The daily morning journal and courier., 1899-01-13

no paymasters in the island, so that the
 soldiers had no money with which to buy food for themselves General Miles had then called on the department to put $50,000 more in the hands of Major l Black, and this General Eagan declined | to do, putting S10000 to Major Black s
 credit in New York.
 General Eagan referred to the mys-
 terious manner in which papers disap-
 peared from the files of the war depart ] ment He said that when General Miles
 was at Tampa he (Miles) wired to the
 commissary general to know what
 stores and supplies were on hand at Tampa and some other point. Eagan
 replied in the usual way. though at
 that time the railroad tracks at Tampa
 were piled with millions of rations. General Eagan said he was astounded
 the following morning to see the reports
 of certain newspapers that General
 Miles had severely reprimanded the
 commissary general the chief or ord
 nance, and the quartermaster general
 for the urprepared condition of thelr
 respective departments. General Miles
 had no right in law to deliver such
 reprimand, and witness at once had en-
 closed the clipping to the adjutant gen-
 erals office, but it had disappeared and
 was nowhere to be found.
 Witness charged General Miles dl-
 rectly with disarranging and hamperlng
 the administration of the war depart ment by the calling off of officers from
 duty where their presence was abso- lutely necessary. This was the case in taking Colonel John, Weston away from Cuba to serve with the Porto Rican ex- pedition and in putting Major A. l.. 1 Smith, a very efficient officer assigned as depot commissary in Porto Rico, to | work on some transport duty" when ! his services were demanded on shore
 General Eagan said the commanding general went clearly outside of his pow CT in doing this and intimated that General Miles was moved to do so by the ignorance and inefflciency of his own 1 appontee Major Black, who was sup posed to be the chief commissary officer on General Miles staff. General Pagan referred to General Miles testimony that he had ''telegrapked the depart
 men. from Porto Rico for complete and proper rations," and said that if the commissary generals office had received any such message, he should have con sidered it the request of very ignor- ant and ill-informed person."
 General Eagan referred to General Miles's expressed preference for native beef, of which he said there was plenty. and asserted that there were no cattle whatever in the neighborhood of san tiago The native beef General Miles referred to- General Egan chara teriz d as stags, runts, bulls, and overworked cattle. The use of such animals the de- partment never would allow. General Eagan, quoting General Miles aleea- tion that in his judgment there was some serious defect in the refrigerated and canned beef, said that General Miles would not say that this was any thing more than his judgment It was at this point that General Easan said that whoever calls it embalmed beef IS liar Citing the reports submitted py General Miles in ccrroboration of his charees, General Eagan submitted whether or not his course of securing these reports would not be construed as seeking adverse reports.
 General Eagan referred to the nuh- l1shed interviews of General Miles and correspondence between them as to thelr authenticity. General Miles hay- Ing made a non-committal reply, and the witness then said: When man refuses to deny libel or a falsehood or statement attributed to hin, it is we'll known that he assumes the responsibll- ity in the matter. When he avoids the question the supposition is that he can
 
 sWered yet. He has not denied the in- tervieW published in the New York Journal dated December 23, 1898, and having refused to distinctly deny it he should be held to the strictest account ability for it. If he made these state ments as set forth then he lied again. and if he made the statement that pre- tense is the precise term to be used Gas he said then referring to the 'ex- periment) then he, lied with as black a heart as the man who blew up the Maine, possessed, and he deserves to be characterized and known to America and Europe where his statements have gone, as being the colossal, prodigious liar of the 1900 century
 l submit to this committee and to the whole country that this account of an interview with him in the New York Journal going uncontradicted, undenied and when the opportunity was given him refusal to deny it in terms, places upon him the onus and responsibility for the statement in that interview. which statement I here and now an- nounce as unmitigated falsehoods. vile and slanderous, so slanderous that it can only be called filth. I submit to this commission and to the country at large whether it is the characteristic of an honorable man to permit such state ments as arc made in this alleged inter- view with General Miles in the New York Journal dated December 23, 1893, to go uncontradicted, if untrue, and whether or not it is not the first duty of a gentleman, an honest man. an honor- able man, to deny such base falsehoods as are to be found in the article I refer to, if they were not made by him. This interview was headed as follows: Miles makes grave charges against the i administration; Polsons used in beef | made the soldiers i'll; tons of bad meat l sent to troops in Porto Rico.'
 General Eagan referring to newspa- per attacks asserted that the secretary ! of war had nothing to do with the furn- ishing of refrigerated meats or timed |