The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1899-03-03
THE BEEF INQUIRY,
The Former Commissary General
Testifies About Army Meat.
THE REFRIGERATED BEEF APPROVED.
sevsrnl Other OHioers Give tho Court of
Inquiry Their Views on the Meat
Furnished Our soldiers During
the Recent Cam paign.

the Recent Cam vaign.
Washington, Feb 25.-Before the
board of inquiry yesterday former
Commissary General Eagan detailed
the supplying of troops in and for the
philippines, canned roast beef being
sent No complaints had been heard.
The Australian frozen beef was deliv-
cred at eight cents at Manila, the gov
eminent paying S40O per day while the
ship was detained at Manila. No NUT
ton was sent The government is now
erecting large refrigerating plant at
Manila, to avoid the expense of the
ships detention, it being the purpose
to continue the use of Australian beef
VI would like to say in regard to the
abuse of this timed roast beef, that
when 1t was kept in the holds of YES
sells or exposed in the tropical sun, the
effect is like that of the sun on the
best canned butter in Arizona 1t re-
mains perfectly good, though it be-
comes very repulsive in appearance"
He said II nothing better could be Sc
cured it was to be eaten from the cans,
but only in emergencies, the real in
tention being to use it with condi-
ments and with vegetables.
Were any rations of any kind"
asked Col. Davis, "sent to the troops
at any time as an eXperiment?' Five
thousand pounds of the Dole beef"
responded Gen. Eagan, "a canned
preparation that made a nice ham
burger steak, was sent 1t found its
way to Porto Rico. was used and
A.
was very expensive and was not pur-
chased any further"
He then reviewed the first shipment
of refrigerated beef to San tiago, which
he considered as experimental because
the value of refrigerated beef had not
then been established finally. Aside
from these absolutely no other expert
mental shipments were made, Gen.
Eagan declared with great emphasis.
"On the contrary" he said, 81 fought
all the time against it."
WAS anything furnished on the
pretense of experiment." asked Col
Davis, suggesting Gen. Miles notable
allegation. mo, sir; never, not to the
value of penny" replied Gen. Eagan,
with indicating consciousness of the
query's suggestiveness.
Gen. Eagan then said many persons
had offered alleged preventative pro-
cesses, but he never entertained any
such propositions and the department
had no connection whatever with any
method of preserving beef, other than
the ordinary refrigerating process, as
he understood it. Refrigerated beef
was approved by army physicians
Col 5. ID. NJ. Young, Third cavalry,
major general of volun teers, command.
ing Second corps, told of Santiago
campaign experiences with beef No
complaints about the timed roast beef
were heard. On the contrary, he I'M
derstood it was rather liked. Prior to
the campaign he never heard of this
beef.
Maj A. II. Bowman, Second infan-
try, had no complaints from his com
mand in Cuba; the men and officers, he
said, accepted the rations as the best
obtainable. He did hear, however,
unofficial complaints from other COM
mands that the canned roast beef was
unsatisfactory and unpalatable.
Capt. j. NJ. Arrasmith Third infan-
try, major commissarY department
the satisfaction which both the re-
frigerated and canned roast beef gave
at Camp Thomas, giving details of the
manner of issuing the fresh meat.
Capt. Harry IL. Ripley Third cav.
airy, detailed the experiments with
beef at Tampa in line with the testi-
mony of Col. Weston. Capt. Ripley
accompanied his command to Cuba
Canned roast beef was used en- route
and during the siege. No complaints
were heard, but it was almost taste
less, he said, quickly palled on tho
taste, and the men soon refused to eat
it, though he heard no formal COM
plants Refrigerated beef gave gen.
eral satisfaction.
At the conclusion OF Capt. Ripley's
testimony Col. Davis announced that
no further witnesses were present, but
probably 10 others were summoned,
whom he expected to arrive within a
day or so. Accordingly an adjourn
ment until Monday was taken.
Kansas City, Mo-, Feb 25. William
w. Lowe, the confessor, finished his
often-repeated story of the Leeds hold
up an Jne d esSe JhHnes Irlhl III Ihe crlm
inal court yesterday He began il
Thursday. Though he could not
positively Identify Caleb Stone, he left
no possible escape for Jesse James
If his tale is true, and it bears all the
earmarks of veracity, every minute OF
Jesse James time that night of the rob
berry is accounted for even the times
when he was fixing himself for an ali bi.