Daily evening star. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1852-1854, 1853-10-10
Washington News and Gossip.

W88Ql0kLOu N6WB ana OO8Slp.
THREATENED CONFLICT BETWEEN THE CREEK
INDIANS AND THE u S. MARSHAL. ARKANSAS.
1t seems that under the laws of Congress, 1t
becomes the duty of the Marshal of the Western
District of Arkansas, to arrest persons who
have introduced spirituous liquors into the
Indian country. This officer having recently
so arrested Indians who had been punished
under the Indian law for the offence in the
same cases. The Indian authorities are very
indignant, and there is fear of armed collision
to grow out of the affair. The Secretary of
the Interior is said to have directed the Mar
shall to make no more arrests of Indians for
this offence. who may have been hold amenablc
under the Indian law, until he the Secretary
him to give him further instructions on the
subject
HOSPITAL SURGEONS MATHS AND SURG cons
MATES NOT ENTITLED TO PENSIONS A case has
recently been decided by the Department of
the Interior on appeal from the decision of
the Commissioner of Pensions, in which the
facts are as follows: An individual served to
the close of the war Of the revolution as Hos
pital Surgeons Mate, and died in 1899 For
this service. his widow now claims that under
an act of Congress passed in 1923, he was en-
tied, at the time of his death to pension at
the rate of $3.50 per annum, from the 4th Of
March, 1926, to the day Of his death. The
claim is rejected for reasons which may be
hria Ar sic Tod Tn Win rs ho
this decision, We have walled through the pa
pers in the case, and present the following
synopsis Of what seems to us to have been the
grounds on which the claim was rejected, viz ::
The act of May Is, 1928, made provision for
those officers only who were I" entitled to half
pay by the resolve of October 81. 1850 That
none of the officers of the Medical Staff were
embraced by that resolve, might we'll be in
ferred from the fact that Congress had suhse-
quently to pass a resolution to settle the doubts
then entertained as to whether Major and
Brtgaaier Generals were 80 entitled. But the
question respecting the claims of the officers
of the Medical Staff, is not left to Inference,
for on the 18th of January, ISL, Congress ex-
pressly declared the omission; and then, for
the first time, granted half pay to that class
of officers, but only to such as were named in
that act, viz: the Directors of the Hospitals,
Chief Physicians and Hospital Physicians,
Surgeons, Purveyors, Apothecaries and Regi-
mental Surgeons. Although Hospital Sur
geon's Mates and Surgeons Mates are not
enumerated in this act, it was contended that
by it. they were brought within the provisions
Of the act of 1928; and the fact that, years
ago, number Of similar claims were allowed
was urged in support of tho construction con-
tended for. But this argument was met by re-
ferrins to an act of Congress approved Jan.
uary 26, 1884, which seems to have been
designed to meet just such claims as tho pre-
sent: and in view of that enactment, it is
difficult to perceive upon what grounds the
claims heretofore admitted could have been
allowed. That act or resolution is in these
words:
"Rcsoired, That half pay cannot be allowed
to any officer, or to any class or denomination
of officers, to whom it has not been expressly
promised"
Again: BY resolve of Congress passed in
1888, all officers of the Hospital Department.
g ,cho r0ere entitled to haLf pay by tile resoiu-
Of 17th January, $751;" were allowed to com
mute their half pay for life for fill pay for
FIVE years. Now, the Board of War, in 1884
decided that these Surgeons Mates were not
entitled to communication. Why? Because
they were not entitled to hal pay, and there.
fore not of the class who were authorised to
commute their pay. Congress may be said tc
have sanctioned this decision of the Board Of
War; for it never yet has granted communication
to these officers as class but only in some
particular cases by special ants. Of the fifteen
cases heretofore admitted under the act of l 9Th
May, 1928, fourteen were allowed in 1928 and
lS29-immediately after the enactment Of the
law, and when it probably had not been vel
considered and understood, and one in 1884, in
all probability without due consideration
They may, therefore, be very properly looked
upon as not binding presidents.
REVENUE MARINE OFFICERS DROPPED, Pro
NOTED AND APPoINTED.-Captain Geo Moore
dismissed. LIST Lieutenant VIM Pease Captain
vice Moore, dismissed.
I'd Lieutenant K. O. Murden lst Lieutenant
vice Pease. promoted
Sd Lieutenant Henry Wilkinson I'd Lie uten
ant. vice Murden, promoted.
d. G. Constable, of Schen ectady, n. Y, t.
be Sd Lieutenant, vice Wilkinson promoted.
Captain Moore, who is in command of thu
| cutter VIM. l.. Marcy, on the New York sta
ton, is dropped, we apprehend, because hi
failed to comply with his orders in manner
satisfactory to the Treasury Department
Sd Lieutenant Constable was dropped frou
the roll in April last, when the number OF