Evening star., 1899-04-12
Beef Court of Inquiry is Hearing Its
Last Witnesses.
MAJ. GEN. CHAFFEE ON TEE STAND
Effort to Have Military Enforce
ment of Unheeded Subpoenas.
MAJOR LEES DELINQUENTS

| The probability is that the beef court of
| inquiry will close its public sessions and
| examination of witnesses this week. Re
corder Davis stated today, after the exam
| ination of Maj. Gen. Adna R. Chaffee the
Ell Caney hero, that the latter was the
! last witness to be called, and that
! only rehearings will be permitted.
| Il do not see how the court can very well
last beyond this week." said Col. Davis
| to a Star reporter.
| Maj. Lee, counsel for Gen Miles, does not
| hold these views, and he has list of new
| witnesses whom he will insist shall be
| called. Several of them have been sub
! poenaed, but have not responded. He wants
| to bring them here by force, if necessary.
| They are F. G. Coburn of Pittsburg, Pa;
| Capt. F. NJ. Bean of Chester, Pa: Simon
K. Moss and l. n. Ferris of New York
| city, M T. Maloney of Ottawa, ILL.,; Louis
! Goutschalk of Chicago, H., and a Mr..
| Spicer of Harrisburg, Pa.
| Maj Gen. Chaffee's testimony was very
| much in favor Of the army refrigerated
| beef, although he admitted that most of
! it had been condemned, rejected and de-
| stroyed by the medical men of his COM
| mand in Cuba. He maintained that many
| of these reflections Were without merit, and
| based solely upon the unpleasant appear
| ance of meat which. otherwise, was good
and sweet. He never suspected or saw
any presence of chemical preservatives
1
| ned roast beef, but he said it had not
! been used army ration before the
| Spanish war.
! Illness Due to Bad Food.
| The first witness today Brig. Gen. \.
| X. Arnold, who commanded the second di-
vision of the 1th Army Corps. He testi-
| fed that he at the camp at Jackson
! vile, and at times the beef served to the
| soldiers was uneatable.
Asked to state the cause, ne said the
meat was tainted. The potatoes and
onions, too, were spoiled often. The COM
plants of the men We're continuous. After
| the first two months at Jacksonville the
| health of the men began to deteriorate
| rapidly and there was a great deal of ty-
| phoid fever. The sickness, especially the
| fever, was the result, in his opinion, of bad
sanitation and food. He criticised the
| method of disposing of camp refuse one
| of the agencies of disease.
General Arnold said he recollected Lieut..
| Col. Currie, whose testimony as witness
was disputed by Armour men, and said
| that he placed him in charge of the erec-
tion of the rife range at the camp. be-
cause of his special ability in that direc-
tion. He did not remember that Col Cur
rie had ever spoken to him the subject
of the decentralization of meat, and he
never had reason to suspect the use of pre-
Servatives
Major Lees cross-examination of the wit
| ness developed that he had no experience
n.
| membered that Col. Currie reported to him
while on the special work referred to that
large percentage of the men detailed to
assist him We're i'll. During the civil war
and Indian campaigns troops were supplied
by beef on the hoof.
Gen. ChaFee's Experience.
Major Cen Adna R. Chaffee, the princl-
pal figure in the fierce battle at Ell Caney
was next on the stand. He is a severe
ma Of mid with CHI
gray hair, reddish gray mustache, bronze
complexion and clear, calm eyes, piercing
from under eyebrows that hang far out
over a long, aquiline nose. His face is
heavily lined; his chin is long, wide and
firm.
the Iroquois. but he heard no complaints
against canned roast beef from the men on
the way. He said his company commanders
were ordered to be present at every mess
In cuba his men chose bacon in preparing
their three days rations. He ate canned
rcast beef once and found it unpalatable
because 1t was too fresh or without salt
Gen. Chaffee said he believed the refrig-
Grated beef issued to his men was almost
wholly rejected or spoiled. The reflections
We're due to its unfit appearance. It was
issued to his commissary at am, and
made ready about 8 am. daily. The re-
frgerated beef he ate he found sweet and
wholesome He said it often had a green
coating, but in view of his own experience
IL; lOiu his medical men that they ought
not to reject the meat for this reason as
his men stood in great need of a change
from salt meat. The colonel of one regi-
ment disapproved the rejection of a board
of survey, cooked the meat ate it and said
it was good. He said he never suspected
the presence of chemicals, and does not
believe they were used on the meat.
Th witness said there was a great deal
of SicknsS and fever among his men whose
stomachs were out of order.
He is stationed at present at Havana,
and the canned roast beef is fed to the des-
titute Cubans about the city. OF these cans
a certain percentage SWELL the result of
fermentation from improper packing He
stated that once 10000 cans were thrown
into the sea. He found this had been done
without proper inspection as was often
the case. The cans had not all been opened
prior to summary action. He had often
found one can bad in a lot and twenty
three others good One defective can
would however, scent a whole load. but
the contents of the other cans would not
be affected.
Under cross-examination General Chaffee
stated nus belief that the green mold on
meat was the natural result of cold stor-
age. Only one-quarter of beef of all that
he met with was really unsound
Canned Roast Beef Not Issued Now.
"Will you please state to the court" said
| Major Lee. whether not canned roast
beef is still being issued to the army?"
mo. sir. 1t is not
The witness could not recall that he ever
conversed with Captain r. W. Thompson,
a son of a former Secretary of the Navy,
on the subject of canned roast beef No
complaints were brought to his attention,
although other matters were subjects for
this action. 1t was issued just as any other
part of the ration, and the men were not
given their own choice with regard to the
meat.
General Chaffee stated that in all his long
service he had never before the war with
Spain known canned roast beef to be used
as a component part of the meat ration in
the field campaigns. Nevertheless he
considered it and corned beef as being
nutritive. He expressed the views of Gem
eral Shafter concerning cattle. 1t would
have been practicable, he said, to have car
ried them with the expedition to Cuba
but the landing of them would uat have