The Democratic advocate., 1899-09-09
nesnatch 10 the philadeIphia Ledger.

WASHINGTON, Sept. ST the pension at
torneys and lobbyists who are making the at
tack on Commissioner Evans think they have
frightened their man they are profoundly ms
taken. They have run up against as good a
fighter for fair play and honesty as he was tor
the Union back in the Cos. He expresses no
concern whatever at the threats that reach his
desk by every mail of what is going to be done
during the week at Philadelphia to compel the
President to demand his resignation. The
Commissioner is a man who has clear IDEA
of the law and his duty as an otflcial under II.
THAT is line" he said recently, ITO which
we must all hew- 1t is not only my duty, out
the duty of every old soldier, from the Presi-
dent down TO the youngest drummer boy, to
see to it that fraud shall not prevail to the
prejudice of the honest and deserving. |
have made no more vigorous fight on fraud
than some of my predecessors, but the laws
nowadays give more opportunity for the de-
signing and unScrupulous to attempt their
nefarious work l think | shall be sustained
in doing my duty"
The Commissioner report, issued yester-
day, shows no disposition on his part to quail
or truckle before the onslaught that the pen
sion attorneys are making against him. lie
gives number of cases of attempted fraud
that have been detected since he came into
ONCE. lnGN ATlSG ulOSt lA0lAiIAAN "4t'' 49,
claims for widows pension under the law OF
1888. 5y which. unlike the soldiers claim,
where the pension begins with tine date on
which he files his claim, the payment begins
from the death of the husband. This gives q
chance for seheming attorneys to get proof
from graveyards, and, by using an unprincipled
woman, make up a fraudulent case, which can
only with great care be exposed.
SPECIMEN CASES.
"a case of this kind came up for settlement
during the present year, says the tommlS-
sioner. "The claim of the alleged widow was
so strongly buitup that the Bureau was aboat
to issue a certificate granting her a pension
amounting to over 81, ,000. The case had been
sent to the field for special examination and
reported as being meritorious. Before issuing
the certificate another special examination
was deemed advisable, and the papers were
sent to another examiner, who secured tesI-
mony tending to show the fraudulent character
of the claim He confronted the claimant
with this evidence, and she thereupon made "a
full confession, showing that she was never
married to the soldier, and that she was in
duced to apply by parties who were making
business of filing fraudulent claims under the
operations of the act of 1855.
In another case a widow was peusIoned ~
1889 to date from 1865. She was represented
as being the widow of soldier who died that
year. and satisfactory proof (ex parie, OF
coursel was furnished showing that she was
the lawful widow Of the soldier. Il has been
discovered that she was not his widow, never
had occupied any relations with him as wife
but was, at the time OF filing her claim the
wife of another man of an entirely different
name. She is now a widow aud IS under ar
rest. She has received more thar $1,000
pension.
In another case, through the aid Of an at
torney, a woman established her claim as the
widow OF a deceased soldier. The evidence
shows now that she was not his widow. but
that before the time she alleges 20 have been
the soldiers wife she was the wife ot another
man. and that since the death Of the soldier
she has continued TO live with the same man
as her husband She has drawn ever $1,000.
and is now under arrest
In a case coming from Pennsylvania
woman claimed to be the widow of o soldier
in the Fifty eighth Infantry who died OF heart
disease contracted, it was alleged, whiie
prisoner at AndersonyiIle. There Is larger
number of papers in the case from which ii
appears that the service record had to be
many times corrected. Among other things
the woman four days after marrying agalu
filed claim for two children by the former
husband. The case dragged along aud the
Bureau. it is estimated. has spent over $1,000
to get at the facts in the case, with the resaii
that the very man who the claimant says died
of heart disease is alive, was never her bus
band, and himself draws a pension. Had the
woman succeeded she would have drawn
widows pension of IS for two months and
tweuty-four DAYS Thus for the munibceut
sum Of So the Bureau has had &c spead $1,000
TO protect itself.