The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1899-02-24
NILES BEFORE TIE COURT
His Charges About the
Army Beef.
HIS LANGUAGE GUARDED

Says His Term 'sPretense Of Expert.
mems Was Unfortunate-He Goes
IntO Long Explanations
Washington, February 20.-The
Miles court Of inquiry today made a
good start in its work. The court was
comfortably quartered in the old meet
ing room of the war investigation COM
mission in the Lemon building with
accommodations for representatives OF
the press associations and the local
papers. Calls of ceremony on the pres
dent and the general commanding the
army occupied a large part Of the fore
noon and Immediately thereafter Cen
eral Nelson A. Miles appeared as the
first witness. He and three other Off
GERS summoned as witnesses were ex-
amined and disposed of before the
court closed its session at 3 o'clock.
General Miles testimony, of course.
was the feature of the days proceed
ings. Colonel Frank Michler, his chief
Of staff, and a gentleman in citizens
clothes who took a seat by the fire
place and gravely watched the course
of proceedings, retiring with the gener-
al as silently as he had come, accom-
panied the general to the court room.
General Miles appeared in fatigue
uniform, rather striking in its con-
trast with the display of ~scarfs, bullion
| and buttons of the full dress uniforms
of the court. He submitted to the
questioning of Colonel Davis, recorder
of the court, with equanimity except
for a flash of mingled indignation and
irony when he informed the recorder
| that he was not compelled to report"
) to the commissary general Of the army.
[ This was in reply to a question as to
whether or not he had reported to the
commissary department the fact that
complaints had been made to him as to
the quality Of meat being issued to the
| troops. An instant later General Miles
| resumed his cool and carefully consid-
| cred replies to the inquiries of the
court.
AS indicated by a letter of the adju-
tant general to the recorder for the in
| formation of the court, the scope of
the inquiry was limited to the allega-
tons of General Miles before the war
commission as to the quality of the
army beef "and the matter p%urporting
to have been furnished to the press by
the same official" Only two inter
/ souyr oo11oI ~ Inv Tho n,Yxt
the first, an interview with a New York
Journal reporter early in the beef con
troversy, in which General Miles was
quoted as charging that certain chem.
icals were used in the preservation o.
the army meat, and another Of thu
New York Herald under date of Febru.
airy LIST, covering about the same
ground.
General Miles was very slow ant
careful in his replies to the recorders
questions on this point. He called atten
ton to the fact that in both instances b
was credited in the interviews will
refusing to answer certain question
and insisted that these refusals SHOULD
be given due weight in considering tn
questions to which he did reply. H
said in the case Of the interview o
February LIST that he had a letter fron
the man who wrote the story offerini
to swear that General Miles had refus
ed to be interviewed and that the who'll
story was made up in the Office from
the writer's general knowledge Of tn
facts. Notwithstanding this when hi
final answer vas asked as to the au
thenticity Of the interview Genera
Miles did not specifically deny it, bu
merely said it did not quite fairly rep
resent his W opinion in the case
The same qualified denial as to TIL
Journal interview of December 23r
was made, leaving the witness on re
cord as not assuming any responsible
ity for the newspaper statements blu
tacitly admitting that there was a goo
deal in them with which he agreed.
The trend of questions put to tn
other witnesses Of the day indicate
that SO long as they agreed with Gen
eral Miles as to the quality of the mea
furnished the troops in the field tn
only criticism of their position tn
court had to make was why they ha,
not taken some official steps to hav
the matter remedied at the time. L
S'SAs iASIduCC Ihc Icply Was ludl III
circumstances in which the army wa
placed in a sickly foreign country wit
a large amount of fighting and a grea
scarcity Of transportation on hand
precluded the possibility of any sue
action. In each the question wa
pushed no further on this line.
Colonel Davis, recurring to the state
ment OF General Miles before the wa
commission asked him what hi
idea as to the beef supply for the arm
was when war broke out.
Replying, General Miles said tha
while his attention was occupied wit
the weightier matters of mobilizatio
and equipment Of troops. he felt conf
dent that the usage of an hundre
!, years would be followed and cattl
herds would be SHIPPED to the army /
; the tropics and killed there just as the
had been through the south during til
civil war, in Arizona, Texas and /