The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-01-21
CHEMICALS WERE USED.
Nj. DsIy TOD thc Wsr Commission u he
"EmbsImcd Beef
HIS STATEMENTS WERE BASED ON TESTS
saJicyiic Acid and Borax Were Used,
and He brought Convincing Evi-
sIence Of the Fact.

port condemning the beef furnished the OK
pedltionary forces created such sensa-
tion some weeks ago, made his long await
ed appearance as q witness before the war
commission today. Surgeon
Days report was the strongest in lnn-
guagc submitted by General Miles In sub
sanitation OF his attack on the beef sup
plies. MIR. DAILY has been too III to appear
He was accompanied BY Gem
eral Mics own stenographer.
On being sworn, the witness identified
the report submitted as his own, changing
the date, however, from September u 70
October 81 He was Wiling, he said, to
stand by his report. 1t was wholly volun-
tary and was not called out by any re-
quest or In obedience to any circular OF
letter AS far as ne remembered. He had
heard nothing Of an official circular calling
for reports. At Ponce, however, some time
between August 1 and IL he believed nc
hud communicated to General Miles some
observations regarding beef supplies AZ
Tampa on shipboard he had noticed u quar-
ter OF beef hanging free in the sun on
shipboard, and he became interested IN the
experiment OF having fresh slaughtered
beef placed under such moist climatic con-
ditions to see how long 1t could stand 1t.
II observed" no said, that the flies,
especially the bull flies, did not AFFECT IT;
did not alight on 1t, or II they did they got
OF 1t very quickly.
He had cut of piece OF that beef at
Tampa and cooked II, but IL neither smeiied
nor tasted naturally Later he helped the.
men corral some horses and subsequently
he had trouble with his stomach, which he
first attributed to tho activity Of corrall-
ing. Then he noticed indications OF cheni-
ical presence that brought back recollec-
lions OF chemical stuff he had used to pre-
serve elk In a hunting expedition In the
Rocky mountains some years before. Al
that day at Tampa and the next he had IN
unpleasant taste. In that previous hunt
Ing experience he had analysed the chem
ical personalities and found II to contain
borax and salcylic acids. These were to:
be used externally on the elk, but he had
rubbed In the raw flesh and also injected II.
Questioned as to these ingredients, he said
borax was not safe to be used in connec--
tion with food nor for medical purposes,
while the snlicyclic acid was most nause-
GUS. loathsome and disgusting, almost al
ways destructive Of digestion.
Mr.. DAILY said he should say the attempt
to preserve the beef by chemicals was not
success. That had been his experience on
the transport Panama. in the beef carried
by which ship he was pretty sure chem
icals were involved M
Tint beef. he said, was very foul. He
thought the government beef requirements
Of the contractors were worry unreasonable.
Everybody knows. he said, that beef ex-
posed TO moisture and warmth for twenty
four hours will be very much tried" Re-
curing to the transport Panama, he said
most OF the beef It carried was refriger-
nted. They had secured a ton OF beef. and
for this they at first had one and one-haif
tons OF Ice. later Increased to eleven AMI
one-haif tons of ice. The beef however.
had n dpctdntlIx paculinr 0To mr. +
"At Ponce.a he went on 10 say, 81
observed the Refrigerated beef
taken from the Transports. II had
u peculiar odor. 0bseryed the ex-
OmtnutiOns on spoiled beef on Onc
transport. II was done by butcher
down In the hold. He thrust his
arm In every direction into the pu-
trid meat trying to find ~ solid
piece. THIS meat had the snnie Pc
cU1iar Odor."
He added that the Panama's beef war;
ranted his report that It's odor was like
that Of dead man injected with pressrva-
tiNes. He also described the strong odors
aboard the transport Chester
General Beaver asked II the Witness did
not think his examination purely super
flcial and without any substantial knowi-
edge,
mo, would not like to say that tho
witness replied. He believed the beef on
the Panama had como from the transport
Manitoba.
ON the Panama, coming over from
Ponce, he had made some tea or
soup from the refrigerated beer, the
tnmc that hnd been condemned, had
filtered ~ md scaled II hermefical-
" In can. and when he reached
Hts home ut PittsburE hnd analyxed
II From this he got iiRhtish-
brown sediment. THIS. he said. dis
closed the characteristics Of borax
md nn1tcyltc acid.
DR.. DAILY urged that he be permitted to
demonstrate the test. DR.. Connor object
ed insisting that he leave the powder tho
witness brought as the residuum of this
beef with the commission to be examined
by a government chemist.
AT the afternoon session DR.. DAILY UNDER
went rather severe cross examination,
especiallyton the subject of the date on
which he had reported as to his suspicious
In regard TO the beef and why he had not
reported sooner.
Dr.. DAILY uaid he had never discussed
with any officer the subject OF bad beef
instead OF commenting on such matters. no
had rather attempted to ally discomfort
with the meat. While at Chickamauga he
had found meat which appeared to have
been treated as Indicated In his report.
chemically prepared beef, he was asked.
aid he not think that the government had
been fraudul0ntly dealt with?
DIR. DAILY replied that In his Judgment
when such beef had been supplied by con-
tractors 4 had not been with fraudulent
probably considered the preparation used
no more harmful than salt He had not
arrived at the conclusions no did until
after the tests.
Instead of Weakening his poaltion each
test made him less willing ia rccant any
statements he had made.
Al Taetaauvil1o he hnd al NJ nat