Show POWELL SAYSHf EMBALMED BEEf 1 j Had a Contract With Armour Company 1 1 J SOME OF THErAT 1 SHIPPED TO TAMPA 1 4 J Says Process Was Commended By Commissary Department Meat Turned Black and Smelled Like SulphurGowd Be Used to Preserve Pre-serve Human BodiesSty51 That There Are Other MethxdsTestiS mony of Officers Against Canned Meat AS a RationOne Offlcer Said All Beef Re Sav Was Bad Washington April SThe army court of Inquiry into the bee supplied to the army decide today to adhere to its decision not to call the list of witnesses submitted by General Miles The reading read-ing of the official reports was concluded conclud-ed Mr Alexander Powell the owner Of the beef process of which so much has been said was heard at the forenoon 4 session He gave many details concerning con-cerning his invention and stated that he made an agreement wIth Armour Co to have them use the process InCase in-Case they could secure the government COlltrnct He stated however that Swift Co had not had the use of it He said the process was applied to a car or sIx carcasses of beef at Chicago Chi-cago owned by Armour Co He had macic the arrangement with Mr Con none the superintendent of Armour Co agreeing that they should have the preference in the use of the process for the use of the government These car casSe9 were taken to Tampa the latter part of May last and Colonel Weston sacured four of the carcasses exposing them in the sun for about eighty hours It was after this exposUre that Colonel Weston of the commIssar department made his report which was commendatory commenda-tory toryWERE WERE OTHER PROCESSES He said later that not to his knowledge knowl-edge had Armour Co used the proc pro-c s dUring the war nor had it ever been used by anyone except himself There were however other bee preservative pre-servative processes in the market Does your process rsemble the em balmins process at all asked Major Lee LeeNot Not in the least replied Mr POll But I see no reason why it cold nf be s usewhy hum bodies could not be preserved bj its use However there is no resemblance to the embalm tag process 1Ir Powell said he had known of hn tels in which beef prepared by him hal been use for the pat five ea ont in which it gave the best satisfaction He had been shipping to the ComptE du Barry for ten years and he would have no other beef He had only a verbal contract wIth Armour Co but the understanding was that if that firm got the contt they were to have the exclusive control of the prOe during the continuation of the contract only He was to havE 50 cnt per hundred for its useabut i200 carload He had not per carload no attemptP to make arrangements with Swift Co the suceul bidders at the tm but after the blle of Santiago hai written to Mr Swift on the subject fu nishing him a piece of beef that haI ben treated Nothing however hl come of it HAD THE ODOR OF SULPHUR Mr Powell said he made n claim that his pros would not dSlcr bee Any process would cause a change in appearance After the use of his process beef would look like met that had been in cold storage for tW weeks darkening the gratnand bleaching bleach-ing the fat There would be a sell r f sUlphur for an hour as sulphur was one of the articles used In the fumigathn The witness said that refnigeratd meat which had not ben kept cool enough would look slimy and be dark of grain He considered i impossible to keep fresh meat for seventotwo hours after leaving a refrigerator without with-out a preseratve process and he was of the opinion that any agreement to keep it so long in the climate of Cuba after taking it out of the refrigerator must involve some preservative process He thought if thoroughlY frozen Jt would keep for from twelve to twenty hours ad not longer Captain George B Davis who was General Egns principal assistant in the commissary generals office dung the war was recalled to give testimony concerning a shipment of caned beef to the troops at Dunn Lorng Va He said many cans of the canned bee had been opened in the office and he bad never found any that contained unwholesome un-wholesome met Before concludl Captain Davis asked permission to make a brief statement in response to Mr de Caindn He said that his charge of the files of the cmmsa generals office was only perfunctory and that he had a search made for the memorandas which Mr de Calndr had reported a missing and found one ot them He had never removed any papers pa-pers from the files REPORTS OF OFFICERS The reading at the reports Id officers was then proceeded with by Major Lee Lieutenant Colonel Bisbee ot the First infantry forwarded the reports of h company officers saying that he concurred con-curred in their expressions ot opinion LIeutenant Campbell King sid that all the beef that had come under his seratlon was bad Lieutenant D G Berry said that It had no permanent i effects but that it promoted slight nausea nau-sea Lieutenant Kibune said that the bee was upalatable Lieutenant McCue said that the men were enabled to subsist upon it but that was all After a brief executive session the court took a recess until 2 ocOk Colonel Davis announced at the beginning begin-ning of the afternoon session that the court had decided to adhere to its former for-mer decision to summon only stick of the additional witnesses smeted by General Miles as could give testimony Gener Ies upon point not already covered by the Inquiry The readln of the reports 01 army officers upon the canned roast beef a an army raton was then reed and concluded The reports read today included sixty or seventy statements fro army officers cers non the the following from 1 I7ineral Lloyd Wheaton dated at Fort I eavenworth Jan 13 last Havingi ecentb joined the Twcntt th Infantry to report the result of the experidnees of the regiment durng the recent campaign in Cuba 1 have con suled Lieutenant Colonel W S Mc Caskey Twentieth infantry the oHer who commanded the regiment during the active operations of Santagf Ie Cuba and its movements to the present date The folowing Is the experience of the regiment NOT SUITABLE FOR RATION Canned roast beef is not suitable for issue to troops hi Cuba Ullng the hOt season The meat becomts soft and 1lh and unless the stomachs of the men are In the healthiest condition It cannot be eaten or retained I a can is once opened It must be used or i win become mouldy Enlisted merA prefer I pre-fer any other meats My experience while commandln i the Frt brlgade First divISion Seventh Sev-enth army corps In Georgia and Pier ida was such as that reported by Ieu tenant Colonel tcCaskey although butt but-t small quantities of canned fresh beef > were issued to my command it being practicable to SUlply fresh bed from refrigerator cars I Among the many other opinions vere I the following e Captain J H Shelabare Tenth t Infantry The beef was nauseating Colonel I D Ruse Tenth Infantry I After continued use the canned heel t became so nauseating that the men i Culd not cat itS It-S Colonel Smith Thirteenth infantry t I was not a fit raton Major VmHorne Twentysecond infantry fantr The canned beef was noth lug more than the refuse of beef after soup had been made from IL A board of ofcers expressed the opinion for the Twentyffth reinient They found the beef so unpalatable insipId and worthless that it had not been used The board then adjourned until Men day dayGeneral General Shofter probably will t05t fr early next week and the outlook is for the closing of testimony by Saturday Sat-urday next |