EXECUTIVE MANSION, _May 28, 1886_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I hereby return without approval a bill which originated in the House of
Representatives, numbered 1582, and entitled "An act for the relief of
Eleanor C. Bangham."
The claimant in this case is the widow of John S. Bangham, who was
mustered into the service of the United States as a private on the 26th
day of March, 1864, and was discharged by general order June 23, 1865.
It appears that during his fifteen months of service he was sick a
considerable part of the time, and the records in two of the hospitals
to which he was admitted show that his sickness was epilepsy. There are
no records showing the character of his illness in other hospitals.
His widow, the present claimant, filed an application for pension March
12, 1878, alleging that her husband committed suicide September 10,
1873, from the effects of chronic diarrhea and general debility
contracted in the service. Upon the evidence then produced her claim was
allowed at the rate of $8 a month. She remained upon the rolls until
July, 1885, when a special examination of the case was made, upon which
it was developed and admitted by the pensioner that the deceased soldier
had suffered from epilepsy from early childhood, and that during a
despondent mood following an epileptic fit he committed suicide.
Upon these facts it was determined by the Pension Bureau that the
pension should not have been granted, and it was withdrawn. It was so
satisfactorily proven that the disease which indirectly caused the death
of the claimant's husband was not contracted in the service that, in my
opinion, the conclusion arrived at on such examination should stand.