Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1898-01-25


part in the debates Of the house. he is
a very energetic worker in behalf Of his
constituents In committee and at the
various departments.
Next comes Vermont. Her two sena-
tors are as well known as the sun and
moon themselyes-the venerable Sens-
tor Morrill, OF STAFFORD. the oldest man
lin the senate. and Hon. Redfield Proctos
.of Proctor Mr. Morrill, II 81 years ON
and Mr.. Proctor is 81. Both are staunch
congressional timbers
In the house, Vermont has two meg
bers. Hon. II. Henry Powers OF Morris
Vile. representing the First district, and
Hon. William w Grout Of Barton. rep
resenting the Second district. Mr. Pow
ers was for many years a judge on the su.
preme bench OF Vermont. while MIR
Grout has been In congress for many
years. II is said in Washington that
both Mr.. Powers and Mr.. Grout aspire TO
the seat In the senate now held by Mr.
Morriil. IL being well understood that he
will not again be candidate Both
Judge Powers and Congressman Gr.Gt
h II
between them for senatorial hon.rs
would DE very interesting indeed
or the members OF the three other New
England delegations. those from Aassa-
chusetts Connecticut and Rhode Isla I'd.
! shall treat in a subsequent dispatch
/ dropped In on Commissioner OF Pen
SION Henry Clay Evans this We X and
had an interesting chat with him on
what Is now an all engrosslng top c.
pens on-. He told me that while he be-
heved Their were comparatively few
frauds In obtaining pensions. h was
conv need there WAS a large amount
annually paid cut IN pens ons that never
reached the persons entitl there o.
or reaching thtm was not enJ yee.
Here u was. he said. that The greatest
frauds existed. and the depsrtm. nj was
cons antIy receiving Information Of the
m!sapprop. alton ot peEs on funds
He recal ed one case in particular as
evidence OF this. IL occurred In one
Of the sou h rn states. The snefciGry
of the government was an old colorcd
woman, the widow Of valiant soldier
When her application for pension vas
received. II was found that she was en-
titled To quite snug sum back pension.
amountin gto about $500 Die claim
was finally allowed and the check sent
TO the applicant A short time later
one 81 her neighbors. the gossips of the
county. saw. through the newsp3p r.
of the old woman's good fortune 0or
N al I'm AZ ssrh A.
pendent upon the charitable commua-
ity) she set about an Investigation. Tne
old woman had not one cent of tn little
fortune. and she for hwlth wrote letter
10 the department. An examiner was
dispatched 10 the scene and n irvesti-
gated III found the Cd woman had
received the money but being ignorant
and not understanding figures she pr
mitted a shark In the community 10
bodily steal the entire amount. The
oulprit was traced and afler some time
acknowledged that he had borrowed the
money from the old woman. but when
she was asksd of evidence OF such
transaction she could not even how
a no q promising To pay b1ck. He had
hoodwinked the old woman by every
now ara iN'U pres nuns lAe oib NbU4du
with big silver do lar. and she. poor
soul. thanking h r good Z rtune for such
a large amount. said nothing. The eX-
aminer decided To frighten the swindler
into refund.ng the money. He dropped
a remark at the village mn hat he
guessed he would have 10 take company
back To Washington with him in the
shape Of a handcuffed criminal who was
so low as To- steal from the widow OF
an old soldier That night h was
awakened and called to the door by the
old woman IN company wiki the p, nsion
shark. He had evidently heard the
hint about the trip back 10 Washington
and had brought the old woman 20 pay
over u her In the presenc- Of the *
aminer the money he had borrowed.
The old woman has never wanted for
anything since Some ~ the money
was used in rebuilding her house and
paying of a long standing debt on the
little place Two cows and some hogs
were purchased. and she was Installed IN
eopnforf