The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-28
FAMOUS PENSION CASE.
Problem For Mr.. Ware Which Has
Been Before Bureau For Years.
IFrom the washington Post.l

IFrom the Washington Post-l
Among the stubborn pension cases which
already have been called to the attention
of Pension Commissioner Eugene F. Ware
is that of Daniel Oberly. a veteran of the
civil war who has been rendered helpless
by paralysis and attributes his disability
to a gunshot wound he sustained in the
Oberly maintains that he has been prac-
tically helpless ever since he was wounded,
but special pension examiners who inves-
tigated the case many years ago reported
that ObeFly was a skillfu tight rope per
former acrobat and clog dancer aItef the
close Of the war Oberly denOunces this re-
port as false says that he never danced
in his life and that he has been charged
he once wore tights and took up collec-
ton for John H. Uhler, rope walker,
who gave an exhibition IN Lebanon, Pa
shortly after the war.
As soon as the war was over Oberly was
examined and granted a pension of 81. the
highest pension paid at that time As the
total disability pension increased Oberly
81 per month a gqaIu!ah MAs appo54-lltsu
for Oberly by the district court at Troy,
Ohio, where he formerly lived with his
of Troy Oberly was unwilling to have
his affairs looked after by Meanes, and
succeeded IN getting TIE pension bureau 10
OberIy says that his trouble has all
pension bureau was informed that Oberly
had secured a pension by fraud and was
merely feigning paralysis. After much de
lay the pension bureau decided that
Oberly was entitled to a pension of $50 a
month. but should not have been paid
more. Consequently his pension was re
bHrse the government for the money
which Oberly is said to have collected
fraudulently from the government Ober-
~ has been penniless for years as a re
I suit of this decision OF the bureau lie
saws that his wife who has property in
/ Ohio which she bought with his pension
/ money will not take care of him, ana ne IS
| in Washington trying to get Mr. Ware to
/ investigate his case
the 0belIy ease is one Of the most ceie-
brated in the annals OF the pension
bureau. It has been reviewed and re-
1 viewed repeatedly. once 1t was carried
/ up to the department of the Interior
which confirmed the action of the bureau
| Commissioner Evans refused to reopen
/ the case. as it was considered before he
/ came into office. A few weeks ago ac-
ton was brought to compel the secretary
/ of the interior and the commissioner OF
! pensions to give the case rehear1ng-
Ql9erlv was a member of Company z, of
/ the Ffehty-fourth Pennsylvania infantry
/ He enlisted at Harrisburg when he was
! twelve years old. having represented that
he was five years older, and was wound
/ ed at the Bloody Angle during tbs. battle
| at SDOttsylVania Court House. Virginia,
! May Y, 1864. shot passed through his
neck He eraWled under some bushes and
/ Law on the battlefield until the next day,
when he was discovered by a party Of en-
7 gineers. Oberly maintains that the injury
/ to his neck produced paralysis He adj
mits that his disability was not complete
/ Immediately after the war, but that his
During the last few years he has been
| in hospitals in most of the large eastern
| cities. and he has affdavits from many
/ surgeons. who are of the opinion that the
man is not feigning his disability 1t was
| charged that forgery was resorted to in
| securing the original pension but Oberly
/ maintains that this charge was not sus-
tanned and insists that he is the victim of
} q guardian and relatives who do not want
him to have a pension unless it passes
through their hands.