The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-02-21
MILES INVESTIGATION.
General Of tho Army Before the
"Embalmed Beef" Probers.
HE MODIFIEs ONE STATEMENT,
Instead of Saying "Pretense OF Ex-
pertinent" He should Have Said ''On
the Theory Of an ExperIment''--NO
Intention to Impute Fraud to ANY One

the Theory of an ExperIment',--No
Intention to Impute Fraud oAny One
| Washington, Feb. 21.-The Miles court
OF inquiry yesterday made good start
in its work. General Nelson A. Miles
| appeared as the first witness. He and
three other army officers supmOned as
witnesses were examined and disposed Of
before the court closed its session. These
officers were Lieutenant Colonel Van
Horne, of the Thirteenth infantry, Lieu
tenant Colonel Charles W. Minor, of the
Sixth infantry. and Major Henry Jack
son, OF the Third cavalry. General
Miles testimony, of course, was the
feature of the days proceedings. Col
onel Frank Aiichlcr. his chief of staff,
ami a gentleman in citizens clothes, who
took seat by the fireplace and gravely
watched the course OF proceedings, re-
firing with the general az silently as he
had come, accompanied the general to
the court room.
General Miles appeared in fatigue uni
form. rather striking in contrast with
the display of scarfs, bullion and but
tons on the full dress uniforms of the
court He submitted to the questioning
of Colonel Davis, recorder of the court.
with rquanimity. except for a flash Of
mingled Indignation and irony when he
Informed the recorder that he was not
compelled to report to the commits
sary general of the army. This was in
reply to question as to whether or not
he had reported to the commissary de-
partment the fact that complaints had
been made to him as to the quality Of
meat being issued to .Ihe troops. An in
stant later General Stiles resumed his
cool and carefully considered replies to
the inquiries of the court.
AS indicated by letter Of the adju-
tant general read by the recorder for
the Information of the court, the scope
of the inquiry was limited to the allie
cations of General Miles before the war
commission as to the quality of the army
beef, land the matter purporting to
have been furnished to the public press
by the same official" Only two inter-
views were called up by the court the
first an interview with New York Jour-
nal representative early in the beef con-
trovcrsy. in which General Miles was
quoted as charging that certain chemi-
Gals were used in the preservation of the
army meat. and another Of the New
York Herald. under date of Feb. l, COW
crinc about the same ground.
General Miles was very slow and care
ful in his replies to the recorders uues-
tiocs on this Point. He called attention
to the fact that in both instances he was
credited in the interviews with refusing
TO answer certain questions. and insisted
that these refusals should be given due
weight in considering the questions to
which h" did reply. lie said in the case
Of the interview of Feb. | that he had
letter from the man who wrote the story
Offering TO swear that General Miles had
refused to he 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 answer was asked as to the au- |
tlcntirity of the interview General Miles |
did not specifically deny it, but merely
said it did not quite fairly represent his
own opinion Of the case. The same quail |
flied denial as to The Journalintervicwo
Dec 23 was made. leaving the witness
on record as not assuming any RESPONSE
bility for the newspaper statements, but
tacity admitting that there was a good
deal Of them with which he agreed
In answer to question of Colonel
Davis, General Miles said he thought
his Use of the words ''prctense Of expert.
ment' was unfortunate. and he disclaim-
ed any intention to impute fraud to any
onr. AS far as indicating fraud" he
said, Il wish to state that no such in
Terence was Intended. 1t was perhaps
nm unfortunate expression. and had my
attention been called to it might have
amended it to say 'on the theory of an |
experiment.. AS matter of fact, it was
IN experiment, and very costly one"
General Miles did not recollcct whether
Or. Days report was volunteered or
Y whether he had been ordered to investi-
gate and report on the meat 1t was
General talk among the officers at Ponce
hat the refrigerator beef must have been
to some chemical treatment to
make it keep for Y hours. DR.. Days,
,owever. was the first official report.
General Miles read long summary of
90 letters received by him at army head
uartcrs. giving the various terms in
'hich tho army mr1t was characterized
'hesr included ''cmbalmed,' "decOm-
nscd." 'injectcd.' poisoned" Spoiled"
nd the like.
The trend Of the questions put to the
thor witnesses Of the day indicated
nat so long as they agreed with General
lilies as to the quality Of the meat fur.
ishcd the troops in the field the only
ritirism of their position the court had
, make was why they had not taken
Il A.