Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-12-01
PENSION APPEALS DECIDED
Cases Considered by Assistant Secretary
Davis.

Assistant Secretary Davis of the Interior
Department has just rendered large num-
Ter of decisions in appealed pension cases.
In some affirming and in some reversing
the action of the com missioner during the
last administration.
One of these cases. which is of particu-
lar interest. is that of Annie Dempsey.
widow OF James Dempsey, late of Company
G, 1ith Michigan Infantry. The soldier
died April ~ 1890. He was, at the time
of his death, a pensioner on account of
rheumatis and resulting disease of the
heart His widow filed an application for
pension on May .. $50, alleging that he
died of disease contracted in the United
States service. In support of this state
ment she flied certined copy of the GER
tihcate Of death on file in the health office
OF the city of Detroit, Mich, in which the
cause OF death was given as paralysis of
the heart From this evidence the widow S
case was allowed, the paralysis of the
heart being accepted a result of the
disease for which the soldier was pensioned.
Subsequently a special examiner while
looking for Dempsey with a view to obtain
ing his testimony in the claim of one of
his comrades. received information in re-
gard to the cause of his death, which led
TO special examination. In the course of
such examination it was aScertained that
a coroner's inquest was held in regard to
the soldiers death. and that the verdict
was that the paralysis of the heart of
which he died was Superinduced by the in
temperate use of spirituous liquors and the
employment of drugs taken for the pur-
pose OF allayinS the excitement of intoxica-
tion- Thcreupon the widows pension was
terminated. September 3, 1891
subsequently she applied for pension
under the act of June -. 1880 which was
allowed 1t was provided. however, that
the pension paid under the old law should
De deducted from the amount paid under
the act of June %. 1880. From that action
an appeal was taken June p, 1897. the CON
tention being that the payment under the
oId law was not the result of fraud but
mistake OF fact, and, therefore, cannot be
reversed
Assistant Secretary Davis in the opinion
says tEat the question is whether the al
io"ance OF me original claim was procured
by fraud or was due to erroneous iudg-
ment from the evidence. Fraud NAV con
slst not only in the statement of what is
1aise, but also in the concealrnent of what
Is True Concealment will amount to fraud
whera the concealment IS of material facts
which one party is under some legal or
equitable duty to communicate to the other
and which the latter has a right to know
Ihe TACT that an inquiry into the cause of
TIE soldiers death had been made by n
coroner's jury. and that the jury from the
evidence adduced found that his fatal dis
ease was due to the use of intoxicants and
drugs. was Known to this claimant when
she applied for pension and was a material
closed The pension bureau had no means
of knowing that fact 1t relied upon the
good faith of the applicant
nder the circumstances I am con-
strained to hold that the suppression by
claimant of the fact that a coroner's in
quest had been held constituted fraud and
under the rulings of the department justi-
ned the action of the pension bureau in re-
couplng the pension paid under the old law
from that granted her under the act of
June p. $50 The rejection by the bu-
reau IS, therefore. affirmed"
Another Unsuccessful Widow
another case of peculiar interest is that
of Susanna Miller, alleged widow of John
August Miller, late Of Company X, Cd
United States Artillery
The marriage of the soldier to this claim
ant at Boston Mass, May Is, 1874, is
shown ley a verified copy of the public rec
Crds- After this marriage they continued
to live in massachusetts for some time
the exact period not shown, but about 1854
they are shown to have been IN Palestine,
empire of Turkey. and lived at Nazareth
and Jerusalem until the soldiers death, the
claimant IN the latter city. 1t is not shown
how long the claim ant had lived at Con-
cord, Mass, prior to her marriage to the
soldier, but the soldier had been there
probably about two years, and the clam
ant was known as widow and the record
of her marriage gives her age as forty
II.
There is no evidence Whatever on the
subject of claimants former marriage. or
death of her former husband. except her
Own statement wnlcn Is as follows:
That in response to the requirement OF
the United States commissioner of pensions
tfat she should give evidence to show the
fact and date of the death of her former
husband. John c. Cornelius. she would
slate that as his death occurred nearly
half century ago. and as her parents
relatives and friends on whom she might
call for evidence are all now dead she is
unable TO 90 more than give her own per-
sol al testimony to the facts. viz, that
81 Re. the affiant. was married to said John
g. Cornelius in London. England in the
year 1919. but as he proved to be person
OF worthless character. in few months
her parents came to London and took her
from Inn to their own home in Lynn Eng
land She never saw him again and never
had any further communication with him.
Her disappointment in him had been such
tTat she dropped him though he mad
rever existed, and so was not in the way
of hearing of him. She left England for
the West Indies in 1853. In 1854 her
mother wrote her from England to the
West Indies that he. the said John G.. Cor
relius. had died in the year 1850. In View
of all these circumstances she asks that
any further testimony be waived and her
pension granted her en- the evidence al
ready fled
Assistant Secretary Davis says from
this statement il will be seen that claim
ant was in England for three years after
her separation from her first husband and
cd not hear of his death, and il was Il
year after she left that she heard by let
ter that he died in 1870. No effort appears
10 have been made to verify this informa-
tion and neither the letter nor any cir
Crmstances of the death of said first nus
band are furnished. The claimant does
not Indicate that a divorce was applied for
and nothing is shown to her own stu-
alton or places of residence from 1871 until
IL 4, IT,.
riage TO the soldier in 1874. Upon the
meager facts here given. especially upon
the character Of evidence furnished the
death of the former husband cannot be
presumed and claimants legal right to
marry tine soldier cannot be considered as
nsLAblIshel. Her claim is therefore 70