EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7073, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Mary S. Woodson."
Henry Woodson, the husband of the beneficiary named, enlisted in
September, 1861, and was discharged in October, 1863, on account of
valvular disease of the heart.
The application for pension on behalf of his widow was filed August 5,
1881.
She concedes that she is unable to furnish any evidence of the date or
the cause of her husband's death.
It appears that he left home in March, 1874, for the purpose of finding
work, and neither she nor her friends have ever heard from him since.
His death may naturally be presumed, and the condition of his family is
such that it would be a positive gratification to aid them in the manner
proposed; but the entire and conceded absence of any presumption,
however weak, that he died from any cause connected with his military
service seems to render it improper to place the widow's name upon the
pension rolls.