EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return herewith without approval House bill No. 7703, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Anna A. Probert."
The husband of this beneficiary was pensioned in 1864. He was a druggist
and apothecary at Norwalk, in the State of Ohio. Shortly before his
death, in 1878, he went to Memphis for the purpose of giving his
professional assistance to those suffering from yellow fever at that
place. He was himself attacked by that disease, and died on the 28th day
of October, 1878.
His widow has never herself applied for a pension, but a power of
attorney has been filed, authorizing the prosecution of her claim by
another.
That she has employed an ingenious attorney or agent is demonstrated by
the fact that the bill now before me seems to be based upon the theory
that Mr. Probert might have recovered from his attack of yellow fever
if he had been free from the ailments for which he had been pensioned
fourteen years before.
If such speculations and presumptions as this are to be indulged, we
shall find ourselves surrounded and hedged in by the rule that all men
entering an army were free from disease or the liability to disease
before their enlistment, and every infirmity which is visited upon them
thereafter is the consequence of army service.