EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 31, 1886_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return herewith without approval House bill No. 8336, entitled "An act
granting an increase of pension to Duncan Forbes."
The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted, under the name of Alexander
Sheret, January 7, 1862, in the Regular Army, and was discharged January
8, 1865.
He applied for a pension in 1879, alleging that he was wounded in his
right breast December 31, 1862, and in his right ankle September 20,
1863. He was pensioned in 1883, dating from January 9, 1865, for the
ankle wound, but that part of his claim based upon the wound in his
breast was rejected upon the ground that there was no record of the same
and the testimony failed to show that such a wound had its origin in the
service.
Though the lack of such a record is sufficiently accounted for, I am
convinced that, conceding both the wounds alleged were received, this
pensioner has been fairly and justly treated.
It appears from the allegations of his application to the Pension Bureau
that after the wound in his breast, in December, 1862, he continued his
service till September, 1863, when he was wounded again in the ankle,
and that with both wounds he served until his discharge in January,
1865. It also appears from the records that after his discharge from
the. Army, and on the 3d day of February, 1865, he enlisted as landsman
in the United States Navy, and served in that branch of the service for
three years.
A medical examination in May, 1885, disclosed the appearance of a
gunshot wound in the right breast, which is thus described:
The missile struck the seventh rib of right side and glanced off,
leaving a horizontal scar 2-1/4 inches long and one-half inch wide,
deeply depressed and firmly adherent.
I credit this claimant with being a good soldier, and I am willing to
believe that his insistence upon a greater pension than that already
allowed by the Pension Bureau, under liberal general laws, enacted for
the benefit of himself and all his comrades, is the result of the
demoralization produced by ill-advised special legislation on the
subject.