EXECUTIVE MANSION, _June 18, 1888_.
_To the House of Representatives_:
I return without approval House bill No. 3959, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Dolly Blazer."
The husband of the beneficiary named in this bill was apparently a good
soldier and was confined for a time in a Confederate prison. He was
mustered out of the service in June, 1865, and never applied for a
pension.
He died in 1878, leaving as survivors his widow and several children,
two of whom are alleged to be still under 16 years of age.
The cause of the soldier's death was yellow fever. There is in my mind
no doubt of this fact, and the attempt to establish any other cause of
death, if successful, would go far toward fixing a precedent for the
rejection of all evidence which stood in the way of a claim for pension.
The bill herewith returned is disapproved for the reason that the death
of the soldier had no relation to his military service, and I do not
think there should be a discrimination in favor of this applicant and
against many thousands of widows fully as well entitled.