Evening star., 1899-04-08
THE BEEF INQUIRY
The Inventor of the Powell Process
Testifes.
HOW BE PRESERVED MEAT
Will Not Keep Seventy-Two Hours
Without Treatment
CAPTAIN DAVIS EVIDENCE

process for preserving meat was the
| center of interest at the beef court of in
quiry today, where he underwent lengthy
ard rigid examination by Col Davis, the
| recorder, and Maj. Lee, counsel for Gen.
| Miles. He said the Armour Company
agreed to use his process If they secured
| the contract for army meat for Cuba; but
| as they were unsuccessful they did not
| conclude with him. The witness declared
| that his secret process preserves by ''fumi-
CATION and not by injection or immersion.
He swOre that it had not been used In pre-
! serving any meat sold to the army. He
made the important admission, based upon
| his experience, that no meat could be kept
seyenty-two hours In summer in Cuba after
| leaving a refrigerator unless it had been
chemically preserved. He stated that he
would regard any meat enduring such a
period under such conditions having
been preserved.
a Cooks Experience.
John Rusch of EngIewood, N. j., who was
the cook of the I'd New Jersey Regiment,
| to which DR.. Currie referred when he stat
ed that the army beef made the soldiers
sick, was the witness examined first at the
forenoon session today. He spoke with par
ticular reference to the experience at jack
sonville, Fla, where his regiment was en-
camped during quite a period of time. He
said he drew the beef from the commissary
and thought it had been furnished by Ar
mour & Co. The meat was red and extra
ordinary in appearance. He heard that
tie meat had been "embalmed." This was
a matter of general gossip at jacksonville,
but the men ate the meat, although Sparing-
ly. He remembered that Lieut.. Col. Currie
had asked him for piece of the beef. The
men of the regiment complained that it
made them sick. 1t would not cook brown,
but became red
a - fl. tci1 1.a0', 1Sly-
ed Major Lee.
Sometimes it looked good said the wit
ness. land sometimes ii was Shiny. Some
times it was better looking than at other
periods, but generally it was red and re-
pulsive looking
Major Lee asked the witness how the men
would refer to the meat as embalmed beef.
Mr.. Rusch bluntly replied
why, they said it was embalmed like
dead human bodies are"
Cross-eXamined by the recorder, Mr..
Rusch stated that often the meat tasted
like straw, and sometimes had very
peculiar odor. 1t did not seem to have
healthy color. One foreleg he received was
black and Shiny. When the men received
their pay they would refuse to eat the beef,
but as they ran out of money they were
obliged to return to the stuff.
DO you mean to say that You heard the
men make use of the expression embalmed
beef at the camp at the timer asked Gen.
Davis.
them use 1t frequently at Jacksonville
He said the inspectors came around to
the company kitchens, but did not ask
about the beef. He spoke of butcher who
cut up the meat and extracted the bones,
and said that he had heard this man say
he believed 1.-The meat had been fixed
Responding to a question by Maj. Lee
to how the meat affected the men, the wit
ness said:
They had the dysentery and would lie
around for day or two, and then would go
to the hospital.
More Reports Read.
Having excused the witness, Maj. Lee be-
gan reading more reports from officers con-
corning the army refrigerated and canned
beef. Lieuts. Downs, Campbell, King, Kill
bourn L. w. Johnson. E. G. Berry, ]. w.
Pinckney and McHugh of the 1st Infantry
reported that the canned roast beef was re-
pulsive, disliked and made the men sick.
They did not vary in any vital particular
from the reports read yesterday.
The Inventor of the Powell Process.
A. B. Powell, the inventor of the Powell
process for purifying and preserving
meat, was called next to the stand. He is
well-dressed, business-like man of middle
age and easy address. He gave his resi-
dence as the Hotel Endicott, New York
city, and stated that he is dealer in meat
and poultry. He sells to hotels, steamships
and others He said he had invented a Sc
cret preserving process and had used it six
or eight years.
piled certain hotels in Florida, the witness
refused to answer but his letters admitting
having done this are on record He admit
ted that the process is a purifier and is
economical because 1t saves ice. 1t is Sc
cret and has not been patented because he
does not regard 1t patentable.
He emphatically denied that boric or sali-
cylic acid is used in it and said it is not
lad tn1
It was a "fumigating process" and he
could, he declared process a carload of
beef in half an hour He admitted that
sulphur is one of the ingredients and that
the odor of it would be perceptihle for half
an hour, when it would blow off. he pro
cess did not, he said, give a foreign taste
to the meat. He admitted he had pur-
chased some meat from Mr.. Conners, the
eastern agent of Armour &; Co., which he
had treated in one of Armcur's cars near
the latter's packing house at Chicago. This
was the meat tested at Tampa. He said he
had written the President. General Miles
and Commissary General Eagan. The first
two letters were referred to General Eagan.
who replied to him that the War Depart
army meat, but would let the contract to a
bidder who would agree that the meat
should keep seyenty-two hours after laav-
ing the refrigerators.
"PrOcessed" Six Carcases.
Mr. Powell stated that he stopped at
tne MorrlSon Hotel, and a bell boy there as
sisted him in processing six carcasses.
Mr.. Conners took one and the others we're
shipped to Tampa. The witness said he
went there and was introduced to Chief
Gommissary Weston by Mr.. Edwards, the
tampa representative of Armour & Co.
Mr.. Powell positively asserted that Con-
ners paid his fare to Chicago so thar he
might show his process to the Arnours
and also paid his fare to Tampa SO that he
m1gnt conduct the test for the army COM
mlssary department. He said that Col
Weston informed him that he could not
consider the process proposition in an Of
fieial way. but gave the inventor an oppor-
tunity to informally exhibit his .'processed',
beef on the transports.
He said that he agreed to let Armour &
Co. use the process, but they did not do So
Questioned by Maj. Lee. the witness ex-
planned that his is not an embalming pro
cess, according to the popular use of that
expression. He said that however, as it
preserves beef it very probably would do
the same work with dead human body,
but he has never tried 1t. He said he knew
there were many processes" advertised for
preserving meat. He is not familiar with
them, as he uses only his own. He has
shipped meat and game to Count de Barry's
place near Jacksonville He said any nro