Evening star., 1899-03-28
THE BEEF INQUIRY
Acting Commissary General Gives
His Evidence.
THINKS EAGAN has FORGOTTEN
AGENTS of Armour R Co PIaced
Agents Of Armour & Co. Placed
Upon the Stand.
SAY THE BEEF WAS GOOD

|
before the court Of inquiry to investigate
| into the beef contracts of the government
during the late war this morning. Col
| Davis is the acting commissary general of
subsistence, and he was examined in regard
| to preparations that were made preparatory
| to inviting proposals for refrigerated beef
! for use by the army in Cuba and Porto Rico.
| The witness said he had asked Gen. Eagan
what he wanted placed in the advertisement
for proposals for beef supplies, and had been
| told to insert provision in relation to the
time beef could be kept on shore Gen.
| Eagan had him to provide that beef should
| be kept in good condition for seventy-two
hours. The bids were for refrigerated beef
| and for live cattle, the latter for interior
| places in Cuba. In Cuba boards of survey
were appointed and at times beef was re-
jected.
Cross-Exanination.
| Maj. Lee-"Do you wish the court to un-
derstand that that beef would last seventy
two hours after being taken from the ship
under the conditions prevailing then?''
Col. Provided good care was
| taken of it,
| Maj Lee-"Did the responsibility of the
| contractor end when the beef was taken
| from the ship?"
! Col. Davis-"Not unless they did not take
good care of it,
MAJ. Lee as 1t expected that this beef
would last Seventytwo hourS?'
Col. DaVis-"That seVenty-two hours was
| the extreme limit, but it was not expected
1t would be kept over twenty-four hours
The witness said Col. Weston had report
| ed cases of experiments by which beef
| treated by chemical processes had been
| Kept eighty hours. But the commissary
general declined to have anything to do
| with it.
Mai, Lee-'"rhe commissary general testi-
fed that it was the understanding in the
preparation of the contract that refriger-
ated beef was to last seventy-two hours
from the time 1t was taken from the re-
friSerator on board ship, or seYenty-tWo
hours from shore, and that the provision
that ii should last but twenty -four hours
had been inserted by clerical error of
which he had 90 knowledge until it was
called to his attention by the court. What
IS your understanding in regard to that?'
Gen. Eagan Must Have Forgotten.
Colonel Davis--'In regard to that should
say General Eaga1 had forgotten. Six
months had elapsed since the contract was
made
He had not seen the original draft of the
contract, but he said the advertisement
had not called for any time limit in regard
to the Keeping Of beef when taken from
refrigerators on shore. The only time limit
was for beef taken from the ship to be put
in refrigerators on shore.
The witness said 1t was thought to be
1mpracticable to furnish the troops with
cattle ON the hoof. There was a difficulty
IN transporting and caring for them. The
refrigerated beef was thought to be more
satisfactory.
1T was anticipated" he said that re-
frigerating boxes would be put up in San
tiago almost Immediately the American
troops got there. but owing to a mishap
they We're not put in for long time. The
refrigerating apparatus was the last cargo
put in the ship going to Santiago, but some
W he n he chi 0nt ha lcraf fIts
was at the bottom of the hold.
Gen. Geo. w. Davis-''Did you have any
conversation with the commissary general
as to any intention on his part to supply
the troops in the interior of Cuba with
cattle the hoof?"
Col. Davis-"My recollection is, we ex-
pected to get cattle on the block when we
got in the INTERIOR
This concluded the testimony of Col Da-
Wis, and Mr. Edward Morris of the firm of
Morris & Co. of Chicago was called. His
1lrm is engaged in packing meat, and he
testlhed as to canned roast beef handled
by his firm. Some of it had finally got in
the handS of the government, but he had
not heard that any of it had been rejected
Armour's Agents Testify.
Mr.. Charles f. Smith of Jacksonville,
Fla, was called. Mr.. Smith had been in
the beef business for fifteen years, and in
1893 was the local agent of Tampa for
Armour & Co. In reply to questions by the
recorder, Col. Davis, he said the beef he
had handled for the army was exactly the
same as they had been delivering to the
best hotels in Florida for fifteen years.
n. ne had never noticed any coating of any
k1nd m on this beef, On May 29 1893, Lieut..
hartman had rejected SO pounds of this
Deef, and 1t was DESTROYED
he knew Private Mason of the 1st Infan-
try, and said he had spoken of the beef
furnished the army there as the best he
had seen since he left his post. He said
Mason had not spoken of any discoloration
of the beef.
Major Lee-"Did you ever hear of any
presefvatlve chemical being used on meat?''
MI. smith-"No, sir. / never heard of
any such processes until read of them in
the papers, 40
Mr. Bernard F. Murtagh of Jacksonville
ria, was called. The witness appeared to
be about fifteen years of age, but said since
1876 ne has been employed as agent for
armour Co. at Jacksonville He was
questioned by the recorder in regard to the
process OF handling beef. He had seen Ser
geaM Mason of the 1st Cavalry who had
testffied to the bad condition of some meat
before the court, but Mason told him the
peer he got was the best he had got since
he left his post. There had been two re-
Jections of meat. one of eighty-two and the
otner OF eighty-three pounds.
Inc witness had never heard of such a
thlng as preservatfve for beef until Ma
son mad testified. He had never seen anv
sucn pfeservative on any meat he had
handled. 40"
Rejected by Capt. Carmichael.
Mr.. Charles H. Morehouse, manager of
the branch of Armour q Co. at Tampa. was
placed on the stand. He had been with
Armour & Co. for eight years. He had sup
pled the troops at Lakeland from Tampa.
He had supplied but one carload to the
troops at Lakeland. The beef issued to
the troops there did not differ in any re-
spect from beef supplied by Armour & Co.
Defore that time. He was positive that in
florloa no preservative of any kind had
peen used on the beef. From May 20 to
June l ne had used 29,S90 pounds of ice in
the reir!gerating cars. In July Captain
Canmlcnael rejected carcass and a half
OF beer AT Lakeland and board of sur
vey was appointed and this board accepted
the beef. After that Captain Carmichael
sun insisted on rejecting the beef 1t had
peen allowed to lie in the sun six or seven
nours at this time without being injured.
lie then gave 1T to local butcher and il
was used, and there was no complaint
about It,. They had much trouble, he said
because Captain Carmichael did not under
stand the qualities OF beef
Mr. Geo. w, Watson. a railroad empioye
at Lakeland, had seen beef that was sup
piled to the army. On one occasion Mr.
Murtagn gave him some meat and the next