The record-union., 1899-03-16
The Court Of Inquiry Continues Its
Hearing at Chicago.
Lieut.. Davis Of the First Cavalry Gives
Sensational Testimony.

diers Was Thrown Away Be-
cause It Was Unfit to Eat-Mag-
gots Were Found In One Of the
Cans He Opened.
CHICAGO, March 15-The last wit
ness called before the army beef court
of inquiry to-day proved to be sensa
tional. He was an officer of the reg
ular army, First Lieutenant NJ. F. Dav
is of the First Cavalry, called at the
request of Major Lee, the representa-
tive of General Miles. Lieutenant
Davis testified that in Cuba one-half
of the canned roast beef issued to the
soldiers was thrown away because it
was unfit to eat. He testified that he
had opened one can himself and found
maggots in it.
Major Lee asked: How did the mag
gots get in there?"
They were canned in there" the wit
ness replied
Colonel Davis: care you aware that
in the process of canning this meat un-
dergoes such an intense heat that no
animal life could survive it?''
Il don't mean to say they were alive;
they were dead
The board left for Omaha tonight.
Inspection of the stock yards will be
made at Omaha and Kansas City, and
at the latter city some evidence will be
taken. The intention of the court is
to return to Chicago by next Tuesday
and proceed with the examination Of
witnesses here.
oh 70
was largely cumulative in it's nature,
mainly with reference to the condition
of canned and refrigerated beef when
issued to the troops on ship board and
in Cuba, and it's effect upon the SOL
diers.
DR.. John B. Shaw of Joliet, ILL.,, sur
geon of the Third Illinois Volunteers,
testified that on the voyage from New
port News to Porto Rico canned roast
beef was issued, and there was a great
deal Of complaint about it 1t was
stringy, pulpy and nauseating, and did
not seem to nourish the men Much
sickness followed the use of it. The
witness attributed the sickness to pto-
maine poisoning. He believed pto-
maine would develop in the hot sun in
five or six minutes before a can was
opened. If the meat were properly
sterilized, ptomaines would not develop.
While in Porto Rico, twenty miles from
Ponce, the matter of rations was taken
out of the regiments hands to a great
extent. General Grant seemed TO
know more about it than anybody else.
The witness took no particular inte--
est in them, because of the action of
General Grant.
He cannot violate the law?''
He did,
did he issue orders?''
He issued whatever he saw fit"
The law requires the surgeons to
supervise the cooking of that which is
issued Did you interest yourself to
ascertain what was being issued to the
enlisted men?'
We saw what was issued. and took
it because We could not get anything
else. We had canned roast beef hearty
all the While, and the men refused 10 eat
1t. 1t was ordered condemned. and we
buried a lot of it. One of the men said
II We did not bury it, it would bury u.s.
A Board of Survey was ordered, but I
never heard anything more about it.
AS to the refrigerator beef, very little
OF 1t was used, as at least three-quar-
ters of it would have to be cut off. Il
do not think any chemicals had peen
used on the meat. It was simply
spoiled The fat and grease and geIa-
tine had all intermingled with the
FIBRE
George Lees gave his occupation as
that of a packing house expert. putting
up machinery and apparatus for large
packing houses. He said he was famil
lar with the classes of cattle delivered
in Chicago.
What are 1canners'?'' asked Major
Lee.
What is generally termed Gamers
are a very inferior class of cattle; I
think one-third of them would be con-
demned in any English market Chucks
and sometimes meat scraped off the
blatter are used for canning"
About what per cent of nutriment
would be left in the meat that goes in
the camp
Little or nOne.''
William H. Replogle testified that he
served in the Hospital Corps at Porto
Rico, and that canned roast beef was
frequently served to the corps. He had
seen three or four cans opened with
running out of them. Witness
stated that at Guayamo he saw a. piece
of cooked fresh beef which had mag
gots in it.
After considering in executive session
the matter of calling M. Wilse, the
court took a recess until 2 o'clock.
At the afternoon session First Ser
Eeant Albert Salavin of the Seventh
United States Infantry testified that
some of the men complained that the
canned roast beef was not palatable
AS to refrigerator beef, some of it
spoiled-about half of it, and it was
buried.
Captain D. H. Boughton Third Cav
airy, testified that in his command the
officers drew the same ration as the
men while in Cuba. THE complaint
about the canned beef" he said. Twas
that the men could not eat the meat,
and would not eat it unless absolutely
compelled to do SO to appease hunger.
When the cans We're opened the first
thing that struck the observer was the
repulsive, uninviting appearance of the
contents. Diarrhea broke out in my
camp some time after the surrender
and in general conversat tion among the
officers we attributed it in part to the
meat
What complaints were there as 10
the refrigerated beef?''
Well, that was bad. Sometimes one