Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-07-09
TIE PENSION STEAL

If there is anyone inclined to criticise
the president for yetoing 80 many pri-
vate pension bills lately, they have not
be en- reading his reas oas for so doing.
Among the many private hills occasion
ally there is worthy one, but study
the samples given herewith.
In the case OF one VIM. Boone, for
instance: 1t appears that Boone, who
had never made application for pen
sion to the pension bureau, enlisted i'm
August, lSG2; WAS IN action in Noyem-
Der of the same. year and was taken
prisoner and at once paroled. During
his parole lie took part in a Fourth of
July celebration at Aurora, Illinois, in
1868, and was terribly injured by the
discharge of n cannon he was assisting
TO manage. In reviewing the ease the
president SAYS he is unable TO discover
any relation between the accident and
the military service, or any reason why
If pension is granted as proposed 10y
this bill, there should not also be a pen
sion granted 10 any of the companions
jured 1T the same time. Ile says fur
Their: ~ disabled man with wife and
family in need, are objects which appeal
to the sympathy and charitable feeling
Of any decent man, but it seems TO me
that il by no means follows that those
entrusted with the peoples business
and the expenditure of the peoples
money are justified IN so executing the
pension laws as that they shall furnish
relief in every ease Of distress or
hardship"
or one Of the cases, that Of James III.
Darling, whose disability is described
in the records as a general stiffness of
joints, the president says that it appears
that he enlisted i'm November, 1861, and
was reported rs having deserted on
March 5th, 1863. An examination i'm
1850, found this "victin Of war disa5il-
ity." with the appearance of a hale,
hearty old man weighing 16S pounds.
1T is evident to me" lie concludes,
''le ought lot lc Tersiored."
Commenting OF another case. bill
for the relief of William Bishop. who
was enrolled as n substitute March 18th,
1865, admitted To the hospital with
measels May 9Th, returned to duty May
9Th, and mustered out May 18th, 1865.
the President, in vetoing the bill. SAYS:
This is the military record of this sol
der, Who remained in the army one
month and seventeen days, having en-
tered it al a time when high bounties
were paid. Fifteen years after This
brilliant service and this terrific en-
counter with the measles, on June 18th,
lSS0. the claimant discovered that his
attack Of measles had some relation to
his army enrolment, and this disease
had settled in his eyes, also affecting
his spinal column
OF another case, i'm Il bill for the relief
of Julia Connolly, the widow of Thomas
Connolly, a soldier mustered into SER
vice October Goth, 1861. and reported as
a deserter November nth, 1861, the
President says: lie never did DAVIS
service SO far as his name appears on
the records. lie visited lis family
about December 18th, and was found
drowned ina canal about six miles from
his home. Those who prosecute claims
for pensions have grown very bold when
cases of this description are presented
for consideration"
y bill granting pension to Andrew
j. Wilson, who it appears was drafted
into the service in February, 1865. and
was discharged in September of the
same year on account of chronic neph-
+ t.SGnd DEAFNESS, vino in his application
for pension alleged rheumatism. result
ing from inflammation of the muscles
Of the back with pain in the kidneys and
diarrhpa, the president dismisses with
this remark: Whatever else may be
said of this claimant or his achieve
ments during his short military career
it must be conceded that he contracted
a great deal of disability. There is 10
doubt IN my mind that whatever all
ments he may honestly lay claim to, his
title to the same was complete before
he entered the army"