EXECUTIVE MANSION, _February 4, 1887_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I hereby return without approval House bill No. 7698, entitled "An act
granting a pension to Robert K. Bennett."
The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted in September, 1862, and it
appears that very soon after that he was detailed to the cook shop. This
seems to be the only military service he rendered, and on February 7,
1863, five months after enlistment, he was received into the marine
hospital at New Orleans for varicocele. He was discharged from the
service February 22, 1863, and the cause of discharge is stated to be
"varicocele, to which he was subject four years before enlistment."
Seventeen years thereafter, and in June, 1880, this claimant filed an
application for pension in the Pension Bureau, alleging that about the
10th day of February, 1863, in unloading a barrel it fell upon him,
producing a hernia, shortly after which he was affected by piles.
It will be seen that he fixes this injury as occurring three days after
his admission to the hospital, but he might well be honestly mistaken as
to this date. If the injury, however, was such as he stated, it is
difficult to see why no mention was made of it in the hospital records.
He persisted at all times, as I understand the case, until the rejection
of his claim in 1883, that his disability arose from hernia and piles.
The reason of this rejection is stated to be that varicocele existed
prior to enlistment and that there was no evidence of the existence of
piles in the service or at discharge. From a medical examination made in
December, 1882, it appears that there was "no evidence or symptoms of
disability resulting from piles or hernia."
Subsequent to the rejection of this claim some proof was filed tending
to show that the disability was in the right leg, but it is of such a
nature, in the light of the claimant's own previous allegations, that I
think the Pension Bureau did entirely right in informing his attorney
that the additional evidence did not change the status of the case.