Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-08
DALzELL's CHRISTMAS GIFT.
The Private's Little Pension Point Panned
Out Wsll-How tho Boys in Blue Have
Prohted-and He Says the End Is Not
Vet Saws the O1d War Horse.

| The Private's Little Pension Point Planned
| Out Wsll-How tho Boys in Blue Have
Proflted-and He Says the End Il Not
Yet, Says the Old War Horse.
| To the Editor of The Dispatch:
| Three years ago this coming Christmas.
| first through the courtesy of THE DISPATCH
and by its influence through the Associated
| Press, l was permitted to publish my us
| covery of set of laws hitherto overlooked,
giving soldiers certain travel, furlough ana
extra duty pay, in sums OF from $5 to 500 to
| almost every one. This dispatch appeared
in all the papers three years ago, and was
| headed "Dalzell's Christmas Gift to Old
| Soldiers and stirred up quite a breeze In
Grand Army and official circles at washing
ton. 1t interested million soldiers, and
the widows and orphans of our dead COM
| rades, every one of them.
| had no mercenary motive in the publi-
cation of my discovery, and, though a law
yer myself took but 100 claims, and that
without a cent of pay, merely to demon
strate that was right in my construction
| of the law. It was but a short time until L
| succeeded in carrying through my own and
| several other claims and getting the money.
| the evidence of which from time to time L
took care to lay before the editor OF THE
DISPATCH, who will, feel certain, vouch for
the entire correctness of this statement
In my published dispatch 1 had, as you
will remember, cautioned the soldiers not to
employ any of these sharks of claim agents,
| but present their own claims to the proper
| officers at Washington. This displeased this
| army of 100 GOA land pirates, and their penny
| whistle papers upbraided me.with all the
! violence of their miserable mercenary
| nature. They could not comprehend then,
nor can they now why I should feel any in
terest in these claims, seeing that not only
had no fees in them, but advised the boys Co
pay none.
| was destroying their occupation.
| This was the head and front of my Offend
| ing. And SO they wrote United States Sena-
| tors and members of Congress assault ng my
statements as ridiculous, absurd and false.
| The departments were also so cunningly
manipulated that the Sc, ond Auditor and
other accounting officers of the Treasury
| issued daily bulletins contradicting my
allegations
1t looked pretty blue.
| Several Senators and members of Congress
wrote me that 1 must be wrong. as the old
claim agents and their advertising sheets
| called Soldier papers.''-heaven save the
mark!-all agreed that was wrong. know
| better. knew was right. / saw the little
game of the thieving set of claim agents.
| = had furnished the best evidence in the
| world that had no money in it-could not
possibly have any. for L refused to take
| claims sent me by tens of thousands from all
| the States.
The fight was on. 1. a poor man down in
the country, all alone, had to argue my case
on paper with our officers at Washington,
who were honestly ignorant, but willing to
be informed, and who yielded gracefully to
my demands when 1 convinced them that
my version of the law was right.
Claims rolled in from all quarters on the
| Second Auditor, the Third Auditor, the
Commissary General and the QuarternIas-
| ter General, until their tables and files
groaned with their weght-more than a
| million of them. Nearly 0O,GO0 of them
have been adjudicated and many millions Of
| dollars paid the poor old Boys in Blue that
they would have never heard of OF thought
of If THE DISPATCH had refused to publish
my first announce cement.
And the end is not vet.
Yours truly,
JAMES L. DALzELL.
CALDWELL, O., December7