The comet. (Johnson City, Tenn.) 1884-1916, 1906-12-13
LAST REVOLUTIONARY WIDOW HAS
JUST DIED.
Spanish War Widows Likely to he
Drawing Pay In Next Century.

DTdWlHg ray III Next century.
The death at Plymouth Union, Vt,
on November II. of Mrs. Esther Da-
mon, the last of the widows of revolu-
tionary soldiers, directs attention to the
fact that if the widows of civil war vet
Grams attain az great longevity as the
widows of those who served in the rev.
olutionary army the government will
still be paying pensions to them in the
year of our Lord 1887.
AS for the widows of the veterans of
the Spanish American war; no official
of the pension bureau has been bold
enough to attempt to compute when
this roll of pensioners may end. But it
will certainly be somewhere after the
beginning of the next century.
In 1899 there were four widows of
revolutionary soldiers living. In 1908
two were living.
Three daughters of revolutionary SOL
diers still survive on the pension rolls,
all of whom were pensioned by special
acts Of congress. They are Sarah G.
Hurlbutt, aged s8, of Little Marsh,
Pa, daughter of Elijah Weeks; Rhods
Augusta Thompson, aged IS, of Wood
bury, Conn, daughter of Thaddeus
Thompson, and Phoebe NJ. Palmeter,
aged IS. of Talette, N. Y, daughter of
Jonathan Wooley. The daughter OF a
revolutionary soldier who had attained
the age of so, Mary Jane Lynn, of Will
Transport, Pa died on February 19 last.
The last of the survivors of the war
of 1912 died on May 10, 1905, but
widows of these veterans are still on
the pension rolls to the number of 800,
although 116 died last year. Hiram
Cronk of New York was the last of the
survivors of the war OF 1912 and he was
buried with considerable ceremony.
The widows of Mexican war veterans
now on the pension rolls outnumber the
veteran pensioners nearly two to one,
there being 7,488 of the former and
1884 of the latter.
The survivors of the civil war out
number the widows who are drawing
pensions on account of that war more
than two to one, there being 666, 453
soldiers and sailors OF the civil war pen
stoned and 252,047 widows of veterans
OF that war. But the number OF soldier
pensioners is rapidly decreasing, the
next decrease last year amounting to
1885, while the number of widows
who are drawing pensions was in
creased last year by 536.
1t will not be many years at this rate
before the civil war widows outnumber
the civil war veterans on the pension
rolls. One reason for the increase is
that majority of the soldiers who die
as pensioners leave widows who, until
the soldiers death, have no pensionable
status, but as soon as the soldier dies
his widow goes upon the pension pay
rolls either under the general law OF
under the act Of June, 1890.
One can readily see that q woman
who draws pension as the widow of q
soldier of the revolutionary war or the
war of 1912 must have married the sol
dier on whose account she is being pen.
stoned when she was young and the
soldier very old
A century and quarter has passed
since the close Of the revolutionary wal
and nearly century has elapsed since
the war OF 1912 Admitting that revo
lutionary soldier was Is at the close o.
the war, he would be at least 1876 years
old il he we're on the pension rolls to
day. By the same calculation soldier
pensioner of the war Of 1912 would b'
past the century mark.
These figures sug gested an inquiry
at the pension Office as to whether there
was any suspicion that young girl
married aged veterans with view o
securing life pension from the gov
ernment as soldiers widow. 1t wa
explained that there were such case
existing, for the most part around tn
homes for old soldiers maintained by
the government but that the numbe
was not as large as might be supposed