The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-01-12
BILLINCSCATE.
Hurled at General Nelson a
Miles Today
BY COmmissary General Eagan
of the War Department.
CALLS HIM A LIAR
And Uses Much Other Languag>
Unbec0ming
A Gentleman, and Stamps Him.
self as Being Insane or a Fool.

Washington, Jan. 12.-COmmiSSary
General Eagan in the course of his test
imony before the war investigating
commission this afternoon, called Ma
jor General Miles, commanding the
army a liar, who lied in his throat,
lied in his heart, lied in every part of
his body, who perpetrated gross scan
dal and who should be drummed out of
the service and imprisoned and should
be avoided by every honest man and
barred from every club" He charac-
terized his interviews as filth"
Gen. Eagan had prepared a type
written statement covering his side of
the case and was allowed to read it.
Gen. Eagan referred to the fact that
Gen. Miles had refused to be sworn and
commented on the fact that he was the
only one of 500 witnesses who had SO
refused. Gen. Eagan said he himself
preferred to be sworn.
Gen. Eagan began by calling atten-
ton to Gen. Miles appointment of Ma
jOr John D. Black, a civilian as a chief
of staff and said that this was largely
responsible for the trouble that follow
ed. He said that Major Black had been
furnished $4,000 before starting for
Porto Rico and that he had apparently
not known enough to provide himself
check book and had not left his sigma
ture with the secretary of the treasury,
nor made any other preparation for
availing himself of the funds at his
command. There were experienced dis
bursting officers in the island who had
in the aggregate over 100000 in their
possession and yet Gen. Miles had
complained that there were no paymas-
ters in the islands SO that the soldiers
had no money with which to buy food
for themselves. Gen. Miles had then
called on the department to put $50,000
more in the hands of Major Black and
this Gen. Eagan declined to do, putting
$4,000 to Major Blacks credit in New
York.
Gen. .Eagan referred to the mysterious
manner in which papers disappeared
from the files of the war department.
EAGAN'S EXACT WORDS.
General Eagan's testimony relating to
s'embalmed beef was as follows:
General Miles was asked by your
committee how timed fresh beef be-
came a part of the army ration. Ills
| answer is, You had better ask the sec
| retary of war or the commissary gen
| eral 1 think they can tell you.
| know it was sent to the army as food
| and the pretense is that 1t was sent as
an experiment. General Miles in say
! ing that this food was sent to the army
as a pretense for an experiment. says
| that which implies corruption, which
| 50 out of every 100 people will under
stand to mean corruption; because it
| was "a pretenSe of experiment., he says,
not even giving credit to me for furnish
/ ing it as an experiment, but that L
| furnished it under the 'pretenSe of an
| experiment. This is a serious charge
and should not be made by any man
| lightly, nor without ample evidence to
support it. Taking the statement in
the sense it was probably intended, the
| sense that it will be accepted by the
| country at large, the sense that already
| the press almost wholly of the United
| States has accepted it-indeed, some of
| that press because of it called for my
| dismissal from the army and my court
| martial answer that it was not fur
| niShed under the pretenSe of experiment
| nor even as an experiment and if when
| General Miles charges that it was fur
| nished as a 'pretense OF experiment,
| he lies in his throat, he lies in his heart,
| he lies in every hair of his head and
| every pore of his body, he lies wilfully,
| deliberately, Intentionally and malic-
| iously.
| IF his statement is true that this
| was furnished under 'pretense of an
| experiment. then 1 should be drummed
| out of the army and incarcerated in
| prison with other Hbelers. His state
| ment is a scandalous libel rejecting
| upon the honor of every officer in the
| department who had contracted for or
| purchased this meat, and especially and
particularly on the commissary general