Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1899-03-23
Embalmed Beef Inquiry.


The Court of Inquiry into the beef
Supplied cur soldiers by Alger and Egan,
held sessions at Leavenworth and Kansas
City last week. The only witness at
LeaYenworth was Sergeant Edward Mason,
Regimental Commissary Sergeant, at
Florida and through the Cuban campaign.
He testified as follows.
"The meat we received was in appear
ance fine, but it was undoubtedly chemi-
caIly treated. One morning I went down
to the refrigerator car to draw meat, and
I objected to the appearance of it. An
agent of Armour & Company was there.
I do not know what his name was He
told me at the time that this meat had
been treated with what was called pre-
seryatine. It was as if it had been painted
over with something like parafiue wax.
There was a light coating on the outside
of the meat. / objected to the color of the
meat and refused to accept it Our COM
missary officer, Lieutenant 6. J. Hartman,
came down and be refused to accept it"
About what time was that ?"
The 18th or 29th of May"
About ho6 much was there of this
meat at that timer
Probably 5000 pounds that was in the
car"
Did you notice it generally ?"
examined the meat very carefully as
Commissary Sergeant; had handled meat
before. The meat was undoubtedly
spoiled"
Were any reports made by Armour's
sRent at the time as to the harmfulness or
lack of harmfulness of this preparation I;
was 1t discussed ?"
@My recollection is that he said the
preparation used did not hurt the meat /;
that it was safe. He advised as to cut off
the outside, and said the meat would be
all right in the interior next to the bone.p
Did he state where this had been
done p
No, sir"
Was all the meat you got there treated
with preeervstine ?"
That could not say. The only thin g
knew was what Armour's agent told me.'
CANNED ROAST BEEF.
Examination at Kansas City The Court
recalled L. 7. RambO, the witness whose
testi mony at the morning session had been
disputed by employees of the Armour Com
pany. The witness testified that he had
been laid Off by the Armour Company
about the middle of January last. He
produced letter from the superintendent
vouching for his good conduct, honesty
and general character" In answer to
Questi pms by Major Lee, Rambo stated that
two carloads OF canned beef sold to the
Government by Armour were returned
some time in May.
What was the character of the returned
beef?D asked Major Lee.
When the cars were opened many of
the cans were found to have burst. Mag
gots were crawling everywhere. The
stencil was so bad that ammonia had to be
used 70 kill it. / was employed unloading
cars
What was done with the cans ~
The opened cans were taken to the
cooking room the others 10 the retorts."
And then 2"
: don't know. / suppose the good meat
was put on the market again.
About how many cans in the two cars
were spoiled ~ asked Colonel Gillespie.
8 think they would average about two
fo the case. With 500 cases in the car that
would make 1000 cans
Major Lee asked the witness if he had
aver seen Government inspectors examine
any of the cans or cases.
II never saw any inspection made. We
an helped put on the inspection labels
In response TO q question by Colonel
Davis. witness stated that inspections
night have been made before the cans
came 10 his department, adding: All
know was shat there was no inspection
Hheu the labels were put on the cans,R