Evening star., 1899-03-02
Enlisted Soldiers of Volunteer ARMY
Give Testimony.
THE SHORT AND SPOILED RATIONS
Letter From the Court ASKING
Gen. Miles About Counsel.
S A MP LIE CANS SHOW

| army appeared before the beef court OF IN
| quiry today. Men from the 9th Massachu-
| setts, who went to Porto Rico on the Yale
with Gen. Miles on board swore that they
| were given barely enough TO eat to keep
| them alive" Others from other regiments
| firmly condemned the canned roast beef
| and few said they had found frequently
! the refrigerated beef tainted. Most of their
| testimony was somewhat sensational in
| character.
Tho court OF inquiry has addressed sew
| eral communications TO Gen. Miles asking
| if he desires to be represented by counsel
| at the court. Gen. Wade said:
ut has never been stated as coming from
| this court that Gen. Miles is accused, and
| therefore should have counsel In view OF
| the short and Incorrect won't say that
the condensed report of witness evidence
| sent out by the newspapers. ii is impossible
| for any one interested in the proc eedings
| to get a correct idea of all JH.t said
| on the stand. Therefore, IL VAS thought
| by the court that perhaps Gen. MIlss would
desire to be represented. Several "omnuni-
| cations, verbal and OtherwiSp have been
| sent him. but as yet there has been NO re-
| ply. In the meantime, Mlt. mas heen
| permitted to be here al ali tiI &c. 10 take
| notes and even TO ask questions
! Gen. Wade denied that the court is seek
/ ing to make Gen. Miles confess himself as
| accused, and emphasized his statement that
| the only function of the court - to inquire
| into the allegations by the major general
| commanding
Meat Had Worms i'm IT.
| Clarence Walters. cUCrtly a private in
the 1st Regiment of Volunteer Engineers,
| was The first witness called 10 The stand.
He is iine-looking young man. Of gentle
| manly appearance and manners. at one
| time Il newspaper man. aad hc answered
| intellgently and squarely the questions put
| to him by the court. He, in beginning, told
of his experience with canned roast beef on
| the voyage of his command to Cuba, and
| said that he ate some of it. He was made
sick by it and continued till he reached
| Porto Rico. The first can be saw opened
| on shipboard was stringy and Shiny and
J had worms in IT. few minutes afterward IL
developed such a putrid odor that il could
| not be kept about. He said he had been on
sea trips before and never suffered from
sea sickness. All the men in his company
| complained against the meat and their COM
| missary sergeant refused to accept it Some
| of the meat was tested by the surgeon
| major, who said that IL all right.
Therefore the commssary sergeant was OBJ
| liged to accept it, but did so under protest.
| Nearly all of the men of the engineer bat
| TALON were sick throughout the voyage as
| the result of eating the canned roast beef.
| Not the Same Kind.
Recorder Davis then opened and submit
| ted to the witness a can of beef. Mr.. Wal
ters said that being round 1t did not re-
semble the cans he complained of. as they
| were square. He said that the contents
| did not look like that in the cans he had
| seen on the voyage. The meat in these
| latter was very red and covered with a
white slime.
Another can was opened and shown him.
| He said ii not like the beef he had
been served.
How nearly does * resemble the beef?"
asked Col. Davis.
There is no comparison" he answered. q
The meat that | had was unbearable."
Continuing, he said that on the transport
he was quartered in the hold under 300
mules. Two-thir5s of the men in the regi-
| ment were sick. After reaching Ponce his
command was sent to Coamo 10 repair
bridges. Native Porto Rican beef and
| bacon were issued. Canned roast beef also
was doled out, but he refused to accept it.
He said that instead he bought from the
stores and the Red Cross Society. lie sub
sisted mainly on eggs and milk. The ma
tive Porto Rican beef he did not eat, as IL
did not have the animal heat out of II
when cooked He stated that he enlisted at
Philadelphia and had been previously a
newspaper man. He was not dissipated.
He said that he ate about an ounce % the
canned roast beef on the transport emitted
ii and was sick for two weeks. He did rot
suspect that it had been chemically treated.
The refrigerated beef issued on thc voyage
home was fairly satisfactory.
Capt. Hicks Experience.
Herbert o. Hicks during the war was
captain of Company NJ, 2d Massachusetts
Regiment. He said that while at Tampa
refrigerated beef was issued. There was
no complaint On the voyage to Cuba
canned roast beef was issued and the sec
ond day out the commissary sergeant came
to him and said his men would not eat the
canned roast beef. They complained that
it was stringy and revolving They were
made sick temporarily by eating it
He was shown by Col. Davis several cans,
but said they were unlike those he had
seen i'm Cuba. which Were round and dark
and without paper wrapping.
Speaking of the refrigerated beef, he said
that ii was taken from the ships at night,
but next morning when delivered it proved
unfit for use unless cooked at once. He re-
called one lot Of meat condemned by a
board of survey. He attributed the consid-
cradle sickness among his men to climatic
influences. They were without comforts
until the surrender of Santiago. On the
trip homeward 10 Montauk on the Mobile
no meat was issued to his company but
canned roast beef. This they would not
eat. but lived on soup they had bought at
Santiago.
Lieut.. TayIor's Testimony.
Lieut.. Franklin Taylor of the 9th Massa-
chusetts was next heard. He is a grocer.
His command sailed from Charleston on
the Yale. Canned roast beef was served to
the men. who complained that there was
too much fat and too little lean. They said
1t was tasteiess, and a small proportion of
the cans were found to be ',swelars" The
men got more bacon than canned roast
beef on the Yale. During the voyage of
seventeen days thers was only one issue of
canned beef. A good deal of the bacon
was bad, and thrown overheard because
they could not cook il. The sickness was
due, he thought more to what they did not
nave to eat than 10 what was eaten. Ra-
items were short, and thirty men in his
company of one hundred did not land in
Porto Rico, but were returned home sick
Col Davis showed the witness ran of
roast beef that had been returned he
said, from Porto Rico. The witness said IL
looked better than the canned meat issued
to his men.
He said Gen. Miles and Gen. GarreStson
were on board the Yale, but he did tot
know whether or not the under-feeding of
the men had been brought to their atten-
ton.
II did not think we had any right" said
he, Ito go over the head of our colonel
to whom We reported. heard him speak