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| General Nelson A. Miles. |
Cortland Evening Standard, Wednesday, January 4, 1899.
LETTERS MADE PUBLIC.
Correspondence Relative to the Beef Controversy.
THE COMMISSARY'S DEFENSE.
The Meat Furnished the Army Was Excellent According to One Letter. General Miles Refuses to Be Interviewed and Will Not Discuss His Testimony.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4.—Commissary General Eagan has given out for publication some additional correspondence relative to criticisms passed by General Miles upon the quality of the meat supplied to the army during the war.
First is a letter from Major Black, who was General Miles' chief commissary officer during the Porto Rican campaign. In view of the regulations forbidding the destruction or condemnation of any supplies, except upon the finding of a properly constituted board of survey, he was asked as to the correctness of a statement attributed to General Miles that 190,000 pounds of canned beef had been condemned in Porto Rico. His reply was as follows:
"Replying to your communication of Dec. 31 relative to 'boards of survey,' I have the honor to state that I find no report of boards of survey on refrigerated beef or tinned roast beef among my papers."
Following up the inquiry into the allegations regarding the quality of the roast beef furnished the army, General Eagan says he directed a special examination be made of all the meat the minute he heard the first complaint. The first report to come to hand was the following, from the office of the purchasing and the depot commissary at Tampa:
TAMPA, Fla., Dec. 31.
Commissary General Eagan, Washington:
SIR—It has just occurred to me that, with the intensely unjust things that have been said about the beef business connected with the commissary general's department, it might be gratifying to you to remember that, under your direction, I examined a very large number of cans of beef, both roast and corned, representing hundreds of thousands of cans, and found none bad. You will remember I did this with a great deal of care, and it occurred to me that inasmuch as I went through the war of '61-'65 from beginning to end and issued this kind of beef to both brigades that I was connected with, in this war, and having made this examination as referred to, that it would be gratifying to you to know personally that I have never seen in this somewhat extended experience better beef in cans than you have furnished. I trust you will pardon this seeming intrusion, but I cannot refrain from testifying from personal knowledge as to the good quality of this beef. I am, very respectfully yours,
E. R. HUTCHINS, Captain and C. S. U. S. V. Pur. and Depot Com.
The last of the letters relates to the issue raised between General Miles and General Eagan as to the authorship of a certain newspaper criticism upon the army supplies and includes General Eagan's letter and General Miles' reply, as follows:
The Adjutant General of the Navy:
GENERAL—I enclose herewith an article from the New York Journal dated New York, Friday, Dec. 23, 1898, headed, "Miles makes grave charges against the administration; poisons used in beef made the soldiers ill. Tons of bad meat sent to troops in Porto Rico, etc." In view of the "grave charges" made in this purported interview with General Nelson A. Miles, I have the honor to ask that this article be referred to General Miles to ascertain if the statements therein made and attributed to him are correct, or to what extent they are correct, and that he may be directed to state in detail whether he is correctly quoted, and in what particular he is correctly or incorrectly quoted. Very respectfully,
CHARLES P. EAGAN, Commissary General of Subsistance.
The reply to this letter was as follows:
WASHINGTON, Dec. 23.
Respectfully returned. I have repeatedly refused to be interviewed or to comment upon or discuss my testimony. When a proof is furnished me and corrected or examined I presume the commissary general can obtain a copy. This subject has been referred to the inspector general of the army with directions to make a thorough and rigid investigation of the whole matter and the commissary general will have no opportunity of being heard.
NELSON A. MILES, Major General, Commanding.
MEAT INQUIRY BEGUN.
The Board Decides That the Sessions Will Be Behind Closed Doors.
WASHINGTON, Jan. 4.—The board of survey appointed by the secretary of war to examine into and report upon the responsibility for the loss of 300,000 pounds of refrigerated beef of Swift & Co., which was rejected by General Miles upon its arrival at Ponce, P. R., and which was subsequently thrown overboard while en route on the return voyage, met here, but decided that inasmuch as the proceedings of the board of survey were subject to review, that they would not be made public.
The board is instructed to ascertain if proper effort was made to feed this beef to troops in Porto Rico, fix the responsibility in case proper effort was not made, and ascertain whether the beef had been chemically treated.
The board intimate that the proceedings only involve a recommendation as to whether Swift & Co. should be paid for the beef. This, however, necessarily involves fixing the responsibility for the rejection of the beef.
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| Mother Hubbard or Camelback Steam Engine. |
MOTHER HUBBARD ENGINES.
Railroad Commission Opposed to Their Use as at Present Manned.
ALBANY, Jan. 4.—Legislation will be asked this year to pass a bill either compelling an additional man to be employed in engines known as "Mother Hubbard," or else stopping their use. The recommendation comes from the state railroad commission, which has this to say:
"The use of Wooten firebox locomotives is increasing in this state. This type of engine is commonly known as a "Mother Hubbard." There is a serious drawback connected with its use; that the engineer and fireman are not in the same cab, but the fireman some distance in the rear and out of vision of the engineer, and there is no safe or convenient way of communication between the two.
"In Pennsylvania an engineer while looking from his cab was killed by his head coming in contact with a bridge. The engine ran for miles without control, until finally the fireman, realizing that something was wrong, clambered to the front cab at great personal risk, and stopped the engine.
The board believes that an act should be passed providing that an additional man be employed on each engine, stationed with the engineer, or that some practicable device, approved by this board, be employed for communication between engineer and fireman."
BLEW UP THE MAINE.
EVIDENCE THAT A SPANISH JUDGE PLANNED IT.
Unfortunately He is Hiding in Spain—Boasted in Advance That the Battleship Would Come to Grief—Heard the Explosion at a Theatre and Cried "There Goes the Maine"—Drank Champagne in Honor of the Event While Others Inquired as to the Cause.
NEW YORK, Jan. 4.—The following is from The Herald:
HAVANA, Tuesday.—The city is much excited to-night by the open charge, made in El Reconcentrado, the organ of "Cuba Libre," that Zacarias Bresmes, a Spanish judge now a fugitive from Havana, was actively engaged in the plot which resulted in the destruction of the Maine.
El Reconcentrado to-day gave a sketch of Bresmes' career previous to last February, charging him with various crimes. The paper will say to-morrow: When the Maine came into Havana harbor Bresmes openly declared in the Spanish cafes that such an act of audacity on the part of the Yankees could not pass without stringent punishment. His threats were direct and boded destruction to the American ship. His associates were Felipe Gonzalez, Dion Sio Vega and Eusebio Azcue, violent Spaniards. Others with him [were] officers of the volunteers. These men boasted that the Yankees were about to get their due, though no charge can be directed against any save Bresmes. He and the hotheaded Spaniards of Murallo-st. met nightly at a house near the corner of Murallo and Habana-sts., where the public know the plot against the Maine was concocted and all arrangements completed.
When the explosion took place Bresmes was in the Tacon theatre with friends. At the sound of the explosion he cried: "There goes the Maine!" Champagne was drunk in honor of the terrible event at the moment when others were vaguely inquiring of one another what had happened.
Bresmes' name was mentioned before the American court of inquiry, but not sufficient evidence was then forthcoming to warrant any action, and all reference to him was suppressed in the published report.
The Cubans here almost without exception regard the charges of El Reconcentrado as beyond dispute. Bresmes is now said to be hiding in Spain.
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| "Rough Rider" Theodore Roosevelt. |
WILL BE GENERAL ROOSEVELT.
The Governor to be Brevetted for Gallant and Meritorious Service.
NEW YORK, Jan. 4.—A Washington special to The Herald says: Governor Roosevelt of New York is to receive the brevet rank of brigadier-general for gallant and meritorious service during the battle of San Juan. A board of officers consisting of Generals Swan and Boynton and Colonel Carter, adjutant general, which has been considering the question of officers entitled to brevets for heroism, have recommended that Colonel Roosevelt be brevetted. Secretary Alger has brought the recommendation to the attention of the president who has directed the nomination of Governor Roosevelt for brevet grade.
FUNERAL OF BRADLEY MIX
To be Held at 10 o'clock To-morrow Morning—Burial at Blodgett Mills.
The funeral of Bradley Mix, who died at the Cortland hospital yesterday as the result of injuries received that morning from being struck by a Lehigh Valley passenger train at McLean, will be held at 10 o'clock to-morrow morning from the residence of his daughter, Mrs. John Hudson, at 22 Squires-st. The burial will be made at Blodgett Mills. Mrs. James Barlow of 24 Squires-st. is also a daughter of Mr. Mix, and he leaves one son, Charles Mix, of 24 Railroad-st.
The War Illustrated.
The late unpleasantness with Spain has become the basis of many sensational amusement features and without a doubt, one that appeals to the spirit of patriotism in every true American. The scenic song production "The Battles of our Nation" vividly depicts the combat between the Spanish and American fleets and ends in the destruction of the Spanish fleet. The above production is only one of the many features of the Bruns & Nina high class vaudevilles. Prices 25, 35 and 50 cents. On sale at Rood & Co., [Cortland.]
GEORGE NELSON LYMAN.
Death of a Former Cortland Man at Minneapolis.
A Minneapolis, Minn., paper says:
The death of George Nelson Lyman at his home in Harmon Place, Dec. 18, 1898, is lamented far beyond his family and many personal friends; as a pioneer, a stockman, a lumberman, and a director of large business enterprises and as a man, the Northwest has been benefited by his untiring and ceaseless energy. Endowed with a vigorous constitution and unwilling to retire from business activity, it was not until his 80th year that he succumbed to serious illness, at which time be contracted pneumonia, from the effect of which he had suffered greatly the past year.
Mr. Lyman was a New Yorker. He was born at Cortland, Nov. 16, 1817, being the second son of Asabel Lyman, a merchant. Here it was that he spent his youth and his school days, and here began his business career, when in 1838 the firm of Lyman & Sons found him Junior member. His brother Asabel P. Lyman, now living at Sheboygan, Wis., in his 85th year, was also of this firm.
He came West in 1842, locating at Sheboygan, Wis., where in company with his brother Asahel P. Lyman, he conducted a prosperous merchandise and general trading business.
Returning in 1847 to Truxton, N. Y., he married Elizabeth S. McKnight, a sister of S. T. McKnight, Minneapolis.
He continued his mercantile business at Sheboygan for a number of years, also establishing stores at Fond du Lac, Calumet and Ripon, Wis. Later, after moving to Ripon, he became quite a large operator in pine and hardwood timber-lands in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota, establishing a sawmill plant at Wausau, Wis., and rafting lumber to Hannibal, Mo., where it was distributed.
Moving to Milwaukee in 1872, he engaged in the pork packing business, continuing, however, his pine land operations and dealing in real estate, purchasing, together with his two sons, a lumber manufacturing plant at Necedah, Wis., and organizing the Lyman Lumber Co., of which he remained president up to the date of his death.
The last ten years of his life have been spent in Minneapolis where, besides keeping up his other business, he was a director in the Flour City National bank.
His business activity developed a keen and sound judgment, which gave him the reputation of one of the best traders in the Northwest. Masterful in intellect, he handled the contingencies of a large deal with such consummate skill and shrewdness that it became to him no more effort than the handling of detail by a clerk, a man whose business was in his head. Personally he was a loving, generous and considerate husband and father. Animated with keen wit, and with good cheer, he was a friend to those that were fortunate to know him, such as they will never forget.
A widow, two sons, Ceylon E., and George N., Jr. and two daughters, Mrs. C. H. Anson, Milwaukee, and Mrs. W. H. Bovey, Minneapolis, are the surviving family.
Mr. Lyman's business career in Cortland was begun in the block at the corner of Main-st. and Groton-ave. where the new Samson building now stands. The old building was long known as "the old Lyman store," and in its early days it was the most prominent business block in the place. Mr. Lyman has visited Cortland every few years and always took pains to look up and call upon his boyhood friends.
WILL HAVE A CIRCUS!
Good Fortune to Befall the People of DeRuyter and Vicinity.
In all probability all traveling circuses will hereafter skip the town of DeRuyter. Not that the village is not large enough, nor that the people of that locality do not like a good show but because the village is going to have a circus of its own, a real live circus and menagerie with its wonderful trained ponies, lady snake charmers, giant men, dwarfs, cute monkies, trick dogs and everything else that goes to make up a first-class show.
It will no longer be necessary for the older people in the vicinity of DeRuyter to feel it a great and demanding necessity about once or twice a year to hitch up and drive to town and visit the circus "just on account of the children." The reason for all this is that Signor Sawtelle [Sautelle], the great showman, has purchased a farm of 400 acres about two miles southeast of DeRuyter village toward Burdick Settlement which will be the headquarters of the big show. Mr. Sawtelle has also purchased the house known as Hotel DeRuyter in that village for his residence, and is now moving there from Syracuse. The farm will be used for the training and rearing of all the animals connected with the show. It will certainly by quite a feature of the country in that vicinity, and it may not be surprising if all the youngsters of that section grow up to be tamers of bears, trainers of horses, bareback riders, clowns, trapeze performers or circus managers.
Installation and Banquet.
The newly elected officers of Cortland Tent, No. 307, Knights of the Maccabees of the World, were installed last evening in Vesta lodgerooms by A. G. Klotten, the full ritualistic ceremonies of the order being carried out. After the installation, the doors of the diningroom were thrown open and a bill of fare of liberal proportions disappeared in a comparatively short time. The remainder of the evening was agreeably passed in a social way, card playing being engaged in. It was an early morning hour when the guests, about fifty in number, departed with the unanimous declaration that they had enjoyed themselves thoroughly.
BREVITIES.
—Chancellor Michael T. Roche installed the recently elected officers of the C. M. B. A. last night in Empire hall.
—Attention is called to the first annual message of Governor Roosevelt which today appears on the third page and which was transmitted to the legislature at noon to-day.
—Mr. Eugene Woodworth reports seeing and hearing a robin here in Cortland yesterday, and Mr. Charles H. White notes seeing one west of the village last Saturday.
—New display advertisements to-day are—Model Clothing Co., First Clearance Sale, page 8; F. Daehler, Closing Out Sale, page 4; Opera House, The Kennedy Players, page 5; J. T. Davern & Co., Annual Sale, page 4.
—Eighteen couples of Cortland's young people enjoyed a sleighride to Higginsvllle last night, one of Mine Host Freer's fine suppers and a season of tripping the light fantastic in the spacious ballroom. Happy Bill Daniels furnished the music. The trip was made in two large sleighs and home was not reached till the evening was well advanced.
Zinc and Grinding.
Make Devoe lead and zinc wear twice as long as lead and oil. C. F. Brown sells it. [Paid ad. refers to paint coatings—CC editor.]
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