EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.
_To the Senate_:
I return without approval Senate bill No. 2160, entitled "A bill
granting a pension to Mary J. Hagerman."
The husband of this proposed beneficiary enlisted in 1861 and was
wounded by a gunshot, which seriously injured his left forearm. In 1864
he was discharged; was afterwards pensioned for his wound, and died in
August, 1884.
Dr. Hageman, who attended the deceased in his last illness, testifies
that he was called to attend him in August, 1884; that he was sick with
typhomalarial fever, and that upon inquiry he (the physician) found that
it was caused by hard work or overexertion and exposure. He was ill for
about ten days.
The application of his widow for pension was rejected in 1885 on the
ground that the fatal disease was not due to military service.
I am unable to discover how any different determination could have been
reached.
To grant a pension in this case would clearly contravene the present
policy of the Government, and either establish a precedent which, if
followed, would allow a pension to the widow of every soldier wounded
or disabled in the war, without regard to the cause of death, or would
unjustly discriminate in favor of the few thus receiving the bounty of
the Government against many whose cases were equally meritorious.