The evening times., 1899-03-22
PENSION WIDOWS
less In NUMBER
The Old Soldiers New Oh
staele Against Matrimony
Government Will Now Save Mil
liens of Dollars.
BY an Act of Congress Many Merce-
nary Young Women Are Left
Without Occupations.

Washington home for retired and feeble
veterans, when seen by Times reporter
today, were loud in their denunciation of
the Washington women, especially those
with whom they are acquainted. This
change of sentiment in the minds of the
old veterans has been caused by the fick-
leness of their lady friends. 1t seems that
several marriages that were to have taken
place in which one of the contracting par
ties was hero of the civil war, has been
indefinitely postponed. The cause of this
was the recent passage of law which pro-
hibits widows of old soldiers from receiv-
ing any pension whose marriage is con-
tracted after the enactment of the law
The full text of the law is as follows:
Provided, further, That hereafter no pension
under any law OF the United States shall he
granted. allowed, or paid TO the widow OF a sol
uer, sailor, officer, naval military marine
o'hcer, or any other male person entitled to 4
pension under any law of the United States un-
less II shall he proFed that the marriage OF such
widow 10 the soldier sailor, officer, marine, or
oihef person, on account of whose service the
pension was asked. duly and legally con-
GTIcted and entered into prior to The passage of
thsl act; or unless such wife shall have lived
ana coabited with such soldier. sailor officer
marine, marine officer, other person. continu-
ously from the date OF the marriage to the date
OF his death: unless the marriage shall take
place hereafter and prior TO during the mil
llaTy or naval service Of the soldier, sailor eff
Ger marine or other person, on account OF whose
service the pension is asked or claimed This
ProFlso shall not apply 10 or affect the widow
OF any soldier, sailor, officer, marine. or ma
rifln officer serving, who has served in the
war between the United States and the Kingdom
OF Spain.
Il local pension attorney, in speaking of
the matter today to a Times reporter. said
that there are thousands of marriages in
this country every year where young wo-
men marry old men. pensioners of the war
IN the expectation OF receiving the pen
sion donated by the Government after the
hero husband answers the last roll call.
The new law, said the attorney. VIII put
a stop TO the Vaccinations of these mer-
eenary young women. The force of this
law continued the attorney, can be under
stood only by recalling the large number
OF young women who marry soldiers al
most in their dotage for the evident pur-
pose Of obtaining pension as soldiers
widow
Commissioner Of Pensions Evans stated
Today that he has frequently called at
tentlon TO this practice, which has cost
the Government millions of dollars and in
all OF his reports has urged that some pro-
vision be enacted TO prohibit such mar
rolls disclosed the fact that although the
war OF the American Revolution was
brought 10 close lie years ago there are
on the pension rolls today old women who
are receiving money for services perform
ed by their deceased husbands in the war
OF independence. Ten years ago there
were twenty Of these Revolutionary widows.
but now their number is reduced TO half a
dozen. Western New York was the home
q n cir
years ago. She bore the quaint name of
Asenath Turner, and when she died at
Macedon, Wayne county. she was ninety
years OF age. Her husband fought under
Washington and was a member of the Con-
necticut Militia. She was, in fact, the
apple of the old mans eye. Dying at an
extreme old age, he was survived by the
youthful widow, who continued to receive
from the United States the pension that
had been paid TO her husband in his life
time. Years after the last survivor of
The Revolution passed away, she continued
10 live and received pay for the services
OF her hero husband Thousands of other
young women early in the present century
married aged soldiers. and the mere hand
full remaining on the honor roll of he coun-
Try is all that is left OF this band.
A prominent official of the Pension Of
fee said today that the law passed by the
last Congress was for the purpose of pre-
venting a recurrence of this order of
things. 1t has been estimated that the
number of soldiers who served in the
civil war would make the number of sur
viying widows who would receive pen
sion a hundred years from now far in ex-
cess of those that grew out of the Revolu-
tioDary war. 1t is figured that the last
participant of the civil war may live until
as late as 1850 Should one of these aged
veterans marry as late as 1880 his widow
might survive him a number of years and
perhaps live to the dawn of the twenty
first century. Were it not for the rev
law the Government might in the year
2000 be paying money to the widow of
some man who wore the blue in the great
civil war of 135 years before. 1t is not
intended that the needy widows of vet
Grams shall suffer. but that the .'profes-
sional war widow" shall become a thing
of the past.
1T has been the habit" said a gentle
man who has served in an official capacity
at several of the homes for retired SOL
diers, for young women to marry these
old men with no other purpose than that
of obtaining pension. The Government
has been mulcted out OF millions of dol
lars in just this way. One woman is
known to have married at least four old
soldiers, and, having a different place of
residence and receiving her money under
an assumed name, has in this manner ac-
quired a fortune at the expense of the
Government. This is not an isolated case
by any means, and as each claim has been
a legal one it has been very hard for the
Pension Bureau to discover the frauds
that have been perpetrated by these pro-
fessional war widows"