Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-08-03

he wasn't Of much use to her about the
house. OF course she needed him, n
his father Is crippled soldier. letter.
Of advice concerning the conduct Of the
pension Office pour in by the thousand,
and II is dull mail that does not bring
q curse upon the head Of the commits.
sioner because somebody's pension ,hai
been refused. People think the pension
Office can do anything, grant them big
pensions without form or evidence, loar
them money, make holiday gifts, and SC
ON. One Of the saddcst letters evei
read was from woman out In Ohio
who had lost boy in the war. He had
been shot In the swamps near Bator
Rouge, La, and his body was never re
covered. She implored the pension com
missioner TO send men down there tc
hunt the swamps for his bones, and de
clared she would die happy IL she could
recover the remains Of her boy and have
them buried beside herself.
THE chief disabilities for which pen
sions are granted2 That is a question
everybody asks. There appears to be
general curiosity concerning the injuries
men receive in battle and army life
Well, in round numbers 12O. 900 pension.
ers suffered gunshot wounds. Eleven
or twelve thousand of these were hit In
the face, 1880 in tho neck, 1900 In the
chest, $500 in tho back, 900 in the
shoulder, $4,000 in the hand, 81 900 in
the thigh. 10000 in the leg and 1000 In
the foot. OF the amputations 9, 900 were
of the arm, 1,400 of part Of the hand
and only Of the hand itself. While
$500 legs were taken Of and 400 parts
Of feet, only amputations of the foot
alone are on the records. More than 40,
900 cases of disability are charged te
rheumatism, and more than 5000 Il
chronic diarrhea. There are about COZ
cases of total blindness, the same mum
ber of loss of sight of one eye, $50 case.
of one eye lost, $4,000 diseases of tn,
eyes, 1900 of total deafness and 1900 o,
partial Deafness
"Of course the pension Office carrie,
gladness to many thousands of homes
But at the same time 1t does q great deal
of harm, as you would see IL you could
look into the thousands of cases OF
fraudulent pensions with which the of.
fee has had to deal. Many thousands OF
men have committed perjury in order t.
get a pension of So or $40 month, and
more than that, have induced thei,
friends to commit perjury for their bene
fit. ! often wonder at the good nature
of physicians and surgeons in helping
poor devils to get pensions to which they
are not entitled. Doctors sometimes have
wonderfully retentive memories, as in e
case which was put through the Other
day. The surgeon had seen the claiman,
but once in his life. and that more thar
quarter of century ago. Yet he pre-
sumed to remember the condition of the
mans lungs at that time. though he had
passed but five minutes in his company
while on his rounds of vaccination. We
have had applications come in here 70,
pensions on account of decayed teeth
falling hair, bunions and corns that were
brought on by the long marches Of til,
war, for failing eyes that were perfectly
good till the claimants had reached the
age of 60 or more, for frost bites and bao
teeth. One man wanted pension foi
obesity. He persisted in his declaration
that it was on account of his life in the
couldn't see his knees or do a days work
He didn't get pension, however, no,
did the man who complained that hi,
army experiences had so demoralized his
morals that he could no longer follow hi,
profession of preaching the Gospel
"There was a queer case out west, now
nearly forgotten, in which young mar
who taught school during the war, an6
who hurt himself while out hunting just
as his twin brother returned home from
the south, managed to get a pension foi
amputation of the leg. 1t happened that
the brother who was in the army hao
been discharged from the hospital short
ly before leaving the service, with 6
slight wound in the leg, and as this wounc
CHANGED to be in the same place. and OF
much the same character as that which
his brother had suffered, the latter or
losing his leg personated the soldier and
drew pension for nearly dozen years.
The wound in the leg of the soldier
quickly healed, and the twins exchanged
Identities.
The soldiers of the late war are now
scattered all over the world" conclud.
ed the guide. Every quarter pension
money orders or checks are sent to Mex.
leo, Alaska, Central and South America,
China, India and even to Greenland and
Iceland. All told there are nearly 2,50C
pensioners who reside in foreign coun.
tries, many of them the widows of sol.
diers who have returned to their native
lands to pass their declining years with
the old folks at home"
WALTER WELLMAN.