The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-02
RESULT OF TUESDAYS TEST
SOME OF THE MEAT CORRECTLY
POINTED OUT By ENLISTED MEN.
Maj. Jesse Lee Present i'm Behalf Of
General Miles. and Permitted to Put
Questions to Witnesses.

Nhf1o 3D.
they had previously presented to the war
investigating commission, but it is under
| stood that this is only to get their general
statement on the court record, and that
their examination to-day will be followed
by a much more detailed examination into
specific incidents connected with meat fur
nished to Cuba and Porto Rico during the
war. Major Jesse Lee, who has attended
the court for some days, 1t being generally
understood that he was present in behalf
Of General Miles. appeared again to-day,
taking notes and formulating questions. he
was allowed to question the men of his own
| regiment, but his questions to other wit
nesses were taken under advisement by the
court, and it was understood a decision Will
be reached tomorrow as to Major Lees
standing before the court.
At the opening of the court Sergeant
Hatcher, Ninth Infantry, was called and
| asked to identify an old and travel-stained
wooden case of canned roast beef which MS
regiment had received in Santiago ana
brought home with them. He was then ex-
cused.
Lieut.. Col. A. l.. Smith was next recalled
and questioned as to the history of the beer
| steamer Manitoba which was sent to Porto
Rico during Colonel Smiths service there.
The Manitoba was under orders 10 unload
and return with sick soldiers to the United
States as rapidly as possible. Troops were
notified that she would furnish them
fresh beef so long as she remained in Ponce.
AS Colonel Smith recollected, she was en-
gagged in discharging beef about six days.
Only so much beef could be taken off each
day as the troops could use. consequently
she did not discharge all her beef, but she
had a large cargo of other stores which were
much needed, and Colonel Smith succeeded
in getting them all off. He supposed her re-
turn to the States was under orders from
General Wilson, but he did not know
whether or not General Wilson knew that
she was carrying back 1000 pounds of beef
to the States.
Colonel Gallagher. of the subsistence de-
| partment, who was field commissary at Gen.
Skaters headquarters outside Santiago,
testified that the depot received meat. coffee.
hard bread and sugar as fast as they could
be broken out of the holds of the transports,
and that these essentials were rushed to the
front as fast as the transportation facilities
of the army would allow. Asked if the field
transportation facilities were adequate, wit
ness said it would have been adequate for
carrying subsistence, but that having to
transport medical and quartermaster's sup
plies and wounded men it was hardly ade-
quate. The landing facilities from the trans
ports were painfully inadequate.
BACON SUBSTITUTED.
Colonel Gallagher said that when COM
plants began to come in from the front
against the canned roast beef bacon was
substituted as far as possible. There were
large supplies of canned roast beef, Colonel
Gallagher said, but 1t was fed to the Cuban
troops and Santiago refugees, who preferred
it TO bacon. AS there were more Cubans
and refugees to be fed than there were SOL
diers the canned roast beef did not go amiss.
AS soon as the army moved into Santiago
Colonel Gallagher began the issue of re-
frigerator beef under Colonel Weston's d.
rection; There were some complaints here
as 10 the refrigerator beef and 1000 pounds
were condemned TO the knowledge of the
witness. AS to the proportion of canned
said he found practically none while in San
tiago. Witness had examined the refrigera-
tor beef that arrived on the Massachusetts
and the Port Victor, and il seemed good
beef. His only previous experience with re-
frigerator beef had been at Camp Thomas,
plant. The beef Th Issued ' at san Whs no ws sons ns
coed as he had ever seen before. He had no
reason to believe that any of the refrigerator
peer he mad seen had been chemically treated
Asked by Colonel Gillespie as to his per-
sonal opinion of canned roast beef. witness
said he had eaten it quite frequently while
in Cuba. He did not like ii particuIarIy.
and did not think ii a thing on which SOL
diers should be forced to live for any great
length OF time. But as an occasional sub
stitute for fresh beef, to use, say, every
other daX he thought then and still thought
~ was tM best thing that could be found
either in this country or elsewhere.
Major o Guthrie, Fifteenth Infantry.
who was wounded during the assault on
Santiago and spent some time i'm the hos
DlIdl at SlDOTGN. testified that he had a pon
OF roast beef with him tho night before the
fight and he ate it with relish. 1t was not
II was wholesome. While he was i'm the
hospital at Stboney he saw the meat used i'm
stews, soups and other ways. He was too
fevered to eat it himself, but he saw other
officers eat it with relish. When taken back
10 the United States on the City of WASH
ington, one of the first transports to re-
turn, the wounded officers made up a fund
and bought supplies from the commissary.
among these were cans of roast beef. He
was still too sick aboard the vessel to eat
1t, but the other officers ate it and en-
joyed il.
TUESDAYS STEW TEST.
DR.. w. c. Bowden then reported on the
beef experiment tried on the enlisted men
yesterday. DR.. Bowden said in preparing
the various sorts of meat yesterday one
plate of stews was from aimed beef bought
in open market, a third was of fresh beef
bought in the market here and boiled thor
OugnIy, while the fourth was of fresh beef
parboiled eight minutes and subsequently,
roasted half an hour. The latter was the
way which the packing houses said their
canned roast beef was prepared. Four other
plates OF the same variety of meat were
served cold. As a result of the test four of
the enlisted men picked out the Porto Rico
canned beef as what they had eaten in
Cuba Two selected the canned meat bought
in open market. Two picked out the fresh
beef which had been simply boiled. OF the
cold meat two men picked the Porto Rican
canned beef. four the canned meat bought
in open market and two the boiled fresh
beef. None of them picked out the fresh
beef boiled and roasted according TO the
packing house receipt.
Major George II. Sands, of the engineer
corps. testified that his experience with the
canned meat had been rather more limited
than that OF some OF the other officers who
had testified, but said that on the whole IL
proved a satisfactory ration. The refrig-
orator beef received at his camp usually
had 10 be trimmed before using, but lost
orally satisfactory. The sickness of his com
mand in Cuba he ascribed TO malaria and
exposure rather than TO insufficient or I'M
wholesome food.
Arthur Meeker. general manager for Ar
mour < Co.. described in a general way and
at length the process of purchasing.
Strengthening and packing meats prepared
by his firm. The recital was Identical In de-
tail with the testimony given by all the
packing house representatives TO the war
investigating commission. Mr.. Meeker said
his house had been furnishing dressed beef
10 United States army posts for seven or