St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-08-09
COL. BEvANS MADE A SLIGHT
MISTAKE IN TAKING UP
PEMBROOK,S CASE.
L0CHREN NOT INTERESTED,
As ALL ACTS COMPLAINED OF
WE'RE By REPUBLICAN COM
MISSIONERS.
NO PENSIONERS EVER DROPPED
without Due NOtice-Lochren Ad-
herring to Established
Rules.
Special to the Globe

Special to the Globe.
WASHINGTON, Aug. s. = When
the statement was made that Jerry
PembTook, of 273 Kent street, st.
Paul, fought for his country during
the civil war and at it's close retired
with diseases which left him in
capacitated, Col. Bevans had no
means of knowing that Pembrook
was only in the army five and a half
months, and never was injured dur
ing his meager service. Col. BeVanS
had no means of knowing that Penn
brook received a pension to which
he was not entitled. Nor could the
assaliant of Commissioner Lochren
have known that it was during the
administrations of Republican secre-
tarieS of the interior and Repub-
lican commissioners of pensions that
PembrOok'S S fraudulent pension was
allowed, and under Republican ad--
ministrations that the fraudulent
pension was stopped. This Penn
brook case is a sample of the cases
Of frauds and bummers who dis
whose account Commissioner Lochrea
has been unjuStly assailed by
thoughtleSS, careless and hot-headed
partisans. The facts in the Penn
brook case, as shown by the official
records, were given to me today by
Acting Commissioner Bell, and they
are as follows:
Ia DE-, 01-
cate No. 107,S2, Company c, Thirty
ninth Illinois, enlisted aug. IL, 1861 and
was discharged Jan. 81, 1862. In 1871 a
pension of 81 per month for disease of
eyes was allowed him, to date from his
discharge, Jan. 81, 1862; and in Septem-
Der, 1876, after a special examination,
Which disclosed the fact that the dis
ease of eyes for which the soldier was
pensioned was not due to the service,
his name was dropped from the rolls
On July 9, 1890, he filed a claim under
the act Of June q, 1890, and on JAN 0,
1893, pension of S12 per month was
allowed by Gen. Raum, the then COM
missioner OF pensions, and he was adj
T1sed that before any payment could
be made him the bureau would have to
be reimbursed for the money already
enormously paid him between 1862 and
in this claim since Commissioner Loch-
rem took charge of the bureau, and he
has never passed upon it in any way.
The letter of April II, 1895, which was
published in the Pioneer Press is sim
ply historical, as any one can see who
reads 1t, and informs the pensioner in
answer to a letter from him. of the ac-
ton taken by Commissioner Raum in
the case.
OF course politices have not entered
into the case, nor do they in any case:
but it is noteworthy, In view of the
fact that political capital is sought to
be made out of Commissioner Locll-
ren's letter, that every action COM
planned of in this claim was the action
OF a Republican commissioner. The
pension of $4 was allowed in 1871 by
Commissioner Van Aernam and was
dropped in 1876 by Commissioner Bent
ley. The pension of $12 per month un-
der the act Of June 27, 1890, was allowed
by Commissioner Raum, and the or-'
der directing that no money be paid
to the pensioner until the pension bu-
reau had been reimbursed for the
amount which he had heretofore been
erroneously paid was also the action
OF Commissioner Raum. This action
was taken in accordance with the rules
laid down by Secretaries of the Inte-
rior Chandler, Schurz and Teller, which
provide that when, as in this case, a
pension has been erroneousIy paid,
either through fraud on the part of the
pensioner or error on the part of the
bureau, no payment shall be made on
a certificate subsequently issued until
the bureau has been reimbursed for the
amount enormously pad
The same information is given to the
press now as has been given under
every administration. Lists of those
whose claims were rejected or whose
names had been dropped from the
rolls have never been given out, if for
no other reason than that the machin-
cry of the bureau is such that it would
be difficult to collate this information.
The statement that in hundreds OF in
stances pensioners are stricken from
the rolls before they receive a cent is
utterly untrue. Of course there is
nothing to say to a sweeping, random
indefinite charge like this, except to
deny it. No pensioner can be dropped
from the rolls without notice of thirty
days. If Col. Bevans knows of any
case where pensioner has been
dropped from the rolls without due no.
tice and just cause, he will only have
to call Commissioner Lochren's atten-l
ton to it to have the mistake rectified.