Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-29


the beef was to keep after coming out
Of the refrigerator on the ship. specify
70 hours and that the time when u
was placed in the refrigertors on
shore and taken from the Refrigerator
on shore was to be "a hours.
This" Capt. Davis explained, was
for the purpose Of enabling them ia
have beef In the refrigerator when the
refrigerator might be some little dis-
lance. rs,.-,..,...s
Captain Davis detailed some In
stances in which boards Of survey had
examined beef which had been com
plained of while in the refrigerator
One instance occurred at Mansaniiit
and another at Santiago. In the mrs
the beef was condemned and In the
latter a part of it was. In reply Il
Major Lee. Captain Davis said the un'
Outstanding in the commissary geher'
ais Office was that the beef was to OF
kept good for - hours by the contrac.
tors after leaving the ship PROVIDED
good care was taken OF IT.
This" he said, was the extreme
limit but it was not supposed tnat the
beef would be kept for more than q
hours
CAPTAIN Davis said he heard some
thing of the Powell process for pre-
serving beef: proposition was made
before the beginning OF the war and
afterwards Gen. Weston had brought
the process to the attention or the de-
nartment as the result of an expert
ment made with it at Tampa, about the
time of the sailing of the Santiago eX-
petition.
Major Lee pointed out the apparent
discrepancy in Capt Davis and Gen.
Eaean's testimony as to the conditions
under which beef was to be kept 72
hours after the arrival OF the beef
Mt it's point of destination. He read
Gen. Eagans statement saying it was
his intention that the beef should be
good for - hours. mo difference where
taken from" and saying that the "a
hour clause must be clerical error.
He asked Capt. Davis to reconcile the
two statements to which requests the
captain responded by saying: Gen.
E.agnn had simply forgotten. Probably
he had not seen the contract for six
months. 1t is not customary in such
eases to depend upon the memory. the
being on file and reference TO
them convenient and usual"
The witness said there had been con-
discussion in the office Of the
general OF the feasibility
of shipping beef on the hOof but 1t had
been decided not to try the experiment
because of the difficulty of securing
ships. of landing the cattle and of TAX
ing care of them after landed. The
department had. however.
gone so far as to gather the names Of
persons who might desire to bid.
Edward Morris Of the Chicago firm
OF Morris & CO., was the next witness.
He stated that his company had for
the past 10 years been in the habit of
canned roast beef in the Balti-
more & Ohio warehouses on Staten Is
land for shipment to either foreign or
domestic points. Some of this beef had
been. in 1898. returned to Chicago.
Most of the shipments to foreign ports
had been sent to the English. None
of 1t had ever been sold to or rejected
by foreign government and none had
been sold abroad and condemned and
sent back to the United States for the
American troops. The goods returned
to Chicago were sold to a wholesale
grocery house and by it sold to the
government. 80 per cent. going to Ma
Mia. The firm had sold direct to the
government about $4,000 worth of
cOrned beef and of canned roast beef
Charles +. Smith of Jacksonvi.Ie. Fla D.,
who acted as agent for Armour 4 Co.. in
the spring and summer of 1898. testified
concerning the beef delivered to tha
troops at Lakeland. He said he had been
in the beef business for Is years and that
the beef delivered at Lakeland was first
class There was nothing 10 indica .
that it had been treated with preserva-
tives and there was no coating upon II.
During his connection with the business
there were only two reflections of beef
and these of very small quantities.
Bernard r. Murtaugh. also an agent for
Armour 4 Co. at Lakeland. during the
presence of the troops, gave the details
of the supply there. He said the beef wa
generally held in the cars for three days,
the cars being well iced. About one-third
of the contents of one car had been re-
jected and after this the meat was
shipped in refrigerator boxes. Some OF
this boxed meat was also rejected.
Both Messrs. Murtaugh and Smith tes-
tilted that they had never known any
Thin: of the use Of personalities and both
stated that Sergeant Mason. who had ties
titled that preservatives had been used
had praised Inc quality OF the peer.
Charles II. MoOrehouse. manager of the
Tampa branch of Armour & COS. estab-
ltsiment. testified that. from May 20 to
June !, 5000 pounds of ice was used al
Lakeland. He said that the beef sup
piled to the troops was Of the same quail.
ity as that supplied to the Florida hotels
He was willing to take oath that no pre-
servatives had been used on the beef. The
principal trouble was that some of thu
commissary officers knew nothing of beef
George A. Watson. railroad agent al
Lakeland. said that he had often gon.
into the cars in which the beef was car
ried and that the meat did not present
any unusual appearance. He had eate'
some of the rejected meat and had founo
1t TO be as good beef as he had eve,
tasted.
The afternoon session was executive il
character and was devoted principally tc
the consideration of witnesses to be Gale,
in the future. 1t is said that Major
Black, who was member of Gen. Miles
staff in Porto Rico, and Capt. POmeroy
who accompanied the expedition as /:
commssary officer, will be heard, tomor
row. and that later in the week some OF
the medical officers of the army will ap
pear on the stand.
Gen. Eagan, formerly commissary gen
eral of subsistence. arrived here. today
He will testify before the board, probably
Wednesday.