Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1899-01-13

ness. 1t Injuries the army in the eyes of
the American people, and 1t Injuries the
American people in the eyes of the world.
WAS NOT "EMBALMED."
Capt. Cronkhite on the Meat Used in
Porto Rico-Is u Friend of
General Miles.
Battery 3. of the Fourth United States
artillery, returned yesterday to Fort Riley,
Kas. from six months campaign in Por-
to Rico. The battery is we'll known to
many people in Kansas for its exhibition
drills given at Topeka and Leayenworth
during the fall carnivals of 1897. train
bearing seventy-siX able-bodied men out of
121 who started for the front last March,
was in the Union Pacific railroad yards in
Kansas City for several hours yesterday.
Besides four coaches for the men it had
several box cars Of provisions and four
fiat cars with the cannon belonging to the
battery.
The battery participated in one fight, the
attack on Caoma, in Porto Rico. on the
main road to San Juan, where a block
house was shelled and destroyed by the
battery and the town forced to surrender,
by shells thrown from the road in front.
Lieut.. Cronkhite, who was in command
said yesterday that there was considerable
sickness in the company after the first
month at Tampa, owing to the unsanitary
condition of that camp, and to the length
of time the men were confined on board
transports. twenty-three days IN all. where
they could not get fresh meat. The climate
of Porto Rico was healthful and the camps
generally good.
Beef Not Chemically Preserved.
81 don't think the meat we had was en-
balmed,' said Lieutenant Cronkhite, who is
very friendly to General Miles. If any
chemicals were used to preserve the meat
they We're failure. There was a great
deal of complaint about the meat spoil
ing. and it evidently had nothing in it
with which to combat the effects Of the
tropical climate. 1t is certainly not the
fault of the packers If the government did
not furnish refrigerated beef.
Some of the meat issued to us was very
bad. 1t would not stand the tropical eli
mate Inaeh and W. II got SO bad the men wouldnt
to reinforce Santiago. When we arrived
we were unloaded and almost Immediately
Miles expedition to Porto Rico. During
the days we were en- route to Cuba and
Porto Rico the men were obliged to eat
the canned beef or go without.
This spoiled meat was very sckening.
I was nauseated by it, and refused to
touch it. It was watery and stringy and
cans melted to a thin fluid in which the
meat had stood for weeks. The only way
to make the meat palatable, was to stew
it and we had only coffee boilers. WHICH
were scarce, and had to be used for the
coffee.
from Porto Rico some of the men ate 1t,
but it was too much for the most of them.
the odor was 30 scaTeev o be and
,".on the way to Porto Rico some of the
other transports had refrigerated beef. The
batteries which
it. said some of it was good and some was
bad Refrigerated beef secured in Porto
ourselves, was used on our transport and
on Others on the return voyage. 1t was
good. / heard no complaints made against
Il don't. know whether any chemicals
We're used in the. canned beef supplied by
the commissary department or not. If so,
they were a failure. for the beef did not
1.-The first time I ever heard of chemical
ly prepared meats was at Fort Riley in
1896. An agent for Kansas City packing
house told me certain things We're used to
preserve meat. Since then l was told by
an official who showed me through pack
ing house in Baltimore that no chemicals
were ever used by packers for that pur-
pose. The laws are very strict about the
use use Of salicyies acid in beer on account &C mt, Of
should think it would be Injurious in beef.
although in another form. But. of course
that proves nothing regarding the canned
dition.
were allowed to kill and dress our own
beef We had better success with it than
the Spaniards who live there. They are
not very expert at butchering. From the
time we began to take care Of our own
ness from eating spoiled canned goods.
Part the Battery Played.
The officers of the battery are Captain
H. C. Anderson, First Lieutenant Cronk-
hite and Second Lieutenant Gushard For
a month the battery was part of the de-
fense of New Orleans at Jackson barracks.
Two months . were are spent at at Tampa t1a:. Vas
sent to Santiago under Major Lancaster as
part of the command Of General henry;
Gnanica. ns es from n" which place lace the march 10
Ponce was begun Batteries B. of the
Fourth. and +. of the Third were sent to
the works of Aibonito on the central line.
They assisted General Ernst in the cap
''The firing was careful and slow" said
an officer in describing the affair yester.
day and in short time & the ,nfaIntry ,. OF
the enemy was silenced. The blockhouSe,
which protected the road leading 1yt INTO IN o tne
hitting the mark repeatedly and setting it
ceived our battery, +, of the Third, dy--
Mantle and mortar battery We're ordered
to assault Aibonito. We remained In camp
the main road to San Juan. We got as far
as Cayey when orders came for US to take
transports at Ponce. We remained there for
two months, until all the troops on the isl
and had embarked for home savannah
was reached December ]. We remained
there a month. expecting to be used In
Cuba.
'.The hardest time We had was at Tampa.
The effect of the climate could pc seen
during the last month in the men growing
weaker each day. When we reached Quay
anna, one third of the men were sick They
healthy climate of Porto Rico, however be-
cause they were regulars and knew no" to
cook and take care of themselves.
Preliminary NJ. $. U. Debate. I
COLUMBIA, MO- Jan. 12-(Special) the
preliminary debating contests of the Mis-
souri, state university to decide who VIII
hate with Kansas university will be hell