7434 CONGRESSIONAL BECORD-=HOUSEo .AUGUST 10, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. l\Ir. GROSVENOR. I have no objection to excepting that bill. The SPEAKER. The Chair will state that the OklahoiiUI. bill could FRIDAY, A~tgust 10, 1888. not be considered immediately after the reading of the Journal. It The Honse met at 12 o'clock m. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. W. can Only be reached after the mOTning hour has been disposed Of. ll. MILBURN, D. D. Mr. WEAYER. But if this bill suggested by the gentleman from The Journal of the proceedings of yesterday was read and approved. Ohio is taken up for consideration it may occupy the entire day; and I wanted to prevent any interference with the bill named. REFERENCE OF SEN ATE BILLS. Mr. SPRINGER. I am perfectly willing that the gentleman shall The SPEAKER laid before -the House bills of the Senate; which have a chance to get his bill through by unanimous consent on that were read twice, and referred, aa follows: day, and that he may be recognized to ask unanimous consent. But - The bill (S. 3136) to amend section 1014 of the Revised Statutes of the I do not want to consent to anything that may interfere with the Okla United States in relation to fugitives from justice-to the Committee homa bill. on the Judiciary. Mr. GROSVENOR. I ask that the bill be fixed for consideration The bill (S. 2430) supplementary of an act entitled "An act to seHle on the 23d, after the reading of the Journal; not to interfere with the certain accounts between the United States and the State of Mislill! OklahoiiUI. bill. sippi and other States, and for other purposes-to the Committee on Mr. HOLMAN. I hope consent will be given. the Public Lands. The SPEAKER. Without objection, that order will be mado. The bill (S. 2783) for the relief of the sureties of George W. Hook, There was no objection, and it was so ordered. deceased-to the Committee on Claims. PUBLIC TIUILDING, SAGIYA W, 1\qCII. The bill (S. 110) for the relief of Horace A. W. Tabor-to the Com Ur. TARSNEY. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to di charge mittee on Claims. the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union from the The bill (S. 685) for the relief of Royal U. Hubbard-to the Com further consideration of the bill (H. R. 9049) for the erection of a pub mittee on Claims. LEAVE OF ABSENCE. lic building at the city of Saginaw, Mich., and put it upon its pas sage. By unanimous consent, leave of absence was granted as follows: The SPEAKER. Tbe bill will be read subject to the rjght of ob- To Mr. WILK~S, indefinitely, on account of important business. jection. To 1\Ir. HoGG, indefinitely, on account of sickness. The bill was read at length. To Mr. OsBORNE, for {)ne week, on account of business en'gagements. Mr. CANNON. Let the report be read in that case. To Mr. CUTCHEON, indefinitely, on account of sickness. Mr. TARSNEY. I hope the report will be read. I shall be -rery To Mr. Cox, for ten days. glad to have the House to understand the merits of this question. To l\fr. RusSELL, ofConnecticut, indefinitely, on account of sickness. The report was read at length. To 1\Ir. BAKER, of New York, for ten days. · · The SPEAKER. Is there objectiGn to the present consideration of APPOINTMENT OF A_ CONFEREE. this bill? The SPEAKER. The Chair will appoint as a manager on the part l\Ir. CANNON. The other day the gentleman from Michlgan [bir. of the House on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the bill BURRows], who is now absent from the city, asked for the considera H . R. 4659, the gentleman from Louisiana [Mr. ROBERTSON] in place tion of the bill for a public building at Kalamazoo. I am not acting at of the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. TILLMAN], who is absent his request at all; but there was objection made on the other side to from the city, and therefore unable to serve. that bill. I am not disposed to object to the present request; but I ask Mr. WILKINSON. l\Ir. Speaker, my colleague [Ur. RoBEBTSOY] that these two bills be coupled together and considered. is also absent temporarily. l\Ir. TARSNEY. I have no objection to that. The SPEAKER. Then the Chair will appoint the gentleman from Mr. CANNON. And that unanimous consent. be given now to t.ake Mississippi [Mr. HooKER] to act in that capacity. up both cases. The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Illinois asks that unanimous WATER RESERVE LANDS, WISCONSIN. consent be given that the Kalamazoo bill be taken up and considered Mr. GROSVENOR. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent to dis at the same time. Is there objection? charge the Committee of the Whole Honse on the state of the Union 1\Ir. TARSNEY. Both bills are meritorious and ought to be passed. from the further consideration of the billS. 1880 and put it upon its Mr. McMILLIN. I do not think we should go into the business of passage. erecting public buildings by wholesale in this manner. H is sufficient, The SPEAKER. The bill will be read subject to objection. it seems to me, to take them up one at a time for consideration. I do The bill was read, aa follows: not like to be bulldozed into the consideration of any measure. Be it enacted, etc., That all lands in the Stale of Wisconsin described in and with Mr. CANNON. Another bill was reached a few days ago when the drawn from sale by the proclamations of the President of the United States issued gentleman from Michigan [Ur. BURROWS] was present on the floor 1 l\Iarch 22,1880, April5,1881, and November 28.1881, for the reason that said lands and prompt objection came from that side of the House. I am not, as would be required for or subject to flowage in the construction of dams, reservoirs and other works proposed to be erected for the improvement of the navigation of is well known, much in favor of the erection of these public buildings the 1\lississippi River and certain of its tributaries, be, and the same are hereby unless there are courts; butithinkthereoughtto be a kindofcomity, declared to be, and t-o have been at all times heretofore, subject to the pro: at least, existing between the two sides of the House in such matter ~· . visions of a certain act of Congress, entitled "An act granting to railroads the right of way through the public lands of the United States," approved :March Mr. McMILLIN. I do not know how others may feel, but as for 3, 1875, as fully, effectually, and to the same extent as though said lands bad not myself I have not been actuated, I wish to say to the gentleman, by been described in said proclamations, or withdrawn from sale thereby, but had any disposition to be captious or to make individual objections on either remained with the body of public lands subject to private entry and sale: Pro '!Jided, however, That any and all parts of said lands acquired by any railroad side of the House. But I will not, under any circum t:mce , be bull company under said act of Congress shall at all times be subject to the right of dozed into the consideration of a bill on any of the calendars of the tlownge which may at any time become necessary in the construction or main House. tena nee of dams, reservoirs, or other works which may be constructed or erected by or under the authority of the United States for the improvement of tne nav l\Ir. CANNON. Then I will ask the gentleman from Michigan to igation of the Mississippi River or its tributaries: Provided further, That the withdraw his requestfor the present, and let this bill be taken up and railroad companies availing themselves of this act shall, in addition to filing considered at the same time unanimous consent is given to cousider the maps now required by law to be filed, also file maps of definite location of their proposed lines of railroad, over said water reserve lands, in the office of the bill for Kalamazoo. the Secretary of War, and until the approval of said maps by the Secretary of Mr. TARSNEY. I want to say one word in relation to this bill. In War no right to occupy said lands shall vest in such oompanies; and no loca the Forty-ninth Congress a bill was passed through the Honse and tion shall be permitted which takes for right of way or stations lands needed for the use of the present reservoir system, or in the construction of dams or through the Senate providing for a public building at East Snginaw. other works, or any proposed or probable extension of the same, or which will At that time the cities of Saginaw and East Saginaw were separate. obstruct or increase the cost of the present or prospective reservoir system· or Since that time the Le~lature has ordered a consolidation of those shall any railroad company be permitted to tnke materiAl for construction f;om any of said re:::ervoir lands eutside the right of way granted herein. cities, and there is to~day a population of 60,000, with two Presiden tial post-offices and one fourth-class post-office. It is now proposed to The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the present consideration of abolish one of the Presidential post-offices and establish one centrally the bill? and have the free-delivery system. ~Ir. HOLMAN. I suggest to the gentleman from Ohio that inas The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the present consideration of much as this seems to be quite an important bill, and has not yet been thls bill? consideTeU by the Public Lands Committee, that the matter be post Mr. CANNON. Yes; I object unless we can ha\e the other also. poned until some day during the week after next, after the morning hour, and then unanimous consent can be given that it be taken up for l\ir. SPINOLA and others. Regular order. con ideration. The SPEAKER. The regular order is dem:mrled. 1\Ir. GROSVENOR. I have no objection to fixing the consideration STATE HO::\IES FOR DISABLED SOLDIER . of the bill on the morning of the 23d, immediately after the reading Mr. TOWNSHEND. I a k le..we to present a privileged report. of tlie J ournaJ. Mr. LANHAM. The gentleman has the right to pr~ent a pri nleged l\Ir. WE.A YER. Not to interfere with the consideration of the Okla report at any time; and if it is to take any time in discussing I shall homa bill. antagonize it.
. ' 1888. -CONGRESSIONAL BEOORD-=-HOUSE. 7435
1\Ir. TOWNSHEND. It is a report of a. conference committee. T. Hurdley; which was referred to the Committee o~ the Whole House '.rhe SPEAKER. The Clerk will read the conference report. on the Private Calendar, and, with the accompanyrng report, ordered The Clerk read as follows: to be printed. The committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on WILLIAM L. BRADFORD. the amendments of the Honse to the bill (S. 2116~ to provide a~d for the State homes for the support of disabled soldiers and sallors of the Uruted States, hav Mr CULBERSON from the Committee on the Judiciary, repoxted ing met, after full and free conference have agreed to recommend and do rec back ·favorably the bill (S. 3178) to remove the political d~abilities of ommend to their respective Houses as follows: William L. Bradford; which was referred to ~he Committee of ~e That the House recede from its amendments numbered 2 and 3. That the Senate recede from its disagreement to the amendments of the House Whole Honse on the Private Calendar, and, Wlth the accompanymg numbered 1,4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and ll, and agree to the same. report, ordered to be printed. R. W. TOWNSHEND, LEVI MAISH, ORDER OF BUSINESS. JAMES LAIRD, · •tt b d" d Managers on the part of the House. 1\Ir. LANHAM. I move that the call of comm1 ees e 1Spense CHARLES F. MANDERSON, with. JOS. R. HAWLEY. There was no objection, and it was so ordered. WADE HAMPTON, . :llir LANHAM I now move that the Honse resolve itself into Com~ .Managers on the pa1·t of the Senate. 1 • . · · · bills th p · The managers on the part of the Hou_se o~ the disagreeing vo_tes on sai_d bill mittee of the Wnole for the purpose of considerrng upon e n~ submit the following statement as reqrured ill Rule XXIX of this House ill ex- vate Calendar. . planation of the amendments mentioned. 1\Ir. SPRINGER.· Ur. Speaker, I bad hoped. to ~et this day fo~ the ·to . . The1 The oonfere7~ prov1swns agree of thatr- the act. should extend to T ern r1es as we n as States. consideration of the. bill to nrovide- hfor theish orgamzatwn f tl of the bTern tory · . So the Senate confereesagt·ee to the House amendments numbered 1,4,5,6, 7,8,9, of Oklahoma, but 1ll deference tot e_ w es o gen. emen w ~are. m~ and 10, and agree also to amendment of the title as suggested by the House of terested in pending private bills, I will not ant.agomze the motion JUSt Representatives. , h" h t h d . t , made by the gentleman from Texas. I give notice, however, that I shall 2 Do not agree t.o amendment 2-' or w lc suppor w o11 Y an ill par .. ·a th Okl h bill t 1 t tba Tuesday or Th~ language is clearly snrplusage be~use the allowanc~ is for "every ask the House to cons1 er e a oma. no a e1· n disabled soldier or sailor who J:ll!l~ be ~dmitted and cared form s~ch home at Wednesday next. thera.teof$100perannum.". Ifl~Jsd_esJguedtohaveth_eeff~ctthatilthe ~o!lle · M HOOKER And I give notice that in consequence of the ex- is supported by private parties with aid by way of contnbutwu or appropna.twn r. · . ' h ·a t• f th t from the States it shall receive the aid provided for in this bill it is c"'rearly ob- cessive beat of the weather, I shall obJect to t e cons1 era lOll o a jectionable. The aid should only be extended to homes that are wholly under bill. [Laughter.] f ldi il , State3 Do control. not agree to amendment .,or- " and the orph ans o eo ers an d sa ors. Mr· SPRINGER. · . The gentleman'sul objectiond will not avail, because· Th~ bill should conform to the law governing national homes .. Orphans are the Okla.boma bill Wlll be the ~eg _ar or er. . not received there. It is too late for such bounty. It opens too Wid~ a door for The SPEAKER. The questwn 18 on the motion of the gentleman expenditure. 'l;'he object ~f the bill is t.o reach toward support of disabled and from Texas [Mr.L.ANHAl\I] that the House now resolve it.c:;elf into Com- dependent soldiers and sa;llors only. . mittee of the Whole on the Private Calendar. Mr. TOWNSHEND. I move_tbe adoption of the report. . . M:r. SHAw. I rise to a parliamentary inquiry. Mr. HOLMAN. Be~ore that 18 done I hope the g~ntleman_ will g1ve The SPEAKER. The gentleman will state it. . us a. more comprehensiVe statement than that which has JUSt been Ur. SHAw. What position does the Oklahoma bill occupy on the read. . . . Calendar? Mr. TOWNSHEND. I tbmk the statement 18 full, but for th_e m- The SPEAKER. The Oklahoma bill is not before the House. formation of the gentleman from Indiana, I_ will state that the b_ill as Mr. SHAW. That is what I supposed; and I wish to inquire why it passed the Honse was amended so as to mclnde homes establlShed it is brought up here so ofter in antagonism to other measures. by Territories as well as States. The Senate accepts that amendment, The SPEAKER. The Chair can not inform the gentleman. agreeing to extend the provisions to Territori~ as ~ell as States. The Mr. SPRINGER. It was not brought up in antagonism to t.his roo- bill was also amended in the House so as to pr~Vlde that the orphans tion. · of soldiers and sailors should also be cared for m those homes. T~e :Mr. SHAw. It comes up in connection with nearly every motion Senate does not agree to that amendment, for the reason that t'J:ere 1s that is made. no such provision in the law in regard to national_ homes; and 1t_ was Mr. SPRINGER. Because it is the regular order. That is the rea- intended to make this bill conform to the law relating to the nat10nal son. homes. It is not believed be wise now open the doors of the sol to to The motion of 1\'lr. LANHAM, that the House resolve itself into Com diers' homes to the orphans as well as to the sailors. The other amend mittee of the Whole, was agreed to. ment as it passed the Honse provided that homes which are parti..'tlly The House accordingly resolved itself into Committee of the Whole, aided by States as well as those established by States ehould receive Mr. HATCH in the chair. the benefits of this law. The CHAIRMAN. The Honse is in Committee of the Whole for the The committee of conference on the part of both Houses were unani consideration of bills on the Private Calendar. The Clerk will report mously of the opinion that it is in the first place a surplusage if it is in the first biU. tended to apply to homes where disabled soldiers are provided for by the Mr. PERKINS. Mr. Chairman, I desire, before we proceed to the States because the bill already provides that any State home which pro reo-ular business to ask consent to take from the Private Calendar the vides for the disabled soldier or sailor shall receive the benefits of tliis bill (S. 2563) fo; the relief of Mrs. Larimer. This lady b~s been here law. It was also proposed that private homes which have partial help all this session of Congress, as she has been for several sessiOns of Con from the State shall be established on the same footing as if wholly sup gress, asking for the consideration of this bill. The bill bas passed the ported by the State. The conferees are of the opinion that it ought Senate-- not to be adopted, and therefore the Honse amendments were non-con Mr. WISE. I demand the regular order, but I will withdraw the curred in. These were the only amendments of any importance on the demand to let the gentleman complet~ his statement. bill. Ur. PERKINS. This is an Indian depredation claim. This lady The SPEAKER. The question is on the adoption of the conference was captured by the Indians while crossing the plains more than twenty report. years ago and had all her property taken froiD: her. She has been here The conference report was adopted. pressing this claim year after year. The bill bas passed the Senate Mr. TOWNSHEND moved to reconsider the vote by which the con and has been reported favorably by the House. It will cause no de ference report was adopted; and ·also moved that the motion to recon bate and I ask its present consideration. AP, is known by every mem sider be laid upon the table. ber the House, almost all of these Fridays for the consideration of The latter motion was agreed to. ~f private claims have been devoted ~war claims, a~d I now ask, on be GENERAL SHERIDAN'S FUNERAL. half of this poor woman, that her bill may be cons1dered. The SPEAKER announced that he had appointed Mr. THO::\fi>SON, of The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk V(ill report the bill, after which the Ohio, as a member of tl& committee of the Honse to attend the funeral Chair will ask for objections. of General Sher!-dan, vice Mr. GROSVENOR. The Clerk read as follows: ORDER OF BUSIKESS. .A bill (S. 2563)- The SPEAKER. This being Friday, the regular order is the call of :Mr. WISE. I must object, !tfr. Chairman, and demand the regular committees for reports on private bills. · order. Mr. LANHAM. I ask unanimous consent that gentlemen having The CHAIRMAN. The regular order is demanded. The Clerk reports to present be allowed to file them with the Clerk. will report the first bill upon the Calendar. There was no objection, and it was so ordered. The Clerk read as follows: A bill (H. R. 26) for the relief of William J. Poitevent. FILING OF REPORTS. Ur. WISE. That is ~-t the bill th~. t was under co~sider~tion at The following reports were filed by being handed in at the Clerk's ihe adjournment on last Fr1day. T~e bill last under cons1dera~on was -· desk: the Norfolk Ferry bill, and the ad~ournment too_k place durJ!lg. the WILLIAM T. HURDLEY. reading of a paper which was submitted by my fnend fi·om MIChigan Mr. "sTONE, of Kentucky, from the Committee on War Claims, re [Mr. BURROWS]. J>Orted back favorably the bill (H. R. 9680) for the relief of William The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will endeavor to find out from the 7436 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. AUGUST 10~
Journal of the House the condition of business at the time the com- Thomas, deceased; and the gentleman from South Carolina [Mr. Drn- mittee rose. BLE] is entitled to the floor. Mr. OATES. The last time the House was engaged upon the Pri- Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. I rise to a parliamentary inquiry. I vate Calendar the bill under consideration at the time of the adjourn- wish to know whether, after the consideration of the pending bill, the ment was a bill for the relief of Samuel Noble. Committee of the Whole will go uack to the consideration of House bill The CHAIRMAN. As soon as the Chair can have the Journal ex- No. 26. amined he will state the condition of business at the adjournment. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will decide that question when it Mr. OATES. All I desire is that that bill may be passed over, re- comes up. The Clerk will now report the pending bill. taining its place on the Calendar. I do not ask for its consideration at ..ALFRED H. THOMAS. this time. The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will report the first bill. The Clerk read as follows: Be i t enacte.d, etc., That the Secretary of War be, and he is hereby, authorized Th e Cler k ~ read as fi0 llows: and directed to amend the records in. the War Department of the United States A bill (H. R. 1067) to amend the war record of Albert H. Thomas, deceased. to show the name of Alfred H. Thomas duly enlisted and mustered into Com- pany D, Seventh .Regiment Tennessee Cavalry Volunteers, on the 1st day of Mr. IIOPKINS, of Illinois. What has become of the first bill re- February,1864, for three years' service; taken prisoner at Union City, 'l'enn., on ported by the Clerk, the bill (H. R 26) for the relief of William J. the 24th day of March, 1864, and died a prisoner or war, while in the service of Poitevent? the United States, at Savannah, GAo., on the 1st day of December, 1864. The CHAIRMAN. The Cl:iair has h~d read the bill which was pend- Mr. DIBBLE. I ask that the report in this case be read. ing in the Committee of the Whole ·when the committee last had this The report (by Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin) was read, as follows: Calendar under consideration. The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R.1067) for the relief of Alfred H. Thomas, respectfully report as follows: Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. Does t b at tak e precedence of the Cal- The facts out of which this claim for reliefarises will be found stated in House endar as we find it to-day? report No. 190 of the Committee on Military Affairs of the Forty-seventh Con- The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will report the bill. gress,a copy of which is hereto annexed for information. Mr. DIBBLE. Mr. Chairman, I had the floor in the committee at Your committee adopt the said report as their own, and report back the bill and recommend its passage. its last session when the motion was made to rise, and, if I recollect 1 rightly, the bill that was then under consideration was a bill for the [House Report No. 190, Forty-seventh Congress, first seBSion.J relief of Samuel Noble. The Committee on Military Affairs, to whom was referred a. bill to amend the Mr. OATES. The gentleman ic; mistaken in that, and I was mis war record of Alfred H. Thomas, deceased, submit the following report: It appears that the said Alfred H. Tllomas enlisted on or about the 1st day of taken in the statement I made awhile ago, because-- February, 1864, in Company D, Seventh Regiment Tennessee Cavalry Volun The CHAIR.UAN. The Clerk will read from the RECORD. teers; that the exigencies of the service called this company into active duty :llr. OATES. I desire, in order that I may set myselfright, to com in the field before muster; that on the 24th day of March, l t 64, the said Thomas, while in the line of duty, was captured with his enti.-e company; that he was plete the sentence I was uttering. held a prisoner of war from that time to the time of .his death, early in Dec ... m T I.Je CHA.IRl\I.A.N. The gentleman from .Alabama will suspend ber, 1864, at Savannah, Ga. The above facts are conclusively established by until the Clerk can read from the RECORD. the affidavits of two officers and several enlisted men of his regiment, and make a strong case for the relief as~ed, and the passage of the bill is therefore recom ~fr. OATES. That will simply cut my sentence in two; and in that mended. ca e I do not care to ·finish it. Mr. DIBBLE. I hope that under the circumstances this bill will T he CHAIRUAN. The Clerk will read from the REcoRD part or be reported to the House with a favorable recommendation. the proceedings of the last sitting of the Committee ofthe Whole House Mr. GLASS. The report in this case shows a conclusive state of facts on the P rivate Calendar. in favor of the applicant; and as no one appears deskous to address the The Clerk read as follows: House in opposition to the bill, I move that it be laid aside to be re· ALFRED H. THO.aU.S. ported favorably to the House. The next business on the Private Calendar was the bill (H. R.l067) for there The bil1 was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom lief of Alfred H. '.fhomas, deceased. mendation that it do pass. Mr. LANHAM. I ask that this bill be passed over informally, retaining its place on the Calendar. ORDER OF BUSINESS. 1\Ir. DIBBLE. I object. }Jr. LANHAM. 1 again mo,·e that the committee rise. The committee has been continuously in session for four hours. Mr. LANHAM. Mr. Chairman, at the last sittingofthe Committee The CHAIRM AN. The gentleman from Texas [Mr. LANHAM] moves that the of the Whole for the consideration of private ·business a number of bills committee rise. were passed over informally, not to lose their place on the Calendar. Mr. CANNON. I hope not. The motion of Mr. LANHAM was not agreed to. It seems to me it would now be proper to return to the beginning of The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will report the pending bill. the Calender and take up the bills in their order for consideration. Mr. NELSOY. I ask unanimous consent--- The CHAIRMAN. The Chair has so instructed the Clerk. Mr. CANNON and others. Regular order! Mr. COMPTON. Mr. Chairman, I iise to a point of order. Two Mr. NELSON. I do not think any objection will be made to my proposition. Mr. CANNON. I shall have to call for the regular order. weeks ago to-day I made the point of -order which I propose to renew The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will read the pending bill. now. I did not press it at that time because the gentleman from .Ala '.fhe Clerk read as follows: bama raised the point that the unfinished business was the first thing • • • • in order. I now propose to renew the point of order. The CHAIRML~. The question is on laying this bill aside to be reported to the Hou e with a favorable recommendation. • There is now on the Calendar a bill reported in the Forty-ninth Con 1\Ir. DIBBLE. I call for the reading of the report. gress, and also in this Congress, from the Committee on War Claims, The report (by 1\!r. THOMAS, of Wisconsin) was read, as follows: there having been a favorable report also from the Court of Claims. I • * * • * • • maintain that this bill under the provisions of the Bowman act, and The CHAmMAN. If there be no objection, this bill will be laid aside to be re ported to the House with a favorable recommendation. under the ruling of the Speaker, is en titled to-day to preference on this .\lr. DIBBLE obtained the floor. Cale~dar. Early in the session my colleague [Mr. McCOMAS] made :\l r. LANHAM. Mr. Chairman, it is manifest we are going to do nothing more the point that bills which bad been approved by the Court of Claims iu Committee ofthe Whole this afternoon. We have already passed a. number of bills, and I do think the best thing we can do is to rise. I do not believe we were entitled to priority of position upon the Calendar. can reach the bill which the gentleman from illinois fMr. CANNONJ desires to The CHAIRMAN. To what bill does the gentleman refer? reach. . Mr. CO UPTON. The bill (H. R. 6347) for the relief of Alexander 1\Ir. CANNON. L~t me make a suggestion which I think will be satisfactory. Let the report be printed in the REcoRD. I understand it is exhaustive. Then lt{offitt. It is on page 56 <'f the Calendar. let the bill go over till the next private-bill day. As I was stating, my colleague [Mr. McCoMA..S] madethepointof order :\tr. DIBBLE. I ha'\"e no objection to that, but there is plenty of evidence in that under the Bowman act bills of this character were entitled to aud ition to that report, and I tbi nk it would be as well to print that evidence with the report of the committee. Let them both be printed at the same time; precedence on the Calendar. The Speaker, who was then in the chair, anti that agt·eement· can be made when the bill is called up. I ask the gentle sustained the point and ordered those bills to be so placed. This bill man from Illinois to have that evidence printed. was given that position on the Calendar. It came up for consideration :\! r. CANN ON. I only ask to have printed what is of record, and that is there port of tlw committee. in regular order. A motion was made to refer it back to the commit Mr. LA~>HA~I. I will state in the hearing of tlle gentleman from Illinois that tee. I stated at the time the motion was made that I would consent to it '"ill be absolutely impossible to reach the bill this afternoon. It is tnree be it provided the bill would not lose its place on the Calendar. The low the one we have been considering. There are a number of bills to be re ported to the House for passage, and they ought to be taken up and passed. So then occupant of the chair declared that if the bill were recommitted fa r as printing the report ia concerned I have no objection to it. Let it go into it would require unanimous con ent to have it placed where it was the RECORD. originally on the Calendar. I then stated-these proceedings occurred 1\Ir. Allo'11" 0Y. If that can be done, I do not obJect to the committee rising. The CuAmMAN. Is there objection to the printing of the report of the com- on the 16th of Ma.rch-that I would consent and take my chances, re mittee in the RECORD? serving to myself the right to make the point of order which_ I now 'I'het·e was no objection, and it was so ordered. make. The report (by .Mr. BRoWER) from t.he Committee on War Claims is as follows. Now, I claim that the recommitment of the bill to the committee Mr. DIBBLE. I have not yet heard the Clerk read any statement does not of necessity take the bill from its place_on the Calendar, but IJf w:jlat bill was under con ideration. that, on the contrary, it should remain exactly where it was, because The CHAI RMAN. The unfinished business when the committee it. is one of that class of bills which, under the Bowman act and under .-ose. Was the bill (H. R. 1067) to amend the war rec9rd of Alfred H. the ruling of the Speaker, are entitled to preference upon the Calendar. 1888. CO~GRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7437'
That is my point. If the Chair wants reference, he will :find the de Mr. PERKINS. Does the Chair hold that private claims beiore ... cision of the Speaker on page 103 of the RECORD, and he will find that this may be reached and passed ? decision reaffirmed on page 469 of the RECORD. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair decides, this having been· reported l\Ir. LA.NHAU. The Chairman will remember the point of order from the Court of Claims under the Bowman act, and referred to the was elaborately discussed when the present Chairman occupied the Comnrittes on War Claims and reported back favorably, it takes its chair. The coml;Ilittee rose, and the honorable gentleman from New place at the head of the Calendar and has precedence over other bills. York [l\fr. Cox], being the Speaker pro tempore, held, as I remember, This is one of that class of claims, and I believe is the last one. tbat when these cases came from the Court of Claims under the rule Mr. PERKINS. I observe the distinction which is made, but I did they should be referred to appropriate committees. That is my recol not understand how this case came up. lection of the decision made on that occasion. The CHAIR fAN. It is placed in its former position where it ought Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. Under the rule this case, with others to have been placed upon the Calendar, in the opinion of the Chair. coming over from the Forty-ninth Congress, was placed upon the Cal The motion of the gentleman from Maryland [Mr. COMPTON] is that endar. This bill was reached in its regular order and taken up for con the bill be laid aside to be reported to the House with the recommen sideration. There was some question raised as to the loyalty of the dation that it be passed. claimant. It was done, I believe, on motion of the gentleman from Mr. JO~EPH D. TAYLOR. I think we should know something Ohio [Mr. GROSVENOR]. It went over in order to obtain the proof more about this case than we do before we report it back to the House necessary, to come up again the next day private bills were under con with the recommendation that it be passed. · I am told copies of.the sideration. The purpose was, as I have stated, to supply the proof, report in the case are exhausted, and the House should know the facts which seemed to be lacking or which had not been furnished by the before it is called upon to vote on it. Court of Claims to the House. When that was supplied it was to be The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will state that the Clerk has just com- taken up. It was clearly understood the bill should not lose its place pleted the r~ding of the report in full. · on the Calendar. I do not know, but the RECORD will show, that it Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. How much money was paid on this was put back upon the Calendar in a different place, so that when the claim? proof w~ supplied it was notreaehed, as was expected it would be. My Mr. COMPTON. A very small amount. opinion is, the House intended to do with that bill as it had done with Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Well, how much? the other claims which had been reported from the Court of Claims. Mr. COMPTON. Something over $1,000. Exactly $1,784. It seems to have lost its proper place by some misapprehension; and Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Thatwas taken in full, as I understand now, in my judgment, it should be taken up and disposed of as the other il? . bills of the same class have been. By this misunderstanding or mis Mr. COMPTON. Possibly the best explanation that could be given take or whatever it may have been this bill has lost its place upon the to the gentleman from Ohio would be the repetition of the reading of Calendar and ought to be restored to where it properly belongs. There that part of the report. fore I believe th!s bill is entitled to consideration at this time. l\1r. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Very well, then; I ask that it be read. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair has held, when bills have been re The Clerk again read the· report. ~ ported from the Court of Claims to this House and referred to appro Mr. COMPTON. I think itwoUld be well perhaps tohavethethird priate committees and reported back, they take precedence at the head finding of the Court of Claims read bearing upon this particular point, of the·calendar, and the Clerk therefore will be directed to report this and I ask the Clerk to read what I send to the desk. bill. The Clerk read as follows: .ALEXANDER MOFFIIT. The Quartermaster Department in 1858 estimated the rental value of the premises during above occupancy to be $1,784.45. 'l'he claimant at first refused The Clerk read as follows: t.o accept this amount, but upon being assured by the officer making the pay .A bill (H. R. 6347) for the relief of .Alexander :Moffitt. ment that his acceptance would not preclude him from seeking the balance of Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, di his claim, he accepted it and signed o. receipt in full. This recejpt in full was rected to pay to .Alexander Moffitt, out of any money in the Treasury not other given and received in the mutual understanding that it should not preclude the wise appropriated, the sum of $12,442.98, being amount due the said .Alexander claimant from seeking in Congress the balance of the rent which he believed Moffitt for the use and occupation of the premises known as the National Race to be justly his due, and the payment was not a final settlement such as would Cout·se, in the District of Columbia, from the 12th day of July, 1854, to the 12th stop the claimant from seeking the full value of the occupancy, and was in fact, day of June, 1865, by the United States forCE's, as found by the Court of Claims. though not in form, merely a payment upon account. The report (by Mr. STONE, of Kentucky) was read, as follows: The CHAIRMAN. The question is upon agreeing to the motion of The Committee on War Claims to whom was recommitted the bill (H. R. the gentleman from Maryland. · 6347) for the relief of Alexander Moffitt, having further considered of the ma~ Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. I think this claim is excessive, espe ter, report as follows: . '£he property in question was situated across the Eastern Branch of the Po cially in view of the :tact that the gentleman received in payment upon tomac River from 'Vashington City, just southeast of the Government Insane it a considerable amount of money and gave a receipt in full, which .Asylum, and distant about 500 yards on an air line from Giesborougb. has just been read. - After the claimant, Moffitt, bad presented his claim for compensation for the los."> be had been made to suffer, the Quartermaster-General constituted a board Mr. COMPTON. But that amount is deducted. to examine and reporfupon the merits of the claim. This board bad the most Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. I know it is; but I think the claim as it ample time and opportunity to investigate, and, after having manifestly done is now is entirely excessive in amount; and I shall move to amend by so, they, in their report, recommended that the claimant be allowed as rent for his property $500 per month from July 12,1854. to June 12, 1865, eleven months, reducing it just one-half. I am willing he shall have a reasonable and t5,500, and as compensation for rebuilding and repairing buildings and fences, fair compensation; but this is a large amount in view of the circum the sum in block of $7,965.75, a total of $13,456.75, the same to be in full of all stances surrounding the case and the value of property at that time. claims against the Government arising from the occupation, use, and consump tion of claimant's property. But the Quartermaster·Geneml, holding that )1e I ask to amend the bill by striking out, in lines 5, 6, and 7, the sum bad no jurisdiction over so much of the claim as was n
. . elusion he reached, with all of the facts under his eye, ought to have at appeal again to this Hon e, n.nd ask the members to consider this bill least a persunsive influence upon the action of this committee. simply and alone upon its merits as disclo_ed by those qu..'llilied to make Besides that, .Mr. Chairman, the rtccipt has been exec~ ted in full on an inve tiga.tion and report. the part of this claimant, on receipt of something over $1,000, a receipt Mr. WHITE, of Indiana. This bill, i t seems to me from what I have made in the u ual form, with a statement, however, upon the part of he..'trd of the debate, ought to be allowed. It appear that the troops the officer of the Government that the signing of the receipt would not took possession of a race-course in the neighborhood of this city and preclude the claimant from going before Congress. It seems to me held it for a cerro in time dming the war, and by occupyinoo it destroyed therefore that it is hardly sufficient on the citation of facts here to set the buildings which were necessary to keep that race-course in condi aside a receipt of that characteT. If the suggestions of a public officer tion. By that means the owner of the track lost a good deal of money, can thus defeat the operation of a payment and a receipt in full, Con both from the destruction of the buildings and the use be could have gress and the Government is fearfully at the mercy of any officer of the made of the track. ~ow, what is the state of affairs re ulting from Government who thinks proper to make a suggestion of fact which is those circumstances? It is about like this: The party who owned the within his discretion in regard toanyoftbesesettlements. Howcould ground necessarily had the right to compensation from the Government. it operate as an estoppel, for instance? A party dealing with the Gov The Government by its offi rs endeavored to :fix the ren tal price of the ernment is supposed to be as well informed as the officer of the Gov ground. Of course it was too low, but as the Government was in posses ernment who pays out the money of the Government and takes receipts sion the man had to accept it, and the settlement was in the nature of a in ~ts behalf. This party acted upon his own knowledge as well as coercion. He could not sue the United States for the amount as be upon the suggestion of the quartermaster, and he knew what he was could a private individual, and the Government got him to give are doing at the time he gave the receipt. When a receipt of this chamc ceipt in full. That ought not to militate against him nor to prejudice ter is given in full it ought to ha-ve a proper weight with Congress, Congress. There are thousands of cases of this kind which might be and except under >ery strong circumstances and in a ver~a1·ked case cited. Besides that, the question is presented as to whether Congress is it should be conclusive. These tJ.·an!'!actions of a quarter of a century going to reverse the action of the Court of Claims, the court tow hich this ago are pressed upon us day after day, and it seems to be impossible to claimant has been sent to obtain a judgment. Then I would say to get anything definitely settled in regard to them. A receipt in full is the members of this H ouse if that is to be done we had better abolish regarded, it seems, by us as of no consequence whatever, although the the Court of Claims. What is it for? Is it not appointed by Congress . Supreme Court ofthe United States when it comes to a judicial deter to examine these -very questions betwce.:J. the Government and parties mination of the question bas held that a receipt so given must be held and to settle the disputes between them? They ha>e examined this as final and conclusive. case, and they reported on the testimony of the officers that we should I think in any event that the claim for spoliation ought not to be pay the whole claim at once. considered, and I will therefore move to amend the proposition of the MESS.AGE FROJI TIIE SEN .A. TE. gentleman from Ohio [Mr. JoSEPH D. TAYLOR] so thatit"will allow but $5,500, which was the amount of the rent, dedncting$1, 784.45, be- A message from the Senate, by Mr. PLATT, one of its clerks, an ing the amount which was paid. · nounced that the Senate had agreed to the report of the conference com Mr. JO:::>EPH D. TAYLOR. The amendment just offered ·by my mittee on the disagreeing -votes of the two Houses on the amendments friend from Indiana. has my hearty approval and I hope it will be of the House to the bill (S. 288) for the erection of a public building at Sioux City, Iowa. . adopted. The Clerk read the amendment, as follows: The message further announced that the Senate had agreed to there Strike out $12,4.42.93 and insert 53,714.55. port of the committee of conference on the disagreeing votes of the two Houses on the amendments of the Senate to the bill (H. R. 8592) for Mr. COMPTON. I will not detain the House, but I think it isjust the erection of a public buildin~ at Jackson, 1\Iich. - to tllis claimant that a brief statement should be made as to the case. This case was referred to the Court of Claims by the Forty-eighth Con- ALEXANDER l'IIOFFITT. , gres Testimony was taken by the Court of Claims, a. thorough in- :Mr. WHITE, of ILdiana. If ·we are to bring the parties before the vestigation made, and it wns ascertained that the amount in this bill bar of this House to plead their own cases as is done in court, then we is founded on the estimates which were made by the officers of the shall be unable to attend to any other business. The Court of Claims United States Army especially detailed to examine this particular case. is organized to relieve Congress of that duty, which, in any case, it ·The Court of Claims reported it to Congress with a recommendation cauld not possibly perform, and if we are to disregard the :finding of the that it be paid. The bill went to the Committee on War Claims in court in this case we had better also disregard its verdict in the matter the Forty-ninth Congress, was considered carefully by that committee, of theEe great spoliation claims which have been pending before Con- and reported to this House with a recommendation for payment. It gress for one hundred years. . then went upon the Calendar of the Fiftieth Congress, and after discus-~ l'!Ir. Chairman, I say the Government is the most cruel oppressor sion upon this :floor, when the whole case wh.s fresh in my mind and we have when it owes any of its citizens. When it owes a man a. dol in the mind of the committee, arld the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. lar it takes almost two dollars to get it, and I have no doubt that if HATcHl and others will remember the discussion, the bill was again this claimant gets the $12,000 which the court has decreed to him, he referred to the Committee on War Claims, and for a second time they will have had to spend it all, or nearly all, in the effort to get what carefully investigated all the facts. The Committee on War Claims of was due him. As a member of this Honse I believe that when the this Congress reported the bill back with the recommendation that it comt bas passed upon a claim, no matter how small it may be or how do pass. Now, for my life I can not see the justice or the fairness of large it may be, it is our duty to indorse the action of the court and the suggestion made by the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. JOSEPH D. T.A.Y- pay the claim. If that is not the case, then let us abolish the court LOR] and the gentleman from Indiana [Mr. HOLM.A...J.'i] that because a. and bring the parties in here to plead their cases before us. bill seems to them to be too ln.rge it is any justification for tbe amend- Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Mr. Chairman, the informal way in ment proposed, when they know nothing of the case except what has which these findings of the Court of Claims are made is very well un been heard from the reading of the report. In due deference to my derstood by this House. The court has no authority to render judg distinguished friend to my right [:rtfr. Hour.A.N], what other ground ment in these cases, and the judges of the court understand perfectly has he on which to base his estimate of what is right; what way has he well that the claims are to come to this House and be considered in a of ascertaining the comparison to make the statement that this bill measure de novo. If the gentleman [Mr. WHITE, of Jndiana] is cor seems to be too large? Is justice to be affected if it is just? The gen- rect in his position that we are bound to pay every claim of thls kind tleman will not undertake to assume such a position on this :floor. that may be reported by the Court of Claims, we shall have a great ob- About the receipt, Mr. Chairman. Now, what was the condition of ligation and a great burden resting upon us; and if be is correct, we things with this man? He had his hand in the lion's mouth. He was ought to have a law expli~tly providing that every finding of the Court almost hopeless and absolutely helpless. He had been impoverished, of Claims shall be paid and paid at once without being considered at made a beggar of, l)y the destruction of his property, and when this all by even the House or the Senate. $1,700 was offered him the temptation was great, and he accordingly 1\fr. Chairman, I want to say, in addition, that I do not think this signed the receipt on a condition, and that condition was conceded by claimant is in a position to complain of hard treatment by the Gov the officer in charge, namely, that it did not debar him from his right ernment. In the first place, his land was out here a long distance to further payment and he had his remedy herein Congress. But, .M:t. southeast of the Capitol, and was used for a mce-coume, and I do not Chairman, why is it and why should it be that the will and judgment imagine that property of that kind was very valuable during the war. of this House shall be determined by the mere ipse dixit or simple opin- When the cloud of war hung over tbis capital and over this nation, we ion of gentlemen even so distinguished as my friend from Indiana [l\fr. had something else to do besides running horse-races, and I am not HOL:\I.A.N] and the gentleman from Ohio [Mr. JoSEPH D. T.AYLOR] inclined to believe that this Government is not very largely indebted without proper justification? to this claimant for occupying his race-course during a single year while Now, I do not know that I care to say any~hing more on thlssnbject, the war was in progress. The ground·wasoccupied only about a year, but will say simply this. I have been impressed with this fu.ct, that we and, as I understand, for that one year's occupation tllis man was paid are an probably amenable to the same influences when we propose a more than $1,700. lie accepted that pa,yment, and not only accepted case here for an appropriation, or where any gentleman is affected or it but ~ave a receipt in full. Now it is proposed that we shall pay him interested, and that it will not deter any man, not even my friend from for a single year's occupancy some $5,000, less the amount which he has Indiana, with considerations as to the amount. Therefore it is that I already received. It seems to me that this is acting very liberally, and 1888. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7439
is paying a very large compensation to this party for the occupation of and so far as any connection with the war is concerned it might as his race-course during that year, or any year of the war. well h..we been in the State of Kansas or :Minnesota or Wisconsin or Mr.· THOMAS, of Wisconsin. Mr. Chairman, I wish to say a few Ohio. This property was not where the enemy ever bad po&>ession. words in relation to tb,is matter. While it is very true that Congr&:.--s The Government arbitrarily took the property, anll having acknowl is not bound by the decisions of the Court of Claims, it is also true that edged its indebtedness, it seems to me it ill becomes the Government we should have some regard to the findings of this court as a basis of to undertake to split the claim or to deny the equity and justice of fact tlpon which to act. Now, sir, we not onlyhave the opinion of the the finding of the Court of Claims. Court of Claims that this claim is just, but we have also the opinion of Mr. PERKI NS. Now, if the gentleman will permit me, I would a board of competent United States Army officers, appointed by the like to ask him why the Quartermaster s Department did not pay the Quartermaster-General at the time, who carefully investigated the facts amount which the gentleman says the 1·epresentatives of that depart and came to a conclusion which they put in writing in the shape of a ment had found due for rent. I am speaking now, not of the claim for finding, which was filed with the Quartermaster-General. They found destruction of property, but of the claim for rent. I wish to know that thls party was entitled to $5,500 for rent of his premises, and to why the Quartern:iaster's Department did not pay as rent the amount $7,965.75 for the destruction of buildings, etc., upon the land. which, as the gentleman says, agents or representatives .of that depart Mr. WILEiON, of Minnesota. When was that report made? men t found to be d ne. :Mr. THOl\1:AS, of Wisconsin. I have not the exaet date at hand, Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. I have no reason to give. 'l'he Quar but it was not a great while after the close of the war. term~ster-General himself gave no reason for the refusal. He seems Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. By whom was it made? simply to have assumed that Sl, 784.45 was a sufficient sum. The Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. By a board appointed by the Quar Quartermaster's Department in the hearing before the Court of Claims termaster-General to investigate and report the facts. made no proof that this amount was sufficient. . The Government docs .Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. Where does that appear? not show in any way that it was a sufficient amount as rent. There Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. In .the finding of the Court of Claims. is, as I understand, no testimony claiming that it was sufficient. The Quartermaster-General appointed a board to examine and report Ur. PERKINS. Who represents the GoYerilment of the United upon the merits of the claim and they made this finding. After this Sta.tes in these cases 'which are referred nuder this act t.o the Court of finding had been made the Quartermaster-General, without giving any Claims? reason, without saying that the amount was too large, arbitrarily tend Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. The Department of Justice. ered to the claimant $1,748.60 for rent, telling him that the Quarter Ur. PERKINS. Is the Department of Justice allowed proper force "" master's Department bad no right to pay for damage to buildings, so that the interests of the Government can be intelligently represented fences, etc. The claimant took the money, but said, "I do not want in these cases? to be barred." Mr. THOl\IAS, of Wisconsin. 1\Iost certainly. , In this case the in Mr. WILSO~. ~f Minnesota. Will the gentleman tell us what board terests of the Government were in charge of representatives of the At it was which made this finding? How was it appointed, and whereis torney-General's Office. the report of that finding? · Mr. PERKINS; Is it not a fact that cle.1:ks are detailed to go down Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. If the gentleman will look at the re there and look after the interests of the Government, clerks who know port of the committee, and will also take time to look at the report ot nothing of the circumstances of the claim, and that these cases are sub · the Court of Claims on file with the papers in this case-- mitted to the court upon agreed statements of fact in which frequently :Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. I have both before me, I think. the interests of the Government are virtually ignored. Is not that the MT. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. He will find that the Quartermaster practice? General constituted a board to examine and report upon the merits of b.1r. THOl\IAS, of Wisconsin. I understand it is not. I understand this claim. This is what we say in the report, and we base it upon it has been the practice of the Department to fight these claims as vig the facts: oronsly as they would any claim; that regular attorneys representing . This board had the most ample time and opportunity to investigate, and, the Department, assistants of the Attorney-General, argue these ques after having manifestly done so, they, in their report, recommend ed that the tions and present on the part of the Government all the evidence that claimant be allowed as rent for his property $500 per month {).·om July 12, 1864., to June 12,1865, eleven months, $5,500, and as compensation for rebuilding and can be brought forward. As I understand, the, Court of Claims insists repairing buildings and fences the sum in block: of $7,966.75, a. total of $13,466.75, upon this. There is no trial in which the claimant is represented and the same to be in full of all claims against the Government arising from the the Government not properly represented. / occupation, use, and consumption of claimant's property. This is not a case, like ma.ny others, where the claim is of long Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota.- Where can a r>erson see that report standing, the amount large, and the witnesses dead. In this case, made to the Quartermaster-General so as to ascertain who were the which I must say· is an exceptional one, the Government, within a persons making it, and upon what data they reported? very short time after the destruction of the property, .long before the Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. If these papers to which I refer are facta could be clouded, before the property had changed hands or the not with the papers in the Clerk's office, the gentleman will find them witnesses died, or the appearance of things changed, appointed a board in the room of the Committee on War Claims. Our report was based to examine the facts, and they made their report. upon the facts as returned by the Quartermaster-General, whose re Can there be any question about the justice of this claim? Why port, as you will find, is confirmed by the Court of Claims. The should two officers of the Government, Army officers, pnt their hands Quartermaster-General, without any authority, fixed upon this low sum to an award which is false and fraudulent? Has it been the practice of $1,784.45 as the amount to be paid for rent. The evidence is that or the custom of that kind of a board to do that sort of thing? Is it the claimant said, "I do not want to take this amount in full;" and right for Congress to so judge? I think not. the Quartermaster-General replied to him, "Though yon may sign a ~fr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Let me ask the gentl&man from Wis receipt in full, it shall not bind you." consin, was the Government of the United States ever represented by :Mr. WILSON, of Minnesot..'l. I see that statement in the report; anybody in the Court of Claims? Does the record anywhere show but upon whose evidence is the statement made? that? Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. This was the evidence taken in the Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. Yes, I think it does. case before the Court of Claims. Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. I should like to see it. I think the :M:r. WILSON, of Minnesota. Whose evidence was it? Was it the gentleman is mistaken in his statement. evidence of the man who makes the claim? blr. THOMAS, ofWisconsin. No, I do not think I am. Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. The evidence of witnesses. Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. The record will show it if there were Ur. WILSON, of :Minnesota.. What witness? any representative in behalf of the interest of the United States in 1\1r. THO::\IAS, of Wisconsin. I am not prepared to give the name the Court of Claims. of the witness. The gentleman from Maryland [Mr. COMPTO~] is Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. This claim should be rejected or al more familiar, probably, with the details. If I had supposed I was lowed. This man is entitled to the whole of his claim and not toone going to be cross-examined on this subject., I would have had all the half of it. If he is entitled to one-half, certainly he is entitled to the papers before me. whole of it. Mr. C0~1PTO:N . I speak from memory; but accordipg to my recol Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. That would double it. lection, the papers having been here on the 16th of March, when this Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. No, I think not. No one says he is case >Yas last under discussion, the finding was made by two officers claiming more than he is entitled to. The Court of CJaims report detailed from the Quartermaster's Department to go upon the premises shO\\ S that he is entitled to what he claims. This man received a and ascc'rtain the fucts. I think the papers will show that to have smaller snm under protest with the understanding that he mi~ht go to been the case. the Court of Claims or come to Congress. He went to the Court of Mr. PERKINS. In this connection, I would like to ask ~e gen Claims and succeeded in proving his case. J nstice is on his side, a.s tleman a question. justice is on the side of any man who has a claim against the Govern Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. I will yield ffi a moment; but :first ment which has not been paid. let me finish this statement. I undertake to say that if this receipt in Mr. WILSON, of :Minnesota. Mr. Chairman, I do not care whether full is urged, a.s some gentlemen appeared disposed before to urge it, as this claim comes from Minnesota or South Carolina or the District of a. har against this claim, that is a most unjust thing to do. Columbia. The simple question is whether it i3 a valle! claim, eatab This claim has rela.tion to property within the District of Columbia, lished by competent and satisfactory e-vidence. 7440 CONG·RESSION AL RECORD-HOUSE. ApGUST 10,
Generally the gentleman from Wisconsin [Mr. THO:t'fiAS] is right in Forty-eighth Congress he had introduced a bill himself; and how far his conclusions, but I do not think he is at this time. beyond that it has gone I do not know. The status of this claim, as I understand it, is this: In 1864, nearly Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. Very well. We shall take that state- a quarter of a century ago, certain property was used by the Govern- ment as showing the date of the malung of this claim; for, as I have ment. Within a short time after that settlement was apparently made above said, the burden is on the claimant to show tbat he has not been and a receipt in full given for the use of that property. The sum al- guilty of laches and why he has so long, under such circumstances, re lowed was accepted and a receipt written out showing it to be in full mained silent; and since the use of the land for which this claim is settlement. made until the Forty-eighth Congress was at least eighteen to twenty In this case we must proceed on the theory that it w:l.S a full settle- years. - . ment unless evidence be given to show satisfactorily and clearly that There is no lawyer here who does not know that cl~ims under such it was not. If it was a full settlement then there is nothing of this circumstances come with a degree of suspicion cast on them, and that claim. we would not allow them if it were a question as between two indi- It is not for the United States to prove its invalidity-it is not for it viduals. If it were not for the fact that these claims are against the to take the affirmative of this issue-the affirmative is charged to the public Treasury of the United States they would not receive a roo- other side by the settlement and receipt. ment's consideration. Now, sir, I wish to make one remark here about the report of the But the gentleman f1·om Wisconsin [Mr. THOMAS] speaks of the ex- Court of Claims. The argument has frequently been made on this floor isteuce of some conclusive testimony to the fact that this claim is valid, that the finding of the Court of Claims is conclusive in such cases. The to wit, the testimony of a board appointed to investigate the claim, statute does not say so and should not say so. and that they investigated and allowed it. Now, I have tried to find There is nothing more misleading. There is nothing more calculated out who constituted that board and what their findings were, but I to do injustice. Look at this case. Between private parties, if a man have been entirely unsucce83ful, although I have repeatedly asked the making a claim like this had slept on his rights for all these years we question. Whom did the Quartermaster appoint, and tow hom did they would say at once that was the end of it. Why? Because he had report? What was the substance of their report and findings? It ap waited until the know ledge of the facts had disappeared, until th~ wit- pears from all the information I have been able to gather that the Quar nesses had died, and there was no longer any certainty in the proof termaster-General appointed two persons, and they made a report and offered. he set the report aside; but,, notwithstanding that fact, we are to un- In this case, as far ~ any statement has been made, the party who derstand from the statement of my friend from Wisconsin that the tes ga\"e the receipt in full sits by for nearly twenty years before he says timony or report of this "board," so called, although set aside by the one word abont any additional claim. When it is to be presumed that Quartermaster-General himself, is to have more credit given to it than the witnesses have gone, when all the evidenc~ has disappeared or be- the decision of the officer who appointed them and set aside their find come obscure, he comes in and asks the Government, perhaps on his ing. own 1pse dixit or his own oath, to set aside his receipt in full and pay Let me suggest this illustration to the gentleman: Suppose a court him this immense sum-of money. He is a competent witness in the appointed a referee to investigate a question. and the court saw fit to case and in the absence of any other evidence his oath would be ple- set aside the report of the referee; then in after time, and after the evi nary proof. den-::e ih the case had been lost or obscured, would the report of the Mr. Chairman, the Conn of Claims could only decide on the evi- referee be taken in preference to the determination of the court? Is deuce before it. that the position? That is just the position of this question as it seems A man, stimulated by greed, may make a claim of any such charac- to me. ter against the Treasury, and who is to oppose him? If a receipt in full This claim is to be established by such evidence as that; and I sub is not conclusive evidence after the lapse of so long time, what opposi- mit to my friend from Wisconsin that instead of making for the con tion can be set up? Who is the adversary party? And then as far as elusiveness of the claim it works positively against it. the United States attorneys are concerned, we are told that they appear Mr. THOMAS, of Wisconsin. Let me ask the gentleman this qnes in all such cases and represent the interests of the Government. Why, tion: Suppose a claim had been presented against you the validity of sir, every man who knows anything about the facts, who has ever had oc- which you questioned, and you appointed two of your friends to in casion to look into such questions at all, knows that there is no possi- vestigate H, and they fou_nd against you; but you, still doubting the bil.ityevenoftheUnitedStatesattorne;rsinvestigatingallthesecasesas I claim, proposed to pay so much, with the understanding that if it fully as they ought to be investigated, even if they could face the wit- turned out afterward that more was due yon would pay it. Suppose ne!l$es; and when gentlemen talk of the attorneysactingwith vigilance the party claiming accepted your offer, does the gentleman claim that in these cases, they are simply saying that which every man knows he would be thereby estopped from presenting his demand, although must be impossible. Of course they do the best they can, but in the you held his receipt for the sum paid? great mass of matter that is submitted to them such a thing as extreme Mr. WILSON, of. Minnesota. Now, I ask the attention of members vigilance in such cases is not to be expected. And if a fraudulent and especially lawyers to this suggestion. Is that the fact? The claim is made after such a lapse of time, how are they to find evidence first question is, what was done? And my contention is that after the t.o disprove it? lapse ofso long time under the circumstances the claimant should not In my opinion it is almost conclusive evidence against the validity be permitted to open this case by the allegation of facts inconsistent of any such claim that a man sits quietly by 1or nearly twenty years with his written receipt. After such a lapse of time disproof is almost and makes no effort to establish it, and especi~lly after having given~ impossible ordinarily. If that Quartermaster had been goine: to au vise receipt in full1or it. And I am very sure that public policy requires such a course as that and if this party reserved any such right, they that we should so hold. would have written it in some form. It would not have been left an 1\Jr. COMPTON. I am sure the gentleman does not want to mis- open, doubtful question, to be established by parol. state the facts. It is to prevent just such" a state of things as this that civilized na- Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. Permit me to conclude what I am just tions have adopted statutes of limitations, aud say that if not prosecuted now saying and I will yield for a question. within a given time no action shall be allowed for the enforcement of Mr. COMPTON. I only wanted to correct a statement of the gentle- such a claim; that it is to bo presumed after so long a time that evi- man. · deuce would be lost or obscured and that injustice rather than justice Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. Very well. would be the result of the enforcement of such claims The wisdom Mr. COMPTON. Because I know the gentleman does not want to of ages has said and rightly said that such stale claims shall not be do any one an injustice. tolerated. I am not only in favor of the amendment of the gentleman Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. Certainly not. from Indiana, but I am in favor, on the evidence before us, of not p!ly- Mr. COMPTON. The gentleman makes a mistake when he asserts ing one dollar more in this case. this party simply laid upon his oars for twenty-five years. He has If, after such a time, receipts are to be set :l.Side and claims paid on been fighting to secure a hearing since before the first payment was such evidence, good-by to all surplus in the Treasury; for the more made and from that hour down to the present time. dLhonest a man is the more certain would be his success. The worse Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. Well, I spoke from therecord, and menarethemorecertaintheywouldbetomakeacasewhentheirclaims also from the information I derived from my friend himself. I could depended on mere swearing; .and I am opposed to .accepting evidence not find the facts embodied in the report, and I asked my friend the countervailing that which was written so long ago. There is no reason question, when this was first inaugurated? He stated that the first why the rules in favor of individuals should not apply when the Gov he knew of it was in the Forty-eighth Congress. That is the best ernment is a party. Especi::l.lly in case of demands against the Gov information I have been able to get either from the report or from any- ernment should the rule against stale claims be invoked and applied. body who knows anything of the cn.se, and that is about twenty years The power of this proof is much more likely to be lost by the Govern- after the inception of the claim. ment than by a private individual. Mr. COl\1PTON. When the gentleman made inquiry of me, as he Mr. MILLIKEN. I do not propose to discuss the merits of this states, I replied with reference to my own knowledge as to the date of claim, for I have not had opportunity to examine into it; but I was the reference to the Court of Claims. Beyond that I did not under- somewhatamazed \)y thepo itiontaken by my acute and very able legal take to answer. I have personal know ledge, however, of the fact from friend from Minnesota [Mr. WILSON]. He s..1>ys that the Court of Claims • the lips of a Representative from my own district that previous to the found in favor of this bill, and states that the Court of Claims has to de-
. _- 1888.- CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7441
cide according to the e-vidence that is before i~. That is right. Bub I :Ur. WILSON, of Minnesota. I do not Wish to be understood in any do not understand why the evidence which is necessary for the Court thing I have said about the Court of plaims as intimating that it is not of Claims to come to a conclusion should not be sufficient for him and an able and honest court. Whab I intended to say, and what I think -. for me. I do not know by what means this House arrives at a conclu- I did clearly &'l.y, was that after the lapse of twenty yeara or a quarter sion upon a private bill except upon the evidence that is before it. of a century, with a party on one side stimulated by the hope of a large Now, if my friend bas any other evidence than that before the Court of award or judgment in his favor, and with no person on the other side Claims then he can disparage the opinion of that court. I agree with who is cognizant of the facts or directly or personally interested in pre- him that the evidence taken by the Court of Claims should be abso- 1 senting them, the court would in all probability have no reliable evi- lutely conclusive. Now, the House bas the right to reverse that de- dence before it, and that, therefore, when a case has been left to lie dor- cision, but it seems to be a wonderful position to take that the judg- mant so long as this one, and where there has been a settlement and a ment of the Court of Claims should be disparaged because it decides on receipt given in full, that receipt ought to be held conclusive against - 1 the evidence that is before it, and I do not know of any other ground the claimant, as it would be in a private litigation. If this be not so7 upon which this House can confirm or reverse the opinion of the Court then the older and more stale a claim is the str·onger it becomes for the of Claims. claimant if he is not an honest man, and the weaker for the Govern- Mr. BREWER. I do not rise so much for the purpose of opposing ment. _' this claim as to make some suggestions tollowing in the line of the gen- Therefore I say that this idea that the reporb of the Court of Claims tleman from Uaine, the gentleman from Wisconsin, and the gentleman should be conclusive is most misleading. I bold, on the contrary, that from Minnesota.. I desire to state here that in my judgment the rna- after the lapse of such a length of time a report made on evidence pre- _. jority of the members of this House are lacking in confirlence in the sented by a claimant ought ordinarily to have but little weight; and I decisions or the conclusions arrived at in these cases by the Court of am opposed to .removing the bar of the statute in these cases, not be- Claims, and I say this with all due respe<;t t-o the members of that cause I distrust the Court of Claims, but becau e it is impossible for court. It is perfectly evident, if we will take and examine the reports the Government to procure evidence to establish the real facts or to made by that court and the findings which they send here to the House, countervail eviden~e presented by the claimant. In this case the fact and then compare them with·tbe official records of the Government we of this claimant having given a receipt in full, and having allowed his will often find that they are directly opposite in the statement of facts. claim to lie dormant so long, is to me more conclusive evidence as to Now, w.e had a case here the other day under consideration in which the merits of the case than the report of the Court of Claims. · that very condition ofa.tfairs existed. We had a claim here from the 1\Ir. BUCKALEW. I can very easily believe that the occupation of district of the gentleman from Virginia [Mr. BOWDEN] in which this such property as this fora considerable period of time by United States very condition occurred. 'fhe Court of Claims reported to this House troops would result in a good deal of damage to the premises; and in a, cert.ain state of facts. and of course the Committee on War Claims, this case it appears that a board of Government officers was appointed very naturally following that, made a report of these facts to the House by the Quartermaster-General, who reported to him in favor of an al and they were considered here by this committee. They went not lowance of $500 a month rent and also seven thousand and some odd back of that report for the purpose of finding what might be the official dollars for injury to the property. 1 - records of the Government. But fortunately we had here a certified It is very manifest that their report W.flS not satisfactory to the Qnar- record of the Government which showed an entirely different state of termaster-General, and he determined that in regard to the general . facts from t~ose which were sent here by the Court of Claims. damages he had no jurisdiction; that as to rent, instead of paying 1.1r. BOWDEN. The case to which the gentleman from Michigan $5,500, the amount claimed, he would pay $1,784.45. He must have refers will probably be the next matter for consideration, and I do not made some inquiries. What be determined,_however, if we accept the wi h to have that prejudiced by a misstatement which the gentleman receipt as binding, would apply only to the ren~, and would have no is making, not intentionally. The facts are that the paper which was application to the other portion of the claim. presented and read was all the testimony considered by the Court of The difficulty I find is that in the report of the Court of Claims we Claims when they ascertained the state of facts, and if the gentleman are not informed. whether they beard new testimony upon the subject, will take the trouble to read carefully that testimony I think he will or whether they simply took as the basis of their finding of about $12,- , . • - see that it rather goes to uphold the case than to damage it. 000, the old report which was made to. the Quartermaster-General. If Mr. BREWER. Then, if the members of the Court of Claims bad they accepted that old report and upon that undertook to override the "' that evidence before them when they rendered their finding of facts to action of the Quartermaster-General, and allow in full the claim for this House, they did a very unjust thing, because they found a state rent and for damages as reported by that commi sion or by those offi of facts existing, basing their finding upon a petition and oral evidence, cers, we have no guaranty that they have not made too great an allow when there were official records of the Government which showed a ance. In such a state of the case, I am not ready to vote this money. contrary state of facts. Upon a report which the Quartermaster-General bad condemned I would M:.r. BOWDEN. Why, sir, that testimony covered only a short period, not like to undertake to overrule the j ndgment of the Quartermaster- less than a year of the time for which this compensation is asked. General as to the 1·ent, nor would I undertake 1.o make an assessment :Mr. BREWER. Then I do not read it correctly; but the record is of damages unless new evidence were presented to the Court of Claims before the House and gentlemen can refer to it for themselves. or to Congress. I confess the inclination of my mind is to believe that Again~ Mr. Chairman, there are cases that have been reported to this the occupation of such premises for such a period of time by soldiers,
House by the Court of Claims where the question of loyalty has arisen 7 under the circumstances which we know generally attended such oc and, strange as it may seem, that court has almost universally found in cupation entailed damages upon the property; and I am ready to vote favor of the loyalty of every claimant. I do not know bow it comes, an allowance for such damages if I c.an be satisfied that the finding in but that seems to be the fact. There is one case, and I presume there this case did not rest etltirely upon an old report from officers whose are more, in which the court has found the claimant loyal, and yet the chief did not approve the report. In this state of uncertainty I believe testimony before the Southern Claims Commission shows as an affi.rma- I a:n willing to vote for an amendment to pay a part of this claim, for tive fact by proof that can not, in my judgment, be controverted or I do not feel prepared to vote against it altogether. I will vote to pay doubted, that the party was disloyal. Now, how does this arise? I a part, but not the whole. apprehend that it arises in the manner stated by the gentleman from Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. 1\Ir. Chairman, I do not want to discuss Minnesota [ 1r. WILSO~l. the meritsofthis particular claim at all, buti dowantto call the atten- Mr. COMPI'O~. I dislike to interrupt my friend, but he is de· tion ofthis CommitteeoftbeWholeto thesituation as it bas beenpre-
bating another case instead of this one. sented here to-day. It is necessary for us to inquire, in the firstplace7 Mr. BREWER. I shall close in a moment. I am referring to these how the Court of Claims came to have any jurisdiction in this case. other cases for the purpose of showing that we ought not to place \Cry This is one of a large class of cases as to which jurisdiction was con much relia.nce upon the Court of Claims. It is said that the Depart- ferred by act of Congress passed in 1883. When it was found that there ment of Justice is represented in these cases. I do not know by whom was difficulty on the part of committees of the House of Representa it is represented, but if I am correctly informed, it is not by any one tives in ascertaining the facts in these cases, Cong~ess passed an act who holds a very responsible position in the Department, or by any pmviding that claims of this sort should be referred to the Court of one in whom this House should put great confidence. I must say, Claims. Why was that act passed? If no confidence is to be placed in from a comparison of the records of the Government with the findings the findings of the Court of Claims, as has been argued here to-day by of the Court of Claims, that I have butlittlefaith in findings of" facts 71 gentlemen who claim to be eminent in the le?;al profession, why do you as they are sent here by that court. . continue this act upon the statute-book? M:r. COMPTON. I wish to say one word more, for the information If the legal fraternity in this country has descended so low that mem of the House, to correct the impression which I fear has been made by bers of the profession tand upon this floor and say to the country at the statement of the gentleman from Kansas and by that .which has large that no confidence is to be placed in members of that profession just fallen from the gentleman from Michigan. I fi~d in the report of who are chosen as the judges of high judicial tribunals, that the find- - the court the following, which ought to be conclusive upon this point: ings of such tribunals are entitled to no credit or respect-and gentle The court upon the proof and evidence, after hearing Gilbertl\'Ioyers, of coun- men in the very same breath charge claimants with belonging to a class sel for the claimant, and the Assistant Attorney-General, of counsel for the de- of men who would swear falsely in order to obtain their claims-if the fiendant, find as follows. legal profession has descended to so low a grade, it is time we should So that the court heard the Assistant Attorney-General in this case. repeal the laws providing courts for theadjudication of questions aris- XIX-466 ·. 7442, CONGRESSIONAL REOORD-HOUSE. AuGusT _fo, I '
ing between the citizen and the Government. Sir, I do not entertain Mr. HOLMAN. I move that the bill be reported to the House with so low an opinion of the judges of our courts. I have a higher appre- ' the recommendation that it be recommitted to the Committee on War ciation of the legal profession in this country than to believe any such Claims. stuff, even though it may come from a member of the profession. Mr. COMPTON. I hope that will not be done, and I ask for a di- The Committee on War Claims, of which I have the honor to be a vision. member, bas regard for the opinion of the Court of Claims. It has been The committee divided; and there were-ayes 20, noes 33. argued here that because the court is not vested with power to render So the amen~ent was disagreed to. judgment its findings o~ht not to be respected. Sir, that court is en The question again recurred on the motion that the bill be laid aside dowed with power to find the facts, ~nd when it does so I am not one to be reported to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. to stand here and question that finding. I do not understand that the The committee divided; and there were-ayes 32, noes 27. Committee on War Claims is here as a court of appeals to review the So the motion was agreed to. · I· findings of the court which has been provided specially to protect the interests of the Government in these cases. ORDER OF BUSINESS. Gentlemen talk about claimants waiting for twenty years and resting "' The CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will report the next bill on the Cal meanwhile upon their claims. Sir, these people have in many cases andar. been for twenty years or more knocking at the doors of Congress for re Mr. BOWDEN. I wish to direct the attention of the Chair to the lief~ and when they go to the Court of Claims not over 2 per cent. of fact that the case first called up this mornrng by my colleague [Mr. the cases referred to that court ever come back here with favorable. WISE] should be now considered, in view of the decision made by the 'findings. . Chair on the case just disposed of. This is the case which was partially Gentlemen who profess to be lawyers and talk about their legal considered last Friday, and was passed over without losing its place knowledge say that the Court of Claims and the claimants may get up with a view of printing the report and bill in the RECORD. I believe ,, such a showing of facts as will defraud the Government. If this be it is the first case on the Calendar reported from the Court of Claims. true, why does nott hat court send back here the ninety-eight cases The CHAIRMAN. What case does the gentleman refer to? which they now 1·eject out of every one hundred referred to them for Mr. BOWDEN. It is the bill (H. R. 5517) for the relief of the Nor- consideration? 1 folk County Ferry Committee. So far as this individual case .is concerned, I do not know anything Mr. DOCKERY. Is that the first bill on the Calendar? more about it than what the Court of Claims has sent here as its find The CHAIRMAN. No, it is not. ings. The case was referred by the Forty-eighth Congress to the Court Mr. BOWDEN. It is the first bill on the Calendar from the Court of Claims and was reported by that court to the Forty-ninth Congress. of Claims. The Committee on War Claims in this Congress took the finding of the The CHAIRUAN. Was that reported from the Forty-ninth Con Court of Claims and the report of the committee in the Forty-ninth gress and placed on the Calendar at the beginning of the session? Congress and said: Ur. BOWDEN. No. We find this state of the case existing: We believe that when you -l'ia.ve en The CHAIRMAN. Then it does not come up, and the Clerk will couxaged these people to go before the couxt to test the legality and justice of read the next bill. their claims you are in duty bound, after the facts have been found by the court, WILLIAM J. rOITEVENT. to pay the amount which the couxt has found to be due. The Clerk read as follows: The gentleman from Ohio [Mr. JosEPH D. TAYLOR] offers to divide A bill (H. R. 26) for the relief of William J. Poitevent. this claim and pay half the amount. He says it is all wrong; but he :1\Ir. STONE, of Kentucky. I ask, Mr. Chairman, that the same rule is willing to pay one-half of the sum claimed.: be followed to-day that was followed on the preceding Friday, that the The gentleman from Indiana [Mr. HoLMAN] proposes an amend Clerk shall call the Calendar, and after the reading of the title of the ment by which he acknowledges the justice of this claim, just as does bill, if no one asks for its consideration, it shall be passed over, and the gentleman from Ohio. Sir, if this claim is just to the extent of a the Clerk shall call the next bill. dollar, the whole claim is just; and if you are not going to pass the Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. This bill may as well be disposed of to- bill and pay the amount found due by the Court of Clainls, vote down day as at any other time. · the whole bill and say you hav~ no confidence in the Court of Claims; The CHAIRMAN. Is the consideration of this bill asked for? that the whole proceeding is wrong, and that the opinions of the court Mr. DIBBLE. I object. are valueless. Mr. STONE, of :Irentucky. I suggest to the gentleman from South If you will mark out a positive law in one direction or the other you Carolina that this plan will facilitate matters ii\ connection with the will save the Court of Clainls and the Committee on War Claims of consideration of these bills on the Calendar, and I hope there will be this House a vast amount of unnecessary work. no objection, He will find that gentlemen, if they are present, will Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Is there a solitary iota of evidence be call up these bills as they are reached on the Calendar; and of course fore the Court of Clainls as to the occupation and use of this property? if no one is present to look after the interests of a bill when it is reached Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. In answer to the gentleman from Ohio it will be passed over informally. [Mr. JosEPH D. TAYLOR] I wish to say that the Committee on War The CHAIRMAN. The Chair understands objection is made, and Claims has never considered itself created as a court to review the de the Clerk will report the first bill on the Calendar, the title of which cisions of the Court of Claims. We believed that court had sufficient has been read. legal talent to make its own decisions; that the law and the facts were The Clerk read as follows: before them; that they acted under their oath, wherein they had Be it enacted, etc., That the Secreta.rv of the Treasury be, and he is bereby, au staked their honor they would decide in accordance with the law and thorized and directed to pay to William J. Poitevent, out of any money in the the facts, and we have taken their findings in this case and acted upon\ Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of $46,626.66, for the use of his steam-boat A. G. Brown by the United States Army, in the waters of Mississippi them: We have never pretended to review their decisions. . and Louisiana, from April20, 1863, to April7, 1866 said sum being the amount There is no question but they had ample evidence for every finding reported by the Secretary of War as the lowest paid by the Government ($1,300 they have made. per month) for (chart-ered) vessels of similar capacity in the waters aforesaid; and also the sum $5,873.95, being the net proceeds received by Col. A.M. Hola · I should think, Mr. Chairman, the members of that court had bet bird from the sale of 222 barrels of rosin taken from said Poitevent and sold: in ter spend their summer vacation praying to be delivere_d from the de New York, December 19, 1863, and accounted for by him in his account for the nunciations of the members of their profession who are members ot month ending December 31, 1863; and also the further sums, in payment for property taken from said Poitevent and reported by Quartermasters A. N . Ship- Congress. 1ey and said Holabird to have been expended or used in the service of the United The CHAIRl\IAN. The question first recurs on the amendment as States, as follows: Seven coils rubber belting, $150; 108 barrels of tar, $648; 21 modified, which will be read by the Clerk. cases of turpentine (42 ga.llous), $525; 1 coil hose, SlOO; 1 metallic row-boat, SlOO; 33~orn-husk mattresses, SW; 8 kegs of spikes, $96; 17 pillows, $50 ; 3 boat-oars, T he Clerk read as follows: 53: Provided, That the payment thereof shall be held and taken as a complete Strike out" $L2,442.98" and insert" $3,715.55." relinquishment and satisfaction of all claim for damages sustained by him as q'he committee divided; and there were-ayes 25, noes 33. aforesaid. Mr. HOLMAN. No quorum has voted. Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. I ask unanimous consent that this bill J\Ir. LANHAM. It is evident there is no quorum in the House, and be passed over informally, retaining its place on the Calendar. I ask that the bill be laid aside for the present and that we proceed Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. I object. with the other bills upon the Calendar. The CHAIRMAN. 'l'he gentleman from Illinois objects. The ques Mr. CO.JiriPTON. No, sir; I can not agree to that. tion is on laying the bill aside. :1\fr . .LANHAM. As there is no quorum present and the point of Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. I ask for the reading of the report in order is made, because we can not proceed to qo any other business, I this case. shall move that the committee rise. ENROLLED DILL SIGNED. Mr. HOLMAN. Inasmuch as there will be a vote taken on the bill The committee info~mally rose; and the Speaker having resumed the in the House; I do not insist 1,1pon the point of order. chair, Mr. KILGORE, from the Committee on EnrolledHills, reported TheJ CHAIRMAN. The point of order having been withdrawn, the that they had examined and found duly enrolled a bill of the follow amendment is disagreed to. ing title; when the Speaker signed the same, namely: The question next recurred on reporting the bill to the House with A bill (H. R. 8592) for the erection of a public building at Jackson, the recommendation that it do pass. Mich.
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.1888. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7443
WILJJIAM J. POITEVENT~ passenger packet between the lake-end of the Pontcha.rtrain Railroad, 1\Ia.nde vilJe, Louisburg, Mandersonville, and Covington. Soon after the beginning of The Committee of the Whole resumed its session. the war Pottevent withdrew his steamer from said line, and took her 63 miles The CHAIRMAN. The r eading of the report is demanded. from New. Orleans, up the Eas~ Pearl River, and tied her up at a point above Gainesville, Miss. :Mr. HOLMAN. Let the report be read. The official record in the Court of Claims case No. 3112, heretofore recited, The report {by :rtfr. STONE, of Kentucky) was read, as follows: fully proves claimant's loyalty~ that he was known to be a Union man before The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 26} for and during the war; that he was opposed to his sons joining the Confederate the relief of William J. Poitevent, submit the following report: army; that one of his sons joined the Confederate army and was taken out by The facts out of which this bill for relief arises will be found stated in House his father, the claimant; that claimant was arrested and taken as a prisoner by report of the Committee on War Claims (No.3530, second session, Forty-ninth the Confederate authorities to Jackson, Miss., forgiving aid and comfort to the Congress}, a copy of which is hereto appended. enemy, and was charged as being disloyal to the Confederate government; that Your committee adopt the said report as their own, and report back the bill said Poitevent, by his attorney, Yearger, made application for a writ of habeas with the recommendation that it do pass. corpus, which was granted; that his release created great excitement, the pop. ular feeling being that he ought to have been hung. [House Report No. 3530, Forty-ninth Congress, second session.l After said Poitevant was released from arrest he removed the machinery from The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R.10148} for said steamer and secreted it, fearing that the Confederate cavalry would find the relief of William J. Poitevent, having considered the same and accom his boat and burn it. After the fall of New Orleans he replaced the machinery panying papers, submit the following report: and put said steamer A. G. Brown in running order; had placed on board 25 The facts as made out before your committee, by evidence chiefly of a docu cords of wood, and was arranging to run her down to New Orleans at the time mentary character, may be stated briefly in the following order: Colonel Cowles seized her. The history of this claim, as it appears from t.he At the time the claim hereinafter set forth accrued the claimant was a citizen files of the War Department, now filed with the records in the case, is as fol· of Gainesville, Hancock County, Mississippi, and engaged in lumbering; was lows: . the sole owner of two saw-mills, a ship-yard, built steam-boats and barges, "It is hereby certified that the attached papers are true copies of originals owned two steam-boats, a. general store (dimensions 40 by 80 feet), and traded in possessi
.' •., _, ·' 7444 CONGRESSIONAL ltECORl)~HOUSE. AUGUST 10,
An act (H. R. 3361) to provide for liolding ter.rns of the circuit and ties between the Confederate States and the Union was a resident of _district courts of the United States for the district of Kentucky at Gainesville, Miss., and owned a large lumber-yard there, two saw· mills, Owensborough, in said district, and for other purposes; a store, fifty negroes, and two steam-boats plying between New Orleans An act (H. R. 736) for the relief of Caroline T. Cockle; and Covington, Ky. In 1874 (I think it was under the act of March 3, An act (H. R. 7232) for the relief of C. L. Wilson; · 1871) he filed his claim before the Southern Claims Commission, de An act (H. R. 6602) for the relief of James O'Brien; and manding the sum of $135,133 for property destroyed during the war. An act (If. R. 7452)-for the relief of the Southern illinois Normal The proof that be offered before that commission as to his loyalty was University. , of_such a suspicious character that a special agent was sent down to his The message also announced that the President had on August 9, home to inquire into that subject. He was also notified of what was 1888, approved bills of the following titles: proposed to be done in this regard, and informed of his right to be pres An act (H. R. 4785) granting a pension Rosanna K. Griffin; tnt at the time of the taking of any evidence touching this matter by .An act (H.· R. 9314) granting a pension to Mrs. Judith Deig; the agent. , An act (H. R. 9467) granting a pension to William U. Dicken; He went down there and had the privilege of cross-examining the An _act (H. R. 9540) granting a pension to Martha J. Rushford, witnesses whose testimony was taken by this agent upon hjs claim widow of John Rushford; of loyalty to the Government during the war. After ta1..ring full evi An act (H. R. 9595) granting a pension to David A. Yeaw; dence the agent reported to the commission in this language: '' Yon An act (H. R. 9729) granting a pension to Malinda Hardin; roay rest assured that no one here l1as any faith in the claimant's loy .A~ act (H. R. 9731) granting a pension to William A. Humes; alty." After that, upon application of the claimant, an opportnnity An act (H. R. 9732) granting a pension tq Sarah Riddle; was given for him to take proof to refutl} this charge. It was shown -An act (H. R. 9733) granting a pension to Ralph P. Wilborn; in this evidence that this man had four sons, three of whom served in At;~ act (H. R. 9 78) granting a pension to Moses T. Coffey; the Confederate army and navy. It was also shown in the proof that An act (H. R. 9 94) granting a pension to Myron Teachout; he made a contract with the Confederate governm~nt by which he fur .An act (H. R. 9911) granting a pension to Mrs. M;uia Hulse; nished the material and superintended the job of putting material in An act (H. R. 9920) granting a pension to Daniel K. Harris; Pearl River, so as to obstruct the passage of the Federal gunboats up ' An act (H. R. 10244) granting a pension to Mrs. Betsy Lockwood; and down that river. An act (H. R. 10318) granting a pension to Mary C. Davis; It was also shown that on the 1st day of July, 18Gl, he furnished An act (H. R. 24) for the relief of Eliza Russell, widow of Eldredge 21,000 feet of cypress, 10 by 12, for repairing; the palisades of a Con Russell; federate fort. When this matter was under hearing before this agent An act (H. R. 3764) for the relief of Mrs. Delilah Whipps; he denied such charge until the parties w.ho were investigating the mat 4-n act (H. R. 7162) for the relief of Mary Nevels; ter presented a receipt or account made out by him against the Con An act (H. R. 7624) for the relief of Coburn D. Outten; federate government for $375, in which be acknowledged payment of An act (H. R. 8150) for the relief of John H. Clans; that amount from the Confederate government, and signed the receipt An act (H. R. 8423) for the relief of William H. Porter; in his own hand writing. These are briefly the facts presented before An act (H. R. 9029) for the relief Marshall Burtrum; the Southern Claims Commission; and a fter a full· investigation the An .act (H. R. 7160) granting an increase o~ pension to A. W. Rose; Commission say "the claim is rejected for disloyalty." • An act (H. R. 4069) granting an increase of pension to Elnathan Now, _Mr. Chairman, one reason I had in asking for the reading of Meade; . this report was to show to the members of this House the danger of re An act (H. R. 7093) granting an increase of pension to John .A. Rolf; lying on reports coming from the Court of Claims, without making any An act (H. R. 9318) granting an increase of pension to Charles Jewett; further investigation as to the character of the items charged or the An act (H. R. 9308) granting an increase of pension to Rebecca Man- loyalty of the claimant. It appears from the report I have referred to · lo,e; that this man was as disloyal .as any man who served in the Confed An act (H. R. 3923) to place the name of Frederick Ronicke on the erate army during the war of the rebellion; yet be made a claim for lJension-roll; payment of a number of bales of cotton destroyed during the war, and An act (H. R. 8460) to place the name of John J. Mitchell on the the Court of Claims found in his favor and certified to his loyalty. One pension· roll; . gentleman here to-day, discussing the claim which bas just been rli - An act (H. R. 10579) to place the name of Samuel Massey on the pen- posed ot~ referred to this and de.i.J recated the idea Of acting upon proof sion-roll; . taken by the Court of Claims in a matter of this kind. Here is a wealth An act (H. R. 154) restoring to the pension-roll the name of Cynthia of proof establishing the disloyalty of this man during the war, and J. Carlton; are we to be bound by the ex parte evidence on which he made his claim An act (H. R. 8988) to increase the pension of Mrs. Minerva Eagle; before the Court of Claims? There is not a single element in the case An ac~ (H. R. 6764) to grant a pension to '' Muck-a-pec-wak-keu-zah '' which C..'lln be urged in favor of this claimant. The gentleman who or "John," an Indian who aided in saving the lives of many white presented the claim in the form of a bill to the War Claims Committee people in the Indian outbreak in Minnesota in ~e year 1862;. is so thoroughly convinced of it that he does not ask that this bill be An act (H. R. 10334) to grant a pension to Elizabeth O'Laughlin, the favorably reported. I say this because he was in his seat when the helpless and invalid daughter of Dennis O'Laughlin, late a member of matter was called up in the House, and when I rose to oppose the bill Company I, Ninth Minnesota Volunteer Infantry; he had nothing to say in its favor. An act (H. R. 9010) increasing the pension of William J. Heady; Now, sir, "\>vithout taking further time, I move that the bill be laid An act (H. R. 9079) to authorize the construction of a bridge across aside to be reported adversely to the House. the Tennessee River, at or near Knoxville, Tenn.; Ur. STONE, of Kentucky. I must say, ~Ir. Chairman, that I 'Very An act (H. R. 10128) to authorize the construction and maintenance much hope that that sort of action will not be taken by the House. I of a railroad bridge by the Birmingham, Atlantic and Air Line Rail have twice to-day insisted that this bill or this claim be passed over road and Banking and Navigation Company across the Oconee River, in without losing its place on the Calendar. I know, sir, that tlle evi Laurens County, State of G:eorgia; dence before the Committee on War Claims was asclearandcouclusive An act (H. R. 10347) authorizing the construction of a bridge across of the loyalty of this claimant as it could be of the loyalty of the gentle the Missouri River at or near the city of Plattsmouth, Nebr., and for man from Illinois [Mr. HOPKINS] himself. I knew that this evidence other purposes; filed before the Southern Claims Commission existed, and I know that An act (H. R. 10758) to amend the charter of the Capitol, North 0 evidence exists to refute every single, solitary particle of it; and it was Street and South Washington Railway Company; and on that account and on that kind of evidence that the committee report. An act (H. R. 10573) to provide for two additional associate justices But on sending to the· file room for the papers in this case I found that of the supreme court of Dakota, and f(_?r other purposes. this evidence does not appear in the papers. In the interest of fairnes , fair dealing, and justice I hope that the House will not agree to any WILLilli J. POITEVENT. such action as suggested by the gentleman from illinois [Mr. HoPKINS], · The Committee of the Whole resumed its session. but that the bill may be passed over, and if those interested in this bill Mr. STOCKDALE. Imovethatthis bill be passed over informally, do not by the time it is again reached for consideration refute the charges retaining its place on the Calendar. made by the gentleman, then I have nothing further to say. I am not The CHAIRMAN. It can only be done by unanimous consent, and an advocate of this claim and do not c..'tl'e anything about it, but I be the request has been once submitted and declined. lieve it will be eminently unjust and improper to treat it in this man Mr. STOCKDALE. I would like to renew the request, Mr. Chair ner at this time. man. Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. I would like to ask the gentleman from The CHAIRMAN. The Chair will submit the request of t.he gentle Kentucky a. question. man to the committee. Is there objection? Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. Certainly. I will take pleasure in an Mr. HOPKINS, of illinois. I object. swering it. The CHAIRMAN. The qutstion is upon laying the bill aside to- be · Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. Will the gentleman state what l''lper.l reported to the House with a favorable recommendation. were lost from the files. Mr. HOPKINS, of illinois. I desire to be heard for a fewmoments Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. I do not know what papers were miss~ ~n thilil question. The claimant in this case on the opening of hostili- ing, but when they were sent for they could not be obtained.
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1888. CONGRESSIONAL REOORD-HOUSE. 7445
Ur. ALLEN, of Michigan. Were the papers which were lost those federate government, had midertaken to damage the cause of the Union which tended to show the disloyalty of the claimant? it is nonsense, I say, at this late day to ask us to believe that he was ~Ir. STONE, of Kentucky. They do not seem to be lost. They loyal or to talk about his being a loyal man. I would not for my right seem to be in the papers. hand depriye any man or woman in the Southern S!ates who was loyal Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. Where they belong? of any just right. I am willing to do justice in every such case, and Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. The papers tending to show the man's brave men who fought against the flag will ask nothing more. They loyarty were in there, but I care nothing about it, and I simply ask do not ask us here to pay false claims, and I have too high a regard for the House that the case may be passed over in justice to the gentle their manhood to believe that they will undertake to force through man who presented the bill here. claims of this c1ass. 1\Ir. HOPKINS, of Illinois. I have the facts here in the record be Why, sir, this Government has not any more money than it needs to fore me, and I shall oppose the suggestion made by the gentleman reward suitably the men who saved the Union; and my friends on the from Kentucky, The evidence before the Committee on War Claims other side, because they are thoroughly reconstructed and admit to-day must have been evidence of an ex parte nature, and every one knows that this is the grandest Government the world ever saw, will only be that in a judicial proceeding it is the cross-examination which brings the more swift to join with us on this side in doing what is right for out the truth. No man can rely upon ex parte evidence in a question the soldiers of the Union. Instead of wasting our time here this after- · .. : of this kind. noon in considering the claim of a man who, according to every pre .· Now, this record from which I have gleaned the facts which I have sumption in the case, must have been disloyal, how much better it given to the committee is made up of depositions that were taken by would be, how much more satisfactory to our friends on the other side this agent, who was sent out by the Southern Claims Commission, at and to us, if we could only take up some bill embracing general pen ·. the very place where tnis claimant lived, and the claimant was in sion legislation-for instance, the bill proposing to give to persons who ~ formed of what the commission proposed to do, and was given an op are totally deaf double the amonnt of pension now allowed by Jaw portunity to go down there and face the witnesseS and cross-examine how much better it would be to pass some legislation of that kind in them if he saw fit. Not only that, but he was given the privilege by favor of the soldiers who saved the Union than to be spending these the Southern Claims Commission of introducing evidence before the Friday afternoons, as we have been doing all throngh the session, nn commission to establish his loyalty; &nd after the taking of this evi dertaking to find out whether we could not by some hook or crook, dence it was conclusively shown, as I have already said, th~t the man give to some one who was during the war in the center of seces'3ion and was as disloyal as any of his sons who served in the Confederate army. rebellion, a portion of the Government money, and this, too, in nine It was shown that these two steam-boats which he owned that were cases out of ten, p.pon evidence entirely ex parte. plying between Covington and New Orleans kept up their trade until Mr. STOCKDALE. Mr. Chairman, this case was reported by tho New Orleans was taken by the Federal forces, and that the moment gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. STONE], thechairmanoftheCommit the General Government obtained control of that city they ceased to tee on War Claims; I was not expected to manage the case in this do business there. House, although the claimant is a citizen of my district. The bill Not only that, but during all the time New Orleans was nnder the was reported very early in the session, being among the first to be control of the Confederates this man owned a lumber yard there and placed on the . Calendar; and this gentleman, very prudently, as I carried·on his business; but the moment the city surrendered to the thought, preferred that the measure should go into the hands of some Federal forces he ceased to do busiiiess. If he was a loyal man then older and more experienced member-some member older in service was the time to have shown it. It was after that, if I understand the and in years. The papers have been laid aside; and in what I may say, record, that he made a contract by which he was to furnish materials . I shall have to speak simply from my recollection of those papers, as to obstruct Pearl River for the purpose of ltindering and delaying and I examined them in the War Claims Committee. damaging the General Government. As the commissioners say in this I concur in the sentiments expressed by the gentleman from Mich-. record, the evidence that he introduced to show that he was a loyal igan [Mr. ALLEN] who has just taken his seat. I do not know that man is utterly unreliable. It is the testimony of men without char any member of the War Claims Committee at any time since I haye acter. The evidence that was giren for that purpose was of such a been a member of it-and I have attended every meeting-has made a. serpentine character that no man could rely upon it, and it was re solitary expression in the discharge of his duties from which any one jected in toto. The agent who was sent down there had an opportunity could tell whether he was a Democrat or a Republican, whether he of talking with the neighbors of the claimant, and with those who had came from the North or from the South. In fact, I attended every done business with him during the war, and he says, as I have here meeting of the committee for two months before I knew all whowere tofvre stated, "You may rest assured that no one here has any confi the Democratic and who the Republican members, or in some 'cases dence in the claimant's loyalty.'' Now, sir, with such a claim as this whether the member was from a Northern or a Southern State. We presented here for our consideration I must insist upon a vote on my investigated these questions purely upon the evidence placed before the ~~a , committee; we weighed that evidence and applied the legal propositions Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. Mr. Chairman, is it proper to say a applicable to the evidence; and in all instances where the loyalty of "ITOrd upon the subject-matter of this bill? any claimant rested under any doubt the case was not· reported fa 'I; or The CHAIRMAN. It is. The question before the committee is, ably to the House. I will say for myself, and I believe for every man Shall the bill be laid aside to be reported to ·the Honse with the recom coming from the section described by my friend from Michigan and mendation that it lie on the table? from which I come, as well as the other members, that in the proceed 1\!J.-. ALLEN, of Michigan. I am in favor of that, and I desire to ings of this commit-We, loyalty is made a prerequisite to a favorable re give my reasons. The other day the House voted to pay somebody for port; and I say further, although I make no pretensions to Joyj~~lty trees that were shot down by artillery at the battleofMurfree.sborough. myself-- It was not even shown whether it was the Union or the Confederate Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. You are all right now? artillery that did the damage, but, all the same, the trees were paid Mr. STOCKDALE. What is the remark of the gentleman? for on the ground of the loyalty of the claimant. We have here a case Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan . . You say you "make no pretensions to where it is nndisputed that the party received money from the Confed loyalty." Yon are perfectly loyal now ? erate Government for services rendered for the purpose of damaging Mr. STOCKDALE. Oh, that is understood. and hindering the cause of the Union. Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. You mean that at that time nobody . We have here on record from the accredited agency of the Govern down there was loval-- ment, to wit, the SouthernClaimsCommission, evidencfl that this man JI.fr. STOCKDALE. You never were more mistaken in your life, my was disloyal. Years afterwards the Court of Claims finds that he was friend. I know exactly what I am talking about; for I was there to loyal. Now, which shall we believe, the court which wok jurisdiction see what was going on, and my friend was not. of the case and passed upon it at an early day or the one which passed Mr. ALLEN, of Michigan. Yes, I was; you are mistaken in regard upon it at a much later day? It is evident to me th.at in order to be to that. safe we should follow the finding of the Southern Claims Commission. Mr. STOCKDALE. You were not going about loose; you kept I would not insult my friends on the other side by asking them to be pretty close with your crowd. [Laughter.] I will say tn reference to lieve that we believe that there were any considerable number of loyal the remark of the gentleman from Michigan who erroneously thinks people in the Southern States, and especially in the section where this there were no loyal men in the South, that we had better be spending man lived at the time in question, because the people there were all in this time voting pensions to Union soldiers. While I represent a peo dead earnest and were all united, and no gentleman upon the other ple the large majority of whom make no pretensions to have been side will dispute the fact that the Union men of the South at that time, then loyal, but had arms in their hands against the Union soldiers, but ~ if there were any, were colored men and not whites. And I say this not against the United States Government, and while I admit-not in no disparagement of the people of the South. boastfully, but t.ruthfully-that I led many a charge against them, I They did what they conceived to be their duty, and whether they say now, knowing that my people will read every word I say, that I wanted to do it or not the situation was such that they were compelled will vote pensions to Union soldiers whenever I think they are de to be against the Union and in favor of the Confederacy; and it is non served. I respect a man into whose eyes I have looked in the battl~ sense at this late day to ask us to believe that a man with three sons line, and who, I know, bas never quailed before the cannon's mouth. in the Confederate army, a man who, for money received from the Con- He is a true citizen of the United States; he is the man who extende ,.
7446 coNGREssroN.A.L_REcolfn- ·· Hous:E. AUGUST 10, the hand now and says, ''Since you are now loyal to the United States rrum orr the report of that .Army commission, while the report of the Government, have laid down your arms and come under the flag of the agent was to the contrary, shows there were cases in which disloyalty ·. Union, we make no distinction between you and ourselves before the was charged when~ no disloyalty existed. It was easy for some man law.'' Sir, how noble and grand was. the exhibition in that behalf of who had a spite against another to declare he was a rebel, and to thus the United States soldiers of Uassachnsetts when they extended to the render him liable to the charge of disloyalty. The fact that this man, soldiers of South Carolina and Virginia an invitation to the centennial who was a loyal man, was charged with being a rebel recruiting officer, of Bunker Hill. They had no recriminations to make. They wanted and falsely so, and other similar cases, would justifY me in saying those to bring back these people, whom they regarded as erring, under the agents of the Southern Claims Commission were not always to be re shadow of Bunker Hill, under the flag that· :floated over the victorious lied upon in the reports which they submitted. armies of .America a hundred years before-bring them within the They were not all honest men who went down there, and there were memory of the long ago. Their proceedings were more like a feast many who not only had the disposition to injure others but used their ofwelcome than a meeting of those who had lately been armed adver power to do so. Where they bad the disposition to injure others it was saries. easy for them under the circumstances to do so, and to charge that a I remember, and our people remember, when the great marshals claimant had been in the Confederate army or in sympathy with it, had met, when the last gun had been fired, and the terrible struggle and to report against him on the ground of disloyalty. was over, the treatment which Lee and his army received from General They present merely ex parte evidence and force it upon us. Human Grant. We remember that we were invited back here to put behind nature is unco weak, and how easy it is, when inclination leads a pliant us the desolation that had afflicted the country, to return to the halls conscience, to arrive at conclusions adverse to the interests of persons of Congress, the temple ot our fathers, when we were invited to leave against whom prejudice exists ! behind us the memory of strife and to march in the future as a grand Mr. HOPKINS, of illinois. That is not ex parte evidence. united nation. I can not but recall, too, the recent proceedings at G-et 1\Ir. STOCKDALE. Was he there? tysburgh, when every true Son them soldier's heart beat with emotion Mr. HOPKINS, of illinois. No, he was not there; but he had the in witnessing the grand men who stood there and spoke for the Union, privilege to be there. the prosperity and future glory of this country, including the South. Mr. STOCKDALE. He had the privilege? Sir, I respect a brave Union soldier. He wants no humiliation of the Mr. .ALLEN, of Michigan. He was notified he had the privilege. South or her former soldiery. He would rather aid than retard their :Mr. STOCKDALE. It may be, but he had the right to rebut the progress in their gigantic struggle to retrieve their ruined fortunes, evidence, nevertheless; but as I have already stated, where the inclina and I will vote for pensions to such as deserve them, but that does not tion exists the slightest evidence is taken as conclusive against a claim require me to say that W. J. Poitevent. was disloyal when he says he ant's loyalty. was not. I want ·to say this, Mr. Chairman, that I can not state on my per I concur with the gentleman from Michigan, that the man who was sona-l knowledge, because I did not know this gentleman during the disloyal under the law is not entitled to be remunerated for property war, but I have known him for many years, and I can say now I do of his which the .Army used. If I thought that Mr. Poitevent bad not believe old man Poitevent would go before a jury or before a court been disloyal-and I know him and his family well, I know there are and swear fulsely for any amount, let alone the amount involved in no more honorable people in the world-! would not urge his claim be this case. If I were a judge or a. juror and he were to come before me fore this Honse. upon the bench or upon a jury and swear a certain thing was true I Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. You know he had three sons in the would rest on his statement. rebel army, do you not? Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. This report of the Southern Claims Com Mr. STOCKDALE. I do not know whether they were in the army mission shows that this claimant did go before thatcommission, so that or not. he did have a bearing and did have his day in court. Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. One of them was in the navy. Mr. STOCKD.AIJE. Now you rest on that conclusion? Then we Mr. STOCKDALE. I am willing to take the gentleman's statement have it announced in the Congress of the United States by my friend on that point and admit that they were all in the Confederate army, from illinois, who I presume is a lawyer, that if an agent is sent out for the sake of the argument. ' to gather in testimony-say t hat he is an authorized agent of the South I say from the War Department and the Navy Department there is ern Claims Commission, which can not give him any more standing than e.-idence of this gentleman's loyalty, and the Navy Department has a commissioner of a chancery court or a special commission of a circuit not misrepresented the evidence to us. court-he is sent out to take testimony and notifies the opposite patty Mr. .ALLEN, of Michigan. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him and he comes there without witnesses and attends, then, according to a question? the gentleman from Illinois, he has had "his day in court." Is that .Mr. STOCKDALE. Yes, sir. the law? Is t.hat the law in illinois? Is it the law of the United Mr. .ALLEN, of Michigan. Did you know this gentleman during States? Is it the law, I ask my friend, anywhere amongst civilized the war? people? I say no. When he comes into court he has a right tore Mr. STOCKDALE. I did not. but that evidence. I say that he has rebutted it, and I hold in my Mr. .ALLEN, of Michigan. Give us your best judgment as tow hether hand a bundle of papers which have been just sent to me from the he was loyal or not during the wa,r. Sena.te, which I am satisfied contain evidence in rebuttal of that fact. Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. That is not evidence. It is rebutted already sufficiently to be considered by this House. Mr. STOCKDALE. I know it is not evidence, but I am not argu Here are papers, I have not time now to select from them, but there ing this ca-se on the merits now. It has already been decided ~ to his is one here I know from the Secretary of the Navy, and no man will loyalty by the Court of Claims. I have reported against many cases doubt his loyalty, favoring the payment ofthe claim; testimony showing purely on the question of disloyalty. If I believed this claimant was that this man ran his boat away from New Orleans instead of going there disloyal I would not have concurred in the report, but the papers show and hid her away in the bayou, and that he had nothing whatever to that h"e was a loyal man. do with the Confederate wa.r, a.lthough his sons may have had. Does Mr. HOPKINS, of lllinois. Did the gentleman consult the report that make him disloyal? I have heard it said that the ancestry may of the Southern Commission as to what was the e!idence taken by the taint the blood of the children, but never, Mr. Chairman, in the course gentleman who was sent down there for that purpose? of my experience before have I heard it alleged that the children's act 1\-lr. STOCKDALE. JI.Iy judgment is that the reports of these agents taint with disloyalty their forefathers. Why, it is worse than the old sent down there are of the most unreliable character. fable of the wolf pouncing upon the lamb because he was muddying 1\Ir. HOPKINS, of illinois. The agent not only reported his con the water, drinking in the stream below him. · clusions, but he also reported the evidence which he had taken, and Suppose his sons were in the Confederate army. What 'then? I the commissioners report from that evidence he was a disloyal man. was in the Confederate army from beginning to end, and therefore my Mr. STOCKDALE. I have investigated many of these cases, as I father was disloyal who lived in Pennsylvania. [Laughter.] Is that have already stated, and found the reports of the Claims Commission the logic? That is the argument that the gentleman would have you unreliable. Some time ago there was a case during this session from adopt to defeat an honest claim. I would ask my friend what he the city of Nashville. The Southern Claims Commission reported, or would do with a case of this sort occurring in Tennessee: A Confed some body of that sort reported, the man was a rebel, a rebel recruiting erate boy captured his brother fighting down there upon the other side officer. It appeared to me that it was a singular proposition to come and kept shooting away in the direction of the enemy, when his brother here under such circumstances asking relief. I found on examination cried out to him, ''Hold on, Jim; hold on, you will shoot the old man. that very shortly after the property was taken a board of army officers He is right over there.'' [Laughter.] What would be the condition was appointed to examine and report on the case. That commission of these men? Both the Union soldiers were disloyal because one was looked into the matter and that commission pronounced him to be loyal, . a rebel, I presume. [Laughter.] and his propei:ty ought to be paid for. Now, I say this on my own personal knowledge, that although his General Thomas examined into the report of the commission and sons may have been in the Confederate army, there is not one of them, approved it. The man had an order to protect him in the possession eitheT the father or the sons, that 'Will go before any. court or swear of his property that had not been taken because he wus loyal. falsely and delibe.ra.t-ely for four times the amount of money involved The fact that General Thomas was satisfied of the loyalty of this in this claim. Better, truer, or more upright men do not live in the
'' .. · .· ' 1888: CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE.··, 7447_
cou~ try than these gentlemen. Therefore I say it is not fair to de to my standing at home to vote for such a thing, be~use our people nounce this case and throw it out of Congress without a fair and equi have no respect for a man of that character. They have respect for table hearing. a good square Union man, but for a man. who dodged first upon one Is my friend from illinois afraid of these gentlemen on that side of side and then upon the other they have no respect. ' the IIon....~ that they can not vote intelligently and honestly with all the In the Committee on War Claims I met some time ago the case of a man evidence in? My friend from Michigan says he is not afraid of the who claimed to have been loyal and asked compensation for cotton taken gentlemen who sit on this side, nor need he be, for I say to him not in Charleston, S. C., and then I came across a letter which he had writ withstanding the fact that this gentleman is a citizen of the district I ten to Jefferson Davis recommending somebody for an appointment as represent, if William J. Poitevent turns out to be not loyal, I will my captain in the Confederate army. He could not explain the discrep self vote against the passage of the bill in his behalf. But I do not be ancy, and I reported against his claim, though President Davis is one lieve it, sir. It would take stronger proof to convince me that that man of my constituents. [Laughter.] was a perjnrerthananyclaimscommission agent's report. As to there Now, I did not expect to manage this case. Older men, men who being no loyal men there at tha.t time, I can sa.y to the gentlema!that have had more experience and who have more influence in the House, he i:; mistaken; ·there were at that time loyal men in that country. were to have presented it here, but I think it is not just square when They suffered more from the Union troops during the war than from the the papers in :O.e case are over at the Senate. Confederate side, I am sorry to say, and just because the officers were Such a performance as this has not been attempted before in this in the condition of my friend from Michigan-they wonld not believe House. them. Mr. CHEADLE. Will the gentleman permit me to make a sugges· Many men around throughout that district were true and loyal men tion? to the Government, and many of them remained so throughout the Mr. STOCKDALE. Yes, sir. war, although in some instances the acts of the Government troops to Mr. CHEA.DLE. I find that as early as the 26th day of May, 1873, wards them induced them to be disloyal. But it is just to say that the Court of Claims had jurisdiction of this case and made a :finding in many of them stuck to their opinions without change during that whole favor of the claimant in- the sum of $1,632.27 as to one item. period. They were not thick down there, but they were there. I can Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. That is the cotton claim that I re tell you an incident pertinent to this point as illustrating the truth ot ferred to. what I say, the case of a man who was arrested in 111ississippi and :Mr. STOCKDALE. Now, Ur. Chairman, what I want done and bronght into my camp to be dealt with as a spy. In conversation what I want to ask the House to do is this: I have never caught gen with him he told me in the midst of my own soldiers that he was not tlemen on the other side napping, and they will all be wide awake ,. a spy, but that he was a Union man; had been all the time. That he when this bill c..1.n come up again; and it would be a good deal better admitted, but denied that he was a spy. Mr. Chairman, I did not do and fairer and would have a much better effect for the House to be in that case like my friend from Illinois or my friend from Michigan. able to say, "We have defeated your bill, Mr. Poitevent, upon a fair I believed the statement of the man. I reported the case to the com and square hearing; we have heard your evidence, we have considered manding general, who ordered that he be allowed to remain at home your case, and we have come to the conclusion that you were not unmolested. He was a Union man, as he told me frankly and fairly, loyal." It would have a good deal better effect to say that than ior and he remained so throughout the war. There is one instance within the gentleman from Illinois, when the papers are absent from the my own observation, and I know of others. There are men now liv House, to jump into the case and reach away back to the Southern ing in that country who to my own knowledge were Union men from Claims Commission for the testimony of an agent of that commission, the beginning to the end of the war. an institution that I will not express my opinion of, out of respect to I want to say further that there wel'e loyal men in the neighbor the House. [Laughter.] hood that I lived in then and in the county where I lived then and Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR (holding up a bundle of papers). Are where I live now. While they were not numerous, they were there. these the papers? It took an honest man to be loyal. It took a braver man to be a Union Mr. STOCKDALE. I have not looked over them. I will do so in man in the South than to be a Union man in Michigan or Illinois. In a moment. You gentlemen expect, and rightfully expect, and were tl~ose States it was the popular side for a man to be on the side of the spond to your expectation, that we will not vote money out of the Union, and when you got a man up there that was likely to sympa Treasury of the United States to men who were not loyal. We re thize witll the Confederacy he was quiet, and Union men in the South spond to that expectation because they are not entitled to it under the were quiet, but they were Union men all the same. law. It is not the man's disloyalty that I object to so much, it is the Do you say a man must have been actively loyal and express him law that we have sworn to support; and I would not vote money out self all the time in favor of the Union before you would believe him? Of the Treasury to my own brother if he had been disloyal. Wbat a miserable subterfuge. Those men were isolated. There were I would not think anything less of the brother, but I would regard probably not over a dozen in the connty and they lived far apart. What my oath under the law and the oath tbat I took in the presence of the could they do? Was it necessary for a man to get upon the house-top Speaker of this Honse and before God. Now, gentlemen, I am en and proclaim that be was in favor of killing every rebel? If be did titled to take it for granted that gentlemen who sit on the other side F.om e Confederate would have invited him down. You certainly do of the House are equally honest and equally fair, and I ask them, do not want a man to be a fool so as to establish that he was a Union man. you want to deny a man payment for his property which went into the · He bad a right to think we were wrong, as old Mr. Rollins told me I hands of the United States Government upon a technicality, or upon was wrong and that all my folks were wrong. He came to the right some statement about which you know nothing at all? place to say it, right in the midst of the soldiers in their camps, men Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. What fuller investigation can we have too bravo to harm him. The soldiers told him to go home and he would of this matter on another day than we can have to-day? not be harmed. He could have been proved disloyal, hecatlSe be buried Mr. STOCKDALE. We can have the papers presented to the House. and cared for Confederate soldiers. Loyal men wete not legion, but :Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. There is no evidence there as to loy- they 'Y"ere truthful and undoubtedly_Union men. ~~ - Now, then, I say where you find a man who had not afforded aid to 1\1r. STOCKDALE. There is e~idence as to loyalty somewhere, the Confederacy and not spoken favorably for it, it would to me be though I do not at this moment know just where it is. But the in almost conclusive proof that he was a. Union man, because the tide terest I have in this case is because I believe this claimant is a gentle-' • swept the conntry and it was an exception where they differed from man, and I believe that the vote of this House to-day would brand their neighbors. A man in that position would be unwise to stand up him with a stigma with which no gentleman ought to be branded, and be1ore the vast majority of the people and say he was loyal and say he which no man who occupies the position of a Representative on this was a Union man when the great bulk of the people were on the Con floor o-ught to want to brand any gentleman with. The statement federate side and in the utmost earnest. that there were no loyal men at the South during the war will not do. I am not saying this boastfully, neither apologetically, because at the I could bring you a regiment of.Union men from my State. I have end of the war we all went in and accepted the situation, knowing that been getting pensions allowed to some of them. Must I prove loyalty this was the best Government that we could get, and the Government for them because they lived in the South? Is it to be said that men under which we had to live, and that it was our duty to be good citi were not loyal because they were white, but that all the loyal men of zens under our Government. the South were colored, as the gentleman from Michigan said? Why, I made :~.speech in 1875 at a reunion of Confederate soldiers, at a sir, there were comparatively few colored men who were loyal Union time when excitement was high in the heartofthegreatSouth, in which men then. The colored men were loyal to their masters as a general I proclaimed, for the first time in this country I believe, that recon thing. ciliation ana. peace was the only remedy for the South; that we had our The colored men, hundreds and thousands of them, were on the plan choice to be Ireland or Scotland, Scotland with her prudence and acqui tations within a night's travel of the Federal lines, with not a white man escence, or Ireland with her resistance and her ruin. · From that day on the plantation; they made the crops and supported the family, and until now I have advocated that doctrine. they could have gone off any night if they had wanted to . ..Some did I have no respect for a man who wonld profess to have been loyal go, it i~ true, but the bulk of them did not go. Nearly every Confed when be was not loyal, because be would be untruthful. I would not erate officer and a large number of men had colored servants. They want to see the funds of the United States go out to a man of that rode fine horses, and they could have ridden into the Federal lines any sort; and even if I had no conscientious scruples it would be injurious time they pleased; but they did not do it, they were loyal to us, and . -· '· : '. 7448 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. AUGUST - 10,
no Southern man has within his breast the slightest feeling of ill will The committee divided; and there were-ayes 49, noes 34. toward the colored man. So the motion was agreed to. . Whatever may be the opinion to th.e contrary, I know it to be true The committee accordingly rose; and the Speaker having resumed that the colored people of the South were loyal to us, and we are now the chair, Mr. HATC,H repor£ed that the Committee of the Whole, hav loyal to them. Now, 1\Ir. Chairman, I believe that :Mr. Poitevent was ing had the Private Calendar under consideration, had directed him to a loyal man, because he says so. If the facts turn out to be otherwise, report back sundry bills with various recommendations. I will vote against this bill; but I know that this House does not want The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the :first bill. to act in the dark, and therefore I ask that this bill be postpo!led untii CATHOLIC CHURCH, MACON CITY, MO. we ca,n have the papers before us. .. 1\fr. CATCHINGS. What testimony had the Court of Claims before 1\Ir. HA.TCH. I ask by unanimous consent of the House, as I have them? been in the chair for several Fridays, and not having had an opportu nity to call up any bill, to be allowed to move that the Committee of Mr. STOCKDALE. That is the trouble about this matter. H I had known twenty-four hours ago that this case would come up, I would tbe~bole House on the Private Calendar be discharged from the fur have bad the whole thing in my head. But nobody suspected a thing ther consideration of the bill (H. R. 11007) for the relief of the Catholic Church at Macon City, M:o. It merely appropriates $725 to pay for the -. of this sort to happen in the House.. No one ex p~ted that for the :first time during this long session a war claim would be called up by use of that church by Federal soldiers during the war. Nothing is the gentleman from Illinois [1\Ir. HOPKINS], who knows nothing about charged for damage to the building. It is a unanimous report by the it, aud cares nothing about it except to defeat it. Committee on War Claims. Mr. A.LLEN, of Michigan. Did those "loyal" men you speak of The SPEAKER. Is there objection?- bold receipts from the Confederate government for services rendered? There was no objection, and the Committee of the Whole House was discharged from its further consideration of the bill, and it was brought Mr. STOCKDALE. I do not know, but they may have done so. before the House for consideration. 1\fr. ALLEN, of" Michigan. Then they were not loyal. 1\Ir. STOCKDALE. Yes, they may have been loyal in spite of that The bill was read, as follows: Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the T1·easury be, and he is hereby, au fact. thorized and directed to pay to the resident minister in charge of the Catholic - Mr. A.LLEN, of Michigan. No, sir. Church ofl\1a.con City, in the State of Missouri, the sum of$725, for the use and 1\Ir. STOCKDALE. Now, I will show the gentleman that the cir occupation of their chuxch building by the Ninth Regiment 1\Iissouri State Cav alry for quarters during the late civil war. cumstance he speaks o~ may have existed and yet the men may ha•e been loyal. Suppose a man steals a horse from my friend from Michi The report (by Mr. STONE, of Kentucky) was read, as follows: The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the petition of the gan, loses him, and can not return him. Is he entitled to paY. for him? Catholic Church of Macon City, l\Io., report as follows: Would the gentleman refuse to give a receipt for the money? The The evidence stlbmitted shows that the church bll.ilding was taken possession Confederacy bad a way of pressing property into the service sometimes of, used, and occupied by variollS commands of United States troops during the fall and winter of 1864; that the use of said building was necessary to the health .: and was just as willing to take in that way the property of a Union and lives of the troops; and that the rental value for the time it was so used man as of a Confederate. Should those Confederate officers have failed was reasonably worth the sum of $725. in common honesty to give a receipt for what they took? I can point The building was much damaged and injured in value by said occupation, of which the committee have taken no account. out to you cases of that sort in Mississippi-plenty of them. Your committee report herewith a bill and recommend its passage. If you had been in the South, or I had been in the North, and bad The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and been ordered in front of half a dozen bayonets to do a certain thing, being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed. we would have done it if it was not dishonorable. Suppose it had hap Mr. HA.TCH moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was pened-! do not know that it did in this case, but it did in others passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the that the Confederate soldiers along the banks of the l\1ississippi River table. went upon a United States boat running up from New Orleans; put The latter motion was agreed to. soldiers behind the pilot and engineer and made them run the boat ashore ami delh·er the sugar to the Confederate soldiers; and then JOSEPH FRANCIS. turned the boat loose and told the men to go and bring up another load M:r. CHEADLE. ! 'ask by unanimous consent to discharge the Com of sugar. The men in charge of such boats were in the service of the mittee of the Whole Hous~ from the further consideration of joint ,- Confederates for the time, but they received receipts for the sugar. resolution (S. R. 62) in recognition of the services of Joseph Francis. Were they disloyal for that reason? In such a case the parties never There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly. wilJingly enlisted in the service of the Confederacy. • The joint resolution was read, as follows: I think it requires the assilnt of a man to an act before you can con Resolved, etc., That in view of the life-long services to humanity and to his vict him. There is no law, no reason, no justice in standing· up here country of the now venerable Joseph Francis, in the construction and perfection of life-sl\ving appliances by which many thousands of lives have been saved, and maintaining the position that no mail who was in the South dur the Director of the Mint is hereby authorized and required to strike a. gold medal, ing the war can truthfully say he was loyal. What proof of loyalty is with a suitable device and inscription, prepared under the direction of the Joint presented here this Government should recognize it and say to the Committee on the Library, to be presented by the President of the United Slates to ~Ir. Francis, in recognition of his eminent services. party, ''You did well,'' instead of turning away from him and saying, SEc. 2. That a sufficient sum of money to carry this resolution inl.o effect is ·'There were no loyal people there during the war.'' All through the hereby appropriated out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropri war it was claimed by the GovernmentoJ the United States that there ated. were loyal people there; that we were forcing them into our service. The report (by Mr. STAHLNECKER) was read, as follows: There were not half so many as was supposed, it is true; and it is The Committ-ee on the Library, to whom was referred the joint re elution (S. R. 62) in recognition of the services of Joseph Francis, submit the follo"·ing re rather rough on him now for the people to whom he was loyal to tum port: him the back of the hand. I ask that the proposition to report this That they have considered the same, and recommend that it do pass. bill with the recommendation that it lie on the table be voted down. The joint resolution was ordered to a third reading; and it was ac The CHAIRMAN. The Chair did not understand the request of the cordingly read the third time, and passed. •. gentleman from Mississippi. Mr. CHEADLE moved to reconsider the vote by which the joint :M:r. STOCKDALE. 1\lr. Chairman, I have not yielded the floor. resolution was passed; and also moved tha.t the motion to reconsider be How much time have I? laid on the table. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair thinks the gentleman bas been pro The latter motion was agreed to. ceeding by unanimous consent. [Laughter.] Mr. STOCKDALE. Then I ask that the pending motion be voted WAR CLAUIS. down, so that the bill may be reported to the House with a favorable 1\Ir. STONE, of Kentucky. I ask, by unanimous con ent, that recommendation. Wednesday next, immediately after the reading of the Journal, be set Mr. HOOKER. I hope the gentleman will withhold his point until apart for the consideration of bills coming over from the Committee on I can read a document. War Claims. There are quite a numberofsmall cases in which ruem 1\fr. HOPKINS, of' Illinois. I desire to make a statement in reply bers are interested, and they desire an opportunity to be p;iven to call to what bas been said by the gentleman from Mississippi. them up for consideration. They are urging me on all sides to·make Mr. LA.NHA.M. It is perfectly evident it is impossible to accom this reqnest. plish anything in the wayoflegislation on the Private Calendar in the :llESSAGE FRO:ll THE SE~L4..TE. order in which we are proceeding. Gentlemen insist on the consider A. message from the Senate, by Mr. McCooK, its Secretary, announced ation of a bill, and when no quorum appears they make the point of the passage without amendment of bills of the Hou!!e of the follow order, and it is then laid aside or passed over. Therefore, to reach ing titles, namely: the bills which have been reported to the House, I m ove that the com A. bill (H. R. 5222) for the relief of A.. U. Anderson and others; mittee rise. A. bill (H. R. 3859) for the relief of the Soue & Fleming Manu l'l!r. HOOKER. . I hope that motion will be withheld until I can be facturing Company, Limited, of the city of New York; heard. A bill (H. R. 8956) for the relief of S. B. West, administrator of -The CHAIRMAN. The motion is in order. The gentleman from Thomas Becton, decease(l; Texas moves that the committee rise. A. bill (H. R. 2611) for the relief of Jo epb W. McClurg; and · Mr. HOPKINS, of Illinois. I ask for a division. A bill (H. R. 6491) for the relief of Lowman & Co. .. . 1888. CONGRESSION~ REOORD-· HOUSE.
It also announced the passage ofthe following Honse bills, with amend Mr. L.AN1IA.M. I will withdraw the demand for the regular order• . ment.s in which concurrence was requested: Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. I withdraw my objection to the re A. bill (H. R. 3329) to regulate the subdivision of land within the quest of the gentleman from Kentucky. District of Columbia; The SPEAKER. The Chair will again state the request of the gen A. bill (H. R. 10060) prescribing the times for the sales and for notice tleman from Kentucky. of sales of property in the District of Columbia for overdue taxes; Mr. CANNON. Let the order requested by the gentleman be a con· A. bill (H. R. 2592) for the relief of Andrew Gleeson; and tinning order until he has pis day. I think that will settle the di:ffi. .. A. bill (H. R. 6783) to place the name of John A.. Griffey on the pen culty. sion-roll. Mr. BYNUM. I wish to object until a day is set apart for the Com It also announced th;:tt the Senate had passed bills of the following mittee on Labor. titles; in which the concurrence of the Honse was requested: CATHOLIC CHURCH, CHATTANOOGA, TENN. A. bill (S. 602) for the relief of James Millinger; A. bill (S. 1818) to grant to the town of Moscow, in Idaho Territory, Mr. GROSVENOR. Now I ask unanimous consent to discharge the Private Calendar from the further consideration of the bill (H. R. 1073) ce~'tin lands for cemetery purposes; A. bill (S. 100) for the relief of Samuel Tate; for the relief of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul, A. bill (S. 2740) for the relief of the German Evangelical Church of at Chattanooga, Tenn., and put it upon its passage. l!Iartinsburgh, W. Va. ; The SPEAKER. The bill will be read, subject to objection. A. bill (S. 3433) authorizing the Secretary of the Interior to accept The bill was read, as follows: Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, au the surrender of and cancel land patents to Indians in certain cases; thorized and required, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appro A. bill (S. 3328) for the relief of James Grace; and · priated, to pay to Rev. Patrick A. Feehan, Roman Catholic bishop of Nash A. bill (S. 3168) regulating admission to the Institution of the .Asso ville, or his successors in office, in trust for the use and benefit of the Roman Catholic Church of St. Peter and St. Paul at Chattanooga., Tenn., the sum of ciation for Works of Mercy in certain cases, and for other purposes. J.8, 729.09, in full for all the damages claimed by said lastrnamed church, or any person heretofore or hereafter claiming or to claim to represent said church, for ORDER OF BUSINESS. stone and all other building materials taken and used during the war between the States, of 1861 to 1865, by and under the military authority of the United Mr. PERKINS. Mr. Speaker, I would 1ike to a-sk the gentleman States. And the acceptance of such sum by sa.id bishop shall be a bar to any from Kentucky if he contemplates calling ny bills reported from the claim for any and all such property taken, or damages. Court of Claims which have been occupying so much time of late. Our Mr. HOLM,AN. I hope the report will be read. Friday sessions have been pretty generally consumed by them. The report (by Mr. HIESTAND) was read, as follows: Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. There are none of those bills likely to That the committee finds the facts of this case fully and accurately s tated in . come up which will create any such discussion as we have had lately. Senate Report No. 4.97, Forty-fourth Congress, first session, which repor t th"' committee adopts as follows: I can not tell exactly, but none of these claims will be called up except "That this claim is for compensation for a stone church building partly buill _ such, perhaps, as embrace small sums. The most of the claims that and in process oi construction, and for the m .aterials on the ground for the com' will be taken up are small claims belonging to soldiers in which mem- pletion of the same, taken by the proper military authorities, in September,1863, bers of the House feel a deep interest. · and used partly in the construction of Fort Jones, and partly for culverts, cut·b ing-stone, macadamizing for a magazine~ for a wharf, guttering, well, etc. The The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman I ~ church was commenced in 1854., and at tne time the same was taken the walls from Kentucky? were about half completed, and the stone for the remainder on the ground and at the quarry, some 15 or 20 rods from the building, mostly dressed, and ready Mr. LANHAM. I move to include in that also such bills as may be to be la id up; the money and labor for the purpose having been furnished by presented by the Committee on Claims. • the contributions of the members of the church. The materials consisted of The SPEAKER. It is not amendable by a motion. It is simply a variegated Tennessee marble, which were nicely cut, and many of them pol ished; each stone was cut to fit its own particular place in the building, an d . request for unanimous consent. · these for the doorway and arched openings highly and ornamentally wrought·. Mr. LANHAM. Then I ask that that be included. ·• Of cour~e, therefore, after the stone had been used for the construction ot the - ' Mr. FORNEY. I wish to know if that will interfere with general fort, and for culverts and other works, and broken so as to fit such work, they were nearly if not quite useless. It is shown beyond dispute that the materials, appropriation bills? , that is to say, all the body of the church except the mere foundation, and even The SPEAKER. Of course. a part of that, as well as the stonealreadygotout and wrought ready for laying, Mr. FORNEY. Then I object. were taken and used in the mode above stated by order of the proper engineer officers of the Army and other officers having the right to issue such orders. The SPEAKER. If the day is set apart immediately after the read "After the fort was no longer needed by the Army and Chattanooga. was aban ing of the Journal, it will of course take precedence of appropriapion doned or about to be abandoned as a military post, in answer to the claim of tile bills, because the motion to proceed to the consideration of appropria church for compensation, an offer was made by the proper military authorities to allow the church to take back the stone and other stone quarried by the tion bills can only be made, except by unanimous consent, after the Army and used in this fort and other works, which was declined; and your morning hour. committee are of opinion that such privilege as was thus offered would have Mr. FORNEY. Then I object. been but a mockery of just compensation. The stone in the fort was afterward sold on the part of the Government for some $500. 1\ir. STONE, of Kentucky, I would like. to have that modified, so "In January,1864, General Thomas ordered a military court of claims toe ti that we may have a day not to interfere with the appropriation bills. mate the damages then accrued to the claimants. They found the amount then Mr. FORNEY. I am willing that the gentleman shall have a day, to be $12,250; but the evidence shows that much of the material was taken an d used in the same way after this finding. but not to interfere with the Appropriations Committee. " In 1866 this claim was presented, with the evidence in its support, fn beha If The SPEAKER. Then the gentleman from Kentucky modifies his of Rev. H. V. Brown, the then pastor of the church, to the War Department, request that the day be set apart immediately after the morning hour, with an itemized statement of the damages claimed, amounting to $27,783.9!>. "On the 20th of September,l867, the Inspector-General of the Army, at Lotus not to interfere with appropriation bills. ville, Ky., General D. B. Sackett, was directed by the Secretary ofWartoma ke Mr. FORNEY. I have no objection to that. a full investigation of the case and the amount of damages. By his report it Mr. WARNER. I shall have to object unless it is provided that it appears that he we'nt to Chattanooga. and made a full investigation. And in th.i s shall not interfere with the bill for the organization of the Territory of report, dated October 28, 1867, he takes up the several items of the claim, and states the amount which he thinks ought to be deducted from such item as stated Oklahoma-- in the account of the claimant as presented, and comes to the conclusion that Mr. HOOKER. There comes in Oklahoma again, the most persist $9,054.87 should be deducted from the S27,783.96 claimed by the petitioner, leaY ing the bala nce $18,729. ent bill I have ever 1.'"ll.own. "The report shows that the examination has been a >ery rigid one, and with a Mr. W .ARNER. A. bill in which a half million of people are spe design carefully to protect the interests of the United States, and give them tho cially interested, and which is of vast importance to the whole corm try. benefit of all doubts. " The report also shows that General Sackett, in making his e&timate, placed Mr. STONE, of Kentucky. I am willing also to accept that bill to his principal reliance upon Capt. James R. Slayton as an expert. And Cap meet the -views of the gentleman, but with the understanding that if ta in Slayton, in a letter to General Hardie, dated June 6, 1868, states substa u that day is occupied by either of the bills of the .Appropriations Com tially that his estimates, as given to General Sackett, were given without any mittee, or the Oklahoma bill, that the War Claims Committee shall measurements; that he has since made such measurements and upon a full re ex amination he is satisfied that the whole amount claimed in petitioner's bill have the next day. as presented to the Secretary of War would not put the church and the materi Mr. WILSON, of Minnesota. I think I shall have to object. The als in as good condition as before they were taken for the u se of the Army. "Your committee are therefore satisfied that the sum found by General Sackett Committee on Commerce has not had a day, and bas been refused its is none too high, if compensation is to be made at all. A fair estimate from tho requests in that regard. whole evidence in the case (of which there is a large amount by way of affi Mr. LANHAM. I demand the regular order. davits) would make the amount rather above than below the amount estimate d by General Sackett, $18,729.09. The SPEAKER. The regular order is the disposition of bills reported "As to the title to the lot on which the church was situated, and of the church from the Committee of the Whole. itself, this was vested on the Roman Catholic bishop of Nashville, in accordance Mr. GROSVENOR. We have just passed a bill for the relief of the with the rules and usages of the church, for the purposes of convenient tr·ans mission, but really in trust for the benefit of the members and officers or this Catholic Church at Macon, Mo. There is another here on the Calendar particular church of St. Peter and St. Paul, the Rev. Mr. Wheelan being such for the relief of the Catholic Church at Chattanooga, about which there bishop at the time of the commencement of the church, and thence down to will be no contest, and I ask unanimous consent that it be taken up about the year 1862 or 1863, when he resigned, and the property was regularly and considered now. conveyed to and vested in the present bishop November 27, 1866. "As to the question of loyalty: the congregation by whose contributions the The SPEAKER. But the gentleman from Texas demands the reg- church was erected, or being erected, was mainly composed of laboring men, ular order. many of them employed by the railroad companies and though some of them, 6n the breaking out-of the war, sided with the rebellion and went into the Con Mr. GROSVENOR. I hope the gentleman will allow this bill to be federate army, the larger portion of them remained true to the Unio.Q, an4 considered. many of them served in the Union Army.
-. ·. 1- .- 7450 ; CONGRESSIONAL REOO~HOUSE. AUGUS1] 10, ' '
u The Rev. J. T. Nealis was pastor of said church at the commencement of ion, than this. _The.se people at that time were poor, and I assume they the war, and for some time after , and was so enthusiastically and outspokenly loyal that he was shot through the body by a rebel bnshwh.!wker, from which are poor now. he never recovered, but died in the beginning of the year 1865, from the effects Ur. C.ANNON. I am not antagonizing the claim. The gentleman of the wound. llev. H. V. Brown, who succeeded him as pastor, we are satis has personal knowledge and is convinced that it is a proper bill to be fied, from the eVldence, was also loyal. "Bishop Wheelan was conspicuously a loyal man. The present bishop, Pat passed, but I am asking if the gentleman can say whether this places rick A. Feehan, was a .priest at St. Louis, Mo., of foreign birth, and not natural the Government in a position -of making a precedent by which we will ized until the forepart of the year 1865, when he was admitted to citizenship, in the future have to pay for all church property destroyed during the and took the oatlt of allegiance required on such occasions. "It appears from the evidence that other church societies in Chattanoo)?a, war. whose churches had been injw·ed by being used by the Army, were paid by the l\Ir. GROSVENOR. I am ready to defend ourselves from any charge Quartermaster's Department t-he following sums to put them in as good condi of inconsistency. tion as before, namely: The Presbyterian church, $4,599.46; the Cumberland Mr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Has this case ever been investigated Presbyterian church, 52,450; the Protest.a.nt Episcopal church, 83,640. But this 1 .claim of the Catholic chw·ch was rejected because the property had been ta.ken before the Southern Claims Commission? ; through the orders of the Engineer's Department, and did not, therefore, come Mr. GROSVENOR. It was investigated by the Quartermaster-Gen within the law applicable to the oth~r churches. "Your committee are not disposed to deny this construction of the law, but eral's Department. upon sound principle they are unable to see why the latter case does not come :rtfr. JOSEPH D. TAYLOR. Has it ever been reported to previous within the principle calling for compensation as well as the former, and they are Congresses? aware of no just or sound principle upon which such compensation should be refused. They therefore recommend the allowance of the claim to the amount Mr. HOUK. Oh, yes; it has been reported se>eral times. of ~18, 729.09, as above stated; and t.hat this amount be paid to the Catholic bishop 1\fr. FARQUHAR. I think it is sufficient to any of the members of of Nashville, in whose diocese the said ·church of St. Peter and St. Paul is in theoldArmyofthe Cnmbeiland to knowthatColonel Sackett has passed cluded, and they repOl't a bill accordingly1Uld recommend its passage." upon this claim, for they all know that he is one of the most honorable Mr. HOLMAN. I think it is a proper measure; I do not object to it of men, and alsotoknowthatCaptainSlayton, oft.heSixteenthMichigan
The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the present consideration of Engineers1 who was on the ground, shouldhave passed upon it and knew the bill? the worth of the property and that it was used by the Government. _There was no objection. We have also the report of the committee giving all the details and Mr. NEAL. This bill Deeds an amendment, :rtfr. 3peaker. In the facts of the claim with the amount, and we have also the evidence, I fifth and sixth lines the name '' Patrick A. Feehan'' should be stricken may say, of officers who are members -of Congress on thisfioorastothat out and the name" Joseph Rademacher" substituted. property being med, because we saw it with our own eyes. The amendment was adopted. · Whether it makes a precedent or not I want to say as an officer of :rtfr. C.ANNON. I want to ask a question touching this bill. I am that army, and of my own personal knowledge, that this is a just claim -.. not a member of the War Claiins Committee, and am not as familiar in every respect, and it would be a dishonor to the officers of that .army with the rule adopted by the committee as applicable to these cases as not to pass this claim. the members wbo have presented these bills. I wish toaskifwehave The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and being been paying this class of claims? · engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed. Mr. GROSVENOR. I will staie to my friend from Illinois that the Mr. NEAL moved to reconsider the vote by which the bi1l was passed; churches at Chattanooga were all treated as loyal churches, and this and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. . .one especially so. All of the other churches which were used and oc The latter motion was agreed to. cupied by the Army during the war have received compensation, but JAMES C.ALEB. • the difference in this case is this: The Protestant churches were occu The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the first bilJ. pied for hospitals, and they were compensated in the sums reported The Clerk read as follows: _there, paid by the Quartennaster's Department, but-when this claim A bill (H. R. 2661) for the relief of James Caler_ was _presented to the Department, inasmuch as the material was taken The SPEAKER. This bill comes over from a previous session of and u.sed by the Engineer Department for fortifications and other pur- · the House. poses, it did not come -within the law authorizing the Quarlermaster Mr. BOWDEN. That bill was considered in Committee of the Whole, General's Department to take cognizance of the claim and make com but when it was reported to the House the gentleman from Texas [Mr. pensation for it, and that is the reason tbat :it comes here now. KILGORE], who happened to be in a critical mood that evening, saw fit Mr. CANNON. I understood that; but what I ask is not by way to demand the reading of the engrossed bill. Later, the gentleman of"nntagonizing the bill, but to learn what the faets are and whether sought to withdraw his -objection, but an opportunity to do so was not this would make a precedent under wbich we would be called npon afforded him before the House adjourned. to :make compensation for all churches nsed in the S:outh-- The SPEAKER. The bill will be read. 1\fr. GROSVENOR. By no manner of means. The bill was read. Mr. CANNON. For property taken or for Q.estrnction .of church The bill was ordered to beengrossedand readathird time; and being buildings. -engrossed, it was a~rdingly read the third time, and passed. Mr. ·GROSVENOR. Not ·by any means. This property was in Mr. BOWDEN moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was course of construction. It had Dever Tisen hlgher than the second pa._qged; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the stor_y_ There was a large amount of x:ut stone on hand ready for use. table. The 'En~ineer Department, in constructing the fo:rt-s and casemates, took The latter motion was agreed to. this material ·and appropriated it to their own use. It be::ame very valuable property and is estimated at $1,800. · ALFRED H. THOMAS. Mr. McMILLIN. And General Thomas recognized this appropria The SPEAKER. The Clerk will report the next bill. tii>n :and had an estimate made of the value of the property taken. The Clerk read as follows: lfr. rCANNON. Suppose the churchhad,beencompleted,orsuppose A bill (H. R. 1067) to amend the war record of Alfred H. Thomas, decensed. that the clnrrch in the next county was 13tanding, and it was necessary The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and to take it .down to be used in the construction -of a fort, or it was de being engrossed, it was a.ccordingly read the third time, and passed. stroyed during war, I ask the gentleman, is ther-e any difference be Mr. LANHAM move to reconsider the >ote by which the bill was tween such a case and this? passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid .on the Mr. GROSVENOR. I think there is a great deal .of .difference. In table. •
the .first place, here was a loyal congregation1 controlled by a loyal The latter motion was agreed to. priest, -w.ho was afterwards shot by rebel bushwhackers. His congre ALEXA..h'"DER MOFFITT. gation -was loya1, and quite a number of them went into the Union The SPEAKER. 'The Cl.ark will Teport the next bill. Army, and it is simply a question of what is faiT to them. The Gov The Clerk read as follows: emment ·.took their property and made it available for so much money A bill (H. R. 6347) for the relief of Alexander Moffitt. wortb in the prosecution -of the war. The bill was ordered to be engrossed and read a third time; and be- · Mr. CANNON. Could not the·Governmenthavetakenit absolutely 1 and used it for :the purposes of the war ? ing engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and passed. Mr. LANHAM moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was ML -GROSVENOR. I think they could; but I know this ease. I passed; and also mo>ed that the motion to reconsider be laid on the was there for nearly two years, and I say there was no more loyal man tlum the pastor of that cburch. A large part of the congre.,ooation table. entered tbe Union Army. It was not the ravages of war; but tbe The latter motion was agreed to. property was appropriated. I shou.ld say -that all the other churches BUSINESS FROM THE COMMITTEE ON WAR CLAIMS. of Chattanooga were to some extent affected by ravages of war. Mr. BYNUM. I withdraw the objection which I made awhile ago We used them for hospital purposes, and there was shelling promis- to the request of the gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. STONE] that a - cuously through there, and ~very dollar of that damage was paid by the day be fixed for the consideration of business reported from the Com Quartermaster-General's DepaTtment. Here was property .not at the mittee on \Var Claims. time in tlle actual formation of a church, but it was taken possession Mr. BUCHANAN. I shall have to renew it until the Committee uf by the Government from loyal people and appropriated to the use on Labor Qlld the Committee on Commerce are assigned days to make of the Government. There can be no higher claim made, in my opin- good those which ~hey lost by the action of the House. ·
.. .. ' ' . • I
1888. CONGRESSIONAL' BEOORD~HOUSE. 7·451
AGREEMENT WITH SHOSHONE AND BANNACK INDIANS. military service in June,1863, and wasdischargedin 'March, 1856. llewastreated while in the Army in the months of December,l864, and January, l865,forcon· Mr. PEEL,· by unanimous consent, from the Committee on Indian junctivitis. Affairs, reported back the bill (H. R. 8662) to accept and ratify an He filed a claim for pension in 1886 alleging that he had a sunstroke in 1865, and that while at work in a basement in the year 1881 he fell into a well which agreement made with the Shoshone and Bannack Indians, for the sur was open near him and received serious injuries, resulting in the amputation render and relinquishment to the United States of a portion of the of his rigl!t foot and also di.!ability of his left foot. He attributes his fall to ver· Fort Hall reservation, in the Territory of Idaho, for the purposes of a tigo, consequent upon or related to the sunstroke he suifered in the Army. The claim was rejected on the ground that the evidence taken failed to con town site, and for the grant of a right of way through said reserva nect the disabilities for which a pension was claimed with army service. tion to the Utah and Northern Railway Company, and for other pur Whatever may be said of the incurrence of sunstroke in the Army, thongh poses, with the amendments of the Senate theret-o, with the recom he fixes it as after the date of his only medical treatment during his service, and whatever may be said of the continuance of ' 'ertigo consequent upon.the sun mendation that the House non-concur in the Senate amendments and stroke for sixteen years, I find no proof that at the time he fell he was aftlicted a_gree to a conference. with vertigo,unless it be his own statement; and whatever disability naturally -The amendments of the Senate were non-concurred in, the confer arose from sunstroke does not appear by him to have been deemed sufficient to induce him to apply for a pension previous to his fall. - ence requested by the Senate was agreed to, and the Speaker appointed In any event there seems to be no satisfactory evidence that anything which as conferees on the part of the House Mr. PEEL, Mr. .A.T.-LEN of Mis occurred in his army service was the cause of his fall and consequent injury. tdssippi, and Mr. PERKINS. GROVER CLEVELAND. EXEOUTIVE MANSION, August 10, 1888. RACHAEL BARNES. The SPEAKER laid before the House the following message from LYDIA A. HEINY. the President; which was read, referred to the Committee on Pensions, • The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message and ordered to be printed: · from the President of the United States; which was referred, withthe To the House of Repreltmtative,: accompanying bill, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered I return witbou t approval House bill No. 149, entitled ''An act granting a pen to be printed: .sion to Racbael Barnes." The husband of this beneficiary served in the regular .Army of the United States from February 24, 1838, to February 24,1841. To the House of Rep1·esentati-ves: In 1880 he applied for a pension, alleging that he contracted disease of the eyes I return without approval House bill N"o. 9034, entitled "An act granting a pen- during the year 18-!0 while serving in Florida. Pendingtheexa.mination of his sion to Lydia A. Heiny." - application and on the 24th day of March, 1882, he committed suicide by hang The husband of this beneficiary served in an Indiana regiment fwm August, ing. His widow filed a claim for pension, alleging that he died of insanity, the 1861, to March, 1864, when he re-enlisted as a veteran volunteer and served a.s a. result of disease of the head and eyes. Her claim was rejected on the ground private and teamster to July 20, 1865, wheri he was discharged. that his insanity forty-one years after discharge from the service had no con There is no record of any disability, and he never applied for a pension. nection with his military service. In July,1886,a special act was passed grant On the 12th day of December, 1880, in leaving a barbershop at the place where ing a pension to the widow, which met with Executive disapproval, At the he resided, he fell downstairs and died the next day from the injuries thus re time the soldier committed suicide he was sixty-eight years old. Upon the facts, ceived. I hardly think insanity is claimed. At least there does not appear to be the His widow filed an application for- a pension in the year 1835, alleging that least evidence of it unless it be the suicide itself. It is claimed, however, and her husband contracted indigestion, bronchitis, nervous debility, and t-hroat with good reason, that he had become despondent on account of the delay in disease in the Army, which were the cause of his death. det-ermining his application for a pension, and because be supposed that impor The claim was rejected upon the ground that the death of the soldier was not ,- tant evidence to establish his claim which he expected would not be forthcom due to an injury connected with his military service. ing. It is ve1-y likely that this despondency existed. and that it so affected the While there has been considerable evidence presented tending to show that mind of this old soldier that it led to his suicide. But the fact remains that he the deceased had a throat difficulty which might have resulted from Army ex took his own life in a deliberate manner and that the affection of his eyes, which posure, the allegation or the presumption that it caused his fataJ fa.ll, it seems was the disability claimed, was not, in a proper sense, even the remote cause of to me, is entirely unwarranted. his death. GROVER CLEVELAND. I confess that I have endeavored to relieve myself from again interposing ob EXECUTIVE 1\IAN!!ION, August 10, 1888. jections to the granting of a pension to this poor and aged widow. But I can not forget thflot age and poverty do not themselves j ust.ify gifts of public money, JAMES C. WHITE. and it seet'ls to me that the according of pensions is a serious business which : oug ht to be regulated by principle and reason, though it may well be tempered The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message with much liberality. I can find no principle or plausible pretext in this case which would not lead to granting a pension in any case of alleged disability from the President of the United States; which was referred, with the arising from military service followed by suicide. It would be au unfair dis accompanying bill, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered crimination against many who, though in sad plight, have been refused relief to be printed: in similar circumstances, and would esta Jlish an exceedingly troublesome and dangerous precedent. To the House of Representatives: GROVER CLEVELAND. I return without approval House bill No. 9344, entitled "An act granting a EXECUTIVE ll!A...'fSIO!{, August 10,1888. pension to James C. "\VhUe." SALLIE T. WARD. The records of the War Department show that this beneficiary enlisted in a Kentucky regiment September 29,1861. On the muster-roll of Aprli 80,1862, The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message of he is reported as absent. On the roll of August 31,1863, he is mentioned as hav the President of the United States; which, on motion of Mr. MORRILL, ing deserted July 19, 1862. His name is not borne on subsequent muster-rolls unti "it appears 'Won those of January and February, 1864, with the remark was referred, with the accompanying bill, to the Committee on In that he returned J!ebruary, 1864, and that all pay and allowances were to be valid Pensions, and ordered to be p!'inted: stopped from July 19,1862, to February 5, 1864. It appears that he deserted To the House of Representatives: again on the 18th of December, 1864, and that his name was not borne upon any I return wit.hout approval House bill No. 8574, entitled" An act granting a subsequent rolls. pension to SallieT. Ward, widow of the late W. T. Ward." Naturally enough, there does not appear to be any record of this soldier's The husband of this beneficiary served about nine months in the Mexican honorable discharge. war. He entered the service as a brigadier-general in 1861, and served through It seems that this man, d, uring the time that he professed to be in the serv:ice, the war of the rebellion with credit, and was wounded in the left arm on the earned two records of desertion, the first extending over a period of nearly a 15th day of May, 1864. year and a half and the other terminating his military service. For this wound he was pensioned according to his rank, and received such He filed a claim for pension on the 4th day of.August, 1883, alleging that he p ension until his death, at the age of seventy years, which occurred Octoberl2, contracted piles in December, 1861, and a h-ernia in April, 1862. 1878. ' A medical examination in 1883 reveRled the non-exist-ence of piles and t·he The cause of his death was brain disease, and it seems not to be seriously presence of hernia. claimed that it had any relation to his wound. The fact of the incurrence of any disability at all in the service is not satisfac H is widow is now in receipt of the pension provided for those of her class by torily established, and the entire case in all its phases appears to be devoid of the J.Ie:::dcan pension law. merit.. If this bill becomes a law I am unable to see why in fairness and justice the GROVER CLEVELAND. w idow of any officer of the grade of General Ward should not be allowed S50 a EXECUTIVE MANSIQS, August 10, 1888. month, the amount proposed by this bill to be paid his widow, regardless of any other consideration except widowhood and the rank of the deceased husband. WILLIAM P. RIDDLE. The bill herewith returned, while fixing the monthly amount to be absolutely paid to the beneficiary, does not make the granting of the pension nor payment The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message from of the money subject to any of the provisions of the pension laws, nor make tbe President oftlJ,e United States; which was referred, with the accom any reference to the Mexican service pension abe is now receiving. While it is the rule under general laws that two pensions shall not be paid to the same per panying bill, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be IJOn, inasmuch as the widow is en titled to the pension she is now receiving upon printed: llrounds different from those upon which the special bill was passed, and no in· tention is apparent in the special bill that the other pension should be super To the House of ~present~tivts: seded, it may res ult that under the peculiar wording of this bill she would be I return without approval House bill No. 9183, entitled ".An act granting a entitled to both pensions. pension to William P. Riddle." The beneficiary filed a claim for pension in the Pension Bureau in 1884, which The records of the War Department show that the beneficiary named in this is still pending awaiting evidence connecting the death of the soldier with his bill was enrolled October 4,1861, in the Fifth Kentucky Regiment of Cavalry, wound. and was mll8tered into the service on the 31st day of:I\Iarch, 1862. GROVER CLEVELA.l.'ID. From that time to April 30, 1862, he is reported absent, sick. On the rolls for EXECUTIVE MANSION, .August 10, 1888. four months thereafter, ending August 31, 1862, he is reported as absent and de- serted. His name jg not borne on any subsequent rolls. - GEORGE W. PITNER. He did not file an application for pension until April, 1879, when the act grant The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message ing arrears was in force. He then claimed that he contracted pneumonia Feb ruary 15, 1862; t.hat about a month after he was sent home, and was under medi- . from the President of the-United States; which was referred, with the cal treatment for two years; that he returned about May 1, 1864, and was dis accompanying bill, tO the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered charged about May 15, 1864, but that his discharge papers were lost. be Though he ha.a furnished some evidence in support of the claim that he was to printed: sick at about the time alleged, and that he returned to the Army after an ab To the Hou/fe of Representatives: sence of two years, no record proof of any kind is furnished of an honorable I herewith return without approval House bill No. 490, entitled "Anactgrant discharge at any time. ~ bl.~ a pension to George W. Pitner." He has been informed that the record of his desertion in the War Department n .I\.9,Pears from the records that the beneficiary named in this bill entered the will be investigated with a view to its correction if he will furnish direct ~ro()f ·. ·7452 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. AuGUST 10,
that it is erroneous. No such proof has been supplied and the case has not ing documents, was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs, and been finally acted upon in the Pension Bureau. - it does not seem to me that this case in its present condition should receive ordered to be printed: fa>orable consideration. To the Senate and Hou$e of l.Upresentatives: GROVER CLEVELAND. I transmit herewith a. communication from the Secretary of Sklte nccom EXECUTIVE MANS10N, August 10, 1883, panied by a. report of the delegate on the part of the United States to the fourth l'IIRS. CAROLINE G. SEYFFORTH. international conference of the Red Cross Association, held at Carlsruhe, in the Urand Duchy of Baden, in September last. The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message GROVER CLEVELAND. from the President of the United States; which was referred, with the EXECUTIVE l'lfANSION, Washington, August 10,1888. accompanying bill, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered WATER-RESERVE LANDS OF WISCONSIN. to be printed: To the House of RepTesentatives: Mr. GROSVENOR, by unanimous consent, obtained leave to have I return without approval House bill No. 9120 entitled "An act granting a. printed in the RECORD the following: pension to Mrs. Caroline G. Seyfforth." An act (S. 1880) declaring that certain water-reserve lands in the State of Wis The husband of this beneficiary served as contract surgeon in the United consin are and have been subject to the provisions of the act of Congress en States Army from September 12,1862, to August 17,1865, and was stationed at titled "An act granting to railroads the right of way through the public lands Portsmouth Grove Hospital in Rhode Island. · of the United States," approved March 3,1875. He never filed a claim for pension and died July 21,1874, of congestion of the liver. His widow tiled an application for pension in 1882, alleging that her hus Be it enacted, etc., That all lands in the State of Wisconsin described in and band's death was caused by blood poisoning contracted while dressing the withdrawn from sale by the proclamations of the President of the United States wound of a patient in January, 1863. There· is proof that he suffered from bl~d issued March 22, 1880, April 5, 1881, and November 28, 1881, for the reason that poisoning. said lands would be required for or sqbject to flowage in the construction of The record of death states its cause as congestion of the liver, but the certifi dams, reservoirs, and other works proposed to be erected for the improvement cate was not signed. A young doctor named Adams, a friend and pupil of the of the navigation of the Mississippi River and certain of its tributaries, be, and deceased, seems to have been more than any other the attendant physician, but the same are hereby, declared to be, and to have been at all times heretofore, he appeared to think that one of thrfle other doctors had actual charge f1f the subject to the provisions of a certain act of Congress, entitled "An act granting case. These physicians, named respectively Sullivan, Dana, and Sargent, agreed to raill'oads the right of way through the public lands of the United States," that .Adams had charge of the case, and that they were consulting surgeons in approved March 3, 1875, as fully, effectually, and to the same extent as though the last illness. said lands had not been described in said proclamations, or withdrawn from Dr. Adams testified before a special examiner that from intimate association sale thereby, but had remained with the body of public lands subject to private he knew that the deceased was subject to kidney disease and other symptoms entry and sale: Provided, howetJeT, That any and all parts of said lands acquired of bad health from discharge to his death ; that as he had lost a part of one hand by any railroad company under said act of Congress shall at all times be sub from blood poisoning in the Army he a.lways supposed his subsequent troubles ject to the right of flowage which at any time may become necessary in the were referable to that cause; that he believed the cause of death was albuminu construction or maintenance of dams, reservoirs, or other works which may be ria, and that his liver was also affected. He further expresses the opinion that constructed or erected by or under the authority of the United States for the im the death was the culmination of the disorders which affected him from the time provement of the navigation of the Mississippi River or its tributaries: P1·ovided of his discharge from the service. fttrlhel·, That the railroad companies availing themselves of this act shall, in ad Dr. Sullivan deposed that he knew the deceased well 'from about 1869, and dition to filing the maps now required by law to be filed, also file maps of defi never had any reason to think him the subject of blood poisoning or its results. nite location of their proposed lines of railroad, over said water-reserve lands, He further says that he was called in consultation at the last illness of the de in the office of the Secretary of War, ~ and until the approval of said maps by the ceased and diagnosed his trouble as liver disease, due to the patient's habits of Secretary of War no right to occupy said lands shall '\'est in such companies; intemperance. · a.nd no location shall be permitted which takes for right of way or stations Doctor Dana testified that be knew the deceased well from the time of his dis lands needed for the use of the present reservoir system, or in the construction charge; that he was called to consult in his case with young Doctor Adams of dams or other works, or a.ny proposed or probable extension of the same, or a; few days before the death occurred; that he took a. general view of the case which will obstruct or increase the cost of t-he present or prospective reservoir and considered that the trouble was due to habits of intemperance. system; or shall any railroad company be permitted to take material for con Doctor Sargent deposed that he knew the deceased well and knew that he struction from any of said reservoir lands outside the right of way granted had lost a part of his hand as alleged from septic poisoning in the Army, though herein. hewa.s not aware that the poisoning had left any other effect; that the deceased had ~:everal spells of alcoholism after the war; that he had heard him complain The Committee on Rivers and Harbors, to whom was 1·eferred the bill (S. 1880) of his kidneys, but attributed his troubles to his excesses. declaring that certain water-reserve lands in the Sta-te of Wisconsin are and Other evidence suggested the same cause for sickness and death spoken of by have been subject to the provisions of the act of Congress entitled "An act grant these physicians, but there seems to be an almost entire absence of evidence ing to railroads the right of way through the public lands," submit the follow connecting the death with service in the Army. ing report: I am of the opinion that a. case is not presented in any of its aspects justifying Section 5 of "An act granting to railroa.ds the right of way through the publio a pension. lands of the United States," approved March 3, 11:!85, provides- · GROVER CLEVELAND. "That this act shall not apply to any lands within the limits of any military EXECUTIVE UANSION, August 10,1888. park or Indian reservation, or other lands specially reserved from ~ale, unle s EDSON SAXBERRY. such right of way shall be provided for by treaty stipulation or by a.ct of Con gress heretofore passed." The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message The lands referred to in this bill were withdrawn from sale by Executive or ders and proclamations, dated, respectively, March 22, 1880, April 5, 1881, and from the President of the United States; which wa.s referred, with the November 28, 1881, for the reason that they or portions of them might be re accompanying bill, to the Committee·on Invalid Pensions, and ordered quired for use and flowage in the construction of dams, reservoirs, and other to be printed: works proposed to be erect-ed fort he improvement of the navigation of the 1\Iis sissippi River and certain of its tributaries. The purpose of this bill is to ·declare To the Hou.se of .Rep1·esentatives : the lands so.reserved subject, with certain restrictions and conditions n a med, I 1·etm·n without approval House bill No. 6193, entitled "An a.ct for the reliez to the provisions of the a.ct of March 3, 1885, notwithstanding the exceptions of Edson Saxberry." made by section 5 of said act, above recited. The beneficiary named in this bill tiled a declaration for a pension in 1!!79, The public works for the use and benefit of which these lands were with alleging that in 1863 he bruised his leg, which became very sore, and when it drawn from sale being under the supervision and direction of the Secretary of began to heal his eyes became sore. . ' Var, the bill has been made to conform to his recommendation, it having been The evidence taken upon a careful examination of this application seems to referred to him by the committee of the Senate having charge of the same. establish, by the admission of the applicant and by other evidence, the correct. No provision has yet been made for the construction of any of the works ness of the position taken b:y the Pension Bureau in rejecting the claim, that within the State of Wisconsin contemplated by the withdrawal of these lands, what ever disability was incurred existed before enlistment and was in no man but in the event of such construction no interference or additional cost will be ner attributable to military ~ervice. incurred by reason of this bill. GROVER CLEVE.LA.ND. Your committee therefore report the same back, with the recommendation EXECUTIVE MANSION, August 10,1888. that it be concurred in. BERNARD CARLAN. WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington Oity, April7, 1888. The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message from Sm: In reply to your letter of the 17th ultimo, inclosing CQPY of a letter of the _the President of the United States; which was referred, with the accom 12th ultimo frpm the General Land Office, requesting the opinion of this De panying bill, to the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and ordered to be partment on the proposed Senate billl880, Fiftieth Congress, first session, to de clare that certain water-reserve lands in the State of Wisconsin are and have printed: been subject to the prqvisions of the act of Congress entitled "An a.ct granting To the House of R~re$entatives: to railroads the right of way through the public lands of the United States," I return without approval House bill No. 2233 entitled "An act granting a pen approved March 3, 1875, I have the honor to invite attention to the inclosed sion to Bernard Carlin." report of the 5th instant, and its accompanying paper, from the Chief of En Hy this bill it is proposed to pension the beneficiary therein named as of Com gineers on the subject, in whose views the Department concurs. pany A, Fourteenth Regiment of Missouri Volunteer Infantry. Very respectfully, your obedient servant, It seems that he served in the company and regiment named, but that be also Wl\1. C. ENDICOTT, serYed in Company A., Sixty-sixth illinois Regiment, and it is claimed that while Secretary of Wa1·. in the latter service exclusively he received the injuries for which a pension is The Hon. SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. claimed. . His applicniion is still pending in the Pension Bureau, and the papers per OFFICE OF TllE CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, taining to the same are now in the hands of an examiner for special examina . UNITED STATES ARMY, tion. Washington, D. 0., April5, 1888. I think U1is should be completed before a special a.ct is passed, and I under stand this to be in accordance with a general rule adopted by Congress and its Sm: I have the honor to return herewith the communication of March 17, pension committees. This is certainly the correct course to be pursued in this 1888, from the Department of the Interior. referred to this office, inviting atten case, in view of the failure to state in the special bill the regiment and company tion to the provisions of Senate bill 1880, Fiftieth Congress, first session1 and to to which the soldier belonged at the time of the incurrence of disability. This the report of the Commissioner of the General Land O.f'llce thereon, and m reply can be conectet.ll>y the Pension Bureau if the claim is found meritorious. to submit a. copy of a report from Maj. C. J. Allen, Corp3 of Engineers, to whom GROVER CLEVELAND. the letter from the General Land Office was referred. r EXECUTIVE l\IANS10N, August 10, 1888. Upon consideration it is believed that the danger of interference with any plans or estimates of the War Department for reservoirs might be averted or INTER...~ATION.AL CONFERENCE, RED CROSS ASSOCIATION. lessened by the addition of the following after line 28 of the bill: "And pro"'"idedfurther, That the said railroads shall file maps with the Secre The SPEAKER also laid before the House the following message tary of War, for his approval, showing the location of the proposed line3 of rail from the_President of the United States; which, with the accompany- r oads, a.nd of such portions of the ~aid public lands intended to be used for st-a- .·
.- i888. -CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7453
tion or other purposes;; in order that reservoir system how in operat~on or its Ithe 1·eservoir system into Wisconsin. But it does not appear that injury wo~ud propose<:! extension may not be obstructed or its construction or cost of main- accrue to the reservoir project were the bill to become a law with proviso re- tenance Increased." tained as now expressed, and an additional proviso inserted prohibiting the Very respectfully, your obedient servant, use, excepting for reservoir purposes, of .the rock, field-stone, and timber ex- J. C. DUANE, isting on the withdrawn lands, •and further prohibiting the occupation by any Brigadier-Gene1·al, Chief of Engineers. railroad company or corporation, or any person whatsoever, of any of the with Ron. WM. 0. Eli."DICOTT, drawn lands that may be needed for the sites of reservoir dams, their approaches Sccrelal'Y of War. and accessories. · Very respectfully, your obedient servant, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR, CHAS. J. ALLEN, Washington, April14, 1888. Major of Engineers. Sm: I am in receipt of your letter of February 11, transmitting Senate bill The CHIEF OF ENGINEERS, United States Army. No. I 0, "declating that certain-water reserve lands in the State of Wisconsin are and have been subject to the provisions of the act of Congress entitled 'An act granting to railroads the right of way through the public lands of the United DEPARTMENT OF THE L'ITERIOR, GENERAL LAND OFFICE, S tates,' approved 1\Iarch 3, 1875," upon which you request the views of this De- Washington, D. C., March 12, 1888. partment. · Said bill was referred to the Commissioner of the General Land Office for re Sm: I am in receipt, through reference by the Department for report, of a let poi·t thereon, who suggested that as the plans and estimates of the officers of ter dated the lith ultimo, from Hon. P. B. PLUMB, chairman of the Senate Com the \Var Department having charge and control over the construction of dams, mittee on Public Lands, inclosing a copy of Senate bill 1880, declaring certain reEervoirs, and other works for the improvement of the Mississippi River, might water-reserve lands in the State of Wisconsin subject to the provisions of the be interfered with by the provisions of said bill, it should be referred to the 'Var act of Congress approved l\1arch 3, 1875.l..granting to railroads the right of way Department for its opiniou thereon. through the public lands of the United i::itates, and requesting the views of this In accordance with said suggestion,.! referred said bill with the report of the .Department thereon. · Commissioner of the' General Land Office to the Secretary of War, whose report, ln reply, I have the honor to report as follows: together with the report of the Chief of Engineers, the report of Maj. 0. J. Allen, The bill in question propo es to declare that all the lands in the State of Wis of tbe Corps of Engineers, and the report of the Commissioner of the General consin described in and withdrawn from sale by the proclamations of the Land Office, is herewith transmitted. President, issued 1\Iarch 22,1880, and April5 and November 28,1881, are, and I have no other suggestion to make than is contained in said reports. have been at all times, subject to the provisions of the act of March 3, 1875, as Very respectfully, fully, effectually, and to the same extent as though said lands had not been WM. F. VILAS, Secretary. withdrawn. It provided, however, that any lands Required by any railroad llon. P. B. PLUliill, company under the provisions of said bill shall at all times be subject to the Chairman Committee on Public Lands, United Slates Senate. right of flowage which may at any time become necessary in the construction or maintenance of dams, reservoirs, or other works erected under the author ity of the United States for the improvement of the navigation of the Missis sippi River or its tributaries. UNITED STATES ENGINEER OFFICE, The proclamations referred to in said bill (copies herewith) were issued by St. Pn.ul, Minn., March28, 1888. the President in view of the acts of Congress approved June 18,1878, March SIR: I have the honor to report as follows upon Senate bill No. 1880, Fiftieth 3,1879, June 14, 1880, and l\1arch 3, 1881, making appropriations for an exami Congress, first se!j; • : 7454 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD=HOUSE~ AUGUST 10; FALLS ST. CROIX, WISCONSU<, LAND DISTRICT. RAYFIELD, "WIS., LAND DISTRIC'l'-continued. Part~ of sections. T. R. Remarks. Is. ___P_a_r_ts_o_r_s_ec_t_io_ns_. ___ r:_ s_· \ ~ _R_. l:------R-em_a_r_k_s_.----- W. iNE.t...... 14 40 12 West of fourth principal meridian. N.tSE.tandSE.tSE.t ...... 8 1 41 13 SE.t NW.t and N.t NW.t ...... 24 40 12 N.t S,V.t...... 8 41 13 E.tSW.t...... 24 40 12 rn.t ...... : 18 41 13 W. ! of section ...... 36 40 12. E.t SE.t ...... 20 41 13 NE.t ...... 4 39 14 West of fourth principal meridian. E.t NE.t and NW.t NE.{-...... 28 41 13 NW.tSE.tand SW.t...... 4 39 14 E.t SE.t...... :?8 41 13 E. -/t NE.t ...... 10 39 14 W.tNE.tandSE.tNE.t...... 31 41 13 NE.t ...... 12 39 14 NW.{· ...... 34 41 13 N.t NW. tnnd E.tSE.t ...... 12 39 14 SE.t E.t ...... 30 42 ~ West of fourth principal meridi&n. S. t NE. t aud SE. {-...... 14 39 14 N. t SE.t...... 32 42 N. k NW. t and SE. t NW. {- ...... 14 39 14 SW. t SW.t ...... 33 42 13 E. !SW.{-...... 14 39 14 Lots 2, 4, and 6 ...... 24 43 13 West offourthprincipalmeridian. W.tNW.t ...... 22 39 14 N. tSE.t...... 36 44 W.tSW. t andNE.t SW.t...... 22 39 14 N\V.{- NE.t ...... \ 8 41 N. t NE.t and SW.t NE.t ...... 24 39 14 Lot 2 and NW. t SW. t...... 8 41 i:14 I ~g: S.~ SE.t and NW.t SE.t ...... 24 39 14 S. t S\V. {- ...... 10 41 14 E. t of section ...... 26 39 14 W. t NW.t and SE.t NW.t...... 12 41 14 E. t NW.t and SW.t ...... 26 39 14 W.tSW.tandNE.tSW. t ...... 12 41 14 NN.t...... 18 38 15 West of fourth principal meridian. SE.t NE.t ...... 20 41 14 Lots 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, W. i 8\V. t...... 22 41 14 and 12 ...... 18 38 15 NW.tNE.tand NE.tNW.t.... 28 41 14 All of section ...... 20 38 15 NE. t NE. t...... 30 41 14 Lots 5, 6, 8, and 9 ...... 2 38 16 West of fourth principal meridian. SE. t SE. t...... 22 42 i! West of fourth principal meridian. E.t SE.t and NW.t SE.t ...... 2 38 16 N.tNE.tandNE.tNW.t ...... 26 42 E. t NW. t and E. t SW. t ...... 12 38 16 NE.tNE. t ...... 36 42 14 N. t NE. i and SW. t NE. t ... .. 17 38 16 S. t SW.t and S.t SE.t ...... 36 42 14 NW.tSE. t ...... 17 38 16 S. t NE. i and E. t SE. t ...... 22 38 16 W. t SE. t and SW. t ...... 26 38 16 WAUSAU, WIS., LAND DISTRICT. SE. t NE. t and S. t NW. t ...... 28 38 16 W. -It SE. i and SW. {- ...... 28 38 16 N. t of section ...... 34 38 16 SW.t SE.t and S.t SW.t...... 41East of fourth principal meridian. SE. ! ...... 34. 38 16 N.tmV.t...... 5 Do. W. -It NE. :l: and NW. t ...... 2 39 16 'Vest of foUI·th principal meridian. N.t NW.t andSE.tNW.{-...... 5 Do. SW.{-...... :~36 I ~35 5 N. SE. t and SW. t SE. t ...... 2 39 16 Lots 1 and 2 and S. t SW. t ...... 3 39 15 E. t of section ...... 1 38 5 East of fourth p1:incipal meridian. NE. t NE. t a.nd S. t NE. t ...... 3 39 16 S.t N\Y.t ...... 1 38 5 S. t SE. t and S. t S W. t ...... 4 39 16 8\V.t...... , ...... 1 38 5 Lotl ...... 4 39 16 N.t SE.t andSW.t SW.t...... 23 39 5 East of fou1·th principal meridian. NW. t SE. i and S. !- SE. t ...... 6 39 16 N. t NE. t and SW. t l'o.'"E. t ...... 2-5 39 5 SW. tNW. tandNW. tSW.t.. 26 39 16 N.t NW.t and SE.t NW.t ...... 2-5 39 5 NE. t SE. t ...... 26 39 16 E.t SW.t and SW. tSW. t ...... 25 39 5 S. t NE. t and S. t NW. -{-...... 27 39 16 N.t NE.t and SW. t NE. t ...... Z7 39 fj N. t ~E. tand SW. {- ...... 27 39 16 ,V.t S,V.{-...... 28 39 5 W. t SW. i and NW. t ...... 34 39 16 . SE. t S,V.t...... 3-i 39 5 Lot 2 and SW. t NE. t ...... 19 40 16 West of fourth principal meridian. SW.t...... 35 39 5 NE. t SW.t and NW t ...... 19 40 16 N \V. tNW. t ...... 35 39 5 mv. t ...... 20 40 16 E.t SE.t and SW.t SE.{- ...... 36 39 5 Lots 1, 2, 3, and 4 ...... 33 40 16 NE.t SW.t and NW.t...... 24 42 5 East of fourth principal meridian. NW. t ...... 33 40 16 NE.t...... 36 42 5 NW. t SW.t and NW.t NE.t.. 33 40 16 S. t NW.{-and S.tNE. t ...... 1 35 6 East of fourth principal meJ:idjan. mY. i and S. -It of section ...... 1 39 17 West of fourth principal meridian. S. t of section ...... 1 35 6 Lots 5, 6, and 7 ...... 13 40 17 Do. E.t:J~..~.t ...... 3 35 6 E.t NE.t and NW.t NE.t...... 13 40 17 SE.t SW. t and SE. t ...... 3 35 6 S,Y.{- ...... 14 40 17 SW.t NE.t and SW.t NW.{-.. . 5 35 6 Lots 1 and 2 ...... 24 40 17 W. t SW. t and NE. t SW. t ... . 5 35 6 SE. i NE. i and N. t SE. t ...... 24 40 17 E. tSE. !-...... 6 35 6 NE. tNE.tandS.t NE.t...... 2 40 18 West or fourth principal meridian. S. l of section ...... 9 35 6 SE.t ...... 23 40 18 E. t NE. t and SW. t NE. t .... . 9 35 6 NE.{- ...... 26 40 18 E. ·} SE. i and NE. t ...... 26 36 ~ East of fourth principal meridian. SE.t ...... 27 40 18 N. t NW. t and SE. i NW. {-... . 25 36 S.i· SW.t and NE.t SW.t ...... 27 40 18 N. t NW. t and SE. t NW. t .. .. 31 36 6 S.t SE.t and S.;} SW.t ...... 28 40 18 NE.{- ...... 32 36 6 S. t SE. t and SE. t SW. {- ...... 29 40 18 E.-t NW. t and NE. t SW. . t .. .. 3'.l 36 6 E.t NE.~ and SW.t NE.t...... 36 40 19 West of fourth principal meridian. N. t SE. t a.nd SE. t SE. t ...... 32 36 6 S.t SW.t...... 36 40 19 NE.tNE.{-...... 33 36 6 W.-1-NW.ta.nd W. tSW.{-.... . 33 36 . 6 W. t NE. t and SE. t NE. t ...... 34 36 6 34 36 EAU CLARE, WIS., LAND DISTRICT. NE.tNW.t ...... 6 N. t of section ...... 36 36 6 NW.tSE.t...... 36 36 6 S. tSE. t ...... 1 38 6 East of fourth principl\1 meridian.. SE. t NW. t and NE. t SE. t .. .. 17 40 7 West of fourth principal meridian. S. t SW. t and NW. t SW. {-... .. 1 38 6 SW.t NE.t and SW.t NW.t.... . 24 40 7 SE.tSE. {- ...... 2 38 6 E.tSW.t ...... 6 39 ll West of fourth pl"incipal meridian. J..ots 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 ...... 2 33 6 SE.tSE.t...... 18 40 11 Do. r S. t NW. t and S. t NE. t ...... 3 39 6 East of fourth principal meridian. • E.tNE.t ...... 20 40 11 SE.t ...... 3 39 6 S.tSW.t...... 22 40 ll E.tSW.t ...... 3 39 6 E.tNE.t...... 28 40 11 NE. t SE.t ...... 4 39 6 SE. t NE. t and NE. t SE. t ...... 30 40 11 All of section ...... ~ ...... 6 39 6 N.iSW.t ...... 30 40 ll W. t of section ...... 7 39 6r SE.t ...... 7 39 6: W.t NE.t and SE.t NE.t...... 7 39 6 BAYFIELD, WIS., LA....'\""D DISTRICT. Lot!! 1 and 4 and ,V. t NW. t ... . 9 39 6 N. t SE. t and NE. t ...... 10 39 6 NW.tNE.t: ...... ll 39 6 N. tNE.t ...... ~ West of fourth principal meridian. N. t NW. t and NE. t ...... 12 39 6 S.t SE.t and N.t NW.t ...... 13 1 41 I S.t SE.t ...... 13 39 6 S,V.tSW.t ...... 8 42 9 West of fourth principal meridian. SW. t NW. t and S. t section.... . 21 39 6 S.tSW.tand SW.tSE.t...... 14 42 9 mV.tNE.t...... 22 39 6 E. t SE. t and SW. t BE. t ...... 24 42 9 S. t SE. t and NE. t SE. t ...... 22 39 6 SE.tS,V.t...... 24 42 9 S.t SW. t and NW.t SW.t ...... 22 39 NW.t NE.t ...... 25 42 9 E. t SW. t and E. t section ...... 23 39 E. t NW. t and 1-."'E. t SW. t ...... 25 42 9 NW.tNE.t...... 24 39 NE.tSW.t ...... 26 42 9 W. t NW. t and NE. t NW. t .... . 24 39 S. tSW.t ...... 28 42 9 NE. t NE. t and NW. t NE. t .. .. 25 39 mv.tNE.t...... 8 44 9 West of fourth principal meridian. NW.tSE.t ...... 26 39 u6 Lot3 ...... 20 44 9 W.t of section ...... 26 39 6 SW.t ...... 4 42 12 West of fom-th principal meridian. E. t of section...... 30 39 6 W.tNE.t ...... 6 42 12 E. t NW. t and SW. t ...... 30 39 6 ~.tSE.t ...... 10 42 12 W.lNW.t...... 36 39 6 W.tSE.t...... 32 43 12 West of fourth principal meridian. E. t section ...... 21 40 6 East of fourth principal meridian.~ NW.tNE.t ...... 2 44 12 ·Do. SE. t S W. t and E. t of section.. 28 40 6 S.tNW.t...... 26 44 12 NE.t...... 6 NE.tNW.ta.nd SW.tNW.t.. 30 44 12 N. t mv. t and N. t SE. t ...... 6 Loti ...... 24 45 12 West of fourth principal meridian. .A.ll of section...... :34 !g40 I 6 S. t NW. t and NE. t SE. t ...... _ 4 41 13 Do. SE. t SE. t andNW. t NE. t .. . 13 38 7 East of fourth principal meridl::ln. NW. t SW. t and SE. t ...... 6 41 13 E.tNE.f ...... 17 38 7 • .. 1888 . . CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE .. 7455 WAUSAU, WIS., LAND DISTRICT.-continued. TAYLOR'S FALLS, MINN., LAND DISTRI<::a'. ".# -. Parts of sections. S. T. R. Remarks. Parts of sections. S. T. R. Remarks. ------1------1------l------E. ! SE. :1- and SW. :1- SE. f...... 17 38 7 SE.tNE.t ...... 22 40 19 Westoffourth principal meridian. SE. -!- N"\V. } ...... 17 38 7 E.-! NE. t ...... :...... 24 38 7 S. 1- \V. t ...... 25 38 7 ·Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 5th day of April, A. D. NE. t SW. t and N. t section... 7 39 7 East of fourth principal meridian. 1 NW. t SW. t and SE. t SW. t .. 19 39 7 881. J.Al\IES A. GARFIELD. SW. tSE. t ...... 19 39 7 By the President: "\V. t ,'\V. t ...... 30 39 7 C. W. HoLcoMB, .AJl of section...... 1 36 8 East of fourth principal meridian. .Ading Commissioner GenemL Land Office..: N\V. :1- r\V. t ...... 7 37 8 Do. E. t NW. t aud SW. t NE. f..... 9 37 8 E. t N W . t and S. t N.K t...... 10 37 8 NOTICE TO CLAIMANTS. B l. 'E. t and NE. tSW. } ...... 10 37 8 All valid entries and filings of or upon lands embraced in the foregoing list . NE. i S\V. { ...... 11 37 8 which may have been made at the respective local land offices prior to the dat-e ~ SE. f ...... 13 37 8 of this proclamation of withdrawal, will not be ~ffected by the same. NE. t '\V. :}...... 14 37 8 - C. W. HOLCOMB, S. t SE. t and SW. tSW. t ...... 15 37 8 Actina Commissioner GeneraL Land Office. s. t ·w. t aud SW. t NE. t ..... 20 37 8 W. t SE. t and SE. t SE. t ...... 20 37 8 HUDSON G. J,AJUKIN. s,v. t ...... 20 37 8 Mr. HOLMAN. I ask unanimous consent to have taken up and passed E. t NE. t and E. t SE. f ...... 21 37 8 S. tSW. f ...... 21 37 8 at this time a bill on behalf of a Union4oldier, which involves only NW. tNW.tandS.tNW.t ... 23 37 8 $125, and which has been pending a long time. S. t ' \V. }...... 23 37 8 The bill (H. R. 9464) for the relief of Hudson G. Lu.mkin was read, N. t E. t and NE. t ...... 24 37 8 SW. t NE. } ...... 25 37 8 as follows: N. t ~E. t and "\V.t section ...... 26 37 8 Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, di W. t NW. t and SE. t NW. t...... 35 37 8 rected to pay to Hudson G. Lamkin, of Dearborn County, Indiana, late a private SW. t NE. t and SW. t...... 35 37 8 in Company D, Third Regiment of Indiana Volunteer Cavalry, the sum of ~115, W. t SE. t and SE. t SE. t ...... &'l 37 8 for a horse belonging to him and lost in t,he service of the United States in the N. t NE. tand N. t NW. t ...... 32 38 8 East of fourth principal meridian. late war. NE.tNE.t ...... G 36 9 Do. W. t NW. t and SE. t SE. t ..... 6 36 9 The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the present consideration of "\V. t S\V. t ...... 6 36 9 this bill? Lots a, 4, 5, 7, and 8...... 6 36 9 Mr. TOWNSHEND. I have a bill for the benefit of a Union soldier w. t mv.t ...... 19 37 9 East of fourth principal meridian. NW. t SW. t and SE. t SE. t... 19 37 9 which I would also like to have considered. I do not object to the bill E. t S \V. t ...... 28 37 9 of the gentleman from Indiana. S. i NW.t andS. t SE. t ...... 32 37 9 The SPEAKER. The Chair will recognize gentlemen in their order. SW. i NE. t and NE. t "E. t... 32 37 9 xw. t mv. t ...... 11 39 9 East of fourth principal meridian. M:r. HOLMAN. Since this bill was reported to the House I have SW. t NE. t and S. t NW. t ..... 18 39 9 received a communication from the Quartermaster:-General stating that N SE. f and SW. t SE. t ...... 18 39 9 the value of this horse lost in the service ofthe United Sta.tes was .,125, S"\Y. } ...... 18 ;39 9 W. t NE. t and NW. t...... 19 39 9 instead of $115. I desire, therefor&, that the bill be amended accord SW. t and W. t SE. f...... 19 39 9 ingly. "\V. tSE. t ...... 21 39 9 Mr. TOWNSHEND. I have been seeking for six months to get N.tNE.fandNE. tNW.t ...... 31 39 9 SW.tNW.-} ...... 2 39 10 East of fourth principal meridian. recognition for a bill, which I hold in my hand, for the benefit of a NW.tSW.}...... 4 39 10 Union soldier. - N. t SE. t and SE. t SE. f...... 10 39 10 I The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the O'entlemau N. t section...... 10 39 10 I SW. t NW.fand SW.f ...... 15 39 10 i I from Indiana [Mr. HOLl\IAN] for the present consideration ofthis billJ S. t section...... 25 39 10 t j The "Chair hears none. ,V.t W.t...... 8 40 10 ' East of fourth principal meridian. There being no objection, the Honse proceeded to the consideration NE. f NE.f ...... 9 40 10 W. t SE. f and SE.f SE.t ...... 14 40 10 of the bill. NW.t ...... 15 40 10 The amendment of :Mr. HOLMAN to strike ·out "fifteen," in line 6, NE.t NE.t...... 17 40 10 and insert "twent-y-five," so as to make the amount $125, was read W.tNW.tandW.tSW.t...... 17 40 10 W.t NW.tand SE.tNW.t...... 20 40 10 and agreed to. , SW. t SE.t ...... 20 40 10 The bill as amended was ordered to be engrossed and read a third . NW.tSB.tand NE.tSW.t..... 26 40 10 time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and N. t NW.tandSW.tNW.t ...... 28 40 10 NE.t NE.t ...... - ...... 29 40 10 passed. N.t SW.t and S.t NW.t ...... 29 40 10 fr. HOLMAN moved to reconsiqer the vote by which the bill was NE.f NW.t and NE.t SE.t..... 30 40 10 passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the NE. t NE.t and SW.t NE.t..... 32 41 10 East of fourth principal meridian. SE.} ...... 5 38 11 · Do. table. NW.tSE.} ...... 9 38 11 The latter motion was agreed to. E.tNE.tandSW.fSE.}...... 20 38 1 NW. t NW.} ...... 21 38 WILLIAM COLLINS.. E.t SW.t and E.t section ...... 22 38 NE. t SE.t and NW.t NW. t ... 28 38 H11 I 1\Ir. 1\HLLIKEN. I ask, by unanimous consent, that the Committee NW.tNE.tandNW.t ...... 19 39 11 East of fourth principal meridian. of the Whole House on the Private Calendar be discharged from the NE.tNE.i ...... 23 39 further consideration of the bill (H. R. 793) for the relief of William SE.tNW.tandNE.t ...... 25 39 111J 1 N. t NW.tandSW.tNW. t ..... 27 39 11 1 Collins, and the same be considered at this tip:te in the Honse. SE.t SE.t ...... 28 39 n l The SPEAKER. The bill will be read, subject to objection. S.t SE.t ...... 31 39 ·n 1 .d. The bill was rea-d, as follows: W.tNW.tand W.tSW.t ...... 5 40 11 I East of .ourth~- prmCipa. . men Ian. NW.t NE.tand SE.t NE.t ... 7 40 11 I Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and is hereby, au SW. t NW. t and NE. t SW. :} ... 30 40 ll thorized and directed to pay out of the Treasury, from any moneys not other wise appropriated, t-o William Collins the sum of $240 for a fishery bounty due him as master of the fishing-schoonerSarahFranklin, hailing from Castine, Me. ST. CLOUD, ML~., LA~-r> DL'5TRICT. The amendment of the committee was read, as follows: Strike out in lines 5 and 6 the wordg "two hundred and forty dol NW. t SE. t nl'ld SW. t NE. t. ... 25 1145 251' West of fifth principal meridian. lars,'' and insert in lieu thereof the wordg ''one hundred and sixty NW. t SE. t and NE. }...... 6 143 26 Do. NE.t NE.t and SE.t SE.t ...... 10 143 26 seven dollars and eighty cents." E.~ E.tand E . t SE.t...... 15 i143 26 The report of the committee (by 1\Ir. LANHAl\I) was read, as follows: W.t SW.t and SE. :}SW. t ...... 15 143 26 The Committee on Claims have considered Honse bill No. 793, for the relief of S.t8W.tand SE. t ...... 17 1143 26 William Collins, and recommend that it do pass with the following amendment: S. t NW. t and E.~ section...... 21 143 26 Strike out the words "two hundred and forty dollars " and insert "one hun E.;}SW.tand -w.tSW.t ...... 21 14.3 26 dred and sixty-seven dollars and eighty cents" instead. S.t NW.t and N.t SE.t ...... ~ 143 26 This claim was considered in the last Congress by the Committee on Claim!J, NE. t and SW. }...... 22 1143 26 and the following fa-cts were found: W. t NE. t and SW. t RE. } ...... 10 137 27 ! West of fifth principal meridian. "The Committee on Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1030) for the Lots 1, 2, and 5 and NW.t ...... 10 137 27 ' relief of William Collins, submit the following report: NE.tNE.tandNW.tNW.t ... 14 137 27 "The committee find that on the 7th day of April,1866, William Collins, a citi ~ 1\'"E. t E . t and W. ·} SE. t...... 14 l37 27 zen of the United States and the State of Maine, took out a. license tQ be em E.t 'W. t and NW.tSW.t ...... 14 137 27 ployed in cod-fishing, as owner and master of the schooner Sarah Franklin, bur - , Lots 1 and 2...... 14 137 27 den 41.95 tons. At that time, by virtue of existing laws, a bounty of $4 per ton I ' N. t NE. t and NW. t NW. t ...... l 26 137 1 27 was allowed and paid to vessels of the class of the Sarah Franklin engaged in SE.t SE.t ...... 26 137 27 cod-fishing during a period of four months within the year. While said Collins Lots 1, 2, 3, 5, and 6...... 26 137 27 - was engaged in cod-fishing, the laws relating to fishing bounty were repealed (act July 28, 1866, section 4), and Collins was never paid the bounty to which he - ~ - I , ~- .· 7456 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. AUGUST-. 10, w!ls ~ntitled_, altbo~h he completed ~he f~t,U period of four mon_tbs' cod-fishin""g I :M:r. SPRINGER. I move that the House take a recess. w1thm the time which tee law presc:Ibe~. . . . The SP:&AJrER. Is there objection to taking up the bill indicated The SPEAKER. ~s there obJeCtion to discbargmg the Comllllttee for consideration at this time? of the Whole House ii·om the further consideration of this bill and 1 Mr. SPRINGER. The recognition of the gentleman from Michigan amendment?T ~ • • • • was objected to and the recognition of another gentleman from another Mr. TOWNSHEND. Is It m order, 1fwedo not obJect, to move an district was objected to, and I think there should be som~ system amendment to co;er anothe~ case?. . a-dopted in this matter. · The SPEAKEI\., One pnvate bill can not be amended to mclude The SPEAKER. The system of the Chair is to endeavor to act fairly another. between the two sides of the House . . There was no objection; and t~e Co~mittee of t~e Whole House was Mr. TOWNSHEND. One gentleman has received two recognitions, discharged from the further cons~deration of_the bill and amendment. although not from the present occupant of the chair, while others have . The amendment of the Committee on Clmms was adopted~ and_ the not received any at all. bill as amended was ordered toM engrossed and read a third tlme; 1\fr. SPRINGER. I move to take a recess until 8 o'clock this even- and being engros ed, it was accord~gly read the third ti;me, and ~assed. ing. [Cries of" Regular order!"] Mr. LANHA~1 moved to reconsider the vote by which the b1ll was The House divided· and there were-ayes 30 noes 37. passed; and ·also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the [Cries of" Regular' order!"] ' table. Mr. OATES. I demand the regular order. The latter motion was agreed to. Mr. SPRINGER. I demand tellers on the motion to take a recess. J. s. FLAKF. Tellers were not ordered, only 15 voting in favor of the demand, :Ml·. ENLOE. I move, by unanimous consent, that the Committee which was not a sufficient number. of the Whole House on the Private Calendar be discharged from the So the House refused to take a recess. further consideration of the bill {H. R. 1029) for the relief of J. S. Mr. OATES. I demand the regular order of business. Flake, guardian of Samuel Howard. Mr. TARSNEY. I ask unanimous consent,.--- The S.?EAKER. The bill will be read, subject to objection. The SPEAKER. The Chair can not entertain a request for unani- The bill was read, as follows: mons consent when the regular order of business is demanded. 1\Ir. HOOKER. I want to ask unanimous consent to have printed · Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Treasury be, and he is hereby, d i· in the RECORD-- rected to pay, out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated, the sum of 8150 to James S. Flake, guardian of Samuel Howard (a lunatic), of The SPEAKER. But the regular order is demanded; a.nd the Chair Henderson County, Tennessee, the same being for quartermaster' s stores, con- can not recognize any gentleman to ask unanimous consent. sisting of one horse, taken from the said Howard and appropriated by the mil- Mr. OATES. I will withdraw the demand for the rel!ular order. itary forces of the United States. ~ 'tt w C1 · (b J,I w ) Ur. SPRINGER. And I renew it; but yield to the gentleman from The report o f tb e Co mml ee on ar auns Y r. ILKL.~SON Mississippi [:M:r. HooKER], who wants to have published an article in was read, as follows: · The Committee on War Claims, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 1029) for the RECORD from one of the reports on a bill considered to-day. the relief of J. s. Flake, guardian of Samuel Howard, submit the following Ur. BINGHAM. Thatwillnotdo. Iftheregularorderis·demanded report: let us proceed with it. The Committee on War Claims having examined the proof in this case find Mr. BUCHANAN. I demand the regular order. that claimant, who is guardian for Samuel Howard, a lunatic, filed his claim The SPEAKER. The regular order has been demanded, and the before the Quartermaster-General under the act of July 4, 1864, and the claim was examined by the sp-ecial agent of the Government, the taking and use of Chair will proceed with the bill now in the bands of the Clerk. the property, a horse, was proven, the loyalty of the claim~m.t was established, Mr. SPRINGER. What is the bill? and the claim was allowed by the Quartermaster-General, flXlng the amount at The SPEAKER. The gentleman from Pennsylvania bas asked unan- $100. .After the claim was allowed it was discovered that ~he claimant was barred by the act of l\farch 3,1879, and the allowance was withdrawn and the imous consent-to consider a bill which has been read and is now before claim was rejected on that ground. the House. Is there objection? The committee think that no advantage should he taken of a lunatic becaase Mr. TOWNSHEND. If the gentleman from Pennsyl Yauia will not of the failure to file the claim in time to escape the bar, and therefore recom- mend th!tt the bill be amended by striking out $150 and inserting $100, and that make the point of order upon an amendment I wish to offer to his bill, the bill so amended do pass. I shall not object to it. I want to move an amendment to provide for ·There was no objection; and the Committee of the Whole Hoqse was the erection of a public building in illinois. I have been trying for discharcred from the further consideration of the bill. some time to secure its consideration, without avail. The :mendment of the Committee on War Claims was adopted. Mr. DARLINGTON. I have no objection, if the House is wiUiug. The bill as amended was ordered to be engrossed and read a third The SPEAKER. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman time; and being engrossed, itwasaccordingly read the third time, and from Pennsylvania? passed. Mr. SPRINGER-. I ohiect. Mr. ENLOE moved to reconsider the vote by which the bill was . Mr. DOCKERY. I move that the House take a recess until 8 passed; and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the o'clock. table. Mr. HOOKER. I hope the House will vote that motion down. The latter motion was agreed to. The question was taken; and the Speaker declared that the ayes wAR CLAIMS. seemed to prevail. ·. Mr. BUCHANA.N. Some time ago I objected to the request of the Mr. CHEADLE. I demand a division. The House proceeded to divide. gentleman from Kentucky [Ur. STONE], and I would like to know :Mr. CHEADLE. I withdraw the demand for a division. whether I have not the right to withdraw the objection at any time? So (no further count being demanded) the motion was agreed to; and The SPEAKER. The gentleman has the right to withdraw it. accordingly (at 4 o'clock and 50 minutes p. m.) the House took are· Mr. BUCHANAN. I withdraw my objection. The SPEAKER. Is there further objection to the request of the cess until8 o'clock P· m. gentleman from Kentucky [Mr. STONE] that Wednesday next after the reading of the Journal be devoted to the consideration of reports from EVENING SESSION. the Committee on War Claims, and if that day be not occupied to be a The recess having expired, the House (at 8 o'clock p.m.) wascaHed continuing order until one day bas been occupied? to order by Mr. McMILLIN, who directed the reading of the following Mr. SAYER8. I object. communication: PUBLIC BUILDING, CHESTER, P A. SPEAKER'S ROOM, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, .August 10, 1838. J.Ir. DARLINGTON. I ask, by unanimous consent, to call up for Hon. BENTON 1\Icl\IILLIN is hereby designated to preside as Speaker 1wo tem· consideration at this time a bill (S. 129) for the erection of a public po1·e at this evening's session of the House. JOHN G. CARL~LE, SJ>eaker. building at Chester, Pa. Hon. JonN B. CLARK, J • The SPEAKER. The bill will be read subject to objection. Clm·k House of Representatives. The bill was read, as follows: ' ORDER OF BUSINESS. Be il enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the TJ.:easury be, andh~ is her~ by, au thorized and directed to purchase, or othe.rw1se procure, a swtable stte, and Mr. UATSON. I move that .the House resolve itself into Commit cause to be erected thereon, at Chester, in the State of Pennsylvania, a substan tial and commodious public building for the use of the United States post-office tee of the Whole for the consideration of bills oil the Private Calendar and internal-revenue and other Government offices: Provided, That no money under the special order. appropriated for said building shall be expended until a valid tit.Je to the site The motion was agreed to. selected (which site shall leave the building unexposed to danger from fire in adjacent buildino-s by an open space of at least 50 feet, including streets and The House accordingly resolved itself into Committee of the Whole, alleys) shall be v~sted in the United States, nor until the State of Pennsylvania Mr. DocKERY in the chair. shall have ceded jurisdiction over the same for aU purposes, during the time the The CHAIRMAN. The House is fn Committee of the Whole under United' States shall be or remain the owner thereof, except for the enforcement of the criminal laws of said State and the service of civil process therein. The the special order. plans and estimates for said building shall first be prepared, examined, and ap Mr. MATSON. . I ask unanimous consent that each gentleman pres proved as required by section 3734 of the Revised St~tutes of ~he Uni~d States, ent may be recognized and allowed to call up one bill this evening. I and the ultimate cost shall not exceed the sum of $7o,OOO, which sum IS hereby have been trying to arrange matters to the satisfaction of all persona appropriated for the same out of any money in the Treasury not otherwise-ap propriated, present, and believe this plan will meet with no objection. .. ·' 1888. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7457 • Mr. FINLEY. Mr. ~hairman, I have been here every Fri~ay even shot wound in the back, on account of which he applied f<1r a pension on the 2d dJ;lY of February, 1883, and on the-5th day of Ma.y,l885,apension was granted to rng for two months trymg to get up certain pension bills in which I hrm, and was thereafter paid to him until his death. He left the claimant his am personally interested. They are now just at that point on the Cal wido~, and four children under sixteen years of age.· ' endarwherewe left offbusiness before. I will not· however object to Claimant, on behalf of herself and children, applied for:a pension De( e mber 18 18 G._ but on July 23, 1887, her application was rejected on the g round that th~ the request of the gentleman from Indiana if it 'is the desire of the soldier's death was not due to his military service. The case before the Pen committee. sion Office turned upon the question whether or n ot the soldier's death was ' The CHAIRU.AN: Is there objection to the request of the gentle caused by the wound in the back. The immediate cause of the soldier's d eath war urremic poisoning. · He was attended in his last illness by Dr. David Cole man from Indiana? ma.n and Dr. vy. ~· Col.eman, two able physicians and surgeons of 'Vest Union, '. There was no objection, and it was so ordered. 9hiO, who umte m saymg that the gunshot wound in the bMk was the excit mg cause of the death, a nd they are corroborated by Dr. G. W. OsbOJ·n who WILLI.Al\I KELSEY. had treated him during the year preceding his death. .And they a1·e als~ cor Mr. MORRILL. I ask unanimous consent to consider the bill (S. roborated by the report of Dr. Nelson B. Lafferty, examining surgeon; by the report of Drs. Davidson, Bing, and Kline, board of examining surgeons at Ports 2106) granting a pension to William Kelsey. ~~mth, Ohio; by the report of Drs. Cartmel and Pickett., of the board of exam. The bill is as follows: mmg surgeons atl\Iaysville, Ky.; and by the report of Drs. Brum and W. K. Be_ it enacted•. ftc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au Coleman, of the board of examining surgeons at W est Union, Ohio. f~J.O~Jze.d and duected t.o place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and .The claim was approved in the Pension Office by the examiner, the legal re limitatiOns of the pensiOn laws, the name of William Kelsey late of Company Vl~w.er, and the re~eviewer, but was rejected by the Commissione~· upon the G, Sixth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry. ' ?PIDJon oftbe medical referee. Upon the evidence we are clearly of the opin Ion that the gunshot wound was the exciting cause of the soldier's death but The report (by Mr. MoRRILL) was read, as follows: in any event we would give the widow of this soldier the benefit of all do~bts. K. The; Commit~e on In"\:a~id Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2106) 'Ve append herewith the statement made in the case by Dr. ,V, Coleman, one of the examining surgeons of the board at West Union, Ohio and recom- gran.h1!g a pensiOn to WI~Ia.m K~lsey! submit the following .report: 'Vilham Kelsey, the claimant m th1s case, has served in the armies of the mend the passage-of the bill. ' U~ited !?tates as.follo~s: From September.1,1847, to September 28, 1848, as a pnvate m Captam Gnffin's Company A, G1lpen's Indian Battalion Missom·i EXHIBIT. M?unte~ Voluntf>ers, an~ from ~ovember 5,1861, to December 29, 1863, as a DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERI~>R, BUR]J:A.U OF PENSIONS, ~fi;:~~~~~:.any G, RIXth Regiment Kansas Volunteer Cavalry, in the war J.Vash~ngton, D. C., January 17, 1883. Ou August 9,1878, he made application for pension, alleging as the basis of his Sm: In the claim for pension, No. 3i8489, ofl\Irs. Hannah L. Irwin widow of Cyrus E. Irwin, late of Company D, Thirteenth Pennsylvania Ca.v'alry it ap cl~iJ.l?- that be <:ontracted, about November 1. 1862, at Cove Creek, Arkan as, sCiatic neuralgia,.and about December 20,1862, in the general hospital at Fort pears that you treated said sold1er during his last illness and that you ba~e per~ Scott, Kans., erysipelas. sonal knowledge of his having been disabled by a gunshot wound of the back. The claim for sciatic .neuralgia was allowed and the claimant pensioned at Will ~' OU kindly inform this bureau as to the immediate cause of death. and also the rate of $4 per month. The claim for erysipelas was rejected June 23 1885 descnbe thoroughly the wound of back; its location, condition of cicatrices loss on the ground that there was "no evidence of existence of disability in :i. pen: of muscular or bony tissue, etc. That is, we wish you to give as clear a. state sionable degree, at any time since discharge." ' ment of the wound of back as possible, and also to state whether it is within your T_he certificate of disability on which the claimant was discharged states "that knowledge that any organ or tissue within the pelvis was injured. he IS unfit for the performance of the duties of a soldier beca.use of neural •>- ia The object of this inquiry is to determine whether or not said wound was the an.d erysipelas." ~rior soundness is established; origin in the service is ~d cause of disease of kidneys believed to have been the cause of soldier's death. mitt<:d: As to contmua.nce, Dr. Thomas Donaho swears that he was his family Very respectfully, JOIL.l'f CAl\!PBELL, Medical Referee. pby~tetnn from ~858 to 186?. * . * ~ Treated him after his discharge for neu ralgia, and erysipelas. His neighbors, whose reputations for veracity are un ,V, K. COLE~AN, :M:. D., West Union, Adams Oounty, Ohio, Treasurer of Board. questl~ne~, swear to an intimate acquaintance with claimapt. * * * That after bJ.S discbar~e i.n 1863 be bas suffe.red with ne.ura.lgia and erysipelas. * * * In 1865, and agam 1n 1869, be was confined to b1s house and bed by nem·algia . WEST UNION", OHIO, January 24, 1888. and erysipelas, the latter lasting nearly four years. * * * .Also in 1876 for Sm: In reply to the·inclosed letter, will say that I first knew the late Cyrus about five months. • * * Has suffered almost continuously since 1863 and E. ~rwin as.his family p~ysi~ian in 18Sl. I "'as frequently called upon to pre is unable to perform manual labor of anv kind. ' scnbe for him for constipation. ·He would take treatment from me for a few . Claimant is ~ow.receiving .S6J?er month.. Your committee feel that, taking weeks, then take laxative and purgative medicine of his own selection for some mto account bJ.S faithful serviCe m the 1\Ie::ncan war, for which he is receiving time, then again apply to me for treatment. His statement each time was that no pension, his great age, his inability to perform any manual labor and h is he had suffered from constipation, never having a. natural discharge from bow destitute ~ircumstances , his pension is inadequate, and therefore rec~mmcud els ever since receiving gunshot wound of back. t~1at the b1ll be~mende.d byaddin~ •:and pay him a pension of ,..14 per· month in In the sp ring of 1885 said Irwin applied to me for treatment. He was then lieu of the pensiOn he IS now receivmg," and that the bill so amended do pass. sufl'e~ing as before; but had in .addition chronic gastrointestinal catarrh, char The amendment recommended by the committee was agreed to. acterized by tenderness over liver, stomach, and spleen, tympanites and ten d.erness of a~.?dome!l, furred tongue, and a .deci<;J.ed sallow complexion. At that The bill as amended was laid aside to be reported to the House with hme I exammed h1s wound and found a. CJcatnx upon middle portion sacrum the recommendation that it do pass. about as large as a. 5-cent nickel, with slight Joss of tissue and bone substance· also a smaller cicatrix 2 inches below, with slight loss of tissue; each cicatrd: FIDEL GATES. was tender and adherent; tenderness diffused over entire sacral and lumbar re gions. 1\fr. MATSON. I ask unanimous consent to call up for present con The rectum was dry, devoid of secretion, and contracted to one-half its nor sideration the bill (H. R. 10906) granting a pension to Fidel Gates,. mal size. Pre~ious to t!J.is time he ~Is<> CO?Jplained of s~arp.pains in back, hips, The bill is as follows: ~nd.legs, but from the t~me I exammed lus wound. un~Il his .dea~h increasing m f1 equency .and sever1t~. He s';lifered fro!ll lancmatmg pams In back, hips, Be. it enacted •. etc., That the Secretary of the. Interior be, and is hereby, au and legs, at times producmg parhal paralysis of legs and radiating from gun thon~e~ an.d directed to p~ce upon t.he pensiOn-roll, subject to the provisions shot wo~nd of back. For a year previous to death he was n ever free entirely and limitatiOns of the pensiOn laws, the name of Fidel Gates late a private in from pam as above, each attack of se,·ere pain lasting from six to ten days. For Company G,Ninety-third Regiment Indiana Voltmteers. ' the first two or three days of severe pain he had an increased secretion of urine The report (by Ur. M.ATSON) was read, as follows: which w.as.foll?wed bya.l~ostentire suppression of urine, withsligbt s ymptom~ of uremia, wh1ch would y1eld to treatment. 'I'bere never was any qualitative The Com~ittee on !nvalid .Pensions, to whom was referred the bill {H. R. change in urine except slight excess 9f phosphates. In September 1886 I went 10906l. gran tmg a pensiOn to Fidel Gates, have considered the same, and now re with him to consult Dr. J. L. Whittaker, of Cincinnati, Ohio. Dr. Whitt~ke'l' a.t port: once suspected disease of kidney, but examination of 1.uine revealed only slight Claim~nt ~nlisted .August 28, 1862, and was discharged January 7, 1853. In declaratiOn filed January 18, 1869, he alleges that he contracted sore eyes about excess of phosphates, but upon a closer examination Dr. Whittaker was· of the one month before his discharge, and was also affected with enlargement of the opinion that his condi.tion ~as due to gunshot WOlJDd on sacrum. A bout the spleen. .After a special examination the claim was rejected October 3 1884 on 1st o~ Oc~ob~r, 1886, said Inym bega~ to pr~sent Ill: ore pronounced symptoms of AddiSon s d1seas~, so.me .slight mamfestatJOns bemg present previous. There the ground that disease of eyes existed prior to enlistment, and that ~ala~ia1 was a steady dec! me m Ius health from the time of erst treatment until his death poisoning, causing disease of spleen, also existed before enlistment. After a. careful examination of this case weare of the opinion that the evidence I was called. to see him on the 16th of December, 1886, and found a sHghtattack substantiates prior soun dness, and that the disabilities alleged were incurred in of pneumonia. . the Army and in line of duty, as stated in his application. The claimant pre On the morning ?fthe 17t.h be was s~tfering great pain in loins and h ips,witll c?mplete suppress10~1 of urme an<;t decided S);'lllptons of uremia; trealmt"ntwas s~nts a case that appeals strongly to the sympathies. He has been totally blind directed to the urem1a from that time. He died on the night of December 18 smce 1872 and dependent upon the charity of his friends for support and be 1886, from uremia and not from pneumonia. . ' lieving that his claim is a just one and bas been fully proven we sub'mit ~ fa- vorable report, and recommend the passage of the bill. ' There was no autopsy and the precise condition of kidney and its appendages could not. be kn~wn. From aU the sympt?ns prE_?sented !r?m time to Lime, ansi The bill wa.S laid aside to be reported to the Honse with the recom from the Immediate cause of death-uremta-an<1 the opm1on of Dr. Whittaker an The report (by Ur. LANE) is ns follows: EDWARD JARDINE. ' Shepherd Frailey w as a nrivate in Comp:l.ny D, Forty-eighth Regiment Ken Mr. FARQUHAR. I ask consideration of tlie bill (H. R. 10525) ta tucky Volunteers. Said ,soldier before his death drew a pension for injuries re ceived in the service, said injuries being received while shoeing a wild mule, increase the pension of Edward Jardine. and affected the soldier's hip and back, causing atrophy of the muscles and The bill is as follows: rheumatism. And the reason a. pension was not granted to his widow by the Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, a u Department i that the soldier's death was caused by lung troubles, and not thorized and directed to place the name of Edward Jardine, late colonel and from the affection of back a nd hip. breYet brigadier"general United States Volunteers, on the pension-roll at th.!:.... Dr. John W. Bradburn, a physician in good standin~, and whose post-offi?e is rate of $5:1 per month, in lieu of his present pension of $30 per month. W' Caye in Rock, H a rdin County, illinois, after having been duly sworn, testifies as follows: That he treated said Shepherd Frailey during his last illness. That The report (by Mr. SAWYER) was read, as follows: he was first called to see him on January 7,1885. That he treated him for pneu Edward Jardine, while colonel of the Ninth New YorkVolunteersn.nd breve' monia of the right lung, coupled with articular rheumatism of the limbs. That brigadier-general, was wounded in thigh during the New York City draft riots. he visited him daily until January 17, 1885, when he was so far recovered from He is now a pensioner at $!!0 per month, under special act of Congress approved pneumonia as to require no further treatment; but he still su:lfered from rheu June G, 1874. This rate can not be increMed by the Pension Bureau, because matism. That on January 24, 1888, he was again called to the case, and found the rate of pension is fixed by the act; and therefore, and because of increased the soldier suffering severe pain in the region of the heart; that the soldier's disability, pensioner comes to Congress for relief. death occurred on J a nuary 25, 1888, and was caused by pericarditis, which re Dr. G. H. Humphrey, of New York City, under date of February 6, 1883, sulted from rheumatism contracted in service. makes the following statements: Your committee have concluded from the evidence that the soldier's death "I hereby certify that I have known this officer and have attended him pro- was caused by disease of the heart, resulting from injury received while in line fessionally from time to t 1me since the year 1861, when we served together dur of duty and thnt the claimant, his widow, is entitled to a pension; and there ing the war in the same regiment, the Ninth New York Volunteers (the Haw fore respectfully recommend that the bill do pass. kins Zouaves), and that on the 15th July, 1863, in the city of New York, during the draft; riots, General Jardine, while in command of troops engaged in sup The bill was ln.id aside to be reported to the House with the recom pression of the riots was wounded in action, suffering a compound gunshot mendation that it do pass. fracture of the left th1gh-bone1 in its upper third. This wound crippled him for life. After about a year of great pain and peril he so far recovered as to-get HENRY ALWARD. about on crutches w ith a badly deformed and u cless limb. But the wound hns :rt1r. JOHNSTON, of Indiana. I call up the bill (H. R. 9653) grant repeatedly broken out afresh, and during the past twenty-five years he has again &nd again undergone t.he greatest pain and danger to his life in consequence of ing a pension to Henry Alward, dependent father of Henry M. Alward. attacks of inflammation and d eath of portions of the injured bone, with exten The bill is as follows: sive abscesses; tbatduring. the past ten months he has been confined to his bed Be it enacted, elc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au owinoo to one of these attacks, the result of a fall, which for the third time J·e thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll the name of Henry Alward, fract.;ed his tender, badly irritated limb, and during a portion of this time his dependent father of Henry 1\1. Alward, deceased, late a private of Company H, life has been in the utmost danger from septic blood poisoning. Fortieth Regiment Indiana Volunteer Infantry, according to the provisions und "He is at present confined absolutely to his bed or reclining chair, quite unn.ble to move from place to place without great assistance, or to dress himself, or to limitations of the pension laws. serve himself in any of the ordinary functions of life, unable to sit in a natural The report (by Ur. MATSON) was read, as follows: attitude owing to stiffening of the left hip-joint, and, moreover, liable at any The claimant is the father of Henry 1\1. Alward, who enlisted in the service of time to a recurrence of the dangerous inflammations which so often have the United States on the 17th day of September, 1862, as a private in Company threatened to kill him. He may perhaps ultimately get about again upon H Fortieth Regiment Indiana Volunteers, who, while in the service and in the crutches, but the state of the limb does not yet warrail t a prediction as to when li~e of duty at .Murfreesborougb, Tenn., died of fever on the 18th day of April, the time for so doing may come." . 1863. The applicant alleges in his npplication. filed February 28, 1883, tl;lat he Medical examination ordered by the Pension Bureau under a mlsapprehen was iu whole or in part dependent upon his said son for support at the t1me of sion of facts since the date of the above-quoted certificate of Dr. Hum pbrey fails his decease. The application for pension was rejected on the ground of non to show an improvement in General Jardine's condition, a thing almost out of dependence at the time of soldier's death. It is in evidence that the soldier made question in viowofhis advanced age. . his home with claimant prior to his enlistment, and contributed by his labor to The general pension laws provide a pension of $50 per month for those who the support of claimant up to the date of enlistment, and at that time was the are so totally disabled ns to require the regular aid and attendance ofanother per· only son living with him. • son but as this amount can not be granted by the Pension Bureau, for reasons Claimant had about the time of the death of the soldier two acres of land, a her~tofore stated, your committee, fully satisfied of the applicant's helpless con little home valued at a total of $970, including personal effects and improve dition are of opinion that the relief asked for should be gt·anted, and therefore ments. Claimant was a plasterer by trade, and his total income did not exceed report favorably on the accompanying bill and ask that it do pass. . S500 per year. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the Honse with the recom The special ex.a mi.ner, who se~ms to have given the case avery thorough and impartial examJnatJOn, closes hiS report as follows : mendation that it do pass. •· From all the testimony introduced, the standing and credibility of the sev KEYES P. COOL. eral affiants and the estimation in which the claimant is held, and the claim viewed by the community generally, I have no hesitation in recommending the I\fr. McSHANE. I ask the consideration of the bill (S. 3219) to in same as a just claim and one that should be paid, and r espectfully submit/ the crea...c::e the pension of Keyes P . Cool. same with that view." The claimant is now very feeble, is eighty-four years old, and in view of all The bill is as follows: · the circumstances the committee believe that the relief asked for by the claim Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au ant ought to be granted. We therefore submit a favorable report and recom thorized and directed to increase the pension of Keyes P. Cool, a private in mend the passage of the bill. Capt. G. Spencer's Company of Vermont Militia, in the war of 1812, from $8 to$40 per month, in accordance with the provisions and limitations of the pen The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom sion laws. mendation that it do pass. The report (by Jtir. BLrss) was read, as follows: GILBERT REED. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 3219) granting an increase of pension to Keyes P. Cool, have considered the same and report Mr. NEAL. I call up the bill (H. R. 8494) granting a pension to the bill back to the House, recommending its passage. Gilbert Reed. They adopt as their report the statement of facts correctly set forth in the re The bill is as follows: port of the Senate Committee on Pensions, as follows: Be it enacted, l'tc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au [Senate Report No. 1730, Fiftieth Congress, first session.] thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions Claimant was a private in Capt. G. Spencer'e company of Vermont Militia, in' and limitations of the pension law~, the name of Gilbert Reed, late a second the war of 1812; participated in an engagement with the enemy at Plattsburgh, lieutenant in the Eleventh Regiment Tennessee Cavalry. N.Y., in the fall of 1814. He is now pensioned at the rate of $8 per month under The repo.rt (by Mr. HUNTER) was read, as follows: · act of1878. In his petition for an increase of pension claimant states tb&t he has no means The Committee on In...-alid Pensions, to whom was referred the petition of of support other than the SS per month which he is receiving as a pensioner of Gilbert Reed late a lieutenant in Company E , Eleventh Tennessee Regiment the war of 1812, and that he respectfully requests that his pension be incre.'l.sed of Cavalry, prayi~g for a pension, having had the same under consideration, to $50 per month. submit the followmg report: Hon. Frederick A. Johnson, late member of Congress, of Glens Falls, N.Y., That Gilbert Reed, the petitioner, was a. recruiting officer, detailed as such to states that he bas been acquainted with claimant for many years, and believes procure recruits. and from the evidence on file appeared to have done good his statements to be truthful and correct. service for the Union cause from the early stage of the war to the time of his In an affidavit executed at Glens Falls, N.Y., on the 6th day of July, 1888,Dr. accident, August 9,1863. On the night of that date, while lead_ing recruits to the James Ferguson, a physician and surgeon of high !!tanding, testifies that h~ has Union lines in Kentucky, through the Cumberland 1\lountams, on account of been a practicing physician and surgeon at Glens Falls for more than thuty the darkness, l1e fell over a _declivity and sus~ined severe i~juri~s to ~is body, five years· that he has been acquainted wit-h the cln.ima.nt during all of tha t besides dislocation of the h1p. From the evidence of recrmts With hun at the time· ha.s'known of his mental and physical condition and infirmities; that he time, it appea1·s that Gilbert Reed was pilotin~ t_he~ over an intricate way in belie~es the claimant to be more than ninety-two years of age ; that within the the dn.rkne. s, when he fell as stated: that the lDJunes were so severe that he last five vears his mental faculties have been very much impaired; that during could not be moved except to tbe shelter of a cave near by, where his wants the last two years he has required and does now require the constant attention were attended to until h e recovered sufficiently to be t.a.ken to a place of greater ofawatchful nurse or attendant; that a larger part of the time his mind i safety and comfort, and that in transporting h im he had to be carried in a sheet clouded· that he is subject to halucinations, and at such times it is not safe to or blanket. · leave hi~ for a moment tQ himself, and that he h:.\8 to be dressed and undressed The evidence shows also that the petitioner was, previous to his accident, a generally by an attendant. . . .,. scout and frequently gave relief to loyal persons whom he found inside of the In an affidavit executed June 23, 1888, Hiram M. Cool, of Saratoga Sprmgs, N. enemy's lines; that after the accident be was unable to perform military duty. Y testifies that claimant is not possessed of or the owner of any property ex The papers of lus regiment, which were destroyed by the enemy at a subse ce~ding in value S100 orS200 (which is old furniture), and that said claimant dp quent period, obliterate the record, so that he is unable to secure a pension by rives his principal support from his pension of S8 _Per month. the existing p ension acts, but evidence of comrades and civilians acquainted The claim is a meritorious one, and your comm1ttee therefore recommend the with the fa.cts has been furnished. passage of the bill. The committee are of opinion that Gilbert Reed merits a pension, and there fore recommend t.he passage of the accompanying bill. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom Amend by adding, after the word "Reed," the words "and -pay him a pen mengation that it do pass. sion at the rate provided by law for a second lieutenant." The amendment recommended by the committee was adopted. J ACOU COPES. The bill a.':l n.mended was laid aside to be reported to the House with Mr. PERKINS. I ask consideration of the bill (H. R. 8534) grant the recommendation that it do pass. ing a pension to Jacob Copes. . ' 1888. OONGRESSIONAL· RECbRD~HOUSE. 7459 The bill was read. as follows: I The records of the War Department sh0w that the claimant re-enlisted as a . · . . veteran volunteer on the 1st day of January, 1864, and was o.bsent on vete1·an Be 1t. enact-ed, e~., That the Secretary of th~ Intenor b~, and be IS b~r~by, I furlough anu in Kentucky sick until the June following. auth~n~ed _and dJiected to_place on the pellSIOn-roll, subject ro the pr~v~10':ls w. c. Cabell and James 1\L .Morrison, two comrades of claimant, testify that e.nd l~l.mitatt?ns. of t?~ _Penswn law_s, _the name of Jacob Copes, late a prlva.e m Ithey were personally present in February, 186!, when claimant was injured in the l•lfth Dhnms l\!Jhtm Volunteers m the BlacK: Hawk war_ his back and breast by being thrown from his horse, which h ad run away with. The report (by Mr. BLISS) was read as follows: him. Another comrade also testified that the claimant was on his way home on . . ' . Yeteran furlough at the time of the accident. It ls also shown that in. May, ';he Committee on Penswns, to ~bo~ was referred the bill (H. R. 8534) grant- 1864, the claimant reported to the surgeon of his regiment (now deceased) and in,.. a pen~lon toJa~ob Copes,_have.~onsidered the same, and report as follows: by him was examined and sent to the convalescent camp at Chattanooga, Tenn. The clarm:mt se:.\ ed as a_private 1n a company co~':londea by Capt. Robert, There are no records of that camp on file. _ :McCJ ure, of the 1' 1fth Regrment o~ the Mounted Dlin01s Volunteers, from the Testimony filed in the pension claim shows thatl\Ir. Brown has been disabled 4th to the 27th day of l't~ay, 1832, With trav-:1 pay. . . . by the said injury since the date of his discharge. and that be is now affected J_n.1~1 he filed a. claim before the PensiOn ~ureau allegmg tJ;la.t dw·mg h1s by the injury of the back is shown by the 1-eport of the examining surgeon. serv1ce In the Black ~a.wk war he contracted d1seaseof eyes, wh1ch has of late Under the general pension laws a soldier is in line of duty when on veteran yea~s cau_sed total blmd_ness. . . furlough only while with the command of which he was a member. In this _llJs cla.tx;n ?as be~n reJe<;ted on the ground that he lS unable to prove that s::ud case it would seem the command had become seJ:o.rated, and in squads of two di F e a.~ or1~mate~ m sernce. . . or more, and were seeking their homes. · ~e 1s sev eno/-e1ght years ?f age. He ca:n not find any c~mrade m that war The committee recommend that the bill do pass. alive. One neighbor, La.t·km Jones, testifies that the claimant's eyes were . . . . sound when he enlisted for the Black Hawk war, and when he returned they The b1ll was laid aside to be reported to the House With the recom- were dises;.sed. The ey~ continued to trouble ?im un~il about 1880,_when he mendation that it do pass. becace bhnd. Otherne1ghbors of good reputatiOn certifyto the contmued ex istence of disease of eyes since 1845, and Dr. F. E . .Marcum, of Pittsburgh, Kans., JOSEPII IIUNTER, :r.f. D. certifies that claimant is blind from a disease of eyes, tho result of eJrPOsure'in early life. . Mr. SPRINGER. I ask consideration of the bill (H. R.l0275) grant The claimant would be a beneficiary under the bill recently reported by this ing n. pension to Joseph Hunter, M.D. committee to grant service pensions to survivors of certain Indian wars. In this case your committee are of the opinion that the claimant should be The bill was read, as follows: pensioned at a. rate commensurate with his disability. He is in poor financial Be it enacted. etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au circumstances. thorized and directed to place upon t he pension-roll, subject to the provisions The passage of the bill is recommended. and limitations of the pension laws, the name of Joseph Hunter, l'll. D., late of Company F, One hundred and twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom m endation that it do pass. The report by- (Mr. LANE) was read, as follows: 'l'he Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the House bill• BETSEY A. MOWER. 10275, beg leave to report that they hn.ye considered the same and find from the Mr. YODER. I ask consideration of the bill (S. 2838) granting a record that the soltlier enlisted August 9, 18G2, as a private in Company F, One hundred and twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volunteers, and was discharged pension to Betsey A • .Mower. September 26, 1863, for disability. The soldier was pensioned April 3, 1877, for The bill was read, as follows: disease of the st-omach-carcinoma. His name was dropped from tl1e pension Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au roll May 6, 1879, on the ground that there was some evidence tending to show thorized and directed to increase the pension of Betsey A. Mower, widow of that the disease existed prior to enlistment, and the Department refused to re the late Joseph A. Mower, a major-general of United States Volunteers in the store him to the l'oll for the same reason. late w ar for the Union, to the rate of $100 per month. The pivotal point in tllis case then is, was this disease contracted while the soldier was in the service or did it have its existence prior to his enlistment? The report (by Mr. FRENCH) is as follows: The testimony is very voluminous in this case, there having been over forty The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 283£) witnesses examined in the case, many of them physicians. gmnting an increa e of pension to Betsey A. Mower, have bad the same under In August,1863, the soldier was detailed as assistant snr.:zeon at Refugee Camp, consideration, and beg leave to submit the following report: Jackson, Tenn., he being a physician. The certificate of his discharge stated The report of the Senate Committee on Pensions is as follows: that the soldier was taken sick with some disease of the stomach at Jackson, "The applicant is the widow of Maj. Gen. James A. 1\:lower, who died in 1870 Tenn., while in the line of duty, a1l.d bas done no duty since that time. This of disease contracted in the service. The widow was pensioned at ~30 per month was the first manifestation of this disease in the Army. and this was increased to S50 by a special act of Congress. She has two children S. V. Keller and A. G. Chilton testify that the soldier returned from the Army dependent upon her, one of which has been an inmate of a.n insane asylum for in September, 1863, iiUtl'ering with carcinoma of the stomach, which has con mnny years. tinued ever since. •· The widow's husband left her no estate whate>er, and she ther~foreask:s Con Surgeon John Logan testifies to same fact. gre s to increase her pension to $100 per month. The soldier testifies that he was healthy when he went into the A rmy, and " In >iew of all the facts the committee recommend an increase to 875 per that his disease came on him in the Army, and produced fits, from "\l-liich he is month." still suffering, as well as the stomach disease. There is some testimony in the 'l'he meritorious services of General Mower,who served his country for nearly record tending to prove that the discharge of this soldier was a forgery, and a quarter of a century in all grades from that of a private in the war with Mex that he was not affected with any disease. but the committee think that these ico, as well as the dependent condition of his widow, afford ample justifi~ation facts are not sustained by the evidence. for concurrence in the recommendation contained in the above-quoted report. Robert Woods testifies that the soldier wns apparently sound when he en 'I'he committee therefore return the bill with the recommendation that it do listed, and he knew him for twenty years prior to 1879. This witness further pa! • r 7460 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD=HOUSE. AUGUST fO,- was in the service nearly a yea.r and no signs of disease are visible, and then he Mr. BINGH.A...'f\1'. What is the order of the recognition of the Chair? ls taken with some disease of the stomach from which he is very sick, and has been from thence hitherto. He wo.s discharged for this disease in the regular The CHAIRMAN. The order of recognition is pursuant to a list order of business where there was full opportunity for examination. that bas been received by the Chair as coming over from a similar oc- The Government afterwards granted to the soldier a pension for this disa casion. • bility, and the committee think his name should have been dropped from the pension-roll only on clear and satisfactory testimony that the disease was not Mr. ·BINGHAM. I desire to know what is the order of the recogni contracted in the service and in line of dut.y, and the committee think from a tion of the Chair. careful examination of this testimony that this conclusion is not warranted. The CHAIRMAN. The Chair stated that be would recognize, first, The soldier is now past fifty years of age; he says that he was not able to ap pear before the special examiner for the reason that he was financially unable the gentlemen on the list coming over from a former meeting, and to be present to confront the witnesses, but the testimony taken by the special then recognize members of the Committee on Invalid Pensions, and examiner is decidedly in favor of the soldier and goes to sustain his case. then members, alternating on each side, beginning with those that first On a consideration the committee think that the name of the soldier should not have been dropped from the pension-roll, and therefore recomlilend the asked recognition. passage of this bill. :Mr. BINGHAM. Will the C air please indicate what is meant by ~Ir. STRUBLE (interrupting the reading).- The report seems to be alternating? satisfactory, and I move that its fmtber reading be dispensed with. The CHAIRMAN. Alternating between the two sides, recognizing .Mr. SPRINGER. The testimonyofaboutfortywitnesses was taken a member on one side and then a member on the other side of the and t.his is a summing up of their evidence. House. The CHAIRMAN. If there be no objection, the further reading of Mr. BINGHAM. I do not propose in this matter to have my name the report will be dispensed with. called as being on that list, but I propose to ask for recognition for the Mr. KILGORE. Mr. Chairman, I must insist upon the reading of consideration of a claim and the consideration of bills fairly reported tberepm~ . from the committee. The reading of the report was concluded. :Mr. BOOTHMAN. Regular order. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom The CHAIR.M:AN. The regular order is demanded. mendation that it do pass. Mr. ;BINGHAM. I do not know what the regular order is. Tho CH.A.IRMAN. The regular order is the reading of the report, WIJ.LIAM n. STOKES. which the Chair will now direct the Clerk to proceed with . ._ Mr. HOUK. I ask consideration of the bill (H. R. 2908) to increase Mr. BINGHAM. The Clerk can read that regular order so far as the the pension of W. B. Stokes. report is concerned. The bill was read, as follows: ' The CHAIRMAN. The regular order is the reading of the report on B e it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au-~ this bill. thorized and directed to increase the pension of William B. Stokes, late 11. col- Mr. BINGHAM". On this special bill? one! of the J;ifth Tennessee Cavalry, to $75 per month, commencing with the The CHAIRMAN. It is. passage of this act. - .· Mr. BINGHAM:. Well, I will concede that. The report (by Mr. HUNTER) IS as follows: _ The Clerk read the report, as follows: The Co1.nmittee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. Tl c •tt I I'd p · t h' h ., d b 2908) granting an increase of pension to William B. Stokes, ha ve considered the le omml ee on nva I ensiOns, '0 w lC was re,erre t e bill (H. R. same and report o.s follows: . 5446) granting a pension to William H. Dowdall, makes the following report:· The claiman~ was a colonel of the First Middle Tennessee Cavalry from No- William H. Dowdall was enrolled on the 13th day of September, 1864, at Alton, vember 15,1862, untill\Iarch 1.4, 1863, and from April 18, 1863, to March lO, 1865, Ill., in Company I, One hund~·ed and forty-fourth Regiment of Illinois Volun Eerving two enlistments in the same regiment. His first resignation was based teers, to sern~. for one year or during the war, and was mustered out July U, 1865, at Rpringfield, Ill. on a gunshot wound of left side, the ball penetrating near the heart, incurred in The evidence submitted in this ca.se shows that Mr. Dowdall's family w ere line of duty. His second resignation was based on disability from rheumatism, livin~ in Alton, lll., where the coq:~.pany were stR.tioned when the injut·y was incurred also in line of duty. Dm·ing his second service he was on detached sustamed. Dod wall was color-bearer, and in some way his flag got torn, a nd duty, commanding posts at Carthage and elsewhere a considerable portion of the captain of the company told him when he went home to supper to take the tlle time. He is now a pensioner of the United States, at the rate of $30 per flag and have it mended. By the permission of his office rs he was allowed to m onth. for gunshot wound of left breast and rheumatism and neuralgia. d h · t· db d t h 0 t · · h h fl · 'l'he examining board at No.shville, Tenn., July 18, 1883, reported that the ball raw IS ra Ions an oar a orne. n re urmng Wit t e ag, lll company struck- with one comrade, he fell over an embankment and was inj ured . .. 1'11e left side of thorax immediately below nipple, passing in and through lo~sa:lton Rutledge, who was first lieutenant of tlle company, reports o.s Col thoracic cavity, and coming out on the same level, right side of thorax, postc- "On examining my morning report of the 2d of December, 186-1, I find Cor r ior aspect, near spinal column, between fifthandsixthribs. Both points of en- poral Dowdall and Private Crane inj ured byfalling from an embankment. On trance aud exit clearly marked. * * * He has a.lsorheumo-arthritic contrac- 3d D b h t t •t 1 1 c t ions of the toes, especially second toe right foot, and numerous arthritic nodes the ecem ert ey were sen ° hospl a at A ton . rnne reported back: for on wrist-joints, both hands, and a. finger and metacarpal joints. Either one ot ~~Zt~~~~d December; Dowda11 never reported back for duty while we were these affections w ould constitute a total disability, third grade. He can posi- The testimony of a number of physicians shows conclusively that he has ro· tively do no manual labor." mained permanently injured in one knee and in his back. This <' ase was sub· The same board in April, 1886, report that rheumatic affection of one of his · d t · 1 · h d 1 b t t d feet had neces!itated the amputation of one of his toes, and that he could not ili~tf~Uo~vfn8J~eta exammer, w 0 ma e .an e a ora e repor ., nn closed w ith mise his arm to a level with his breast, nor put on his upper garments without " I am of the opinion that the claim should be submitted for allowance on in· aid. · iury to left knee, left foot, and back." 'I'h is board again, in 1886, reported that his disabilities had increased since the Wben the case reached the board of review it was rejected on the ground that previous examination, and that he was totally and permanently incapacitated "disability was contracted while out on pass, and not in line of duty." for the performance of manual labor, requiring assis~ance in some of the duties Your committee believe that while he was out on pass he was under the order of life, especia lly in dressing. of h is superiors, commissioned to get the torn flag mended, and that while act- The claimant is now seventy-four years of llge. ing under such orders he was in line of duty and ought to be pensioned for his Y our committee recommend the passage of the bill, amended, however, by inj ury. striking out the words" seventy-five," in line 6, and inserting in lieu thereof The committee therefore recommend the passage of the bill. the word" fifty." The amendment of the committee was agreed to; and the bill as The bill was ordered to be laid aside to be reported to the Hollse with amended was ordered to be laid aside to be reported to the House with the recommendation that it do pass. the recommendation that it do pass. SAMUEL PURCELL. WILLIAM H DOWDALL The next pension busine..<>s on the Private Calendar (called up for con- . . · . • . . sideration by Mr. LYMAN) was the bill (H. R. 8545) for the relief of Ur._ANDERSON, of illinois. I ask consideratiOn of the bill (H. R. Samuel Purcell. 5446) granting a pension to William H. Dowdall. 1 The bill was read, as follows: · ' The bill was read, as follows: Be it enacted, e!c., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au· Be it enacted. etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au- 1 thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll the name of Samuel Purcell, thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and who was a private in Company A, First IrrdianR. Volunteers, in the Mexican limitations of the pension laws, the name of WilHam H. Dowdall,late of Com- war, and pay him a pension of $30 per month in lieu of the penSion he now re· pany I. One hundred and forty-fourth Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. ceives. Mr. FELTON. I rise to make a parliamentary inquiry. The report (by :Ur. BLISS) was read, as follows: The CHAIRMAN. The gentleman will state it. The Committee ~n Pensions, to whom was referred the bil¥(H. R. 85-!5) grant Mr: FELTON. I -would like to know the order of procedure. I ing an increase of pension to Samuel Purcell, have considered the same, andre~ port as follows: find that bills are being passed over the order in which they occur on The claimant was a private in Company A, First Indiana. Volunteers, Mexi- the Calendar. can war, from June 16, 1846, to June 16, 1847. While therein he contracted tis- :..IP'~~~AN Tb Ch · ·n tate th t th t f th tula in ano and diarrhea, and he was pensioned therefor, under a special act or The CH.a. uu • e aiT Wl S a on e reques 0 e Congress, at the rate of$8 per month. His disabilities have greatly increased gentleman from Indiana [Mr. MATSO~], cbail·man of the .Committee in seve~;ity, but his application for increase of pension to correspond therewith 'on Invalid Pensions, unanimous consent was given for each gentleman has beeW rejected by the Pension Bureau on the ground that there is no law au- resent to call up a bill. thorizing the Pension Office to increase pensions where the rate is fixed by spe p cial act. The claimant therefore appeals to Congress for relief. ]Ur. FELTON. In what order do they come? The claimant is sixt~ears of age, and his physician, Dr. W. A. Vincent, tes- T he CHAIHJ\IAN. On the recognition of the Chairman. tifies that his disabilities are such as to make him incapacitated for performing Mr. BINGHAl\1. Wbat is the order? wlt~f=~~l:':~P;J'o~!idh?;itt!_~~f~~h~~~eru~f{:fheet~~~g'M~;i~~~~;sf~~ The CIT AIRMAN. The Chair has stated that he will recognize gen- condition under the general laws warrants a rating of$'30 per month. tlemen as their names appear on a. list that comes over, and then will Your committee recommend the passage of the bill. rC{!ognize members of the committee, and afterwards gentlemen as they The bill as amended was laid aside to be reported to the House with sh~ 11 ask recognition. the recommendation that it do pass. / . / . :J.888. CONGRESSiONAL RECORD~HOUSE . 7461" - SUSAN E. ALGER. The action of the bureau on the last-named "disability is based upon the testi mony of one Dr. P.D. 'Vilson, with whom claimant lived during infancy, and . The ~ext pension business on the Private Calendar (called up for con one Judith E. Smith, a cousin, tending to show that soldier's mother died of tnderat.wn by Ur. RUSSELL, of Massachusetts) was the bill (S. 1162) for lung disease, caused by scrofula, that he inherited this scrofulous diathesis, and that prior to his enlistment he was subject to violent spells of colds, and was the relief of Susan E. Alger. otherwise of delicate health. - The bill was read, as follows: In affidu.vits recently filed, these affiants deny having made the advers.e state Be it .enacted, etc ..• That the Commissioner of Pensions be, and he is hereby, ments above referred to, and deblare him to have been a healthy young man at authonzed and d1rected to place on the pension-roll subject to the provisions time of enlistment. In view of these contradictory statements the case should anu limitations of the pension laws, the name of s'usan E. Alger, mother of be disposed of without reference to the same. 'Varren A. Alger, late of Company D, Fifteenth Regiment 1\Iassacbusetts Vol . There is an abundance of testimony, including medical, furnished by the unteers. claimant and obtained through special examination, showing beyond doubt that he was sound at enlistment and free from any symptoms of disease of '.rhe report (by :Mr. FRENCH) was read, as follows: lungs or throat. He entered the se.rvice at the age of eighteen years, was of The Co~mittee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 1162) good size and weight, and indulged much in athletic sports. The reviewer, in for the relief of Susan E. Alger, have had the same under consideration and summing up the case on this point, says: "In my opinion the weight of evi beg leave to submit the following report: ' dence in this case establishes prior soundness." The 1·eport of the Senate Committee on Pensions is as follows· That soldier contracted a cold resulting in disease of lungs, as well as treat.. "Susan E. Alger is the dependent mother of Warren A. Alger, corporA.! of ment therefor in the service, is clearly shown by the uncontroverted testimony C-ompany D, Fifteenth Massachusetts Volunteers, who died in the Anderson of comrades of good repute. He wa.s much debilitated at date of final dis ville prison in October of 1864, of scorbutus. The case belongs to a class not charge, and, as established by medical and lay testimony, has been a constant provided for by law, but the equities of which have been recognized by many sulferer from aflection of the lungs, with frequent attacks of pneumonia ever special acts. The soldier, though married, was the support of his mother. The since. soldier's widow was allowed a pension, but she having died, the mot.ber now Medical examinations reveal a serious case oflung disease, with much emaci petitions that the lapsed pension be awarded to her. ation. Claimant is eutirely unable to earn a subsistence by manual labor, and "The committee are satisfied that this mother is not only now indigent and having no other source of incc-me, has been compelled to seek refuge at the was dependent, but that her health was seriously injured by her labors as nurse public almshouse. during the war; and they think that when a woman, in giving her son to the Three years' faithful service alone should dispose of the question of prior country, has deprived herself of the stay of her old age, the country makes but soundness; but admitting, for sake of argument, that he was predisposed to small recompense in the allotment of a pension for her partial support. disease of lungs, the development of the disease into a disability, by reason of '·The committee recommend the passage of the bill." his military service, clearly brings him within a pensionable status. There being no pension paid or payable under the general law to any one on For these reasons your committee are fully convinced that the ciaimant is account of the above-named soldier, your committee, justified by along line of entitled to a pension on account of disease of lungs, and therefore return the precedents, return the bill with the recommendation that it do pass. accompanying bill, with the recommendation that it do pass. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom The bill was laid aside to be reported to the' House with the recom mendation that it do pass. mendation that if do pass. JOHN DEAN. GBORGE BRODY. The next business on the Private Calendar (called up for considera- The next pension business on the Private Calendar (called up for con tion by Mr. CHEADLE) was the bill (H. R. 2139) granting a pension sideration by Mr. SA WYE&) was a bill (H. R. 9372) granting a pen to George Rhody. sion to John Dean. The bill was read, as follows: _ The bill was read, as follows: Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby au Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby au thorized and directed to place on the pension-rolls the name of George Rh~dy thorized to place on the pension-roll the name of John Dean, formerly a pri~ate late a pri\'ate in Company K, Thirty-sixth Regiment Indiana Volunteers and in Company A, Thirteenth New York Volunteer Cavalry; and that he be di to grant him a pension, subject to the provisions and limitations of the pe~sion rected to pay him the sum of $50 quarterly, with the arrears of pension at the laws of the United States. same rate, from the 17th day of April, 1864, the date of the discharge of said John Dean from the service of the United States, subject to the provisions and The report (by Mr. MATSON) was read, as follows: limitations of the pension laws. ' The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred House bill2139 The report (by Mr. CHIPMAN) was read, as follows: have con~idered. the .same_and now ~ubmit the following report: ' The claimant lS now on the pens10n roll-at S8 per month for loss of sight of The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. )eft eye• . Claimant made application for increase alleging loss of sight of right 9372) granting a pension to J ohn Dean, have had the same under consideration l' ye, resulting in total blindness. The claim was rejected on the ground that the and now submit the following report: ' loss of sight of right eye was not due to claimant's military :!lervice. In an affi Claimant enlisted in Company A, Thirteenth New York Cavalry, November davit filed March 1,1881, claimant testifies that since the disease contracted in 17, 1862, and was discharged for disability of eyes April 7, 1864. • the service, the ball of his left eye bursted and the sight ran out, ~nd that after He filed declaration for pension 1\farch 16,1877, in which he alleges that while wards, on December 8, 1876, while chopping wood, a chip struck his right e-..e. in line of duty at New York and Staten Island, N. Y.;"about April, 1863, he suf putting it out and leaving him totally blind. His right eye, it seems, had be'en fered from chronic rheumatism and sore eyes, occasioned by exposure and ill diseased, as shown by testimony in original pA.pers for pension, and he believes ness contracted in camp; that he was treated at Bla~kwell ' s Island Hospital that it would have gone blind before now. as he was almost blind at the time New York, from about August 5,1863, to November 25,1863, and at militaryhoS: the accident occurred. - pital, Lexington avenue and Fifty-first street, New York, from December 1 He served as a private in Company K, Thirty-sixth Indiana Volunteers from 1863, by order of General Hayes, until April 7, 1864, when he was discharged September 20, 1861, to September 21, 1864. It seems to the committee that this is from the service. The claim was rejected on the record, which shows that the a case in which Congressional action is eminently proper. He served his country disease was contracted while absent without leave. · fait? fully th~ee years,9:nd _during that service c~ntracted disease of his eyes It is shown by the testimony of Dr. Fergus that prior to and o.t the time of en whtch has duectly and mduectly caused total blmdness. He is now entirely listment the claimant was "a stout, healthy man, with splendidly developed helpless, and requires the constant services of an attendant. The examining muscles, free from any ailment, either local or general." board at Muncie, May 11, l&s7, gave him a rating of$30 per month. We there Dr. Mott, surgeon of claimant's regiment, certifies on his certificate of dis fore submit a favorable report, and recommend the passage of the bill with the charge, April 7, 1864, as follows: fol lowing amendments: " I find him incapable of performing the d nties of a soldier because of slough . Strike o_ut all after. the ;wor.d "to," in line 4, and insert "iJ?crease the pen ing of both corneas from inflammation contracted while absent without leave siOn;" stnke out a lim satd bill after the word "volunteers," In line 6 and in- having received a forty-eight hour pass from his regiment, .April15, 1863 the~ sert" to $30 per month in lieu of the pension he is now receiving." ' stationed on Staten Island. He lost his eyesight in August·, 1063, while S:bsent ~~~~ut leave. Unfit for Invalid Corps. Admitted to the hospital December 1, The amendments recommended by the Committee on Invalid Pen- sions were agreed to. • It is shown by the testimony of William A. Revell, late sergeant of claimant's company, that about April,l863, claimant became diseased with rheumatism and The bill as amended was la,id aside to be reported to the House with s ore eyes, so that he was incapacitated for active duty and was, to affiant's per the ~·ecommendation that it do pass. sonal knowledge, under medical treatment from the post medical officers. The testimony of William J. Haight, late second lieutenant of claimant's com.. PHILIP NEUMAN. pany, shows that- "To affiant':" knowledge claimant, -on and before Apr~,l863, was sufl'erin1r The next business on thePrivateCalendar (called up for consideration from rhenmatlSm and sore eyes, so that he was, to a considerable extent., inca by Mr. LAFFOON) was the bill (H. R. 10789) granting a pension to pacitated from active duty and was placed upon the sick-list at the barracks ali Philip Neuman. Staten Island; that h e was granted a. lea ve of absence and did not return at the The bill was read, as follows: expiration thereof. He was orderly, correct, and, in affiant's opinion, a good soldier." Be. it enacted, ~tc., That the Secretary of ~be Interior ~e, aqd he is hereby, au Dr. Ephraim Clarke, late assistant surgeon, testifies·- thonzed and dtrected to place on the pensiOn-roll, subject to t.he provisions and "That be found on examination of the records that claimant was marked n.s "limitations of the pension l11.ws, the name of Philip Neuman, late of Company treated in quarters for chronic rheumatism from April 4 to April 22, 1863, and H, Eighth Kentucky Cavalry. that claimant left such station or camp about that date." · Thomas Burke testifies- The report tby Mr. HUNTE.&)' was read, as follows: . " That he has known claimant since about 1862; that in December, 1862, aud The Com~:littee on ~nvalid ~e.nsions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. January, 1863, while acting orderly at headquarters of the regiment, 444 Broad· 10789) grantmg a pensiOn to Phtllp Neuman, have had the same under consid way, New York City. claimant boarded at affiant's house, and Adjutant Brown, eration, and beg leave to submit the following report: of said regiment, paid his board; that about the end of January, 1863, claimant Philip Neuman served from August 15, 1862, to September 20, 1865 in Com was ordered to rejoin his company,and aboutApril22, 1863, he obtained a leave pany 1\f, Eighth Kentucky Cavalry, Company K, Thirty-fifth Kentucky Infa n and came again to affiant's house; that h e was troubled with rh·eumatism and ~ry, and by transfer in Company H, Seventeenth Kentucky Cavalry, respect sore eyes, and was confined to the house by illness, and that shorLiy afterwards Ively. he became so bad and ill with his eves that affiant advised him to go to hos He. alleg~ that in t~e winter .of 1862 a?d 1853 he contracted typboid-pneu pital, and that he procured the necessary papers and accompanied him to hos moma, whtch resulted m bronch1t1s and dtsease of lungs. He also claims pen pital at Blackwell's Island, and remained in said hospital until he entered the sion on account of ~lin~!l~ss of right eye ~nd disease of right leg. The claim military hospital, where he was discharged; that from April 22,1863, to the time for the two latter dtsabilllies have been rejected by the Pension Bureau on the of his discharge, April 7, 1864, he was incapable of performing active duty and ground that the origin of the same is not shown to be of the service while the became totally blind." · other disability existed prior to enlistment. ' Examining Surgeon Judson gives claimant. a rating of $31.25 for rheumatism It mR.y be conceded that the action of the Pension Bureau with reference to and disease of eyes. This claim was rejected on account of soldier not return- disease of eye and leg was proper, and should not be disturbed· but a.ft.er a ing in accordance with the terms of his leave of absence, but it is evident from • ca:eful examinatio_n of all the ev~d.ence in ~he cnse. it is the opinio~ of the com his physical condition, and the hospital and other evidence, that there was no :~!id:I~'\~~:!.e claun for bronchtLls and disease of lungs is entitled to further intention on his part to desert or wilfully disobey orders. The charge of desertion has been removed, and in view of the testimony in CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. AUGUST 10, the case the committee believe that the claimant ought not to be deprived of a. An affidavit of J. A. Vincent, esq., a most estimable gentleman and reputable pension by a technicality, and therefore submit a. favorable report and recom citizen of Albany, Clinton County, Kentucky, furnished in the case, is as fol~ mend the passage of the bill with the following amendment: Strike out all lows: after the word '·cavalry," in line 6, down to and including "United States," * * * "That he is seventy-one years of age, a resident of Albany, Clinton in line 10. County, Kentucky, and has known John T. Vincent for the past fifty years, and knows that said Vincent enlisted in Company D, Twelfth Regiment of Ken Tho amendments recommended by the Committee on Invalid Pen tucky Volunteer Infantry, at Albany, Ky., on or about the 15th day of October, sions were agreed to. 1861; that after the regiment left Alb!!- ny for Somerset, Ky., in November, claim The bill as amended was laid aside to be reported to the Rouse with ant was stricken with measles on tile march, and was conveyed back to his home, where he was confined to his bed for a. considerable length of time, suf~ the recommendation that it do pass. fering much with his breast and lungs; said Vincent has complained of his lungs ever since, and has had several severe attacks of lung trouble, and is still 1\IICH.A.EL IIARG.A.L'\. suftering from said lung affection; that he has no interest in the matter." Dr. E . Becket, a reputable physician of Albany, Ky., furnishes an affidavit or The next pension business on the Private Calendar (called up for con medical treatment of John 'r. Vincent since he left the Army, and Dr. W. C. sideration by M:r. TRACEY) was the bill (H. R. 4575) granting a pen Kean, of the same place, who is a. physician of superior professional attain sion to Uichael Hargain. :dl~;·~f~l~~fs~ysical examination of claimant, to show his present condition, The bill was read, as follows: "That he is a regular practicing physicinn; a. resident of Albany, Ky., and is Be it enacted. etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au thirty-five years of age; that !Je is person lly acquainted with John T. Vincent, thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and late of Company D. Twelfth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Iufantry, and limitations of the pension laws, the name of Michael IIm·gain, seaman on the that on the 2d day of July, 1&!8, he was called upon and made a. physical exam Unitzd States steam-ship Otsego, etc. ination of said Vincent, and found both 1ungs seriously affo::tcd, but that disease is more advanced on right side. The report (by Ur. BLiss) was read, as follows: "Claimant states that he had hadanat.tackofmea.sleswhile in the Army,:md The CommHtee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill granting a pen it is the opinion of affiant that the present lung trouble is due to that ~'\use . He sion to :Michael Hargain, have considered the same, and report as follows: further stales that he has no interest in this matter." The claimant served in the United States Navy, in the Florida expedithm, It is clearly shown that applicant has beEm unable to perform any kind of from September 1, 1840, to June 30, 1841, in the capacity of boatswain's mate, acti\·e manual labor since leaving the Army by reason of the shattered condition seaman, and gunner. This service was rendered in tile prosecution of the of tile system consequent on the sickness referred to, and now being a physical Florida Indian war, and Hargain was honorably discharged. He filed a.. claim wreck, rendered so in the defense of his country, he appeals to Congress for re for disabiHt.y pension in 1886, but his claim was rejected on the ground that the lief. claimant was una.ble to furnish evidence of officers and comrades to establish Amend by strilring out "J. T. Vincent" in the title and borlv of the bill origin of the same during his naval service. wherever that name occurs. und insert in lieu thereof ''John T. Vincent," and The claimant is sixty-nine years of age, and is practic.'llly blind in the right insert the letter" D" after •• Company," \n the seventh line. eye. He is also severely disabled by disease, and is without property of any kind, dependent upon his labor. . • The amendments recommended by the Committee on In>n.lid Pen 'rhe claim falls within the provisions of the general bill for service pensions sions were agreed to. of the survivot·s of the Indian wars from 1832 to 1842, favorably reported by this The bill as amended was laid aside to be reported to the Honse with committee at the present session of Congress. _ Your committee are of the opinion that Mr. Hargain should have a service the recommm::dation that it do pass. pension, and tllerefore recommend the passage of the bill, amended, however, TIIDr.IAS SHACKELFORD. by striking out the words" subject to the provisions and limitations of the pen sion laws," in lines 4 and 5, and inserting after the word ''forth," in line 7, the The next pension business on the Private Calendar (called. up for words, "and pay him a pension at the rate of $8 per mont.h." consideration by M:r. B.a.coN) was the bill (H. R. 9719) for the rc:liet' The amendments recommended by the committee were agreed to. of Thomas Shackelford. On motion of :Mr. TRACEY, the bill was further amended by striking The bill was read, as follows: out from line 6 the word "steam-ship" and inserting in lieu thereof Be it enacted, etc., That the Secret!1>ry of the Interior be, nnd he is hereby au the word "schooner." thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions'and limitations of the pension laws, the name of Thomas Shackelford, late of tile The bill as amended was laid aside to be reported to the House with Eleventh United Stales Infantry, of the Mexican war. the recommendation that it do pass. The report {by :1\ir. BLISS) was read, as follows: JOHN T. VINCENT. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. n. 97l!l) ~rant ing a pension to Tllomas Shackelford, have considered the same a nd report :15 The next pension business en the Private Calendar (called up for con follows: sideration by 1\Ir. HUNTER) was the bill (H. R. 10356) granting a pen Thomas Shackelford. the claimant, was enlisted at Alexandria, Va.., on the lith day of May, 1M8, for service in the Mexican war. IIe was sent to Ha Itim ore sion to J. T~ Vincent. nnd transferred t? Fort McHenr:y, 1\:ld., where he remained until discharged, The bill was read, as follows: July 20, 1848, bavmg served a perwd of seventy-one days, Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au The Mexican service bill requires a period of service of sixty days. This claim thorized and directed to place on-the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and was rejected by tile Pension Bureau on the ground that theclaimantserved lJut limitations of the pension laws, the name of J. '1'. Vincent, of Clinton County, fifty-five days prior to the close of hostilities, and participated in no batlle. Kentucky, late n. private in Company D, Twelfth Regiment of Kentucky Vol The claimant is sixty-seven years of age and in poor circumstances, and his unteer Infantry. a ctual term of service is more than that> required by the general law. lie was taken by the Government as a recruit, and was en f'oute for the war, and had The report (by Mr. HUNTER) was read, as follows: served more than the required period before news of the close of the wal' was The Commilte~ on ln\'alid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. n. received. • 10356) granting n. pension to John T. Vincent, have had' the same under consid Your committee nre of the opinion that the bill should paEs, nndreport it w ith eration, and make the following report: snell a. recommendation, with the following amendment: It appears from the evidence before your committee that claimant was enrolled Strike out the words "subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension as a private in CompanyD, Twelfth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, ln.ws" in lines 4 and 5 of t!Je bill, and insert in lieu thereof the words "at the at Albany, Clinton County, Kentucky, on the 15th day of October, 1861. That rate of $8 per month;" so that the bill will read ' 'to place on the pension-roll at on the 1st day of November, 1 61, while on a march with said command from the rate of t8 per month the name of Thomas Shackelford," etc. Albany to Somerset, Ky., he contracted measles and was left at Seventy-Six, The amendment recommended by the Committee on Invalid Pen- and taken from there to his home in Clinton County, Kentucky, where' he n: rnained in a precarious condition for some months with said malady and result sions was agreed to. . ing lung complication. On his partial recovery from tile acute stages of this The bill as amended "'as laid aside to be reported to the Honse with attack it was dLcovered that his lungs, which ,yere deeply involved during his the recommendation thn.t it do pass. sickness, had become permanently all'ected, rendering him thereby unfit for further military duty, in view of which he dicl not report to his command, and 1\IRS. JA "E POTTS. was not therefore mustered into the Un"!.ted States service. In upport of his application claimant furnished an affidavit of George W. The next business on the Private Calendar (called up for considern Hopkins, a highly reputable citizen of Albany, Clinton County, Kentucky, who tion by l'llr. PosT) was the bill (H. R. 5525) granting a pension to :!'!Ir,... \vas a sergeant of applicant's compa ny and regiment, as follows: Jane Potts. * * * "That Jolln T. Vincent enlisted in Company D, Twelfth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Infantry, in October, 1861, and went upon and remained The bill was read, as follows: on duty at Albany, Clint~n County, Kentucky, when he enlisted, until his regi Be it enaded, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au ment left to go north of Cumberland lliver. There was measles in camp at A.l· thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and bany. He further states that when the command left Albany said Vincent left limitations of the pension laws, the name of Mrs. Jane Potts, widow of Noah and went with it, and dropped out somewhere on the march, but at what point Potts, late of Company D, Seventh Regiment Illinois Ca\'a.h·y. affiant does not know of his personal knowledge. While in camp north of Cum berland River affiant was informed tllat said Vincent was absent sick with The report (by Mr. LANE) was read, as follows: rneaslt>s. Affiant was a sergeant in said CompanyD, Twelfth Regiment of Ken Tile Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. It. tucky Volunther Inf!I.Dtry, and w:~.s acquainted with said Vincent and knows 5525) granting a. pension to 1\Irs. Jane Pottls, have had the same unde1· consid the above facts from his personal knowledge, and has no interest in the matter." eration and l>eg leave to submit the following report: He also fnrni ·hed a. sworn statement of John Absten, a reputable gentleman The Department refused her claim for a pension on the ground that tbe sol ofSeventy-slx, Clinton County, Kentucky, who was the first person cailed upon to dier's insanity which caused suicide was not brought on by milita ry service; see claimant ruler h e fell out of ranks on the m.."Uch from Albany to Somer~et , that for about fifteen years after discharge he conducted hi business affu. jrs in Ky., on aceount of measles, and is as follo~'S : a successful manner, and it is not believed that the insanity developed about ''I hereby certify that I am acquainted with John T. Vincent, and have been 1881 can be traced to his hardships as a prisoner of war. for thirty years or more; tllatsaid Vincentwasenlistedin theTwelrth.Regimcnt Nealy C. Woods testifies that- ofKentucky VolunWCI' Infantry at AJ bany,Ky.,on or about the 15th day of "He was orderly sergeant of Company D, Seventh Illinois Cavalry Volun October,1861, and left that place with his command for Somerset, Ky., but fell teers; that he was well acquainted with Noah Pott.s; that they were members out of the ranks on the march at or near Seventy-Six, Ky., on account of nn of the same company, and that be knew him intimately; that at the time of his Mtack of measles, and was returned to his home. I further state that I was enlistment he was n. sound, able-bodied man, and free from disease of any kind; suma!oned to visit him, and found that he had a se•ere attack of measles aud that he was taken prisoner at Collierville, Tenn., in the latter part of 1~, and was suiJering >ery much and complaining with his brea. t when I visited him. wa.s confined in Andersonville prison; that he saw him soon after his discha.rge I have not lived in the community where said Vincent resides for the past from prison and he was a mere skeleton, on account of hardships he had en fifteen or twenty years nnd can not state his present physical condition. My dured; beard soldier say that he believed his bones were rotten. Affiant fur • age i;> Ilfiy-ninc years, and my post-office is Seventy-Six, Clinton County, Ken ther states that he noticed during the conversation that his mind was affected tucky. I further state that I haven ointerest in the prosecution of this claim.'' .and that his memory failed him very much." I / CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-. HOUSE. 7463 J'. B. IIendricks testifies that he belonged to the snme company with the sol erysipelas of head was not a result of gunshot wound of right leg, for which he dier: was pensioned, and was not otherwise chargeable to his United States military "That at the time of his enlistment he was in perfect health; that he saw service. The marria~ge of claimal)t to soldier, the fatal disease being erysip· him after the war, and he thought he acted strangely; that his mind dwelt on elas, and the sober and industrious character of the soldier are all clearly shown. his imprisonment, and it was difficult to draw it to any other subject, and that In reference to the soldier's fatal disease being caused from the gunshot wound, he was very absent-minded." \ve quote the report of two physicians who knew soldier intimately and treated Henry P. Masher, al o a member of said company, testifies that he was well him for the disease. ac~uainted with soldier:.. D. D. Richardson, physician-in-chief of the insane department Philadelphia ' That he has known him from boyhood; and that up to the time of his en Hospital, says: listment he was a healthy, able-bodied man and of sound mind. That he saw "Soldier was frequently the subject of erysipelas during his long service in him after his discharge from prison and ho was much broken in health, and the insane department of the Philadelphia. Hospital, due, as I thought·, to the that his conversation, appearance, and actions '58.tisfied affiant that his mind suppurating condition of his wounded leg." ' was very much impaired.'' - J'ohn ,V. Dick, M.D., says: Other affidavits in this case set forth the same facts as the above; and while "I was personally acquainted with Charles L. Pfeiffer for five years, and was there is some testimony to the effect that the soldier's insanity was hereditary, his family physician for that time. In July, 1881, he was under my care at his the great majority of evidence goes to show that his insanity was due to his home for an attack of erysipelas in and around a wound received in leg during long confinement in Andersonville prison. , the late war. He was a man of strictly temperate habits in all respects. In Your committee therefore conclude that the soldier's insanity was due to hard February, 1885, the insane d epartment of the Philadelphia Hospital took fire ships incurred while in the service and that his widow is entitled to a. pension, and a number of lives were lost. Mr. Pfeiffer was attendant in the department and we therefore respectfully recommend that this bill do pass. at the lime, working with the heroism of a true man to save tho lives of the poor demented creatnres intrusted to his care. Scorched by flame, drenched The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom with water, and chilled with frost, this poor fellow sank for the last time under mendation that it do pass. an attack of erysipelas of head and face, followed by meningitis, causing death. I have no hesitancy in attributing this predisposition to erysipelas to the wonnd GERTRUDE K. LYFORD. received in the service of his country." 1\Ir. BLANCHARD. I call up for consideration the bill (S. 2500) Your committee are sat~sfied that a predisposition to erysipelas was there sult oftbe suppurating gunshot wollnd received in the service. This is a not granting a pension to Gertrude K. Lyford. infrequent result of wounds and chronic sores; and that it was so in this case The bill was read, as follows: is testified to by the physicians of the hospital in which he was employed, and Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au who bad constant opportunities to see the case respecting which they testify. thm·ized and directed to place on the pension-roll the name of Gertrude K. Your committee being fully satisfied that the soldier's death was caused by Lyford, widow of the late Major and Brevet Lieut. Col. Stephen C. Lyford, erysipelas, the result of a gunshot wound received in the service, report the bill United States Army, at the rate of S!O per month, in lieu of the pension which favorably and recommend that it do pass. she now receives. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom The report (by 1\Ir. GALLL.'WER) was read, as follows: mendation that it do pass: The report of the Senate Committee on Pensions on the bill is ns follows: JIIARY ANN REID. "This is a bill to raise the pension of 1\frs. Gertrude K. L~ford, widow of the late Maj. Stephen C. Lyford, United States Army, from $25 to $!0 per month. 1\Ir. .MAISH. I ask for the present consideration of the bill (H. R. "l\Iajor Lyford was a member of the second of the two classes graduated at 10954) for the relief of l\Iary Ann Reid. West Point in the early summer of 1861, in order to provide officers to fill the many vacancies made in the Army by the resignation of the Southern army The bill was read, as follows: officers. In 1863 General Sherman desired to have him on his staff, and in a Be it Macied, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au letter to the Adjutant-General said: thorized and directed to pla<:c on the pension-roll the name of Mary Ann Reid, "He has fought in all our battles. At Bull Run, a mere cadet just from the the aged and blind daug·hter of Andrew Carman, who was a soldier in the n.r Academy, I saw him at his post; and unfiinchingly, wherever I go, I find him of the Revolution, and to pay her a. pension at the rate of S30 per month from in the front, and know some other officer lessadventurouscould fill his present and after the passage of this act. oftice, and leave him to serve wit·h me, directing and handling masses of men.' " Major Lyford died on the 9th of May, 1885. Like many of the military pro The report (by Mr. BLISS) was read, as follows: fession, he bad little to leave his family besides his good name. For many years The claimant is the daughter of Andrew Carman, who was a soldier in the of his life a large portion of his income was devoted to the supporl. of an aged Revolutionary war in the l<'ourth Regiment of Cavalry for the State of Penn mother and invalid sister. He left a wife and child. The latter has constitu- sylvania. He enlisted in April, 1781, and was discharged :January 1, 1783. He tional infirmities, rendering it nearly helpless, and f1·om which it will not prob- was a pensioner for a bout eight years before his death in 1826. The records on ably ever recover. file in his claim furnish the information of his service. "Besides his active military serv~ce in fig~ting thro~gh ~he campaign,s !>fthe 1\lrs. Reid, the claimant, is shown by reliable testimony to be in needy cir- W~st, from Fort Donelson and Cormth to V1cksbv,rg, m dllferent capactt1es, as . cumstances, is eighty years of age, and for ten years has been totally blind. chte.l'ordnance officer of the department, or upon the stafiR of Genera~ Rose- I There are several precedents for the granting of pensions to the aged and des cran.s, McJ':herson, and G~nt, the ~vernment was benefit~d .bY so~e ~mport- titute daughters of the soldiers of the old wars, and among them the case of a~~ mven~wns an~ expenments w.hich were th~ result of hts mvest1gation:;. 1\Irs. Betsy Lockwood, passed by Congress at the present session. Referrmg to hlS value as an officer, a letter 1n the hands of the comm1Ltee Your committee recommend the passage of the bill. st~?:'~ ~hose who, like Senator fuWLEY and the honorable chairman of the Ap- The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the rccom- propria.tions Committee, bad opportunities of seeing his work, as far as pecun- mendation that it do pass. iary matters are concerned, are aware in how many ways he saved the Govern ment from useless and undue expense, and also that not one cent was unac CHARLES MOLSEED. counted for.' "In the same letter he is thus spoken of: Mr. DARLINGTON. I call up the bill (H. R. 8889) granting a pen "'The fall of Vicksburg saw him invalided home, dying, as was supposed, from malarial fever contracted by exposure tQ the fatal miasma of that deadly sion to Charles 1\Iolseed. 1·egion, and, though after a long and pa.infulillnessheapparently recovered his The bill was read, as follows: health, it was then t.hat seeds of disease were sown that ena.bled death to claim Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interi01· be, and he is hereby, au him as its prey, in the prime of his life.' thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll the name of Charles l\:lolseed, "The committee is aware that the widow is receiving the pension conceded late of Company E, One hundred and fiftieth Regiment Pennsylvania Volun to officers of her husband's grade,l\nd that, under the general laws, it can not. teers, and pay him a pension of $8 per month, subject to the provisions of the be raised. There are, however, cases in which distinction has been made under pension laws. peculiar ch·cumstances. To increase this pension, as provided in the bill, would ha-ve the practical effect of giving the widow the rating she already receives The report (by Mr. LYNCH) was read, as follows: and of providing for the permanently helpless child $15 a month. Charles Molseed enlisted in Company E, One hundred aud fiftieth Regiment "Taking into consideration the devoted service rendered by Major Lyford, Pennsylvania Volunteers, August22, 1862, was transferred to the invalid corps the fact that by his premature death (evidently a result of his service) the December 14,1863, and discharged upon surgeon's certificate of disability, March widow and her affiicted child have been deprived of protection and support, 30, 1864, because of "partial anchylosis of right hip, frem fall in loading wood the committee think it is proper to concede this small addition to the pension a year ago last February" (1863). she now receives. ' He claims pension on account of injury to hip, by being thmwn out of a "The bill is reported favorably with a recommendation that it do pass.'' wagon near Belle Plains, Va., in February, 1863. The claim has been rejected For the reason set forth in the foregoing report, your committee favor the on the ground that the dis3bility existed prior to enlistment. This action is gmnting of the relief asked for in the bill, and therefore return the same with based upon a letter written by the first lieutenant of the company, under date the recommendation that it do pass. of April 23, 1864, in which the following statement appears: The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with t.he recom "I would say that he, the soldier, had been disabled in his right hip from the date of his enlistment in the company, .August, 1862, and I find from inquiry of mendation that it do pass. several members of the company who reside near him and worked at the same MARY A. PFEIFFER. pla('C together, that said injury was received some six or seven years ago. He may have fallen from a wagon while in the performance of his duty at Belle Mr. BINGHAM. !"call up for consideration the bill (H. R. 4039) Pl>1 ins, Va., but the injury received was not of a serious nature, as the accident granting a pension to Mary A. Pfeiffer. was not known to his company officers.'' It was ascertairred during the special examination of the claim that this let The bill was read, as follows: ter was prepared by the orderly sergeant of the company, who admits that be Be it enacted, etc.: That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au had personal acquaintance with the soldier prior to his enlistment, and based thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and his s tatements upon reports made by other members of the company, whose .\ limilations of the pension laws, the name of 1\fary A. Pfeiffer, widow of Charles nameshedoesnot now remember. The claimant, however, gives the names of L. Pfeiffer. those of his acquaintances who enlisted with him, and accounts for them so as to leave but little doubt that at the date of said letter none were present with 'rhe repor~ (by Mr. LYNCH) was read, as follows: the company who could have imparted this information to the orderly sergeant.. Charles L. Pfeiffer enlisted in Company E, One hundred and eighty-eighth The claimant admits that he Willi tluown from a wagon some yeara before en Regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, December 9, 18 3, and was discba:-ged listment, and that his shoulder was temporarily injured. but denies tmy prior May 24, 1865, by certificate of disability showing that he was "incapable of per injury to hip, and in support of his claim of prior soundness a large number of forming the duties of a· soldier because of partial loss of use of right leg from respectable citizens and fellow-laborers who have been examined by the special gunshot fracture of the tibia., received in battle at Drury's Bluff, Virginia, May examiner t~tify to that fact, while not a single one has been found who knew 16, 1864." to the contrary. Soldier was pensioned for said disability at the rate of S8 per month, and it The rcgimentalsun;eon also testifies that be was called out on the road where was reduced to f6 per month, September 4, 1868, on report of Examining Sur claimant had been thrown fwm the wagon, and found him suffering from con geon Harper. He drew~ per month until his den.th. He died February 24, tusion of the hip. 1885, and his widow filed her declaration July 7. 1885, on the ground that the From the showing made the committee are of opinion that .the claim should fatal disease, erysipelas, wa.s the result of the gun<;hot wound of right leg. not have been rejected on the ground of prior unsoundness. But the c1ahn is The Pension Department rejected her claim ''because the soldier's death from otherwise inadmissible under the general law. The ttue facts in the case are . / 7464 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. AUGUS~ -10, that soldier was hurt whiJe on pass. He obtained permission to go to the land~ On reaching NewBeme I took ~belter in oneoftbe deserted buildings of that ing, a short d istance from camp, after having just been relieved from guard city, where I was attended by Drs. Church and Rivers, of the general's command, duty, and got on a Government. wagon going in that direction. While in the now deceased, a;nd a faithful negress, whose name I can not now recall. I was wagon, through the carelessness of the drh·er, it was upset and soldier thrown also visited by the general himself. against a stump.· After remaining several weeks in New Berne, being able to travel, transpor Congress in similar cases has recognized the justness of this class of cases, not tation was furnished me by order of the general to N ew York. I was attended reached by the general law; and being fully satisfied that the disability, which by a homeopathic physician in Brooklyn, N.Y., whose name has long since es- is described by the examining surgeon as a dislocation of right hip, was incurred caped me. - in the service and under the circumstances set forth, your committee report fa.. After General McClellan's defeat in June, 1862, on the peninsula of Virginia, I vorably on the accompanying bill and ask that it do p&ss, amended, however obtained an authorization from the then governor of New York to rai e a com by striking out all after the word "Yolunteers," in line 6, and insert therein in: pany or regiment for the service, but because of the apathy of the people I be stead the words "subject to the provisions and limitations of the pension laws. '• came disgusted and volunteered as a private in the Second New York Cavalry. My he&Jth soon gavewa.y again entirely, and I was mustered outofthatservice at The amendment recommended by the committee in the concluding Ball's Cross Roads. Virginia, upon my own request, in order to join General Sax paragraph of the report was read and agreed to. ton in the Department of the South, nnd upon my own request assigned to dut.y The bill as amended was laid aside to be reported to the House with in Florida, feeling it to be my dut.y to remain in the service in whatever capac ity my health would justify, so long as the war lasted. (See papers on file in the recommendation that i~ do pass. Pension Office as to these last two services.) Now, I was mustered out of the Eighth Illinois Cn.'\"alry upon n.military order. H. H. llELPER. Ijoine FREDERICK C. SHAW. The report (by Mr. BLL~s) was read, as follows: ~ .... Mr. PETERS. r ask for the present con ideration of the (H. The records show that the claimant served as a private iu Capt. Elijah lies's bill company, Illinois Mounted Volunteers, for twenty-one days, besides a number R. 204) granting a pension to Frederick C. Shaw. of days' travel, in the Black Hawk war. He is now eighty years of age, c.hild The bill was read, as follows: less, with no property of any kind. His aged wife is nearly blind. For anum Be it enacted, etc., That the Sect·etary of the Interior be authorized and di ber of years be has been in part sustained by ~he contributions of his neighbors. • rected to place the name of Frederick C. Shaw, late Company B, Third illinois Two hundred citizens of his locality unite in a petition to Congress asking for Cavalry Volunteers, on the pension-rolli, subject to. the provisions and limita his relief. He is entitled t-o a service pension, and would be a beneficiary under tions of the pension laws. the general bill reported by this committee for the relief of survivors of the In dian wars. The report (by Mr. MORRILL) was read, as follows: Your commiltee recommend the passage of the bill, amended, however, by The soldier enlisted in Company F, Third illinois Cavalry, on the 3d day of striking out the word" twelve," in line 7, and inserting in lieu thereof the word October, 1862, and was discharged on the lOth day of October, 1865. The case "thirty." was rejected by the Pension Department because he could not furnish evidence The amendment reported by the committee was read, as follows: of the origin of the disability for which he claimed pension, namely, consump tion,. in the service. The applicant has no hospital record, but ~eems to have Strike out, in line 7, the word" twelve" and insert f.he word "thirty;" so as - been present for duty, and has a good faithful record as a soldier. There seems to make the pension $30 per month. to be no doubt from the evidence but that the soldier was a hale, hearty, strong . Mr. KILGORE. I understand that this bill as originally introduced young man at the time he enlisted in the Army. The testimony of David M. Orr is as follows: proposed a pension of $12 a month, which the committee by amend "I knew Fred. C. Shaw in 1857, and he was counted a well and healthy man. ment proposes to raise to $30 a mon1b. I have lived close neighbors to him since 1866. and he has been under the doc Mr. GEST. When I introduced the bill I did not know what amount tor's care most of the time since. He has not been able to do a full day's work since 1866, to my knowledge, and he has not been able to do anything at all for the committee was in the habit of allowing in cases of this kind or what about one-fourth of that time." amount the law provided for. . This is a pension for services in the Dr. Y'l. R. Hopkins testifies: BJack HawK: war. It is a case not pensionable at the Pension Office at "I began treating Frederick C. Shaw for pulmonary consumption in 1866, and continued treating him untill872." all. I erroneously inserted "~12;" the committee report that the In 1884 Dr. Hopkins made another affidavit, in which he says: amount ought to be $30. "I was the family physician of the said Frederick C. Shaw from the year Mr. KILGORE. I understand from the re.:1.ding of the report that 1866 or 1867 until1872; that he treated soldier for bronchitis and consnmption frequently during that time; that he lived within 2!- miles of him during that this man served only twenty days; and I do not see why a discrimina time, and was intimately acquainted with him; was not acquainted with him tion should be made in favor of a soldier of the Black Hawk war as prior to en! istment; that said Shaw, in consequence of said disease, was disabled against soldiers of other wars. It occurs to me that a pension of $12 ft·om performing manual labor fully one-half; that he can not give exact dates '· of treatment, because a part of his books have been lost; that said Shaw was a a month ought to be enough. man of temperate habits and was not addicted to the use of strong drink. 'I 1\!r. GEST. I hope the gentleman will not object to the rate of pen Orville S. Orr testifies : sion proposed by the committee. This man is eighty years of age; h& "I have been acquainted with Frederick C. Shaw since 1856, and continu ously up until1862, when he went into the Army. Never knew of his being has no property; his wife is blind; and he is dependent upon his neigh sick or under the physician's care. He was 8. perfectly sound man." bors for bread. For a man in this situation, with an aged wife who is Your committee think, from all the evidence in the case, that the soldier was blind and has to be led about, a pension of $30 a month is certainly a stout and hearty man at the time of en~tment, and that within a few months after he was discharged he had consumption. He was discharged in October, not too much. 1865, and the evidence of physicians shows that in 1866 he was treated for this Mr. KILGORE. This pension does not go to the wife; and besides, trouble. The evidence also shows that from 1866 he has continuously suffered as I have suggested, this seems to be a discrimination which ought not from consumption, and he has not been able to perform more than half work. The evidence of Dr. Hopkins, who says he treated him for consumption in 1866 to· be indulged in. and following years, would indicate that even at that time the disease bad be . Mr. GEST. It is not a discrimination. come somewhat chronic, and if so, this would necessarily lead to the conclusion Mr. KILGORE. If the pension proposed were $12 or $15 a month, that the incurrence of the consumpli.<>n was during his service in the Army. The disease is one that usually comes on slowly, beginning with a cold, and contin I would make no objection. I move to amend the amendment of the uing without attracting very much attention until after it has fastened it-self upon committee by striking out "thirty" and inserting "filteen." the system. Mr. GEST. This is a pension for serviceS in the Black Hawk Indian It is not often that persons in the ordinary walks of life have their attention directed to the disease until after it has obtained a very firm hold, and very often, war of 1832, out in my part of the country. in fact in a majority of cases, as is pretty well shown by casual observation. a Mr. KILGORE. I understand. doctor is not called in until after the disease has become firmly established in 1\Ir. GEST. I certainly hope the gentleman will not object to a the human system. Mr. Shaw is shown to have been a laboring man, without very much means, and it is reasonable to suppose t.hathe did not go to a doctor pension of $30 a. month for this old man who has an aged and blind and consult in regard to the disease until after its progress had become some wife; both ·of them a,re helpless, dependent upon the charity of their what alarming. neighbors. The application in this case is supported by a petition of Your committee therefore think that, from all the evidence in the case and the circumstances surrounding it, they are authorized to find that the consump two hundred people that are now caring for this aged couple, who cer- tion of which the soldier complains, and from which he is suffering now, was tainly can not live more than a few years longer. · incurred during his service in the Army; and we therefore reportthebillfavo• Mr. KILGORE. A stronger case can be made in ten thousand in ably and recommend its passage. stances. The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom :Ur. GEST. I will take it. mendation that it do pass. Mr.· KILGORE. Very well, then, strike out "thirty " and insert ELIZABETH EVANS. '' fifteen. '' Mr. HOLMAN. I ask for the consideration of the bill (H. R. 2120) Mr. STRUBLE. Will the gentleman compromise on twenty. granting a pension to Elizabeth Ev ons: · Mr. KILGORE. No; I will compromise on fifteen. The bill was read, as follows: The CHAIRMAN. Debate is not in order while the Honse is di- Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, viding. authorized and directed to place the name of Elizabeth Evans, dependent sis The committee divided; and there were-ayes 6, noes 23. ter of William Ayres, late a. private in Company F, Thirty-seventh Regiment oi Mr. KILGORE. I make the p(\int of no quorum. Indiana Volunteers, on the pension-roll, and pay her a pension of $12 per month, subject to the provisions and limitations of the general pension laws. Mr. BINGRAl'l:f. Make it twenty. Mr. KILGORE. I will withdraw only on a proposition to make it The report (by Mr. MATSON) was read, as follows: :fifteen. The claimant is -the dependent sister of William Ayers, late of Company F, M:r. GEST. Make it twenty. Thirty-seventh Regiment Indiana. Volunteers, who died in the service. 'l'he claimant was married to Wil1iam Evans, who died in 1856. The claimant and ltir. KILGORE. No, I will only make it fifteen. her daughter then made their homes with the mother of the deceased soldier, Ur. GEST. Very well, let it go at fifteen. and was supported by the said soldier up to the time of his enlistment in the A1·my. The mother of the soldier was dependent on her son for support, and The CHAIRMAN. The Chair hears no objection and the amend after his death drew a pension until her death, which occurred in lSiH. ment making it ":fifteen" is agreed to. The Chair hearing no objec The claimant made her home with her mother after the death of her husband, tion the bill wiJl be laid aside to be reported to the House with the and was supported in part by the pension her mother drew as a dependent. recommP.ndation that it do pass as amended. Since the death of her mother she has been dependent on the township for sup port, and being a confirmed invalid, as is also her daughter, she must be sup There was no objection, and it was ordered accordingly. ported by charity or go to the poor-house. We believe it is fully proven that the claimant was dependent upon said soldier prior to and at the time of death; SAMUEL ANDERSON. that ehe has no means of support whatever; that she is a confirmed invalid. Mr. JOSEPH, by unanimous consent, called up for consideration the It seems to the committee that the relief asked for in the bill ought to be granted. We therefore submit a favorable report and recommend the passage bill (H. R. 10017) granting a pension to Samuel Anderson. ot the bill. The bill was read, as follows: The bill was laid ·aside to be reported to the Hou~e with the recom Be it enacted, etc., That the Secre~.ry of the Interior' be, and he is hereby, au. thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and mendation that it do pass. limitations of the pension laws, the name of Samuel Anderson, late a private ot .JOSEPH F. GARRETT. Company E, Fifth Regiment of Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry. Mr. GEST. I call up for consideration the bill (H. R. 6501) to grant The report (by Mr. HUNTER) was read, as follows: a pension to Joseph F. Garrett. The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. 10017) granting a. pension to Samuel Adams, have considered the same, and now The bill was read, as follows: report: Be it enacted, etc., That the Se01·etary of the Interior be, and he is hereby au The claimant enlisted as a private in Company E, Fifth Kentucky Cavalry, thorized and directed to place upon the pension-roll the name of .Joseph F. October 4, 1862, mustered March 31, 1862, and discharged May 3, 1865. . Garrett, who was a soldier in Spy Battalion, Fourth Illinois Regiment, in the In declaration filed June 11,1879, he alleges that at Burkesville, Ky., in N~ Black Hawk war, and pay him a. pension of Sl2 per month. vember, 1861, he contracted measles, and on account of coldandcxposurewhil• ·. 7466 CONGRESSIO~AL RECORD-HOUSE. AUGUST 10, being moved the measles settled on his lungs and they became diseased in con ''Your committee are of the opinion that their c1a1m is a. meritorious one, sequence, and that he was treated at Columbia, Ky., some five or six weeks. though it is debarred by a. technical decision of the Interior Department, and The claim was rejected on the ground of no record of alleged disability and they therefore recommend the passage of the bill, amended so as to include the inability to furnish the necessary medical evidence to connect it with the serv names of Victor, Gertrude, Margaret, and Hele·n in the body of the bill." ice. Claim.ant state§ that be is unable to furnish medical evidence as to his condi There being no objection, the bill was laid asi'de to be reported to the tian prior to enlistment, for the reason that Dr. Ellison, who was his only phy House with the recommendation that it do pass. sician, is dead. Robert Story testifies that he was well and personally a.cq uain ted with claimant, and lived neighbor to him prior to the war, and knows that claim MARY L. TANNER. ant was stout and healthy at and prior to his enlistment. )llr. WEBER, by unanimous consent, called up for consideration tho Dr. R. Haggard, colonel Fifth Hegiment Kentucky Cavalry, testifies that he was a practicing physician before the war and wa acquainted with claimant's bill (H. R. 10705) granting a pension to :Mary L. Tanner. father and mother, and \he family generally, before the war, and knows that The bill was read, as follows: they were stout, healthy people; that he was present when the regl.ment was Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is he1·eby, au mustered into the service. He regarded those who were mustered as sound and thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and healthy men; that claimant was pre ent and he so regarded him. limitations of the pension laws, the name of 1\Iary J,. Tanner, widow of Alan· Robert Story testifies that claimant, aboutNovember4,1861, contracted measles son G. Tanner, late of Company K, One hundredth New York Volunteers. and was sent to the hospital and remained there about six weeks; that he was treated by Dr. Walker; that claimant wa.~ again taken sick in Louisville, The report (by 1\Ir. SAWYER) was read, as follows: Ky., in October, 1862, and sent to the hospital, where be remained four or five The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (H. R. weeks; that after claimant bad entirely recovered from the measles he caught 107.()5} granting a. pension to Mary L. Tanner, submit the following report: cold, which caused a severe cough, and his lungs appeared to be diseased, and The beneficiary is the widow of Alemson G. Tanner, late a private in Com to the best of his opinion the said disease of lungs was caused by claima:1t pany K, One hundreti th New York Volunteers. The soldier enlisted October taking cold from exposure after having the measles. 3, 1861, and at 1ihe battle of Fair Oaks he was badly wounded in the left elbow. James A. Graham, William Roborn, and Robert Story testify that they have The arm continued in such a condition after the wound that amputation be known claimant since his dischar~re, and that he has been a constant.su:fferer came necessary, and on or about August 28, 1862, bis left arm was amputated from lung disease ever since that time to the present. "above the elbow and 1 inch below the shoulder joint." He was discharged Dr. Shive testifies that be commenced treating claimant about October,l877, October 4,1862, and immediately returned to his home in Western New York, for pneumonia.; that his physical condition at that time was bad on account of where he died October 2, 1875. The soldier at the time of his death was draw h is lungs beiug in a diseased condition, caused from measles; that claimant has ing a pension of ~24 per month. The widow applied for a pension 1\Ja.y 8, 1876, not been able to perform manual labor since he first knew him; that claimant and the same wa::~ finally rejected in 1885. The soldier died of apoplexy or was gradually growing worse when he last saw him in 1880. paralysis claimed to be tile result of the amputation. Dr. W. G. Hunter. examining surgeon (the writer of this report), in a. certifi The medical referee decided that the claim that the apoplex:y or paralysis re cate of examination December 20,1881, says: sulted from the amputation was not tenable. "I find this applicant greatly emaciated and quite feeble. He has a trouble The evidence shows that the soldier even after the amputation suffered from some cough and purulent sputa. I find great dullness on percussion over re the wounded stump, was very nervous, constantly compelled to take medicines spiring lobe of right lung, aud bronchial respiration and superficial expiration to alleviate his nervousness ; that he always su1fe1·ed to a. greater or less extent over same region on auscultat.ion. There is _great want of freedom of the move from that cause. ' xnents of chest under right clavicle. There is depression of the intercostal spaces Dr. S. E. Bassett, a regular phy~ician ::md surgeon of twenty years' practice, in on bolh sides, and other symptoms of phthisis pulmonalia in second stage." his affidavit of date of April2. 18S3. states: The committee are of the opinion that the case is clearly made out that claim "He was first called to said soldier professionally about the 26th or 28th of ant was physically sound at the time of enlistment; that he had measles, caught September, 1875. I found him suffering severely from violent spasmodic con cold, which resulted in the disability for wl.rich he claims pension, and that the tractions of the muscles of his left side, involving in a high degree the left relief asked for in the bill ought to be granted. shoulder armstrings and left limb, springing, jerking, rolling over in a. most We t11ereforc submit a favorable report nod recommend the paSS3ge of the violent manner. Iiound upon a. more thorough examination and inquiry (and bill. agreeing with th~ higbe t medical authority) that the stump of left arm bad There being no objection, the bill was laid aside to be reported to not kindly healed by first intention, but had beeome irritated and inflamed,and thus the ends of the divided nerves of said left arm had participated in that in the House with the recommendation that it do pass. flammation, becoming badly and permanently diseased and with the general RICHARD H. VAN DORil~. debility of hi"S whole system. I found said diseased nerves of the said left-arm sturup had produced partial reflex paralysis of the right side of said patient. Mr. GEA.R, by unanimous consent, called up for consideration the bill That in my opinion the partial nervous paralysis of said soldier, Alemson G. (S. 2118) granting a pension to Richard H. Van Dorin. Tanner, was caused by the diseased state of the nerves of bis said le£t-arm stump." The bill was read, as follows: This statement of the attending physician impresses the committee with the Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he hereby is, di belief that the soldier's death was the result of his amputated arm, o.lthough the rected to place on the pension-roll the name of Richard H. Van Dorin, of Fair medical referee in the Pension Office fails so to consider. The evidence shows field, Iowa, who served with the United States forces in the war with Mexico, the beneficiary to be a poor and worthy woman, and whatever doubt there may and actually participated in the battle of Buena Vista and one other engage be in the case we believe this woman isentitledtotbe benefitofit, and the com Dl"Cnt, and pay him a. pension of$8 per month, as provided in section2oftheact mittee teport favorably and recommend that the bill do pa-ss. approved January 29,1887, entitled "An act granting pensions to the soldiers and sailors of the 1\Iexican war. and for other purposes." There being no objection, the bill was laid aside to be reported to The report by (1\I.r. STRUBLE) was read, as follows: the House with the recommendation that it do pass. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2118) granting RICHARD HOGAN. a pension to Richard H. Van Dorin, have considered the same, and report it Mr. BRECKINRIDGE, of Kentucky, by unanimous consent, called back to the House, recommending its passage. The statement of facts in the report of the Senate committee correctly set forth the case, as follows : ~p for consideration the bill (II. R. 9253) granting an increase of pen [Senate Report No. 822, Fiftieth Congress, first session.] sion to Richard Hogan. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2118) granting a The bill was read, as follows: pension to Richard H. Van Dorin, have examined the same, and report: Be it enacted, et~., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au The claimant accompanied the Army to Mexico in 1846-'47 as teamster, but thorized and directed to place on the pension-rolls the name of Richard Hogan, participated in the baUle of Buena Vista and in an engagement subsequently a private of Company B, .First Regiment of United States Dragoons, in the wnr thereto; was honorably released in the spring of 1847; drew a land warrant in with Mexico, and grant him a pension of S30 a. month from and after the pas virtue of his services; and asks to be pensioned the same as an enlisted soldier. sage of this act, in lieu of the pension he now receives. His charncte1· and credibility are vouched for by Hon. JAMES F. 'VILSON, Sen ator from Iowa, and circumstantial te timony is also presented from neighbors The report (by 1\Ir. BLISS) was 1·ead, as follows: and acquaintn.nces, whose probity has the same satisfactory indorsement. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred tae bill (H. R. 9253) grant The committee reco=end the passage of the bill. ing an increase of pension to Richard Hogan, have considered the same and report as follows: Mr. PARKER. This is a .Mexican pension c:tse, and there is no '.rhe claimant was a private in Company n, First United States Dragoons, for doubt about it, and I move it be laid aside to be reported to the House. over two years, during the war with :llexico. He is in receipt of a pension at There being no objection, the biH was L'l.id aside to be reported to the rate of~ per monLh under the 1\Iexican service act of January 29, 1887. 1 He is seventy-four years of age, and totally blind from cataracts of both eyes. the House with the recommendation that it do pass. He claims that the disease was contracted during the war with Mexico, and, MINOR CHILDREN OF LIEUT. GEORGE R. JU'GUIRE. although he has furnis•ed no evidence that said disease existed while he was in that service, he has shown by the testimony of three credible neighbors that Mr. KILGORE. I have not called up any bill as yet, but I have he bad disease of eyes in 1849, just after his return fromserviceandduring each tbc right to do so, and I will yield whatever right I have to the gen year since. tleman from California [111r. FELTON], who is over here grazing on our Your committee recommend the passage of the bill. pasture. [Laughter.] Mr. GEST. I do not see why $30 should be allowed in this caoo, Mr. FELTON, by unanimous consent, called up for consideration while in the case I called up the pension was cut down to $Hi the bill (H. R. 4038) granting a pension to Victor, Gertrude, Margaret, ~fr. MATSON. Has the report been read? and Helen, minor children of Lieut. George R. McGuire. The CHAIRMAN. It has. The bill was read, as follows: J\Ir. GEST. I move to m~£ke it $15 instead of $30. Be it enacted. etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au Mr. MATSON. In the case to which the gentleman refers the woman thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and was blind. but in this case it is the soldier who is blind. There is no limitations of the pension laws, the names of the minor childr"Cn of George R. doubt of this soldier's service or of his blindness.• He was a. private for McGuire, late a lieutenant of Compru1y I, Thirteenth Regiment Pennsylvania. Volunteers. over two years during the war with Mexico. It appears by the testi mony of three credible neighbors that be had disease of the eyes in 1849 The report (by l\1r. LYNCH) was read, as follows: just after his retum from the service and during each y9ar since. · Tbe Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred House bill 4038, Mr. GEST. I withdraw the amendment reducing the pension to $15. ~:;;r~~ :-!: ::::?~ce~~!ig~r~:i~n~o~!f~~e~f~~! ~~~~ ':!fo~og; t~: There being no objection, the bill was laid aside to be reported to the Forty-ninth Congress, as follows: House with the recommendation that it do pass. ~ ":Margaret A. McGuire was the widow of Lieut. George R.l\fcGuire,late lieu tenant and captain in the ThirteenthRegimentPennsylva.nia.Ca.valry. She was CASP.A.R BLANKE. gra.nted a pen ion by special act, and having since died, her surviving children, who are all under the age of sixteen years, are debarred from obtaining relief Mr. HERMANN. I ask consideration of the bill (S. 2833) granting 'hrough the Pension Office. a pension to Caspar Blanke, of Portland, Oregon. \ - \ I 1888. CONGRESSIONAL RECORD-HOUSE. 7467 The bil was read, as follows: The report (by Mr. CULBERSON) is as follows: Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interim· be, and he i.s hereby, au The Committee on the Judiciary having considered the bill (H. R.l0735) for thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll, subject to the provisions and the removal of the disabilities of Theodore Lewis, of Louisiana, and finding a. limitations of the pension laws, the name of Caspar Hlanke, of Portland, Ore petition from said Lewis, in due form, asking that his disabilities be removed, gon, la.te of Company C, Fourteenth Regiment United States Infantry, at the recommend that the bill do pass. · rate of $12 per month. - The bill was laid aside to be reported to the House with the recom The report (by Mr. BLISS) is as follows: mendation that it do pass. The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2833) granting DULCEN.A. NOEL. n. pension to Caspat" Blanke, have considered the same, and report it back to the House, recommending its passage. Mr. CONGER. I ask consideration of the bill (H. R. 9341) grant The committee adopt as their report the statement of fs.cts correctly set forth ing a pension to Mrs. Dulcena Noel. in the report of the Senate committee, as follows: The bill was read, as follows: [Senate Report 14.07, Fiftieth Congress, first session.] ·- Be it enacted, etc., That the Secretary of the Interior be, and he is hereby, au The Committee on Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (S. 2833) granting thorized and directed to place on the pension-roll Ute name of Mrs. Dulcena. a pension to Caspar Blanke, have examined the same, and report: Noel as the dependent mother of William T. Noel. late a prh·ate in company This claimant was a private in Company E, Fourteenth Regiment United Seve~teenth Iowa Volunteers, and pay her a pension, subject to the provisions . States regular infautry. He served a. term of enlistment from 1876 to 1881, and and limitations of the pension laws. again re-enlisted in 1881, serving until 1885, when he was discharged for disa bilities under a surgeon's certificate. The disabilities were described as rheu The report (by Ur. SPOONER) is as follows: matism, partial paralysis, and loss of sight, or double sight. The Committee on Invalid Pensions, to whom was referred the bill (II. R . There is no doubt of the serious nature of these disabilities; that they were 9341) granting a pension to Mrs. Dulcena. Noel, respectfully report : . incurred by the claimant during the time of his service. They are called tech ~1rs . Dulcena Noel is the widowed mother of 'Villiam T. Noel. late a pnvate nically locomotor ataxia and ophthalmia. The patient at nresent and for o. in Company G, Seventeenth Regiment Iowa Volunteers, who died in saidserv- long time has been wholly blind in one eye, almost blind in the other-discern ing 1ight but not objects, and being unable to walk, except with assistance; ic~~~h:~J:~~ George W . Noel, was a sergeant in Company H, Thirty-ninth wholly unable to p erform manuall.a.bor, and most of the time requiring the Iowa. Voluntee;s, and was killed in service, and_she was granted a pe~sion u~on attendance of a third per on. account of his death. She subsequently remarned, whereupon her said pensiOn The claim has been rejected by the Pension Bureau upon the ground that these disabilities are the results of vice in the claimant, not incurred or incurrable in ce,-£1ei~· second n:arriage, however, proving an unfortunate one, she was di line of duty. vorced. She is now aged and poor, having an in_come of not ov~r $50 per y~I:. '.rhe medical referee of the Pension Office, after an examination of the papers •Her said son William T. Noel. was never marned, and no one lS now draWing (not the patient), says: or has ever d~wn a. pension upon his account. "I could not, therefore, say that syphilis could with safety be eliminated." Although by reason of the facts above stated and because 1\Irs. Noel's present We think .this rejection a mild one-a con ... - I \ I ~ 746~ CONGRESSIONAL -REOORD--SENATE. .AUGUST -13, .TOSEPH T.- GARRETT. By Mr. MILLIKEN: Petition of Rev. E. lr!. Fowler and 44 others, The SPEA.KER p1·o te-mpore. The next bill reported from the Com citizens of the Third district of Maine, for prohibition in the District mittee of the Whoie Hous~ is the bill (H. R. 6501) granting a pension of Columbia-to the Select Committee on the Alcoholic Liquor Traffic., to Joseph T. Garrett. The question is on agreeing to the amendment By Mr. PETERS: Petition of Board ofTrade of Liberal, Kans., fa made in the Committee of the Whole House. · voring legislation for ''No Man's Land "-to the Committee on tho 1l:I.r. GEST. I ask unanimous consent to substitute "twenty" in Public Lands. stead of the amendment to make it "fifteen," agreed upon in Com By Mr. RICE: Petition of 56 citizens of Ramsey County, Minnesota, mittee of the Whole. for amendment of sections 3 and 10 of the interstate-commerce law The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection? The Chair hears none, and to the Committee on Commerce. the amendment to the amendment is agreed to. By Mr. J. D. STEWART: Petition of Louisa Walker, of Fulton, The bill. as amended was ordered to be engrossed and read a third Ga., for reference of her claim to the Court of Claims-to the Committee time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the third time, and on ·war Claims. passed. · By Mr. WHEELER: Petition of heira of M. W. Roach, of Jackson SENATE BILLS PASSED. County, Alabama, for reference of their claim to the Court of Claims to the Committee on War Claims. Senate bills of the following titles, reported from the Committee of By Mr. WHITTHORNE: Petition of S. A. Carroll, administrator of the Whole House without amendment, were severally ordered to a John A. Hagan, of Lawrence County, Tennessee, 1or relief-to the third reading, read the third time, and passed: Committee on War Claims. A bill (S. 3219) "increasing the pension of Keyes P. Cool; By Mr. W. L. WILSON: Petition of C. B. Wentzell, president of A bill (S. 1162) for the relief of Susan E. Alger; Jefferson County School Board; of Alexander Murphy, and of A. M. A bill (S. 2500) granting a pension to Gertrude K. Lyford; Sponseller, of Jefferson County, West Virginia, for reference of their A bill (S. 2724) ior the relief of H. Harper; c~aims to the Court of Claims-to the Committee on War Claims. A bill (S. 2118) granting a pension to Richard H. Van Dorin; and A bill (S. 2833) granting a pension to Casper Blanke, of Portland, Oregon. • The bill (S. 2106) granting a pension to William Kelsey was reported SENATE. from the Committee of the Whole House with amendment. The amend me:It was concurred in, and the bill as amended was ordered to a third MONDAY, A.ttgust 13,1888. reading, read the third time, and passed. The Senate met at 11 o'clock a. m. THEODORE LEWIS. Prayer by the Chaplain, Rev. J. G. BUTLER, D. D. The bill (H. R. 10735) for the removal of the political disabilities of The Journal of the proceedings of Friday last was read and approved. Theodore Lewis, of Louisiana, reported from the Committee of the· RAILWAY MAIL TRANSPORTATION DEFICIENCY. Whole Honse without amendment, ·was ordered to be engrossed and The PRESIDENT pro tempo1·e laid before the Senate a communica read a-third time; and being engrossed, it was accordingly read the tion from the Secretary of the Treasury, transmitting a letter from the third time, and passed (.two-thirds having voted in the affirmative). Postmaster-General, submitting an estimate of a deficiency in tbe ap Mr. M:ATSON moved to reconsider the sev:eral votes by which the propriation for railway mail transportation for the fiscal year ending bills reported from the Committee of the Whole House were passed; June 30, 1 88, of$562,482; which, with theaccompanyingpapers, was and also moved that the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. referred to the Committee on Appropriations, and ordered to be printed. The latter motion was agreed to. The hour of 10.30 o'clock p. m. having arrived, in accordance with PETITIONS .AND 1\Il!:Z.!ORIA.LS. the previous order, the House adjourned. Mr. EDMUNDS presented the petition of Titus Hutchinson, of Lyn don, Caledonia County, Vermont, praying to be allowed a pension; PRIVATE BILLS L"'iTRODUCED AND REFERRED. which was referred to the Committee on Pensions. Mr. PASCO. I present certain papers relating to the claim of the Under the rule private bills of the following titles were introduced heirs of Dr. Henry E. Perrine, now pending before the Committee on and referred as indicated below: Public Lands. I move that the papers be referred to that committee. By Mr. W. C. P. BRECKINRIDGE: A bill (H. R. 11143) for·the ben The motion was·a~reed to. efit ofWilliam Burton-to the Committee on War Claims. Mr. DOLPH presented a petition of the Grand Army of the Republic, ·Also, a hill (H. R. 11144) for the benefit of A. W. Harper-to the Department of Washington Territory, praying that an appropriation be Committee on War Claims. made for head-stones for ~-Union soldiers; which was referred to the By Mr. POST: A bill (H. R. 11145) granting a. pension to George W. Committee on Appropriations. Gibson-to the-Committee on Invalid Pensions. 1\fr. SHERMAN. I present the petition of Mrs. Sarah A. Woodbridge, Dy 1\Ir. RICHARDSON: A bill (H. R.l114.6) for the relief of Collin praying for a pension, accompanied with proofs and papers. In con Adams-to the Committee on War Claims. nection with this petition, I ask the unanimous consent of the Benate that the vote by which the bill (S. 3276) granting restoration of pen PETITIONS, ETC. sion to Sarah A. Woodbridge, on the report of the Committee on Pen The following petitions and papers were laid on the Clerk's desk, sions, was indefinitely postponed be reconsidered, and that the bill und.er the rule, and referred as follows: be recommitted to the Committee on Pensions with the papers I now ~y Mr. ABBOTT: Petition of citizens of Hill County, Texas, relat pr ent, which furnish the proof the committee called for. in,. to interstate commerce-to the Committee on Commerce. The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The vote by which the bill was in By Mr. J. ltl. ALLEN: Petition of W. F. Dilworth, heir of Susan definitely postponed will be reconsidered if there be no objection, and F. Dilworth; and of Sarah J. Ragan, widow of George W. Ragan, of the bill, together with the petition and accompanying papers, will be Uis'issippi, for reference of their claims to the Court of Claims-to the referred to the Committee on Pensions. The Chair hears no objection, Committee on War Claims. and it is so ordered. By Mr. BANKHEAD: Petition of John E. Cooner, heir of Samuel REPORTS OF COl\IMITIEES. E. Cooner; ofT. C. B. Morrow; of E. W. Wright; ofWilliamB. Day; Mr. EDMONDS. I am instructed by the Committee on the Judi and of Jo eph B. Ferguson, heir of Joseph Ferguson, of Alabama, for ciary, to which was referred the joint resolution (S. R. 71) providing reference of their claims to the Court of Claims-to the Committee on for the ascertainment and report by the Secretary of State of the claim War Claims. of the legal. representatives of Walter H. Stevens, deceased, to report By l\Ir. BARNES: Petition of depositors of the Freedman's Bank, the same back, and ask that the committee be discharged from the residing in Augusta, Ga., for the passage of the bill making an appro further consideration ·of the joint resolution, and that it, with the ac priation for settlement with the depositors-to the Committee on Bank companying papers, be referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations, inp; and Currency. which, as the Committee on the Judiciary thinks, is the proper and By .Mr. BAYNE: Resolutions of Fort Pitt Council, Junior Order regular committee for the consideration of matters of that nature. United American Mechanics, of Allegheny, Pa., in favor of Senate bill The report was agreed to. 553-to the Committee on Foreign Affairs. Mr. TURPIE, from the Committee on Pensions, to whom were re By Mr.~ H. B. BROWNE: Petition of John L. P. Hopkins, of Ac ferred the following bills, reported them severally without amend- comac. County, Virginia, for reference of his claim to the Court of ment, and submitted reports thereon: . Claims-to the Committee on War Claims. A bill (H. R. 4855) granting a pension to Jacob Newhard; By 1\Ir. HEARD: Petition of 26 citizens of the Sixth district of Mis A bill (H. R. 5529) granting a pension to Flora Heath; souri, for prohibition in the District of Columbia-to the Select Com ' A bill (H. R. 549) granting a pension to JosephS. Wilson; and mittee on the Alcoholic Liquor Traffic. .A bill (H. R. 8571) granting a pension to Margaret J. McQuary. By .Mr. HOLMAN: Papers from Jacob Berger, Fred. Berger, and Mr. HAMPTON, from the Committee on Military Affairs, to whom William Young, of St. Croix Falls, Wis., in relation to lihe railroad was referred the bill (S. 401) for the relief of Col. Daniell\IcClur , re grant from St. 9roix River to Bayfield, Wis., and praying for relief ported it without amendment, and submitted a report thereon. iio the Committee on the Public Lands. Mr. WALTHALL. I am directed by the Committee on Publi~