The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-12-01
ANXIOUS TO HELP
EVERY SOLDIER
WHO FOUGHT FOR SOUTH
WRITES PENSION COMMISSIONER
LINDSEY ON BRUYN CASE.

IL Law Allowed II, He Would Give
Pension to Every Loyal soldier.
As an Old soldier He Feels for
and sympathizes with Them ana
Appreciates to the Full the Sac
rifices They Made-The Require
ment of the Law Must He Lived
U3 to.
A letter has been received by Clerk
Joseph Molina of the Court of Ordi-
nary from Pension Commissioner j.
w. Lindsey explaining his attitude in
the matter of the pension application
of Veteran Dewitt Bruyn.
Commissioner Lindsey was put par
TALLY in false light. though unin-
tentionally. Several thought he did
not feel all the pathos that was In the
case of the homeless and friendless
We eran. Some charged he could have
overlooked little discrepancies in the
application and he need not have turn
ed it down on a technicality. The let
ter of the commissioner corrects these
errors. and shows conclusively he de-
clined to grant the application only be-
cause 1t did not come up to the re-
quirements OF the pension laws.
when l said / was sorry for the
poor fellow" writes Commissioner
Lindsey. 81 felt it as one crippled old
soldier feels for another placed in
the unfortunate condition of Mr.
Bruyn, entirely alone, with no COM
rade to tell of his service and his dis
charge.
when 1t comes to sympathy for and
reaching out in every way possible to
aid and serve a true Confederate SOL
der, l have always been ready to re-
spond to his needs to the utmost. AS
l eA press these sentiments l feel the
pans received from the wounds when,
but boy, forty years ago, l followed
the Southern Cross directed by the
great Lee.
Was Question of Law.
But as an officer of the state II is
the cold letter of the law that / have
sworn to see complied with and to
obey. That requires of every appli-
cant for the Georgia pension that he
state clearly the company and regi-
ment in which he served, giving date
of enlistment and discharge, and that
he prove his statements to be true as
knows it all to be true.
Had 1t been left to my feelings and
desires Cap. Bruyn would have been
put on the roll without hesitation. l
would be glad If every Confederate
soldier who served his country faith
fully could receive from the state a
pension. My feelings are always with
the old soldiers and always will be.
Rest Soldiers I'm History.
1.-THE case of Capt Bruyn with the
beautiful tribute paid to a true and
loyal Confederate by the good people
of Savannah. is not the first that has
touched my heart. / served for four
years with the best soldiers the world
ever saw, serving under the great Gen.
Lee, and / know full well how to
feel for and appreciate them and their
services. and how to sympathize with
| them in their misfortune. | felt this
way long before your Morning News
spoke for Capt. Bruyn. My loyalty
to them has never been questioned,
and my loyalty to the law has never
been doubted. / am sorry for every
poor fellow that fails to make out his
claim"
The information furnished by Savan-
nah veterans and by the Daughters Of
the Confederacy will be drawn up in
proper form and placed on record with
the application. All that is yet needed
to make the granting of the applica-
ton certain is to find one witness who
knows of Capt Bruyns discharge. Eff
forts are now being made to find such
an one and every man on the roll OF
the regiment in which he served will
be written to, in the hope that some
one of them may be found who will
remember the old soldier and when he
was discharged.