EXECUTIVE MANSION, _July 16, 1888_.
_To the Senate_:
I return without approval Senate bill No. 121, entitled "An act granting
a pension to Tobias Baney."
This soldier was enrolled on the 28th day of February, 1865, and was
discharged on the 31st day of January, 1866.
He filed an application for a pension in 1878, which was supplemented
by statements from time to time, not always in exact agreement, but
alleging uniformly that during his service, fixing the date at one time
as in January, 1866, and at another time as in November, 1865, he was
attacked in the city of Washington by palpitation of the heart, which
increased after his discharge and resulted in disability. After a
careful special examination by the Pension Bureau the claim was rejected
upon the ground that origin of disability in the service and line of
duty had not been shown, nor that the same existed for some time after
discharge.
The beneficiary named in this bill enlisted shortly before the surrender
of the Confederate forces, and it appears did little, if anything, more
than garrison duty. He does not seem to have suffered any of the
exposures usually incident to a soldier's service, and, as I understand
his claim, does not himself give any instance of exposure or exertion
from which his difficulty arose.
There is no record of any sickness or disability during the time he was
in the Army nor any satisfactory proof that he was suffering with any
ailment at the time of his discharge. His own statement, which some of
the proof taken tends to show is not entirely reliable, goes no further
than to claim that during his term of service his difficulty began.
On appeal from the rejection of the beneficiary's claim the case was
thoroughly examined at the Interior Department and the rejection
affirmed.