The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1896-02-20

period of 80 days from the receipt hereof ii
which to file testimony in rebuttal of th
evidence referred to, and if the same is no
satisfactory, and no sufficient reason appears
why an extension of time should be made
your name will be dropped from the pension
roll at the time indicated above.
Such evidence must be submitted in the
form of affidavits, and the envelope inclos
ing the same should he addressed to the
Commissioner of Pensions, and marked il
the lower left-hand corner, Board of Re
view" This letter should be returned
herewith.
See copy OF Order 900 herewith.
Very Respectfully,
VIM. LoCHREN, Commissioners.
Mr. MILTON W. BAILEY, No. 112 Fifth
Avenue, Clinton, Iowa.
Copy.
OFFICE OF MILTON w. BAILEY,
| DEALER IN FURNITURE, STOVES, ETC,
No. 10 AND 112 FIFTH AVENUE,
CLINTON, Iowa, Jan. 10, 1896.
To the Honorable Commissioner of Pensions,
Washington, d. c.:
DEAR SIR: Your communication Of Dec.
| -, 1885, requiring me to show my physical
! ability to serve as soldier at the time of my
enlistment in the 160th n. Y, on account of
my having previously been discharged for
disability from the 9th N. Y. Cav, OF have
the pension now paid me stopped, came
duly to hand, and in reply will say the
fracture referred 10 in certificate of dis
ability occurred when | was n boy of six
years of age, and was entirely we'll long be-
fore my first enlistment, but in a friendly
wrestle with comrade | received a bruise
tQ no yrh hipl1 cd in
of bone, and as men were plenty and my
regiment over full-some 200 or over being
mustered out for the cause on or about this
time-I was discharged; and as my dis
charge stated, " no objection to his being re-
enlisted is known to exist" and as by Sept.
3, 1862, the disability had entirely dis
appeared, | re-enlisted in the 160th n Y.
/ certainly would have preferred cavalry
had l experienced any difficulty in walking
My services in the camp and on the march
from Sept. 3, 1862, until May II, 1865, with
but one intermission Of less than two
months (caused by the injury for which my
present pension is granted) excepted.
To the report of the Examining Surgeons
Government oficals), whose duty it is to
inquire into such condition and pass upon
that point.
That this decision must have been in the
affirmative my mastering into service con-
clusively proves.
That my service in the front for over two
and one-half years shows that the Surgeons
of my regiment considered me capable of
such service, as they sent me neither TO the
hospital nor homeward, or else they must
have been heartless and inhuman to an al
most fiendish degree to have kept a poor
cripple on duty with Banks up the Red
River OF the South, or doing ground and
lofty tumbling (you disclaiming my ability
to walk, and l could not fly, though much I
wished) toward the Crescent City when he
had concluded (by request) to countermarch.
These facts seem TO me to disbar your
claim. My lemon, however, is in your
squeezer and | am too aged and decrepit
and too far from the scenes of my boyhood's
enlistment to span the continent in an at
tempt to resurrect from the grave those who
could and gladly would testify in my be-
half Besides, SO long years have erected
such formidable breastworks of time, and |
mounted thereon the silent guns of Forget
fulness and Death-too strong for me to |
storm them in quest of the affidavits you
ask. Let the punishment fit the crime"
and No guilty man escape" and il, inter |
the service to ones country for nearly four |
consecutive years as Volunteer,-who |
sprang to arms at the first clang of wars |
alarm without other impulse than the |
preservation of the Union and defense of |
the flag for which our foreiathers fought, |
and which had sheltered me,-you shall, in |
the transcendent wisdom of your tempo
Tary craftsmanship, deem the beggarly pit
tance of SO per month payable quarterly |
too munifcent sum for me longer to enjoy,
strike from the list with stylographic
pen) my name. Yet you cannot deprive
me of the inward consciousness of the
fact that while sOme-whOm the freaks of
political fortune have elevated to lofty sta
tions-were doing yeoman service for "Old
Glory" through the safe medium of hired
substitute, or aided and abetted the she'd
ding of loyal patriotic blood by counsel and
succor TO the Nations enemies, was with
Little Phil at Winchester and Cedar Creek,
Or working myself nearly to the point of
physical dissolution with Banks in his ex-
ceeding haste to reach the Gulf
The hardships, fatigue, exposure and un-
usual excitement incident to active military
life, effects such inrOads into the physical
reserves of its participants that those who
bore the hrunt of battle will soon all have
.rossed the Stygian River, and Goa Fame's
eternal Camping-ground their silent tents
nave spread, +" and the roll which you now
20 zealOusly guard will have erumbled in
iome hand. From frequent painful aiimo-
Iitions, | note the all too swift approach of
he inevitable hour" and realize that but
ew short years at most is left in which (if by
,onr willy 1 could enjoy the monthly stipend
low so grudgiDgly allowed, and thanks ,
o mediocre ability and most assiduous
ttentiOn TO business, am enabled to make
mental survey of the intervening distance
,etween my present humble abode and the
Iounty Poor Farm, without having my
'ison bedimmed by tear, should my in
ONE as pensiOner be withheld, and buOyed
~ the thought that in the near future
swift speed the day. when, by the ballots of |
now thoroughly chastened and more
heightened people, the party OF Rum,
sOmansm and Rebellion" shall have been I
etired to the innocuous desuetude of pri-
ate life, can renew my application under
4ct of June, 80. and confident / will ex-
erience no difficulty in convincing loyal
nd patriotic Commissioner of the justice
nd merit of my claim, l am, and wish /
nuld believe you were, pro bono pablie0
lilton W. Bailey.
The New York Tribune advises the anti Platt
len to bolt, and give the Morton boom set
acb.
Chairman Harrity believes that q majority
the Democrats are i'm favor Of honest money, | !,
ut is not sure that the Free Silver men will /
OF capture the Convention.