EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 23, 1886_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return without approval House bill No. 7109, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Joseph Tuttle."
This man claims a pension as the dependent father of Charles Tuttle, who
enlisted in 1861 and was killed in action May 31, 1862.
The claimant, being, as he says, poor, took his son Charles, at the age
of 9 years, and placed him in charge of an uncle living in Ohio. An
arrangement was afterwards made by which the boy should live with a
stranger named Betts. Upon the death of this gentleman the lad was
transferred to one Captain Hill, with whom he remained until his
enlistment in 1861.
It is stated that during the time he remained with Mr. Hill he sent his
father $5; but the fatherly care and interest of the claimant in his son
is exhibited by his statement that though the son was killed in 1862 his
father was not aware of it until the year 1864.
After the exhibition of heartlessness and abandonment on the part of a
father which is a prominent feature in this case, I should be sorry to
be a party to a scheme permitting him to profit by the death of his
patriotic son. The claimant relinquished the care of his son, and should
be held to have relinquished all claim to his assistance and the
benefits so indecently claimed as the result of his death.