Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1888-07-26
53rl,ltullt Chronicle.
THURSDAY, JULY %, 1855.
HIS ATTACK ON WOMEN.
New York Tribune.

public has nothing to do, but his official
manners are a subject of legitimate crit
icism. like any other detail of his official
conduct. The debate in the Senate the
other day upon the pension vetoes re-
vealed him as President who does moi
hesitate in the eager pursuit of CHEAP
popularity to indulge in mean attacks
upon the characters of poor and friend
less women. This is not large bust
ness for the President OF the United
States to be engaged in.
The latest instance is that of Mrs
Dougherty. This woman, while work.
ing in an arsenal making cartridges
suffered a severe accident; she lost hel
son; she became partially insane, if not
wholly so. The Pension Bureau reject
ed her claim, as it often must do in real
ly deserving cases, but the Pension COM
mittees of both houses of Congress, one
Democratic and the other Republican
decided that, to use Senator Hawley'
words, it would be 'wise and generous
to give her a pension. The President
vetoed the bill, alleging that the woman
was ''of very bad character, and had been
under arrest nine times for drunkenness,
larceny. creating disturbance, and mis-
demeanors of that sort" The language
leaves the impression that the woman is
now VIGOROUSLY bad character. The
fact is, as Senator Davis, of Minnesota,
showed, that all these accusations relate
to period prior to 1872. She was ar
rested before that date seven times, the
other two cases being of another person
entirely. From 1872 to 1888 her con-
duct had been proper. Yet, as the Sen
ator saws, s.the President of the United
States has gone back fifteen years to in
vestigate the character of this poor, old,
decrepit. half-craZed woman for the pur-
pose of putting an imputatiOn upon her,
and thereby justifying the veto" Sen
ator Davis also stated that on the day
of the veto a report as to this woman
had been withdrawn from the Pension
Bureaus files, and delivered to the chief
of the Washington police, which had
not been returned Here, then, we have
the President of the United States, af-
ter two Congressional committees and
the two houses of Congress have decid-
ed that this woman shall have pension
of a few dollars a month, hunting through
the police-c court achIves of Washington
to discover whether at a time when she
was probably half-crazed by disease and
grief she had been locked up a few times
What if she had been? Moll Pitcher
was not a person of rigid morals, but
her patriotic services are gratefully re-
membered. We quite agree with Sena
tor Blair, who is certainly not accus-
toned to condoning immortality, that the
Presidents notion that all he has to do
to make a pension seem improper is to
affix personal stigma upon the appli-
cant is entirely erroneous.
Another case of the same kind, which
was Indignantly recalled in this debate,
was that of Harriet Welch. Her huS
band had been pensioned for gunshot
wound in the leg, and, applying for in
creased pension, was directed to appear
at Green Bay, Wis, for examination.
Returning home on the cars he fell be-
tween them, owing, as it was believed,
to the weakness of his leg, and was
killed. Congress awarded her pension,
which the President vetoed, embodying
this contemplate slur in the message:
Though this widow admits that prior
to her marriage with the deceased sol
dier she had married another man whom
she could only say she believed to be
dead, l believe her case to be pitable
one"
Seven children had been the fruit of
the marriage with the soldier, upon
which the President chose to cast this
utterly needless reflection. The Senate
committee say ''there is nothing in the
evidence to Justify" But he seems to
be given to sweeping reflections of this
nature. After enumerating the alleged
dark spots in Mrs. Dougherty's record,
he could not stay his hand from saying:
But there is much reason to fear that
this case will find its parallel in many
that have reached a successful conclu-
SiOn."
This is pleasant reading for soldiers
widows and their friends. Really, we
think, with Senator Blair, that if Mr..
Cleveland must write these veto mes
sages, he could do it ''as a gentleman,
not to say like a President"