The times., 1899-03-01
, = = =
CANNED ARMY BEEF ON
WHITE China PLATES
An Exhibition Before the
Court of Enquiry.
Officers Invited to Taste an Old
Familiar Dish.
No Such Meat Had They Seen in the
War-A Cross-ENaminntion

An interesting exhibition OF canned roast
| beef was given in the session chamber of
| the Court of Enquiry yesterday afternoon.
| The non commissioned officers of the Ninth
| Infantry who testified before the Court on
| Monday that the canned roast beef was
unpalatable, nauseating, and injurious to
health, were called before the Court for
the purpose of identifying specimens of
the meat. Under the direction of DIR. W. e.
| Borden, of the Medical Department OF the
Army, eight cans of the meat were pre-
pared. Four were made into stew and four
were served cold. The meat was dished
| up on white china plates.
The men were told that one plate of
stew was from canned beef that had been
sent to Porto Rico and had been returned
| to Washington for use by the Court. In
one of the plates there was also a can OF
beef that had been in the Porto Rican cam
paign. One by one the men were asked to
| pick out that which most resembled the
/ meat served to them in Cuba The nom
commissioned officers who examined the
beef were Sergeants Alexander, Casey,
Buckage, Kidd, Grant, Hatcher, White. and
Mitts. There were two plates of the stew
which the men selected as bearing the
closest resemblance to the meat issued to
them in the Santiago campaign. They
could not identify the cold meat, as they
had seen none in such a firm and solid
state.
Major Jesse Lee. of the Ninth Infantry.
counsel for General Miles, said he would
take advantage of his right to cross-ex-
anime the witnesses, and asked that the
sergeants be recalled. He asked the men
If there was any fair comparison between
the meat shown them at the instance OF the
Court and that which had been issued to
them by the Commissary Department on
the voyage to Cuba and in the field during
the Santiago campaign. They replied, in
substance. that they had seen no meat in
Porto Rico as good as that shown them in
the Court. They had no facilities for cook
ing 1t and had received no instructions as
to how it should be prepared They in
sisted that it made them sick.
1t is understood that Governor Roosevelt
will not appear before the Court, but will
submit written statement of his knowl-
edge of the beef issued to the army during
, the operations against Santiago. The let
ter addressed to Governor Roosevelt by
Colonel Davis, Recorder of the Court, was
not received by Governor Roosevelt until
,, he reached Albany from Washington.
Poorly Loaded Transports.
The first witness was Lieutenant Ram
sey, of the Ninth Infantry. He was chief
commissary of the Seventh Corps at Jack
sonvHle, depot commissary at one time al
Tampa, and depot commissary at Santiago.
. He testified that it was impossible to get
complete rations out OF the transports be-
+, cause OF the manner in which the ships
r had been loaded. The troops would gel
bacon one day, canned beef another, hard
bread another, and so forth. Although il
/ was attempted to get the meat, bread cof-
: fee, and sugar parts Of the rations to the
i, front first, there were times when the mel
: were short OF rations. He had received re-
quests frequently that bacon be issued in.
i stead of the canned roast beef and thi!
was done whenever there was any bacoI
:, available. When there was no bacon TO b.
had, which was often the case, the mer
were forced to take canned roast beef
After the surrender of Santiago he begar
the issue of refrigerated beef He hat
. never suspected that this beef had beer
- chemically treated. 1t was his opinion tina
the refrigerated beef was high-grade meat
VI The witness testified that he had eater
8 the canned roast beef but once. 1t wa:
: unsatisfactory and unpalatable. He though
=. that If this beef was not absolutely in
u furious to health, It, at least, retarded tht
y; recovery of sick men He thought tina
u the juices of the beef had been extracted
q and that the canned beef was cut from tn
y chuck. The witness was shown a can o
II roast beef and testified that it was bette
than that he had seen in Cuba, and, besides
ie the one shown him was cold and the mea
'e he had seen in Cuba had been heated NJ
by the sun there. The witness testifie,
Is that at Tampa he had been given a sample
of process beef by the representative o
u Armour & Co. He did not know how thi
u beef had been treated.
20 Col. A. l.. Smith. OF the Commissary De
an partmcnt, testified that at Tampa he as
~ sisted in the loading of transports viii
q complete rations for General Shafter'
20 army.
90 The meat components OF the ration wer'
~ one-third bacon and two-thirds cannat
ID corned and canned roast beef Later th'
W. ration was changed to one-half bacon an,
y one-half canned beef. No particular effort
a, were made at Tampa to familiarze th'
d troops with the proper method of preparin.
81 the canned beef for use.
y Meat Spoiled In Cars.
- 1t had been reported to him that certain
sj cars at Tampa contained putrid meat. II
rs notified the representative of Armour &
Co, who made an examination and foun,
% few spoiled cans in the cars. These wer,
M replaced and the consignment was accepted
30 by the army. The witness testified that h
went to Ponce in August. He supsrintend
90 ed the issue OF refrigerated beef The frs
90 refrigerator ship that came down was tn
% Massachusetts. The supply of ammonii
w had become low and the Massachusetts
M was in haste to get back to Santiago Som
Sn beef was taken off The next cargo tha
90 arrived came on the Manitoba. The Office
"A in command of the ship informed him tina
- the meat was in good condition. Som
"a meat was taken off the ship every day. Tn
80 troops were divided in their opinion of thi
% meat. Some rejected it and some were sat
en- isfied with it, The witness recalled tha
in single regiment one battalion refuse
nv ~ to eat the meat and one battalion sent /
acquisitions for it. Part of the meat whe
~ delivered on shore was moldy and som
was not. With the exception of fe'
pieces it was perfectly sound when deliv
cred. He did not have "A copy of the bee
contract with him at Ponce. His under
he standing was that the beef was to renal
good twenty-four hours after being issue
+ to the troops He saw part of the meat o
- the Mississippi and the Port Victor. IL
" considered it high grade beef
w Orders From SOmexyhere