The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-03
WALTERS SAW SOME WORMS.
SENSATIONAL STORY OF INHUMANI-
TY AND HARDSHIP.


to Eat the Meat-His Testimony, in
Part, Was C"ntradicted-MiIes May
Decide to Have COunseI-Men said
They Were Made Sick by the Meat.
Christine Saw Picking Fluid
Injected.
| Washington, March 2.-There were sew
eral interesting developments in the beef
court of inquiry to-day. 1t was a field day
for the volunteer men of the service, the
waiting room being filled all day with
members of the various volunteer regi-
ments which served in Cuba and Porto
Rico.
The first of these, Clarence Walters of
the First Volunteer Engineers, told SEN
sational story of hardship and inhumanity
suffered during his service. describing the
roast beef in harsher terms than have ever
before been applied to that much discuss
ed article. Later in the day Lieut.. Sewen,
U. S. A, who was major of the volunteer
battalion in which Walters served, contra
dicted his story completely.
An important development was the de-
NAL of the story by one James Farnan,
and also attributed to DIR. Maxwell Chris
tine of Philadelphia. that they had seen
beef injected with chemicals in an Omaha
packing house
DIR. Christine explained that what he
had seen was the picking of corned meats,
the brine being injected into the meat
to save several weeks time in the picking
vat.
Miles May Yet Have Counsel.
The question of counsel for Gen. Miles
before the court is still in allegiance some
correspondence having passed between the
| general and the court, but both sides de-
| cline TO give out the letters until set
Element is reached. Gen. Miles has not
asked to be represented by counsel, pre-
| sumably because that would put him in
the position of admitting himself on trial
| by the court, which, up to date, he has
declined to admit
On the other hand the court does not
feel able under the articles of war to per
! nit Maj. Lee or any one else to cross
question witnesses unless he can be recog-
nized officially as counsel for the defense.
| II was stated that this matter, probably,
| will be settled tomorrow.
The court expects to start West Tues
day or Wednesday of next week
| walters Found Worms in 1t.
Walters, in his testimony, said that the
! first can of beef he saw opened on the
transport going 10 Porto Rico had worms
| In it, and a few minutes after being open
ed developed such a putrid odor that 1t
| was impossible to have il about. He ate
some of it, and was made violently sick.
| He said he had been on sea trips before
| and was never seasick. The men of his
| company complained of the meat, and
nearly all of the men of his battalion were
| sick throughout most of the voyage, as a
result of eating this meat.
After reaching Porto Rico he was sick
for week as result If the voyage At
| least two-thirds of his ompany were fully
as sick as he and from the same cause.
Capt Herbert Hicks, of Company M,
| Second Massachusetts, followed with an
| account of the canned beef used by his
command in Cuba. His description of the
meat did not make 1t out quite so repul-
| sive as that served to Walters IN Porto
Rico, but he said it was "a Shiny stringy
mass nauseating to the taste, without nu-
triment and without form that could be
| recognized as meat except by the melted
| fat with which 1t was soaked
| The witness was shown several of the
| cans that were before the commission, but
| said that they were not the same thet he
| had seen in service. Walters made the same
| statement on being shown the same cans.
| Men Could Not Eat the Meat.
Lieut.. Taylor, 4ate of the Sixth Massa-
| rlUSettS, VINO SdlQ ne was a BTOCETyUldn
| before entering the service, said his regi-
ment served in Porto Rico. They had very
| little that they could eat on the trip down.
| They sometimes had bacon but no chance
| to cook it and had to throw it overheard.
They had canned roast beef which they
could not eat and had frequently only
canned tomatoes, hard tack and coffee.
When asked if he thought any sickness
| In his command was caused by the food
/ ~, ho5 r. aafb a
81 think it was more due to what we did
not have to eat. When we got to Porto Rico
| there were thirty Of our men so sick that
they were never landed"
| He had been a grocer ten years and had
! seen canned roast beef before, but it was a
better article than he had seen in the
army. His trade in canned beef, however,
! was very small.
Dwyer Had Good and Bad Beef.
NJ. O. Dwyer of the Ninth Massachusetts,
Volunteers, said that on the trip to Cuba
they had been served a fairly good brand
of canned roast beef much the same as
he had seen at home. After landing at
| Siboney on the night of July /, the COM
pany had canned roast beef issued them
for five days ration, but lost it all on
going into action. Thereafter they had
about half canned meat and half bacon.
| Some of the canned roast beef was abso-
|
UNBEATABLE and neither satisfied the hunger
nor kept up the strength.
One of his experiences with the canned
roast beef was on san Juan Hin when his
mess was out Of ratons He found a can
of roast beef in one of the abandoned
camps of the Sixth Cavalry.
81 thought 1t was going to be a God-send
to the mess, sir" said he, feelingly, land
put 1t in my shirt. 1 was smoking a
cigar at the time, but when the cigar
went out smeled something awful and
when / found out what was the matter,
1t was the can of beef in my shirt. I found
the can was cracked in one corner-and
oh, sir. 1t was awful!
Rescued From the COmmissary.
His first experience with the refriger-
ated beef was on the San Juan Hin, July
o. The beef was nearly all of it mouldy
and most of II tainted so that the men
were sickened by eating it. On the voy-
age home the men could eat little but
hard tack and coffee.
srrbar va started home said