The truth appears to be that he was killed by a pistol shot in an
altercation with another man.
Unless it shall be assumed that the epilepsy was caused by the buckshot
wound spoken of, and unless a pension should be allowed because, if the
soldier had not been killed in an altercation, he might have soon died
from such epilepsy, this bill is entirely devoid of merit.
Surely no one will seriously propose that a claim for pension should
rest upon a conjecture as to what would have caused death if it had not
occurred in an entirely different way.
The testimony of the physician who testified in this case that death was
caused partially by epilepsy suggests the extreme recklessness which may
characterize medical testimony in applications for pension.