The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1907-01-23
WIDOWS DRAWING PENSIONS
OF THE 1912 WAR
STILL ON THE LIST.
Young Girls Marry Aged Veterans
With the View of Securing Life
Pensions. Congress Has
Taken Notice,

Inc recent uSaLH at PIymOutn IN
ion, VT, of Mrs. Esther Damon, the
last of the widows of revolutionary
soldiers, directs attention to the fact
that if the widows of civil war vete-
rams attain as great longevity as the
widows of those who served in the
revolutionary army the government
will still be paying pensions to
them in the year Of our Lord 1897.
AS for the widows of the veterans
of the Spanish-American war no Off
cial 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 cen
fury.
In 1899 there were four widows
of revolutionary soldiers living. In
1903 two were living.
Three daughters of revolutionary
soldiers still survive on the pension
rolls, all of whom were pensioned by
/
Sarah C. Hurlbutt, aged So, of Little
Marsh, Pa, daughter of Elijah
Weeks; Rhoda Augusta Thompson,
aged So, of Woodbury., Conn, daugh-
ter of Thaddeus Thompson, and
Phoebe M. Palmeter, aged So, of
Talette, n Y, daughter of Jonathan
Wooley The daughter of a reyo-
lutionary soldier who had attained
the age of 90 Mary Jane Lynn, of
Williamsport, Pa, died on Februa-
ry 10 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 num-
Der of $50, 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 veter-
ans now on the pension rolls out
number the veteran pensioners near
ly two to one, there being Z ,488 of
the former and 1884 Of the latter
The survivors of the civil war out
number the widows who are draw
ing pensions on account of that war
more than two to one, there being
666,453 soldiers and sailors of the
civil war pensioned and 252,047
widows of veterans of that war But
the number of soldier pensioners is
rapidly decreasing, the net decrease
last year amounting to 1855, while
the number Of widows who are draw
ing pensions was increased last year
by $685.
1t will not be many years at this
rate before the civil war widows 1at-
number the civil war veterans on the
pension rolls. One reason for the
increase is that a 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
or under the act of June, 1890
One can readily see that a woman
who draws a pension as the widow
of soldier of the revolutionary war
or the war of 1912 must have mar
ried the soldier on whose account
she is being pensioned when she was
Young and the soldier very old.
A century and quarter has
passed since the close of the revolu-
tionary war and nearly a century
has elapsed since the war of 1872.
Admitting that a revolutionary sol
dier was 5 at the close of the war,
he would be at least 1875 years old
if he were on the pension rolls to-
day. BY the same calculation a sol
dier pensioner of the war of 1912
would be past the century mark.
These figures suggested an in
uuiry at the pension office as to
/ whether there was any suspicion that
young girls married aged veterans
with view of securing a life PEN
sion from the government as sol
dier's widow 1t was explained that
there were such cases existing, for
the most part around the homes for
old soldiers maintained by the gov
eminent, but that the number was
not as large as might be supposed.
The largest number of marriages of
this sort occurred at the soldiers
home at Hampton, Va.
Until congress passed the act of
March 8, 1899, it was quite common
for young women to wed old veterans
and then promptly desert them, and
I as soon as the veteran died make
application for pension as soldiers
widow. The act of March 3, 1899, was
passed to correct this growing evil