El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-09-14

N A9 H. new pension law has
" .l-oJIv stimulated the wld-
Eor while adding consld-
oroLIv ~ the number OF veterans Oh ~ sne
III 4 a19ments bv a total OF $5U,VVO'-
mo- +be annual stipend of muItlIuoe
of old soldiers already drawing anoM-
ances from the government nls III
ders item by so much the more uesiiau ne
as husbands OF them, that 10 -
saw. who are not yet attacheu n"'i
monially.
But the chief attraction OF tne teef
Grams, apparently, from the Vle"pIlno+ "
n1arryino them. is the widows pension
which will be theirs for lie after fhe ola
soldiers have departed from this world;
s. Thoroughly is this business organized
fbaf women. many of them hardly more
than Girls. camp out IN the vicinity OF
soIdiers' homes. and literally lie IN wait
for the inmates OF those institutions.
The more aged the pensioner the more
desirable he Is as a husband. because
the nrosnect of becoming his widow is so
much +he nearer. ESPECIALLY on or
about "ouarter day," when the intended
victim IS more or less likely to indulge
in little iollificatiOn-he can be entlced
into the presence of a parson or magls-
trate. it is all that Is required. he
bride is willing enough to allow him
to return to the home, herself secure IN
the possession of a marriage certificate;
which. when exhibited later on, ylll
guarantee her a small but permanent IN
come.
Widows Not Yet Born.
To show how this widow enterprise
works out, it may be mentioned that
Esther S. Damon died at Plymouth
Union, Vt November II, 1906, aged 90.
She was the last surviving widow of q
soldier who fought in the revolution, and
she was still drawing a pension for her
husbands services in that conflict, cen
turv and a quarter after it came to an
end. It is estimated that there will be
at least 1000 civil war widows alive and
on the pension roll in 1888, and quite a
number of these will survive the begin
ming of ''e 21st century. Which fact
will be more easily understood when it is
realized that at least few of the des-
tined civil war widows are not vet born.
The government exercises a remarkable
hberallty IN its treatment of widows.
For instance, there is one woman now on
the pension roll who has had three hus-
bands, the first of them a soldier in the
civil war. Neither the second husband
nor the third was a soldier. But, having
lost both of these. she is enabled under
SAlI law ~ tAAd " n SbfDGUu dS the
widow of her first husband Another
case is that of half breed indian woman
IN North Dakota, who killed her hus-
band, and who gets a pension as his
rellet. He was drunk. and she slew him
IN self defence, so that she was held to
be justified.
Two Pensions at Same Time.
Equally remarkable in its way is the
we'll known Roscommon case. bearing the
number 2S2,562 on the roll. in which a
woman married two old soldiers success
sIvely, being divorced from the first
Having secured a pension as the widow
OF the second. she went back to live with
the flrst husband, without formalitv OF
marriage. He also was a pensioner. and
consequently, at the present time. this
precious couple draws two pensions.
IL is understood, of course, that wher
widow marrles again she loses hel
pension. Nevertheless, it is undoubtedly
fact that thousands of pensioned wild.
ows IN this country are married AGAR
secretly thus perpetrating a fraud which
has to be backed up by a false oath
every quarter. Every now and then :
case OF the kind Is brought to light, but
the detectives OF the pension office, as 2
rule. do not bother to investigate sucl
matters. They are too busy running
down fictitious widows-that is to saw
women who falsely impersonate the sur
viving wives of veterans.
The manufacture OF such widows hai
been for many years a profitable in
dustTy. Dishonest ATTORNEYS and claim
agents have made a business of studvinl
the records of national cemeteries. find
ing out the names and services of tn,
men there buried, and employing womel
to represent themselves as their widows
I II Ic Unf fhTnrr h.
ment to dlsprove a marriage that is al
legged to have taken place 80 or 40 year
ago.
Not long after the close of the civi
war three brothers. named McGindley
built up a large and profitable business
| in supplying bogus widows at Quincy
| Ill. They manufactured widows for dea,
bachelor soldiers, employed women t.
.personate them, executed the voucher
! themselves, and forged the Endorsement
] on the pension checks. Even the seal o
the court was forged. The eldest of tn
! brothers, James H., looked like Horac
Greeley, and his benevolent countenanc
was a great help in the enterprise.
Laxity of Government
A curious case illustrating the laxitr
of government methods was that of Jan
! Hill. negress. who in 1893 applied 70
a pension as the widow of Edward Hill
lOIUlGIlA OF Iut ltIH HeEIO heavy ar
tillerv. The sum of $1,000 was above,
! her as arrears. But at Just that tim
Edward Hill himself sent in an applica
ton for a pension, being very mucl
! alive. and James money was held W
| Did this little circumstances prevent he
from getting it 1t did not. Congress
| at this very iuncture passed a bill for
| bidding the bureau to hold up payment
| in suspected cases, and the cash wa
handed over to Jane.
A less successful fraud. where a rea
widow of Il soldier was the victim, wa
operated bv a man who kept a SINAI
store in an Indiana town. Learning
| that woman in the local almshous
| was expecting a-cheek for $1,000 iron
the pension bureau,~he persuaded her t.
come and live with him. to take care o
| his mother When the check arrived. h
| intercepted it. forged the Endorsement
and put the money in his pocket. Mean
while, however, the pensioner was max
ing great to-do about the non-recelp
of the cash to which she was entitled
| EXPOSURE impended. and the man, as tn
| best means of settling the whole prob
lem. set, fire to his house, after himsel
swallowing a fatal dose of paris greer
and burned his mother and the widov
up.
No veteran is too far advanced in az
or decrepitude to be sought as a hns
band. 1t is a matter of record that man,