Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-04-02
AN IMPORTANT PENSION RULING.
A Decision Of the Late Assistant Secre-
tary Reversed by MIR. Bussey.


The new Assistant Secretary Of the Interior.
Mr.. Bussey, has signalized his advent into Office
by at least one pension decision that will make
glad n number Of applicants whose cases were
rejected by the former administration of the
Pension Office. The case in question is known
- the zimmerman case" much as English law
is graced with its "Jamdyce." The question
in the case was whether or not the claimant
was in the line of his duty when he received
the injuries for which he claimed a pension.
This question of Zine of duty" is one of the
most difficult problems which the adjudicator
of a pension case has TO solve. and upon the pre-
cedent established in the zimmerman decision
quite number of similar cases have been re-
jected by the bureau that will, it is thought
now have to be admitted
HOW ZIMMERMAN WAS HURT.
zimmerman was a soldier in a regiment of
Ohio volunteers, and one day in the fall Of
1868 was standing in front Of his tent. Several
of the men were engaged in general frolic
near by and one of them. leaving the others,
came up to zimmerman and engaged him in
conversation. While his attention was thus at
tracted another kneeled down behind him and
his comrade pushed the soldier backward. after
the fashion of small bows. zimmerman broke
several bones around his shoulders and has
since suffered greatly from the injury. The
claim was rejected on the ground that the in
jury was not received while the soldier was in
the line of his duty, and that therefore he was
not entitled to pension.
REJECTED BY MR.. HAWKINS.
The case was appealed and several argu-
ments were made before Assistant Secretary
Hawkins, both in favor of the claim and against
it. He decided in June. 1886, that the rejection
by the commissioner of pensions should stand,
and the case was entered in the bureaus book
OF leading cases as exemplifying the principle
that 1.-The proxlmate cause Of the injury must
pertain to and have direct connection with SER
vice and the line of duty in order to give title TO
pension" Inlsmuch as zimmerman was not en-
gagged in play himself and was not in any way
transgressing any of the ordinary rules of camp
life, he still claimed that his case was good. He
argued that if he had not been in the service he
should not have been in a position to have
been hurt, and although his injury was not the
direct result of one OF the conditions of warfare,
he was truly III the line of his duty when he
was injured. The ruling of the department
was on the line that the government should
not in the administration of the pension laws.
be held as an insurer against every kind of
peril. This opinion has always been disagreed
with by some authorities in the Pension office,
and attempts have been made at various
times to induce Assistant Secretary
Hawkins TO reverse his decision in view
Ol the importance OF the precedent
thus established. He always refused,
however, to change the record, and the case
was kept on the statute books of the office. as il
were, until quite recently, when his successor,
MIR. Bussey. reversed the ruling of the Office in
this case and ordered the claim of zimmerman
admitted. His position was that the claimants
injury was connected as a result with his mill
tary service. in that the service placed him in
a position where, without fault on his part, be
received his hurt.
OTHER SIMILAR CLAIMS.
Not only will zimmerman, whose claim is for
an invalid pension, be granted large sum in
arrears, but there are number OF cases that
have once been rejected upon this precedent
that will, it is claimed. have to be reopened
and admitted. The details of two of these
cases resemble those in the zimmerman case.
The case of VIM. Jones is one of these.
lie was leaning upon bannister
while eating his dinner. which he
held in his hand. when two comrades
passed him engaged in scufiiing. Before he
could get out of the way he was pressed back
against the bannister, causing a hernia. and
finally thrown over 10 the gound about six feet
below. He had just been relieved from guard
duty. Claimant Brokenshaw was climbing into
his bunk when three comrades jumped on him
crushing the ribs of his left side Just below his
heart.