy admitting that there
agreed.
The trend of questions put to the other
witnesses of the day indicated that so
long as they agreed with General Miles
as TO the quality Of the meat furnished
the troops in the field the only criticism
of their position the court had to make
was why they had not taken some Off
cial steps to have the matter remedled
~. t.. inc
ply was that the circumstances in which
the army was placed in sickly foreign
country with a large amount of fighting
and great scarcity of TRANSFORMATION on
hand precluded the possibility of any
such action. In each the question was
pushed no further on this line.
General Miles during his testimony as
to the Herald interview, pointed out that
the interview was erroneous in that
place where it represented him
to have said that he had
overwhelming evidence that the
refrigerated beef was treated with
chemicals. The fact was that his only
evidence was what was contained in the
reports of officers and statements of
men who claimed that the beef had the
odor of an embalmed body, that they
had seen fluid injected into beef and
other indications of chemical treatment.
Colonel Davis. recurring to the state
ment of General Miles before the war
commission asked what his idea as TO
the beef supply for the army was when
war broke out.
Renlving, General Miles said while his
attention was occupied with weightier
matters of mobilization and equipment
OF troops. he felt confident that the
usage of an hundred years wonld he
followed and cattle herds would be
shipped to the army in the tropics and
killed there. Just as they had been