The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1899-04-06

next day, after eating this meat. only
twenty -fonr men were able to report for
uuty. lie had taken piece Of the meat
ana teseed 1t for sslicylic aoid, getting n
decided reaction. On another occasion he
secured a boracic acid reaction.
| one POPULARITY of the meat" be said,
was that " kept so well and smslt SO
| oauIy. When men would throw IL up,
often many hours after eating 1t was still
fsund undecomposed. He had considered
the canned meat unfit for bis men 20 eat
nni had advised them not to eat It. Ihe
meat appeared stringy and was In no wise
tempting; 1t smeit badly anu was un-
nutritious.
On cross-examinatlon DIR. Currie sx-
pressed the opinion that the refrigerated
beef had bean soaked in some preservative
nuid, containing saiicylic acid, but he
afterwards said his first idea had been
that the acid had been Injected. The view
that acids had been used was strength
ened by the fact that the meat nppsaI ed
to grow dark upon coming into contact
with the iron OF the butchers knife. He
had made no report OF the investigation,
because he had simply acted for the pro-
lection of his men, thinking the medical
department would make Its own inquiry.
he mad ON previous occasions made sug
gestions which were ill-reoeived. Hence
he gave no official Information at the
time concerning his chemical tests. He
had. however, said at the time that he
thought she meat had been tampered
with.
DIR. CurTie said he had discovered some
ten or twslve years ago by actual tests
that Swift q Co.. used snlicylic acid TO
preserve their meats. Two months ago he
had made a similar test of beef furnished
by Armour a. Co at his own home in
Engiewood, N. j., and had found that Ii
contained salicylic acid The beef thus
examined looked paler on the surface
than other beef He thought beef could
be treated by both injection or immersion
in the acid.
"What use did you make of the infor-
nation secured two months ago, concern
ing the Armour beefY'' asked Col.
Gillespie
"None at ALL" the witness replisd.
"Is there no law in New Jersey against
the adulteration OF food?"
mot that l know Of. You can do al
most anything you wish to in New
Jersey. They kill and eat horses there"
Major Lee asked that some Of the men
on the rifle range detail be summoned be-
fore the court, but the court did no re-
spond to the request.
DIR. Currie was re called at the opening
of the after noon session and questioned in
regard to Information he had given in re
gard to his investigation to an officer In
the army, who had recently visited him
at his home In Englewood. He had fist,
he said received an inquiry from an
officer of General Miles's staff as to his
experiments and had afterwards received q
call from an army officer. He could not
recall the name OF this officer, but said he
had given him u statement detailing
briefly the facts narrated today. Henry
Raphael, manager for Armour and com
pany IN New York, who had Teen called
at the instance of General Miles, testified
that last May he had in stock 1000
pounds of canned roast beef Later in the
season he received more, some coming
from Chicago and some from cities in
England. The beef from abroad had been
there from one to two years. This he had
turned over to Col. Woodruff on the dock.
Asked If any of the meat sent abroad had
been rejected there he said:
81 know positively that none of 1t was
rejected. know this from our firm in
Chicago and from the condition of the
beef"
The meat had been returned to fill con-
trao,s with the government, some going
to the army and some to the navy. Alto
gether about .450, 900 pounds had bean sold
10 the army.
MIR. Raphael said the governments
purchas ses were always made on samples
inspected as was also the beef on delivery
Only three cans of the entire sale TO the
army and navy had been refused and
these had been replaced.
Major Les stated that he would ask the
court tomorrow or next day TO pass upon
his request for the admission of the
official reports of officers as testimony.
The court then, after n brief executive
session, adjourned until tomorrow.