The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1902-02-21
STRANGE PENSION CASE
HOW A SMALL SUM HAS Crown
INTO A FORTUNE.


Amounts 90 2BOOO-story Of the Vet
eran and His Accumulated Wealth.
Starting S1137 In debt thirty years
ago, and depending for a livelihood
wholly on a pension Of $50 a month
from the Government, the estate of
Henry Wensler Of Spiker, Wabash
County, Ind, now amounts to more
than $4,000, and Is growing at a
rapid rate. What Is still more curious,
the Government having paid Wensler
this pension for a generation, will. at
his death, receive back the $50 n month
and $4,000 In addition. Such state
OF affairs has never before come within
the ken Of the bureau officials, as re-
ported by Special Agent Stephens.
The story of Wensler and his accumu-
lated wealth is an interesting one. and
is thus related by the Wabash CORE
spondent Of the Indiapaolls News:
During the war he enlisted from
Wabash County In the Elghty-ninth
Indiana Infantry. While on the march
in the South he suffered from prostra.
ton by the heat, which caused mental
arrangement, and though he has not
at any time been violent, he has been,
to an extent, incapable of managing
his affairs. For twelve years after his
affection Wensler was confined in the
hospital for the insane at indianapolis
and was discharged as being harmless
and requiring no attention. Applica.
ton was made for q pension on ac-
count Of his mental condition, and the
case was pending some time In 1867
his wife was divorced, and he was left
comparatively friendless.
AT that time his condition was such
that Jonathan Talmage, a local banker.
was appointed guardian, and Mr.. Tai
mage's report to the Circuit Court in
September, 1870, showed that Wensler
had overdrawn his account with his
guardian $11.37. In the next report
Mr.. Talmage showed that the pension
Of $50 a month, with a considerable
amount as arrearages, had been paid.
and as Wensler had been supported by
the State while at the hospital, the ar
rearages amounted to a tidy sum.
In this way the foundation of the
present fortune was laid. Four years
ago Mr. Talmage died, and Thomas f.
Payne, q wealthy land owner of Wa
bash, was appointed guardian. The
Pension Bureau required, about that
time, that all reports of guardians of
wards receiving pensions should be
made to Washington. In his report
of May /, 1900, Mr.. Payne set forth
that the amount of funds belonging to
Wensler in his hands was 500, 43O, and
that the total cost OF administering
the guardianship was S1214 With
few exceptions the funds were loaned
on gilt-edged security, at ten per cent.
interest, and later at eight per cent.
Some OF the laterloans have been made
at six per cent. This interest was
compounded, and the total mounted
higher and higher. Wensler was ac-
tive, and contributed to his own sus-
tenance. For years he piled his voca-
ton as huckster, and drove about the
county with his little wagon. on which
were printed in sprawling letters the
words: H. Wensler, Hugster.'
Recently he went into business in a
small way at Spiker's Station. four
miles from Wabash. He lives alone.
and his expenses for food and clothing
are almost nothing. His guardian paws
$500 a week for his food, and Wens
Ter takes $50 month for other ex-
penses. The rest Of the $50 pension,
and the handsome increment from the
$4,000 at interest, is re-invested as #
comes in.
The reports of the guardian to the
Pension Bureau, making this remarka-
bic exhibit, induced Commissioners
Evans to send Special Agent Stephens
to Wabash to look into the case, and
ne uncovered the facts as stated. The
special agent says that as Wensler has
no friends the money at his death will
revert to the Government. Wensler is
perhaps siXty-five years old, and never
speaks unless addressed. He is ex
pert in handling horses, and on several
occasions has been injured in runa-
ways but ne does not seem to know
what fear is. Probably no estate in
the country has been so capabIy man
aged
1T is said OF Wensler that a few
years ago he was seized with a desire
TO manage his property, and went to
the Office of a well-known Wabash
lawyer to state his case See here
Mr. -, said Wensler, I am not in
sane and want nay funds turned over
10 me- The lawyer gazed at him in